Sustainable Luxury Basics

It’s no secret that I am a friend and fan of Aicha Robertson of The Fashion Heist. We have collaborated on several shoots, so when she told me about her new clothing line, I was excited to see what this talented lady had in store. Of course this meant organising a photo shoot to give you a sneak peek of the new line! This was a fun and spontaneous shoot and I hope you love the results as much as I do.

Her label, The Great Beyond, created with partner, Nick Azar, focuses on beautifully soft basics created with sustainability in mind, using bamboo fabric. Even the colours are named to reflect the environmental focus: cloud, stone and night. Coming soon to an online store near you.

The Great Beyond’s vision is to create sustainable goods that compliments the fashion forward women or man and our environment.

A message from: THE GREAT BEYOND

Basics with a green twist, designed in Australia.

Australian fashion label The Great Beyond supplies the essentials your wardrobe needs all year round with the help of bamboo fabric. The Great Beyond’s vision is to create sustainable goods that compliments the fashion forward women or man and our environment. Each piece has been designed in Queensland, Australia referencing the classic styles you love and know.

Launch Collection: The Classics Collection

The Classics collection is here to stay for forever and a day, with a range of 12 designs available in four different colours. The Great Beyond works with a simple formula of expanding from your Classic Shirt into four garments with a simplistic design that will fit into your everyday outfit.

The Great Beyond’s Classics collection is for everyone who loves a classic tee to the simple black maxi dress. With our favourite four colours, cloud, night, stone and deep blue.

I’ve highlighted the awesome work Undress Brisbane do to challenge how we think about our clothing purchases and ask ourselves, ‘where do our clothes come from’? Their next project involves teaming up with the Valley Fiesta to host a ‘Swap Shoppe‘, where attendees can bring 1 – 5 pieces of quality clothing to swap for pre-loved or vintage garments from the closets of fellow fashionistas, reducing waste and breathing new life into unwanted items.

What could be better than getting new clothes for free and reducing waste while supporting local music? It’s win, win! Now it’s time to go through your wardrobe and locate items to swap with fellow fashion and environmentally conscious ladies on Saturday the 23rd of August.

How does it work?

1. With each item, please bring a clothes hanger.
2. ‘Check in’ your clothes in between 10am and 12pm.
3. When you ‘check-in’ your clothes, you will be given shopping tokens to swap for other garments when the shop opens at 12pm.
4. When you ‘check out’ of the event you will hand in your tokens and show the clothes you have taken.

The rules

• You can bring anywhere from 1 – 5 items to swap.
• Underwear/lingerie, nightwear/pyjamas and swimwear will not be accepted.
• Garments will only be accepted if they are clean, undamaged and unsoiled.
• If you bring 5 items but don’t find 5 items to take home grab a few garments for a friend as your garments may not still be available to take home which is the nature of this event.
• Bring a bag to put your newly found treasures in to take home.
• If there are any garments left at the end of the event they will be donated to Vinnies and Lifeline.

All images courtesy of the Valley Fiesta / Undress Brisbane.

Last year I interviewed Claire Goldworthy who is the designer of Brisbane based, sustainable label, Harriette Hill. Her designs have been featured at Fashion Fridays and Undress Brisbane and uses a range of repurposed, antique, new and natural fabrics to minimise her environmental footprint.

Harriette Hill’s vintage, floral patterns on flowing dresses spoke to me of a hot, summer afternoon at the beach, with a light breeze blowing the soft fabric and the golden sun glistening on tanned skin.

I assembled an amazing team and we drove down to the Gold Coast on a sunny afternoon to create this editorial! With Cassandra Green (a fun, intelligent model with a gorgeous smile), stylist Ally Dunlop and makeup by Bek Kemp we had a great afternoon and were even blessed with perfect golden hour sunlight for our final beach shots.

Thanks to this amazing team!

Model: Cassandra Green @Sass Management Brisbane

Makeup artist: Bek Kemp on Facebook and Instagram

Fashion and hair stylist: Ally Dunlop checkout her portfolio, Facebook and Instagram

Photographer: Yolanda van Kimmenade check out my portfolio, Facebook and Instagram

Harriette Hill clothing featured: Floral Drape Kimono Jacket, Frosting Mini Dress, Ace of Cards Dress, Purple Blossom Maxi Dress.

Claire Goldsworthy’s fashion label, Harriette Hill is a creation that stems from her love of vintage fabrics. She doesn’t design seasonal collections, instead selecting fabric and letting the quality of the material speak to her which catalyses the creation of her beautiful handmade garments while minimizing waste. I spoke to her about her busy schedule, fashion career aspirations and love of op shopping!

