This style article packs a punch: 5 OUTFITS styled for a busy week & cold weather, 11 hottest fall/winter TRENDS, 15 ethical brands, and 5 tips on building your own ethical wardrobe.
Can (and should) everybody wear the hottest colours of Fall-Winter 2017/18? How to wear the double denim trend? How to style silver shoes and red boots? Is the head-to-toe red outfit wearable? Does fair fashion offer truly trendy pieces or “just classics” or “just basics”? And how the heck do I make a trend match my style?
If I were a fashion blogger, I would milk this thing for WEEKS. But I’m the Quest Queen of the BEAUTYCALYPSE, and I’m sharing it all in this one article.
All of it.
So. Much. Fun.
Fasten your seat belts, green gang!
5 Outfits, 11 Trends, 15 Ethical Brands, 5 Wardrobe-Building Tips:
“My Week in Ethical Outfits“
The 11 TRENDS I am exploring by combining them in 5 OUTFITS – comfy, business, edgy, extravagant, and laid back – are:
1. Double Denim combined with 2. Checks & Tartan
3. Cropped Pants combined with 4. Tweed
5. Red Total Look
6. Red Boots (I chose 7. Combat Boots, merging two trends into one)
8. Goth – an unbreakable trend, thank you, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo!
9. Jewel Tones, brought to you by Pantone, specifically Navy Peony and Royal Lilac are right up my alley (and here’s your answer: no, you can’t make all trendy colours work for you – pick something that ignites your imagination)
10. Silver
11. Fake Fur.
Denim dress, slim checkered stretch jeans: Feuervogl
Ethical down coat: Ecoalf via Press Factory
Upcycled OOAK tote: Toshka Berlin
Ethical rubber necklace: Batucada
Silver oxfords: Beyond Skin
(Lipstick: Ilia Beauty ‘Karma Chameleon’, foundation: Hiro ‘Daniels’ and ‘Fitzgerald’)
Ethical wool suit – blue and beige threads that look like a rich grey: Grüne Erde
Red longsleeve: Wolford
Tote/ backpack: Qwstion (bought at Qwstion online shop)
Red combat boots: Vegetarian Shoes
Watch: SlowJo
Buddha ring/ costume jewellery: Sweet Romance by Shelley Cooper
(Reusable cup: Kahla Cupit, reusable stainless steel straw: Eco Brotbox, ethically produced stainless steel lunch box: U Konserve)
T-shirt: “stylist’s own” (just a random basic eco cotton tee)
Dress: 22/4 hommes femmes via Quinto Berlin
Faux leather skirt: Wolford (Estella in ‘Midnight’)
Net tights: Kunert Blue
Bag: Banda Bags
Silver earrings and necklace worn as belt: Tiffany & Co.
Silver oxfords: Beyond Skin
(Eyeshadow: rms beauty ‘Magnetic’, lip gloss: Benecos ‘Kiss Me’, blush: Zao Beauty eyeshadow in ‘Pink Gold’)
60s flower print dress, 90s satin bomber jacket: Lenas Lovely Vintage Berlin
Garnet ring: “stylist’s own” and vintage
Red combat boots: Vegetarian Shoes (bought at Avesu)
T-shirt: “stylist’s own” organic cotton tee
Vest with fake fur collar/ hood: 22/4 hommes femmes via Quinto Berlin
Faux leather skirt: Wolford (Estella in ‘Midnight’)
Net tights: Kunert Blue
Navy blue weekender: Qwstion via Silk PR
Navy blue mango bangle: Grüne Erde (bought in 2015)
Silver oxfords: Beyond Skin
Five Tips to Building a Sustainable Wardrobe
Tip 1: Start with the shoes
You’ve seen five outfits styled with just two pairs of shoes – a thing unheard of among fashion bloggers. But this is how I roll, and roll very well if I may say so myself.
For my everyday life in Berlin, I need either sturdy, heavy duty shoes or just comfy and “sensible” (albeit not-too-sensible-looking) shoes appropriate for business, even though I should add that I deem combat boots just as appropriate as the oxfords. 😉 I never need sandals, I hardly ever need snow boots, and at 176 cm (5’9″) height I am not particulary fond of wearing heels… Do you see how quickly I’ve just killed any “shopping seduction”… Unless maybe for combat boots?
Anyway, picking shoes first is a great thing to do – while fashion styles can distract you, knowing where you go (literally!) determines best your choice of footgear. Office + kindergarten + gardening in Paris suggests a different kind of footwear than, say, Surf teaching + beach party + shopping in Portofino.
⭐️ Choose the shoes and the rest will fall into place!
Tip 2: Comfort over anything!
Forget about clothes sizes and your visions of an ephemeral “ideal shape”. Always follow your current measurements and the brand’s unique size chart or try clothes and shoes on. Pieces that don’t fit, or do hurt you, automatically feed the “a wardrobe full of nothing to wear” monster. Shoes, underwear, outerwear – well-fitted garments, even if they are well-fitted to look slightly oversized, automatically look more polished and more exquisite.
Tip 3: Buy for now
Seriously. Never buy “for when I lose weight”. Or “for when I go to a special party”. Buy for your current lifestyle. Period.
Seriously, that’s it.
⭐️ Buy for the NOW.
Tip 4: If you have too much of the “nothing to wear”
As long as your wardrobe is filled with more than you can remember, make it a rule to sort out three pieces before you get a new one. I did so when I last rearranged my closet, and boy oh boy, did this rule help. First, you are forced to sort out stuff you haven’t touched in ages. Second, it doesn’t hurt as much as a total purge.
Tip 5: Love what you own
Do you remember the horror of having the first scratch in your favourite pair of coveted new shoes as a teenager? Maybe not if you were born into the fast fashion reality, but if you’re older than 25, chances are, you do.
These days, people in the Western world seem to need enigmatic organisation gurus to learn – again – to feel the joy of possessing something nice.
But trust me: a wardrobe filled with favourite pieces only is your ticket to endlessly many cute and stylish outfits that reflect who you truly are.
Photography: pola und helena
