RAW: Your Hottest Sustainable and Vintage Fashion : 2threads - A social network with style - fashion events, photos, interviews, shopping, community

RAW: Your Hottest Sustainable and Vintage Fashion

In a time when everyone wears the same leather bomber jacket and hoodie combo all winter, one off designer pieces, vintage fabric and some quirkiness is what we need in our lives. Besides, summer is going boho and what’s not boho about wearing handmade, patterned, girly, natural or secondhand clothing?

I learnt many things whilst living with a greenie. For instance, which cartons and packaging were recyclable and which crystals could cleanse me of a hangover. I also learnt how to justify my spending big dollars on shoes; see, other people own cars whose fumes diminish the ozone layer and cause global warming, my shoes are my transportation, my wheels and I’ll pimp my ride according to my outfit. We all want to feel good about the clothes we purchase and in the 90’s, that meant not having to think about third world children laboring in poorly ventilated factories to piece together clothes we wear for one season. Now we care if our cotton is organic, our fabric recycled and our dyes sustainable.
You’ve probably heard whispers here and there that green is the new black. Little wonder then that sustainable fashion is the buzz word among independent Australian designers.

I was a little skeptical about the venue choice for the RAW Fashion Show (Melbourne Spring Fashion Festival). Fix Nightclub; with a black vinyl ceiling, neon lighting and pink zebra print wall looks like a cross between a TAB and a mid-priced Belgrade bordello. The only real vintage I saw in the excited crowd was an elderly couple. I wasn’t expecting being offered a glass of spirulina upon arrival but I wasn’t expecting zebra either. In the end I realised if the venue had been an urban organic farmlet, the impressionable fashion set wouldn't go and witness RAW. Their shoes would perforate the paddocks and it'd be a disaster. It's time sustainable went mainstream instead of being the refuge of hippies instead of all enviro-concious hipsters.
Anyhoo. Let’s talk about the fashion on offer from these Aussie designers.

Check these out.

Vita Enesis- Hailing from Byron Bay and 100% handmade using organic cotton, hemp (of course) and recycled cloth. Prints are too cute! email vitaenesis@bigpond.com

Pure Pod – Kind of wealthy liberal art student clothing, the type of girl found lining up to watch The Weeping Camel. www.purepod.com.au

Sahara Bloom- Like all your Bonds staples made from bamboo. www.saharabloom.com.au

MüCKE- silky, arty and contemporary clothing http://www.mucke.com.au

GladRagz- Retro vintage fabric shorts and skirts! One off pieces and all hand made. www.gladragz.com.au

Fourth Daughter- One-off party dresses from ex-Japanese Vogue editor Leeyong Soo. One of my top picks from the night, original and not so obviously tree-huggeresque. Made from vintage kimono and obi fabric. I. AM. In. LOVe. Queries: fourthdaughter@gmail.com

Bonnie Evelyn- For all your vintage fabric hat needs. Look no further. www.bonnieevelyn.com Super stylin’ for Cup Day.

Victorian Angel- pretty, colourful lacy nightie-type dresses by designer Deborah Langmaid 0359960213

Rachael Cassar- Shows that eco-fashion is just as fashion forward as the regular mobsters. This is super high end, one of a kind fashion and she has the international awards from Italy to prove it. Stunning. www.rachelcassar.com

Eva Green- A store in the up and coming indie fashion Mecca, Lygon Street, East Brunswick (my former home turf)… houses Small Poppy, Joachim and Anna, the forgotten, Citizens of Elysium and many more. Ranging from classic to cranking.