The Genesis of Harriette Hill

Fashion is in Claire’s blood, her Great Grandmother owned a dress shop in Victoria in the 30’s and 40’s and left behind a treasure trove of vintage fabric, which Claire used to create her first pieces.

With a love of crafting, Claire’s Grandma taught her to sew. Her need to be creative inspired her to design garments which she sold at markets, and then after receiving positive feedback from her customers, moved her operation online.

Claire has difficulty describing Harriette Hill’s style mainly because so much of the design of each piece comes from the unique vintage fabrics she uses. She loves clothing that isn’t too fitted and finds that each of her garments can be accessible to women across a few different sizes. She rarely uses black in her clothing, instead favouring vibrant colours and patterns, giving her clothing a bright, summer feel.

An Eco Friendly Approach

Did you know it takes 8500L of water to grow enough cotton to make one pair of jeans? Learning about the huge amount of waste in the fashion industry through her university course (she studies a BFA Majoring in Fashion at QUT) further cemented the need to have a sustainable approach to her label. Claire even donates the off-cuts to another local sustainable business called Little Mother Creations (who make children’s clothing and accessories). By hand making all of her garments, Claire is able to weave sustainability into every part of the process.

Claire has enjoyed being involved with Undress Brisbane for the last 3 years (all of the images of Harriette Hill clothing in this article were taken at Undress Brisbane 2013). She loves the chance to show consumers that sustainable clothing isn’t just for eco-obsessed hippies but that any type of garment, from swimwear to evening dresses can be made sustainably and ethically.

Creative Inspiration

One of the designers Claire admires is Jean Paul Gaultier, a designer who isn’t afraid to push the boundaries of fashion and doesn’t necessarily always conform to trends. Claire admires this ethos and loves to try different styles / silhouettes and let the fabric inspire her!

Fashion Fridays at Capulet Bar

What is a fashion designer who is also studying fashion to do in her spare time? Organise fashion events of course! Approached by Leigh, part owner of Capulet Bar, to help create a platform for local designers, the two came up with the idea for an emerging designers competition. Four heats, each of which has a winner voted by the fashion conscious public. The competition culminates in a final where the best designers of Brisbane will stomp it out on the runway to see who will win amazing prizes such as funding to create a new season look-book!

Claire believes that Brisbane has plenty of fashion potential but there are not many platforms for emerging designers to showcase their wares, other than online. This is why events like Fashion Fridays and Undress Brisbane are so important as they give new talent great exposure.

Personal Style

Claire’s personal style is very influenced by her mood. Her favourite places to shop are op shops and antique stores, as exploring and rummaging to find hidden vintage gems is one of her favourite past-times. Flowing skirts and dresses always catch her eye, and labels like Easton Pearson (which she is wearing above) and Camilla fit her eclectic style.

The more I meet designers like Claire who are focusing on eco-friendly processes and trying to change perceptions about sustainability in the fashion industry, the more I am excited about the future of fashion! Sure the price point of clothing for Harriette Hill is higher than in your average department store but these garments are unique, sustainable and made with love.

Collaborating with local bloggers, models and creatives is one of the things I love about fashion photography. This was my first time working with the lovely Jemma Lily who has a stunning smile and no hesitation playing with bubbles and embracing the bohemian style of our shoot! She is a young lady with big dreams of being an actress and the ease with which she works with the camera, I have no doubt we will be seeing more of her on our screens soon.

We were lucky to have a perfect golden hour on this afternoon, where the sun is at just the right angle to softly backlight the models. We had a lot of fun playing in the gardens and marvelling at the beautiful spring flowers that were blooming everywhere.

The gorgeous Ashleigh McCallum from The Blonde Silhouette was both model and stylist on this shoot and she will be posting part 2 of this collaboration soon!

The hair stylist was Faith Williams, who did an amazing job creating a wild, curled mane for each of the ladies. Makeup was done by the lovely Alana Williams who has been a collaborator on many of my shoots and of course my talented sister, Alisha van Bone assisted.

These beautiful silk kimonos are from Lisa’s Closet who are based in Byron Bay and create these signature garments with a conscience, read about Lisa’s commitment to ethical clothing production.

“The kimonos and silks are produced by hand using ancient batik hand painting methods. The traditional process of the clothing is a ‘labor of love’ and a beautiful hand crafted journey that transcends to the wearer.”

Playsuits (above) and soft, summer shorts and top (below) from online clothing store Vigari Fashion.

Handmade bohemian inspired jewellery from Gold Coast based Hunter Gatherer, I actually loved this chunky chain tassel bracelet so much I had to get one for myself!

5 Minutes with Jemma

How would you describe your personal style?
My style changes day to day, I go from a bit of a hippie in floral dresses and sandals to a rock kid in band tees and acid wash denim hahaha but I love white shirts/singlets with a cute pair of shorts, and playsuits!

