Celebrity Life

As I sit in my Tuscan villa next to a crackling fire.  I look at my upcycling 600-year-old silk curtains. They are now used to keep out the draft in this very cold villa. These curtains were once entertainers to a very rich aristocratic Italian family. Every time I look at them all torn and […]

The post Velvet – Theatre Curtains Upcycled For Fashion appeared first on Gracie Opulanza.

With Mad Men, Downton Abbey, and The Great Gatsby guiding modern fashion trends, vintage-inspired fashion is on the rise. Now, you might think you can’t wear vintage to the office, that it’s only for after hours and weekends, but we think you might be wrong. Vintage wear is becoming more acceptable for the office, especially […]

The post Wiggle Dress Pencil Skirt – Vintage Office Wear Fashion appeared first on Gracie Opulanza.

It’s clear that we need to design, create and buy better in fashion — a push for best practices in both the environmental and social sides of fashion has major global resonance today. Throughout January, we highlight five exciting labels from around the world leading the way in stylish sustainability. The second stop of our journey is Gabriela Hearst.

Having lived in Paris and New York as well as her native Uruguay, designer Gabriela Hearst started her namesake luxury fashion and accessories brand in 2015 in the US. Her star has risen steadily since she won the 2017 Woolmark International Prize for Womenswear. In January 2019, luxury giant LVMH invested in the brand, allowing Hearst’s label to push its presence more globally. Most recently, Hearst made high-fashion headlines when she was named new artistic director of the French house Chloé.

Hearst has had a sustainable approach to fashion since the early stages, which no doubt has much to do with growing up on her family’s sheep ranch in Uruguay, a property she still looks after today. Beautiful craftsmanship, sustainable practices and quality everlasting materials are as central to the label as the effortlessly cool look she’s nailed down.
Based in New York, the label has been one of luxury’s most notable and authentic sustainability champions of late. And Hearst’s fresh sense of elegance in design has made her pieces highly coveted by editors and influencers alike, quickly becoming a cult sensation.

The gorgeous Cruise collection is anchored in pristine white, contrasting blacks and earthy, warm desert tones. Her signature minimalist tailoring is complemented with many fabrics made from repurposed dead-stock supplies. She’s set a goal of using 80 percent dead stock in 2023 and no use of virgin materials (which have high environmental impact) by 2022. The label also uses all compostable bioplastics for its packaging and is known to combine beautiful luxurious materials (including wool from the family farm) with technological innovation, such as a silver fabric that protects the body from cellphone radiation.

“If we have what we need to confront climate change, the question is whether we can do it fast enough. What’s clear from the Covid pandemic is that we can change our behaviour fast. The collective consciousness and policy has to go with it,” says the designer on her website. “The conscious goal was for the crisis not to stunt our creative growth. How can we push ourselves further even with the current limitations? The craft of the hands, our Northern star.”

The post Uruguayan Designer Gabriela Hearst Has Championed Sustainability From Day One appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

It’s clear that we need to design, create and buy better in fashion — a push for best practices in both the environmental and social sides of fashion has major global resonance today. Throughout January, we highlight five exciting labels from around the world leading the way in stylish sustainability. The first stop of our journey is Pangaia.

Quickly rising to eco-fashion superstardom is Pangaia, a materials- science-led fashion label that takes its name from Pan, meaning all-inclusive, and Gaia, the theory of Earth as a self-activating organism. The collective at the helm of the brand specialises in technology, design, marketing, supply chain and science – with departments functioning in cahoots with each other rather than in a typical fashion corporate structure.

Catering in cool, essential basics, such as sweatshirts, T-shirts, shorts, winter puffa jackets in neutrals and of-the-moment hues, it’s already garnered a host of celebrity and conscious fashion fans – with key pieces quickly selling out online. The aesthetic is joyful and the business model is one of radical transparency, in materials, development, supply chains and tech. “I call our approach ‘high-tech naturalism’,” says Dr Amanda Parkes, Pangaia’s chief innovation officer. “The transparency goes hand in hand with innovation, as there’s no point in having great materials and a terrible factory that makes the clothes. We work with a holistic approach; when we measure impact, we have to measure every single part of it.”

