BAS International Women’s Day Sustainable Fashion Show focuses on Circular Fashion highlighting 7 South Coast fashion brands.
Circular fashion was the core theme at this week’s BAS International Women’s Day Event in Moruya with a fashion show held on Wednesday evening which highlighted 7 South Coast sustainable fashion brands.
Hosted by the Eurobodalla Council and supported by Reconnecting Regional - NSW Government, the evening was a great success in conjunction with a presentation from Artist Anna Glynn’s ‘Speaking Water’ Exhibition.
Sustainable Fashion Event Co-ordinator and Founder of Circular Fashion South Coast, South Coast Sustainable Fashion Trail, Sustain ME and Fashion Revolution Bermagui, Yolanda del Valle-Buetefuer presented the designers and their collections.
The highlight being a stunning collection of Hats by local Milliner, Anne Coulquitt and the fashion parade which provided a joyous representation of woman hood by Narelle Madden, Tia Tofu and Khobi Graham. Pambula based Mabel + Maimie designer Janine McDermott’s core business principle is to divert textiles from landfill. Each piece is randomly designed and made from found prepurposed and end of rolls. Janine takes great effort to capture the story and history of her fabrics’ provenance, as well as educating her fashion clients. Style with A Purpose from Moruya takes high quality, uniquely designed recycled pieces in natural fibres such as cotton, linens and silk and upcycles them with their natural dying indigo technique. Up-cycler Narelle Madden is dedicated to conscious fashion circularity and the responsible use of resources in the creation of her collections. Esther Jane designs and makes their stunning earing collections in Bermagui from sustainable eucalyptus Australian plantation timber. Designer Alison Baker as always demonstrating her exceptional design skills, quality and commitment as a South Coast sustainable designer/maker using multimedia techniques. Hats Savvy Milliner Anne Colquitt from Narooma, the first business in the Eurobodalla to receive a Sustainable 7 Innovation Business Award, only works with recycled fabrics. From denim jeans, canvas painters drop sheets, brocades from past ball gowns and various wools and Polish linens. Japanese Creations designer Reiko Healy fabric dyes with natural indigo ink from her Bega workshop. Her collection also includes recycled Australian wool, repurposed vintage Indian cotton sourced locally, and upcycles garments using her tie dying techniques. Urban style Bermagui recycled brand Dressed to Death focuses on colour and high quality durable pieces. D2D advocate for less fashion waste, recycling of fashion, less production and less consumption of fashion. ‘With an increase of global sales of recycled fashion predicted to increase by 65% between 2020-2023, good quality recycled fashion is one of the core principles of keeping fashion circulating and is increasing in market share globally’ stated Yolanda. Yolanda also took the opportunity to acknowledge women everywhere who work within the fashion industry which according to Fashion Revolution, up to 60 million women are garment workers and many more work further up the supply chain. Yolanda described the many negative impacts of the fashion industry in particular fast fashion which the United Nations has recognised contributes up to 10% of global carbon emissions, contributes to 20% of global industrial wastewater which impacts communities and biodiversity directly, culls 150million tress annually for the production of viscose alone, contributes to 35% of micro-plastics found in our oceans which has now become a health via our food supply chain and significant soil degradation from heavy pesticides used in cotton farming, for example. Each guest had a chance to purchase fashion items after the show and also took home a copy of the South Coast Sustainable Fashion Trail, which includes the 16 Principles of Fashion Circularity such as designing with purpose, longevity, resource efficiency, biodegradability, recyclability and with good ethics. The map also includes 128 suppliers of sustainable fashion from Wollongong to Eden. A number of these sustainable fashion suppliers will be attending this year’s Fashion Revolution Bermagui 2023, which will be held on April 29, at Bermagui Community Centre.