Where do you love to shop?
I shop at City Beach heaps! (Partly because I work there) I can always find something I like there to suit any style. Other than that I just pick up things from anywhere and everywhere, I also raid op shops and make/ customise a lot of my own clothes.

Who is your style icon / someone that inspires you creatively?
I don’t have one particular style icon, but I adore Selena Gomez, Blake Lively, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Benson at the moment.

What do you love about fashion and modelling?
I’ve always had an unhealthy obsession with clothes and fashion so falling into modelling was the sickest thing ever! I love that I can change my entire style day to day. I’m pretty laid back most of the time so I usually don’t take shoots too seriously, I like to just have fun with it! I’m up for anything too which makes for some hilarious behind the scenes shots!

What else are you passionate about?
Aside from my style I love performing, acting, cheerleading and dancing! I’d really love to make a career out of screen acting.

Two of the faces of Undress Brisbane: Aicha Robertson and Jazmin Foster-Macready after stomping it out on the runway.

Predress could not have prepared you for the 2013 Undress Brisbane sustainable fashion runway. It was an eye opening evening, with 3 runway sessions to fill, Undress Brisbane brought out amazing designer after designer.

Runway 1 featured street wear, runway 2 showcased delicate intimates and comfortable sports wear and for the finale, runway 3 showcased gorgeous evening wear.

The bar was serving delicious organic cocktails and the runway seats were filled with Brisbane’s fashion elite. The length of the runway was extraordinary and, while giving the models a good workout, it also gave the attendees plenty of time to see the garments. Lit with soft blue lights and decorated with tree branches and leaves, this was a truly unique runway experience.

The fact that so many designers are committed to weaving sustainability into their production is extremely important for the future of our planet and sends a strong message to the rest of the fashion industry. Here is only a small sample of the talented designers and fashionable attendees from the evening.

Fabled and True

Vintage, pre-loved or re-purposed floral and lace fabrics and ladylike silhouettes are Fabled and True’s signature look. Handmade in Brisbane, each Fabled and True piece is designed and made with a love of vintage and days gone by.

La’Or

La’Or clothing sparkled on the Undress Brisbane runway! This label represents high fashion created in an ethical way, where the fabrics include one-off silk pieces, hand-loomed and hand-dyed in Cambodia making each garment unique.

Gemma Anastasiou

Gemma Anastasiou practices sustainable design within high fashion as a means of pushing innovative ideas and creative solutions for the future of fashion.

Glory Box

Glory Box is the destination in Brisbane for unique and vintage garments, shoes and accessories.

Harriette Hill

Harriette Hill are ethically and sustainably created – handmade by real people in Brisbane using a combination of recycled, repurposed, vintage and natural fabrics to minimise their footprint in the fashion industry.

Koru Swimwear

Koru Swimwear is made from eco-friendly fabrics with recycled materials and bulk dyed fabric processed without water waste or water pollution.

Madonna Bain Eco Intimates

Beautiful and luxurious, Madonna Bain Eco Intimates are made from organic and eco-friendly textiles! These eco textiles are not only gentle on the environment, but they are also renowned for their super soft and luxurious feel.

Nico Underwear

Nico Underwear minimises their impact on the environment and makes all of their garments in Australia under ethical conditions. Their materials are sustainably sourced and made to last! Comfort and sustainability? What’s not to love!

What could be more fun than screen printing your own t-shirt?

Tuffys and Tuffets

Tuffys and Tuffets underwear is fashionable, fun and 100% Australian Made. Offering men and women of all shapes and sizes a number of on-trend designs from briefs to boxers, bras and leggings.

Ties and Whimsy

Ties and Whims create “Ties For Her” which are created from vintage and recycled materials, adding a sense of history and uniqueness to each piece.

Habitude

Habitude aims to supply unique and limited edition handmade garments. The fabric is printed digitally using pigment-based colourants, enabling the company to order small quantities of fabric and therefore reduce wastage.

Anna-Lisa Wiklund

Anna-Lisa Wiklund fashion design, handmade in Brisbane.

De Lore Couture

Sustainable men’s clothing made locally and ethically in Australia and New Zealand by De Lore Couture.

Get ready Brisbane because Predress was Undress Brisbane giving us but a small taste of the full sustainable runway show coming on Saturday, October 12!

Featuring the likes of the gorgeous ‘faces of Undress Brisbane’ (pictured above), Predress was attended by fashionable people who sipped delicious cocktails, saw sustainable fashion on the runway, browsed designer stalls and were treated to live music!

