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Image Description: Street view of Topshop’s Oxford Circus store The world of online retail has claimed yet another victim on the British high street. Unable to keep up with fast fashion and the immediate satisfaction that low-cost brands such as Boohoo and PrettyLittleThing can provide, Topshop will not be reopening its doors after the current […]
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Image description: A row of shops, with a Christmas tree in the middle. Will I shed a tear for Debenhams, the department store that has withstood total collapse for so long? The store opened first in 1778, withstanding wars, depressions, the invention of modern life, and even my working there as a Christmas Temp, despite […]
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With Black Friday having just passed, one of the largest shopping days in the world, we reminded again of the humanitarian and environmental dangers of fast fashion. Brands such as Pretty Little Thing have been accused of encouraging unsustainable consumption with their deals of up to 99% off – including dresses for as little as […]
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Image description: a shopfront with ‘sale’ in large lettering Recently, reports emerged showing that Boohoo’s suppliers had kept factories open during the lockdown without adequate social distancing and with workers reporting symptoms. It was also revealed that some suppliers to Boohoo were paying workers as little as £3.50, far below the legal minimum wage. This […]
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Image description: Two of the artworks presented in the January issue of Vogue Italia Vogue Italia has shaken the fashion world to its unsustainable core with the release of its new 2020 issue. This special issue, that came to newsstands on January 7th, features “zero editorial shoots” as a reaction against the ever-growing carbon footprint […]
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Image description: Julia’s tattoo of a Tillering on her left forearm In the modern world, a culture of fast-fashion has changed our perceptions in regard to permanence and stability in design. In an interview with Julia Mervis, we look at the Philosophy behind a form of artwork that is beyond trends and consumerism — a […]
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Having converted to a meat-free lifestyle in my first year at Oxford, I felt I could live with a level of environmental smugness – I didn’t need to feel bad about my personal contributions to climate change because I hadn’t eaten beef in a year and a half. However, deep in the depths of long […]
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Fast fashion. An industry now intrinsic to the high street, earning the name through its fast process from design to mass production as much as its brief shelf-life. In a consumer culture where trends last as long as a Twitter hash-tag, how can retailers keep up the pace without social and environmental consequences? Short answer: they can’t. The challenge has moved beyond slowing […]
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