Run alongside London Fashion Week, EcoLuxe fosters high end, innovative fashion and design with a sustainable business ethos. Launched in September 2010 by Miriam González Durántez, wife of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, the original Ecoluxe showcased only 13 exhibitors.
Since then, the exhibition has rapidly expanded, with 35 exhibitors taking part this year. Held at Covent Garden’s Kingsway Hall Hotel, the exhibition was attended by press, fashion buyers and VIPs, all with an interest in ethical fashion.
This year, EcoLuxe was opened by broadcaster, model, actress and eco-campaigner, Donna Air, who remarked that she was “delighted to be able to lend my support to EcoLuxe London this year, which gives this group of talented designers, with a conscience, a wonderful platform on which to further promote sustainable luxury fashion.” A keen follower of ethical fashion, Donna follows in the footsteps of Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries who opened the event in Feburary, and Miriam González who, when launching the first ever EcoLuxe event, declared, “EcoLuxe is a great example of how fashion can be stunning, and yet sustainable…It has been an honour to support EcoLuxe London and I wish them the most success.”
A wonderful platform on which to further promote sustainable luxury fashion
”There was a diverse range of design and style exhibited, from the brightly colourful and yet delicate offerings from Beulah, to the more exotic delights of José Hendo who produces beautiful garments from African bark cloth which can be worn in numerous ways to suit the wearer’s individual style.
This year also saw the launch of EcoLuxe’s JP Selects Awards for emerging designers. Winners of the awards such as Outsider, Ute Decker, Linnie McLarty, Sanyukta Shrestha and MT Labels took home a year’s membership and support from JP Selects, and EcoLuxe co-founder Elena Garcia herself won the JP Selects innovation award for her ability to integrate cutting edge design with traditional techniques, creating classically beautiful, eco-friendly luxury goods for a wide cross section of women.
Although still in its infancy, EcoLuxe is rapidly growing, gaining mass credibility amongst those with an interest in sustainable fashion, almost rivalling Estethica in terms of fashion status. However the EcoLuxe and Estethica experiences are so different that it is almost impossible to draw comparison between the two. Whereas Estethica focuses solely on clothing brands, Ecoluxe has a far wider variety of exhibitors which include suppliers, beauty brands as well as stylists.
One such exhibitor was Lucy Harvey, founder of Ethical Stylist. Founded earlier this year, Ethical Stylist provides a range of services for those interested in sustainable fashion, from ‘ethical consultations’ to ‘ethical styling parties’. Throughout the course of the two-day trade show, Lucy Harvey was styling exhibitors in a range of ethical pieces and uploading their photographs onto Twitter. “I brought a lot of my own things with me,” she admits, “but most of it I didn’t need. I was amazed by the variety of sustainable fashion on offer.”
This appeared to be the overall consensus amongst this year’s exhibitors, with the event over twice as large as when it first opened three seasons ago. Indeed, although EcoLuxe has always showcased innovative yet ethical fashion, this year founders Elena and Stamo have excelled themselves, managing to once again put sustainability firmly on the fashion map.
