How to Dress Better
Some plain and simple advice, plus three brands for your radar.
You’ve probably been following this substack (and this line of thought) long enough to know we all have too many clothes. That we’re stuck in a swamp of bad consumer habits, caught in the grip of a machine that has become the wider fashion complex - churning out cheap product in vast volumes in highly toxic processes.
Luxury brands that built themselves on craft and rarity are now so bloated and over exposed they can’t come up with a new idea (except maybe casting Zadie Smith as the face of the Bottega Veneta - see
on the novelty of that.)[Side note, I once asked Zadie to write a piece for Sunday Times Style. This was 2002, she had just brought out White Teeth and was shortlisted for all sorts of prizes. She was semi dating a friend of mine, so I got her email address. I thought the personal connection would elicit a positive response, instead I got a very curt: “Sorry Tiffanie, I’m not much interested in fashion.” A statement, I do believe, she went on to disprove.]
The rapaciousness continues unbound: last week the Business of Fashion confirmed Shein’s emissions were up 20%, making it the most polluting fashion brand in the world, more than Inditex and H&M Group combined. Meanwhile, Jens Grede has announced he wants to make Skims into “the Apple of apparel”. Skims, the brand Kim Kardashian uses to mock climate change.
But don’t get too bogged down by this. You can swerve these awful brands, because it’s becoming increasingly easy to dress in ways that are rewarding and responsible. The reason for this is education is catching up with not just consumers, but also makers and designers. No one wants to be part of fashion’s toxic path (unless it’s Kim leveraging her nipples, or Bernard Arnault waving a fat cheque in your face). Many want to be on the right side of fashion history.
Only a month ago, Amy Powney launched Akyn, a small, best in class collection with a purity of intention you can totally trust. This is the grown up woman’s wardrobe but with enough of a fashion twist to make you really stand out.
If you are heading on holiday, then you are just in time for Nounou: a new swimwear brand that’s inspired by the sexy nonchalance of the seventies and so is bringing back cotton bikinis - the first women’s swimwear brand in years to go plastic free.
And an ex Net-a-Porter buyer has just launched cloth.work, a brand that does two things: “We make great clothes, and we make clothes better.” It’s highly desirable and very inspiring. While Natalie Massanet’s Imaginary Ventures might be backing Skims for global apparel domination (interested to hear their EPR plans), other members of the NAP team chose a different path. They went back to school and learned how to build, make and produce responsibly. Here’s how they’re doing it.