Ethical Fashion Show

On 23rd November at Auckland’s waterfront, nestled in The Cloud, a little fashion show commenced, the first of its kind. The Ethical Fashion Show showcased young emerging designers, as well as seasoned players…

On Friday 23rd November at Auckland’s waterfront, nestled in the far back corner of The Cloud, a little fashion show commenced, the first of its kind.

The Ethical Fashion Show, an attraction of the Sustainable City Showcase, made room for young emerging designers, as well as seasoned players in New Zealand’s ethical fashion scene, to exhibit their wares.

While the show must be congratulated as an exciting step forward for ethical fashion in NZ, the actual content and style of many pieces and collections, were mostly as to be expected.

Opening and closing the night were stand-outs Nature Baby and Starfish, the bright bookends of the non-ground-breaking comfy classics in between.

Below: Nature Baby

Below: we’ar

we’ar mixed in new season fluoro mini shorts with flowy, silky long-sleeved tees, bare basics, matched with ethnic-style prints.

NZ Fashion Tech graduates favoured long, soft fabric shorts in their designs, while a classy stand-out ensemble from Celeste Kent mixed a berry brown pencil skirt and cropped Peter Pan-collared top.

Below: Sitka.

While Sitka played it safe with monochromatic streetwear, I enjoyed their oh-so-Canadian hat-suspender work shirt combo, and Miranda Brown’s earnest Free The Sea collection had me eyeing up the shoes, and stylist’s choice of jacket and head scarf, rather than the sea-creatured, t-shirts that peeped through.

Chalky Digits’ colourful and bold block party skirt got the tick from me, yet on the whole their tees and asymmetric skirts were conservative, in their strive for their pieces to be classic. For the gorgeous fit of their Clematis dress, the orange against grey stripes hearkened a little too back to the early noughties for my liking.

On the whole, each of the seven collections ticked the boxes for quality and timelessness, but relied almost heavily on the latter. There was something different about Nature Baby and Starfish however. Could it have been the darling little models that set my heart aflutter, or was it Nature Baby’s style, the long johns and striped rompers hearkening back to a 1920’s swimsuit? Either way, both Nature Baby and Starfish in no way screamed ‘ecofashion’
to me. The interesting prints, pops of colour and bright fringing of the Starfish collection had me thinking that these clothes were made to be desired.

Company director and designer of Starfish, Laurie Foon, agrees, style always wins when it comes to design decisions. “It’s what our customers want”, she says. Encapsulated by this desire, is the notion of ‘new materialism’, a carefully thought through branding that has steered clear of any now loaded terms such as eco, ethical or sustainable. Put bluntly Starfish believe that “materialism’s OK, just make better choices as you buy”.

While the majority of these lines showcased won’t give you high fashion, one can be sure to find comfortable, wearable basics of high, guilt-free quality. That there are now enough ethical fashion brands in NZ to pull together a show is testimony that the demand for sustainable and fair garments is growing, and for this alone, each designer must be congratulated.

Words by Emma Schoombie
Pictures by Daryl Habraken