London Fashion Week Day Three

The beautiful young women in their pretty dresses held their poses at the library, as artists used pencils to recreate them as life drawings. The rest of the show’s 13 looks were worn by models on a makeshift stage.

It was part of a display of fashion steeped in sustainability at London’s Royal Institution, where Stella McCartney showed her ethical collection for the Green Carpet Challenge.

This was the first time that Livia Firth’s Eco-Age organization, which founded the Green Carpet Challenge, had asked a sole designer to create a collection to the highest environmental standards, using only materials recycled or sustainability certified.

“It is the thing I am most proud of. I have wanted to do this all my life and it is a huge step forward,” said Stella. She explained that the fabrics were mostly recycled from her own studio – while in some fashion houses an over-supply of materials might be burned or trashed to protect exclusivity.

The Livia Firth initiative, which started as a “green” challenge to the red carpet, has proved that sustainable fashion does not have to be a contradiction in terms.