The downside of spending even a little bit of time in Copenhagen, especially during Fashion Week: you immediately want to scandify your wardrobe. Wear long floating dresses with chunky trainers. Add layers of gold chains to a simple white tee and oversized blazer combo. Do the Pernille braid. The upside is that none of these things are particularly difficult to implement in your own wardrobe. Top of my short shopping list for fall: a leather piece.
Not in the shape of a tried and trusted biker jacket, but as a pair of bermuda shorts, a shirt or a pair of pants with a paperbag waist. Just like I saw the women in Copenhagen wearing (women, I should note, from Norway, the UK and the US, as in my pictures above – Scandi Style has become truly international).
My shopping list is quite short because I’m more concerned with reducing than adding, while considering more than ever what I really need, where I should get it from and how it’s made. I’m not immune to a quick Zara buy. I’m also no expert on issues of sustainability, but after interviewing Orsola de Castro recently, a founding member of Fashion Revolution, I want to take greater care in my fashion choices and share brands with you who are working on improving their practices and production methods. Some of the products I picked for this shopping feature are from Closed, who only work with leather that’s a side product of the food industry and use vegetable dye; from Arket, who use chrome-free tanning on their leather products; from Nanushka, who feature high-end vegan leather in their collections; from Envelope1976, who make handbags out of the surplus material from their leather products (Envelope1976 was founded by stylist Celine Aagaard, who is above left and wearing a leather skirt from her brand – as a top. Getting as much use out of a piece of clothing as possible is also a way of thinking about sustainability).
I am aware that shopping sustainably takes a bigger investment of time and often money. But here are (some) ways of getting started: Net-a-Porter (NET SUSTAIN) and Zalando (Nachhaltige Mode) have added fair fashion as its own category on the websites, making it more easily searchable. I can also recommend Vestiaire Collective. It takes a bit of time to comb through the huge offering of vintage and second-hand clothes, but if you are looking for a particular designer or specific piece, chances are good you will find something coveted at a good price. As for brick and mortar retail: One of my favourite second-hand shops in Berlin is Dear – which I discovered via Jessica Schwarz’s recommendation in Woher hat sie das? –, where I also take a lot of the pieces I no longer wear.
This article contains the names of brands and products and therefore has to be lawfully labeled as ADVERTISEMENT. It also features affiliate links, which means that if you make a purchase through one of the links, I will be receiving a small percentage of the sale. All of the products have been chosen personally and independently by me.
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