Fast Fashion Thinking

The other day I came home practically dancing through the door. I was in the type of mood which, to anyone else must have been extremely irritating; I felt like I had just chugged down three coffees and was seeing everything through gold-tinted lenses. This was very different to the corpse-like, apathetical mood which had consumed me all day. It was freezing out and all I could think of was snuggling under the duvet with a hot chocolate, but then I entered The British Heart Foundation charity shop, my thoughts of Hot Chocolate and cosiness slipped away: I had found a coat; an Olive green coat, with a shearing trim and collar, three brown ring buckles running down it. I tried it on and felt like I was in some old Russian movie. I felt human again, awake and stirred by buying something I wanted to sleep in it, I liked it so much. My mum's comment that I was turning into Scrooge with all this Charity shop splurges dissolved instantly. I hung it in my wardrobe envisaging wearing it with a faux fur head band, faux shearing lined boots and plaited hair, (Dr Zhivago style).

 Now, I know I'm on the verge of sounding superficial, feeling a surge of glee from a coat, but it's not like that, really. It's not as simple as 'being vain'; it's the awareness that I'm wearing an exquisite piece of design and appreciating this. It's about the semiotics which trigger when I see it: Anna Karenina, snow sprinkled Russian towns. I love the colour, a green which is beautifully muted, earthy and natural - a little like damp moss.

The coat was £20 from a charity shop - which justified my buying of something I didn't need - but my mum's scrooge comment surfaced in my mind. Our relationship with fashion is fascinating; why do we desire endless amounts of clothing? In Lucy Siegle's book, To Die For, she cites how around eighty billion garments are produced each year. That's absurd. That's more clothes than people on the planet - if they sprout brains, they could take over.

Revolution of  clothes aside, Vivienne Westwood's 'Buy less, choose well and make it last' mantra couldn't be more acute, as the desire for fast-fashion is having a detrimental effect on the conditions of production workers, as well as on the environment. Torn between my infatuation with beautiful design but morals too, I've decided to buy mostly from charity shops, where I can buy until I'm staggering beneath the weight of shopping bags, knowing the money is going to causes who need it. No oil or finite resources have been used, it's free from the cruelty imposed on factory workers, and between us: it's how I get my kicks.

If you haven't delved into your local charity shops, you have been seriously deprived of the sweet glee the treasure troves provide. From finding a Tartan Topshop skirt for four pounds, to a coffee coloured wooly jumper, I've found half the thrill is the hunt for pieces. I felt like I'd discovered America when I found a Mulberry belt for one pound.

My perception of fashion crumbled when the Rana Plaza disaster occurred and 1,139 people lost their lives. Working 8am to 10pm, enduring verbal abuse and not being allowed to use the bathroom are the type of conditions which permeate the factories. This made me double take when rejoicing in cheap high-street buys but also squirm at the harsh reality that boycotting fashion far from solving the problems, could lead to more issues for the workers across the manufacturing line.

Facing issues like these and sustainability is more than simply buying from charity shops. It's a mentality, being a conscientious consumer which will change purchase longevity and the level of consumer demand. When fashion is criticised as merely superficial, I pounce of the topic. Fashion is a reflection of culture and is an accessible way to collect something beautiful. No one recoils at the thought of books being endlessly purchased, perhaps because they omit a more wholesome gain, but fashion is rich with creation and style too. Like flicking through a well-love book, running a hand along the clothes in my wardrobe gives me a feeling of content. Every pattern, texture, cut and material is the product of imaginations. The classic construction of clothing is being re-imagined by unique visions all the time, so it's no wonder we crave to wear these new pieces of design, it's exciting.

Fashion is brandished with negative associations of materialism because some people shuffle into the shops, robot style, knee-deep in ideals of looking a certain way. It's for other people, to fit in, or worst of all, to clone ourselves on how others look. Being hypnotised by fashion trends, while surface-sweet, can lead to  Scrooge-style greed, slam this together with the vanity complex and you have the catalyst for fast-fashion.

Lending clothing, swapping, donating, updating stuff you already have and shopping in charity shops will all counter act the problems fashion can create. If you genuinely appreciate what you buy and consider how much you are buying, then you're not being a scrooge, you're being a treasure hunter relishing in sparkly finds. Thinking about purchases will mean you keep it for longer; my green coat will definitely be with me for as long as I cease to adore it, (in which case I would rush the coat to a charity shop and then sit myself in therapy to see what broke down in our relationship). If you're a fanatic, charity shops are your matching sock; you have no cap on moral purchases there so spend away. Fashion should be an expression of the self, it should be collected and cherished, what it should not do is exploit people or nature.

If you love clothes, the world and people, start campaigning for change in fast-fashion and have a look at some of these organisations pushing for change:

http://fashionrevolution.org/

http://www.cleanclothes.org/