BNE Style wrote about Undress Brisbane’s mission to promote sustainable design in a previous post and now, not only can you support them by attending their runway show, you can also donate to their a ‘Mission Pozible‘ campaign to raise funds for Australia’s biggest sustainable runway event!

Aicha wears One Colour which unites women in Africa and Australia through ethical trade, creating sustainable employment and economic empowerment for African women.

One Colour

Sustainable men’s clothing made locally and ethically in Australia and New Zealand by De Lore Couture

Koru Swimwear is made from eco-friendly fabrics with recycled materials and bulk dyed fabric processed without water waste or water pollution.

Nico Underwear is made from sustainably sourced material, their garments represent comfort and durability.

Fellow Brisbane bloggers Fabliha and Tasfia Reza of Inside In, Inside Out.

Jumble Culture By Tilly Fluf creates upcycled fashion by reusing pre-loved, unwanted items and materials to produce unique clothing and accessories.

Glory Box is the destination in Brisbane for unique and vintage garments, shoes and accessories.

We can no longer ignore the environmental issues facing our planet. Undress Brisbane seeks to educate fashion conscious individuals about using consumer power to support designers who practice environmental sustainability as part of their business model. These designers weave sustainability into the many facets of the production cycle from construction to distribution, to reduce their environmental impact.

“We want to show people that sustainable clothing can be diverse and beautiful. Dressing sustainably is not a compromise on style” – Edda Hamar, Undress Brisbane event co-ordinator.

The first event will be the PREDRESS – Sustainable Fashion Networking night on the 20th of September, 2013 which will see Oh Hello transformed into a creative hub featuring sustainable and ethical designer stalls, a guest speaker from Ethical Clothing Australia, live clothing displays by the Faces of Undress Brisbane and more.

Undress Brisbane runway 2012, all photos courtesy of Undress Brisbane.

The main event for Undress Brisbane will be the showcase on the 12th of October, 2013 on the 4th floor of Wilson Car Park in Fortitude Valley. Which will see local designers take the runway to show off their fierce fashions. What can you expect from this event?

“Think a three-part runway show, live music and organic cocktails, all housed in a completely unique setting that will take you away from a Valley car park and into an avant-garde, underground fashion scene.”

Do you think about sustainability when shopping? If so are there any brands you regularly purchase because of their commitment to good environmental practices?

The ivy covered walls of the outdoor area at Capulet bar held the first of 4 heats in their Fashion Fridays competition. This event showcases Brisbane’s talented emerging designers, gets audiences involved in voting and promotes Brisbane’s burgeoning fashion scene. Five designers or boutiques presented several pieces from their collection’s.

There was this amazing skirt (pictured above and below) from QUT fashion students which had a tent like silhouette and bunting! Beautiful vintage inspired pieces by Fabled and True, silk dresses that flowed down the runway from Anna Hulm and pieces from boutiques Pretty Please and Natalie Wear.

After each event, audiences can vote via the Fashion Fridays Facebook page. There will be one event per month until the finale in November.

Fabled and True is designed and made in Brisbane, they practice sustainable fashion as all printed fabrics and the majority of the lace and lining are either pre loved, repurposed or vintage.

Natalie Wear.com is an online boutique and a platform for young and emerging designers.

Anna Hulm’s creations are inspired by dance and represent a perfect fusion of style and comfort. Each piece is created with unique silk fabrics that are machine-washable, fade-resistant and breathable.

Pretty Please boutique is an online store selling feminine items from established and up and coming Australian and international designers.

I recently met up with Lauren, the designer behind local label Baumbach, and her adorable son Alfie, both of whom were a pleasure to spend time with!

The printed peter pan collar on this top caught my attention and I fell in love! This is from the Baumbach Spring / Summer ’12 collection.

Baumbach collection books and hand tea stained swing tags. Lauren is very hands on with her collections and even hand cuts sections from the back of some of her garments.

A sample of the art, created by Lauren’s Father, that was recreated as a textile print and used on a variety of garments in the spring/summer 2012 Baumbach collection.

Baumbach was born from Lauren’s need to flex her creative muscle after finding limited opportunities in Australia’s fashion industry upon arrival from England, where she had worked with brands like Gap. Baumbach has evolved through 3 collections and continues to feature soft, wearable designs and beautiful prints created from artwork she finds inspiring. Featuring the art of her father (pictured above) and collaborating with other artists allows Lauren to blur the line between art and fashion.

I was excited when I discovered Baumbach not only because Lauren uses art to create prints, but also because she tries to source sustainable materials (like bamboo) and have her garments made locally, decreasing her environmental footprint.

The baby pants pictured above are taking Baumbach textiles to new places with clothing for fashionable little people. You can also expect other baby / maternity projects which are in the works before Baumbach brings out another summer collection, which I know will be worth waiting for!