At the brand’s core is a focus on innovative tech, natural sustainable resources and bio-engineered materials, making items that are meant to be lived in by everyone – all age groups, characters and genders. This can be seen in Pangaia’s campaigns and visuals that demonstrate its breakthrough smart technology and philosophical commitment to using as many recycled, sustainable, bio-based and bio-degradable elements as possible. This means that recycled plastic bottles, excess agricultural materials and botanical plant dyes are all making it into these comfy wardrobe essentials. Despite the focus being on basics and essentials – a closer look reveals sophisticated details (not always visible) and chic shapes – there’s a nod to clever, fashion-forward design.

“We like to say that we bring products for a reason, not a season,” Parkes adds. “We try to have items that are ‘product solving’.” Case in point is the seaweed and cotton T-shirt infused with peppermint oil in a high-tech manner that retains the anti-bacterial, anti-odour and freshening properties of the oil, wash after wash. Then there are the just-launched winter puffa coats and jackets, made with a recycled nylon casing and FLWRDWN, Pangaia’s proprietary replacement for animal-feather down insulation created from a high-tech formula using wildflower agricultural waste mixed with a biopolymer and infused with aerogel. Durable, performance driven, yet friendlier to animals and the environment, as well as using recycled materials, the series is a coup of sustainable fashion futurism.

But Pangaia, as hinted by the high-profile leaders involved, has ambitions of being far more than just another eco fashion label. Its business plans are aimed at starting a whole movement within the industry and impacting change way beyond its own commercial sales. “We’re fully developing a platform in the future, where we work with companies to co-develop processes and textiles – that part we’re trying to grow next year,” says Parkes.

The brand has been in the making for many years already, but bridging the gap between hardcore science, production scalability, sustainability and fashion kudos is no easy feat. In its goal of designing a better future for the whole of fashion, Pangaia has emerged a leader in the field with quite a mind-boggling new and radical approach to making clothing that, it’s hoped, others will follow. “I call a lot of my job scientific diplomacy,” Parkes explains. “What we try to do is build bridges between sectors, business, start-ups, the nitty gritty. And by investing in these start-ups, we wanted to show other companies that it was possible.”

The post Sustainable Brand Pangaia and Its ‘High-tech Naturalism’ appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Given the worrying environmental issues facing the world, the concept of ‘sustainable fashion’ has become more prominent than ever before. Interested in sustainable fashion, British online marketplace OnBuy.com analysed the latest findings from KPMG, who surveyed 1,000 Londoners to identify the features they most align with their definition of sustainable fashion. Additionally, OnBuy also sought to discover […]

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It is the year for decluttering.  We have all realised how much junk has been in our homes. How little need or value they mean to us all. Have you got accessories that were given to you and still treasure due to quality and thought process that went into receiving that gift? I love items […]

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When it comes to buying and purchasing items and accessories, you want to make sure you will be able to wear them time and time again. This is because depending on what you buy you might have to spend a lot of money and as a result, you will want to wear them as often […]

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In a fashion world clamouring for sustainable options, Reishi might just be the perfect non-plastic, non-animal premium leather alternative.

The post Will fungus replace leather? appeared first on The Peak Magazine.

In a fashion world clamouring for sustainable options, Reishi might just be the perfect non-plastic, non-animal premium leather alternative.

For more stories like this, visit www.thepeakmagazine.com.sg.

2020 is all about sustainable fashion and the choices we make when purchasing bespoke fashion. For several years now knitwear designer Mihaela Markovic.  has adapted to the demand for her customers in creating niche items that will last a long time and not date. I have been wearing knitwear from the brand Clothes That My […]

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This is the time to go back in fashion history and delve into what we treasure in the world of the atelier. In a pandemic, it is important to conserve, preserve and go back in time regarding vintage fashion. Last year I was fortunate enough to be the only one at this exclusive Dior Vintage […]

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