Yesterday: Paris Ethical Fashion Show September 2010: D-1 – Slow Fashion DIY
Tomorrow: Paris Ethical Fashion Show September 2010: D2 – Social Projects and Bureaucracy
If I were to make an intuitive comparison of London Fashion Week’s ‘EstEthica’ and ‘Paris Ethical Fashion Show’, after only a few hours, the conclusion would be twofold:
- EstEthica lined out minimum participation criteria in advance, and all application for participating have to explain their compatibility with the criteria.
The EstEthica approach as to what ‘ethical’ or ‘sustainable’ in fashion means is fairly holistic: Supply chain, type of fibres, design etc. are all puzzle pieces that officially are being taken into consideration.
Not necessarily contrasting, but yet fairly different is the approach of ‘Paris Ethical Fashion Show’: brands are allowed to participate if they consider themselves ethical. To navigate the sea of differences in the definition of the term ‘ethical’ or ‘sustainable’, each brand, both on the catwalk as well as among exhibitors, needs to declare how they do business: upcycling, fair trade, supporting development of emerging markets, craftsmanship, natural fibres, certified organic, collaboration with social projects, etc. - The overall feel of EstEthica – possibly because it’s a part of LFW – is heavily design and innovation centred. PEFS in contrast feels a bit ‘ethnic’ and ‘self-knitted’ in places – although, to do justice, about a third of exhibiting brands would have neatly fitted with their designs into EstEthica as well. Or maybe the difference could better be explained as follows: EstEthica is high quality designs, overall the cocktail dress type. PEFS is more centred around craftsmanship and exchange of practical, often manufacturing related, technical knowledge: dyes, fair trade co-operations and the like.
There are, of course, plus and minuses in both approaches.
EstEthica’s fairly ‘haute couture’ on the one hand helps remedy with legacy of misconceptions that sustainable fashion necessarily has to be is rubbish design. It comes at the price, however, that the message they also get across is that ethical fashion is not exaggeratedly cheap. This is a thin line to walk as a message to the market in an age when exaggerated consumerism asks for fashion at prices cheaper than production costs can reasonably be.
Paris Ethical Fashion Week the other side of the medal: its emphasis lies on sustainable fashion being accessible to everyone – specifically financially, but also design-wise. It’s less cocktail dress and more casual wear. Less haute couture and more grassroots. Less exhibition and more education. Less fashion school designers but more craftsmanship and cooperatives.
Unfortunately however, PEFS is suffering substantially from organisational carelessness – that are repeated year after year in the currently 6th edition.
Just to mention one example – I could already come up with further examples despite, as I write, this only being the second day: The cat walk on the opening night what scheduled for 6pm (door open at 5pm) – in the program on the internet as well as in the program booklet. When I got to the event, everyone seemed to be talking of 7pm, for the time eventually to be comfirmed to be 8pm by asking someone or other of the staff. Eventually however, the speaches ahead of the catwalk did not start until 8.30pm, with the catwalk starting at 8.45pm.
And to top it all off: No official announcement by the organisers as to the delay, no apologies, no reason given. The comment however I was offered with by one of the staff members: ‘Take it easy, this is the world of fashion’. Me: ‘Oh, I guess that’s then what happens at Paris Fashion Week as well? ‘Cause in London it doesn’t …’. Staff member: ‘It’s French lifestyle, we’re after all in France …’
[Note: the last sentence to be reaped in any circumstances where something turns out not have been sufficiently organised over the course of the event so far.]
The dissonance due to timing – and French-English translation issues – not withstanding: PEFS is a hugely interesting opportunity. First of all it is a very welcoming ambiance to foster active discussions and exchange between visitors and the exhibitors. There’s hardly such an opportunity in Europe where one can meet brands and labels from, or collaborating with, South America, Asia and different parts of Europe.
It secondly also a good research ground in order to get a more detailed ‘feel’ for how to define, or not, the terms ethical or sustainable in relation to fashion, while at the same time getting a good idea how varied and complex the arena is.
Tomorrow: Paris Ethical Fashion Show September 2010: D2 – Social Projects and Bureaucracy
Yesterday: Paris Ethical Fashion Show September 2010: D-1 – Slow Fashion DIY
