What's fashion got to do with it?

Dilys Williams from the London School of Fashion loves clothes enough to be helping fashion designers create an ethical revolution. She’ll be explaining What fashion’s got to do with climate change at Highbury’s CLIMATE CHANGE & ME conference on Saturday 11 October. Tickets for the event are free, just turn up at 11am at Highbury Fields School, Highbury Hill. Dilys will be speaking at approx 4pm (please arrive in good time).

We all have some clothes we don’t wear much – but did you know that the average woman over their whole lifetime throws away #12,000 of clothes that have not been worn?

Sometimes clothes are so cheap they don’t last for more than a few outings, or are not good enough quality to repair. So if you love clothes Dilys Williams, who has worked with top designers including Katharine Hamnett (at her Highbury studio) and Stella McCartney will be a speaker you don’t want to miss.

Click here for a pic of Dilys and an interview about what she likes wearing published recently in The Guardian newspaper.

“Love your clothes. Don’t be dictated to by the magazines and change your clothes and identity all the time. Be proud of who you are and think about your identity – and make sure your clothes reflect that identity. If we all loved our clothes more I’m sure that that would change the impact of the fashion industry dramatically,” says Dilys who admits to loving black frocks and cagoules (not necessarily together!).

“We don’t have to be a martyr to ethical fashion and wear grungy items. But we will only get more choice if we go to the kind of designers and retailers that offer what we like. So:

1 Look for something that is your style.

2 Demand more from retailers – such as Gap, Next, Monsoon, Top Shop and Primark - by asking how does this piece impact on the environment? How was it made? Who made it?

3 It sounds radical, but don’t wash your clothes as much instead care for them more and repair them.

4 If you can try reusing something you already have. Some designers take a material and then upscale it; maybe make it more beautiful or fit better. You can see how the Brick Lane company, Junky Styling transforms suits at http://www.junkystyling.co.uk/ (and yes they do women’s clothes too).

Come and hear more money saving and fashiontastic ideas from Dilys at the free CLIMATE CHANGE & ME festival on Saturday, 11 October. You can find out more about London College of Fashion's Centre for Sustainable Fashion here.