After last weeks serious blog I will strike a lighter note this week! Brooches! Despite no frocks I have continued my quest for brooches which adorn frocks! I’ve never worn a lot of necklaces though I have a few I love. A few years ago a friend who owned a jewellery shop suggested to me that brooches could be worn like a necklace in the middle of a jumper so my love of brooches began . My collection is generally bought off EBay or linked to a place I’ve been, rendering them of sentimental interest, like my silver llama from Peru.

Last week I visited my cousins,who declared that they were enjoying my blog but mentioned that it was quite political, which set me thinking. I had aimed to write about environmental issues alongside issues about the use of sweat shops . Are Richard Attenborough and Greta Thunberg being political when they talk on environmental issues and of course the answer is yes. Unlike Greta Thunberg, Attenborough doesn’t mention political change but we all know environmental issues are totally bound to politics hence the climate summits attended by political big wigs.. Lily Cole the model and environmentalist has just written her book on political and environmental issues “ Who dares wins.”.A podcast accompanies the book and is well worth dipping into .

“Can you afford to be green if you’re not rich” recorded on the 10 th September poses important issues for us all to think about. It reminds us that the heads of large fashion companies are millionaires employing poor workers in sweat shops. It suggests that large companies purport to be making effort to use more environmentally friendly materials but are reluctant to stop producing the huge bulk of clothing which continues to contribute to the clothes mountains which take years to degrade. It also suggests that there is an element of subconscious colonialism in the west’s attitude, in that if workers in 3 rd world countries receive a reasonable salary and are treated with some dignity it’s okay for huge profits to be made as they are earning enough rather than raising their standard of living by paying even more. They might then start questioning, whereas if they earn just enough if it’s okay.

Will Covid change attitudes, a little I suspect but not enough. It will certainly stop us buying especially now the shops are shutting . To me the joy of shopping is not online but the occasion itself. But I don’t think the younger generation get that. Anyway a seismic shift is the only way our clothing buying habits in the west will change . The longer Covid goes on the more hope there is of change. And if one is to get political the longer governments don’t cope with Covid well the more likely the public will be asking for change , as Greta Thunberg declares needs to happen. Watch this space.

The clocks have gone back and I’ve removed my summer wardrobe to the spare room and replaced it with winter! I miss those bright summer colours as we all revert to blending in with Autumn/Winter. This year more than any other it’s going to be our outside attire which will be most viewed. As I said to a friend “there’s no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothes!”. So I’m off to the Cotswolds to walk today ,padded raincoat and shower proof hat should do! A bright scarf hopefully will cheer it up! As the days close in I guess we will all be reverting to slouchy clothes and slippers in the evening. But as in the spring under lockdown,I will continue to enjoy browsing that winter wardrobe each morning for the appropriate winter outfit and making sure I’m presentable and made up even if I don’t see anyone except my husband all day!!

10 weeks until the end of the year! Last week was Harry and Kate’s second wedding anniversary and next September will be Jack and Emma’s wedding day. Sitting in my wardrobe is the dress I wore to Harry and Kate’s wedding.

The dress is still sitting in the wardrobe never having been worn since! It reminds me of what I was taught by my mum. That one didn’t wear the same special dress again unless no one had seen it before at the new event.It also reminds me about our “Sunday best”, a term that people are unfamiliar with now. Because clothes weren’t easily disposed of years ago and there was no such thing as fast fashion, as children we all wore our Sunday best for special occasions. Eventually our Sunday best was reassigned for everyday wear and new Sunday best was obtained! No such thing as Sunday best now in our throw away society! Clothes are disposed of after just a few wears and land up in land fill for years and years. But my mums indoctrination has remained and I don’t throw things away hence clothes every where even in the loft! So that wedding outfit is here to stay just in case I get asked somewhere where no one has seen that dress before.

lonedesignclub.com/collections/gung-ho

lonedesignclub.com/collections/dresses/products/ldc-gungho-pesticide-shift-dress

lonedesignclub.com/collections/gung-ho

lonedesignclub.com/collections/gung-ho

I’ve been thinking about next year as it gets closer and how my experience this year will inform my purchasing next year. Early this year I listened to the designer Paul Smith on the radio,predicting that the high street would suffer in the pandemic. This would lead to a return to less new collections which would filter to a slower turnover on the high street. That of course would be excellent for landfill. We have all seen photographs of the massive clothes mountains assigned to binning. Many of the items are made from environmentally unfriendly materials ( plastics ) made in processes that use huge amounts of water by slave labour. All the high street shops purport to be more environmentally friendly than they were but the constant sales and shear clothes wastage says it all. So I guess we should all be thinking more carefully before we buy.

I guess the problem is that unless we are buying preloved, ethical fashion costs much more. But then one statement dress should bring as much enjoyment and far more meaning than ten purchases from H and M. That’s why I’m so interested in my daughter in laws website Lone Design Club. I’ve been particularly taken by the designs of Gung Ho. The pesticide shift dress looks great and what a talking point ! 10 percent of the profits return to charity and the material is tencal ( see the link). It’s also made in the uk and supports local businesses. It’s not cheap to buy so I’m waiting for a sale! I guess that’s the problem people are so used to buying such cheap clothes, but this is a very modern phenomenon, our parents and grandparents bought quality over quantity and we should be returning to that. Hard to do I think as our shopping habits of today tie in with the Facebook generation, celebrity fashion, and the desire for all of us who aren’t in the category to buy expensive clothing to have the opportunity to buy those very good designer copies.

However I’ll be saving up and hoping for the sales for that statement shift i love. Perhaps one of those more expensive GungHo dresses will also be suitable for a wedding next year!

lonedesignclub.com/

My daughter in law works for this, well worth looking out. When January arrives I will be taking a very close look.