Bare Fashion: one year on
Wearing a t-shirt and slip skirt from Depop, and apple leather trainers from Womsh.
This weekend I attended the Bare Fashion show in London, now on it’s second year since launching. I’d had my ticket booked since January this year so I’d been looking forward to this for so long! Bare Fashion is (still) the UK’s only vegan fashion show, organised by Vegan Food and Living magazine.
This year the venue had changed (still on Brick Lane) and was much bigger! It felt like a cool New York warehouse style event, I really liked the aesthetics. Everything did seem much more spaced out, with lots of space to walk around and even benches for sitting/eating. I actually liked this more relaxed feel as last year was more compact, but it did make the place feel a bit empty.
The free pizza, cocktail and ice cream was such a nice touch for the VIP ticket holders
I was really happy to see that there were definitely more brands at the event this year! I hope this means that the event has gained momentum and attracted more attention since their first event. Here’s a list of all the brands that were showcased at this year’s event:
Fashion
Story 81
Blowfish Malibu
Fabrikk
Koi Footwear
Ethcs
Culthread
Washala
Piilgrim
Votch
Mahla Clothing
Collection & Co
Ebyak
Honest Department
Artisara
Blanlac
Jakelle Studios
Lalla Wandavi
Lifestyle International
Beauty/hair
Kat Von D
Paul Mitchell
Made by Cooper
Crazy Rumors
Emani Vegan Cosmetics
Tropika
Runes Skincare
Food/drink
Tideford Organics
Sacred Spirits
One Planet Pizza
Miiro Ice Cream
Humble Dough
Pure Wines
Cranes Cider
Jubel Beer
Guruji Snacks
Happy Cat Coffee
Gemini Chocolate
Mooshies London
Other
The Humane Society
Ohros (vegan candles)
Barefoot Glitter
By the time I arrived, I had already missed the talk, which was a Vegan Beauty Panel – so annoyed! The panel was hosted by Vegan Beauty Girl, Nicole, who was joined by Em-J, a vegan and cruelty-free make up artist, and they did a live make up demo on a model and talked about the different products and what brands to look out for.
The second talk of the day was the Vegan Fashion Panel, hosted by the fabulous Marta Canga! Joining her was Sascha Camilli, Editor in Chief of Vilda Magazine, and Kay Lovelle who is a vegan fashion activist (so cool!) They spoke about the challenges facing the fashion industry and how vegan fashion can be the antidote to a lot of the problems. I loved hearing these ladies talk with such passion about vegan and sustainable fashion, and it was funny to hear that they get asked the same questions I do (“Vegan fashion, does that mean you can eat your own clothes?”).
After the panel it was time for the catwalk show (there had been two performances of show during the day – a great idea for people who could only come at certain times). I loved that the stage was centred in the middle of the venue and was a raised square so the models could be seen from all angles. The choreography this year was really interested, with the models walking around each point of the stage before walking diagonally across, not something you often see at fashion shows. It felt energetic and powerful, with the models walking with purpose and attitude – my favourite kind of walk ;) I live streamed the catwalk so hopefully some of you got to see it! There’s also a IG story highlight on my page under BareFashion’19, so go check that out :)
My only negative of the catwalk show was that it felt really non-seasonal, in that there was a mix of summer dresses, beachwear, big heavy coats and knitwear. I found it a bit confusing as we should have been seeing Spring/Summer (assuming this was an early version of a September fashion week show). This confusion makes me worried that the UK fashion scene won’t take this show seriously, as they’re not following ‘fashion protocol’. However, I understand that it is done this way due to the brands they are working with probably not having huge retail turnovers (which is good!) and not sticking to seasonal restrictions (also good for sustainability!).
I’d love to see the day where Bare Fashion could have a slot during September Fashion Week and draw in a wider crowd of fashionistas, showing the world just how great vegan fashion really is!