Green Wardrobe Challenge \ Nuji

Today is a good day to talk about the Green Wardrobe. It’s a day of a world first, the Best Actress Award at the oscars was presented by a man (Colin Firth) in a preworn Tom Ford tuxedo and the winner (Meryl Streep) collected her award in an ethically sourced Lanvin gown. This is down to Livia Firth, Lucy Siegle and Jocelyn Whipple, the core team of the Green Carpet Challenge. The GCC is now in it’s third year and started with Livia using her platform as a nominated actor’s wife to bring some stunning sustainable design to the  red carpet. Over the past two years the Red Carpet has seen some of our finest ethical designers create bespoke pieces for the Red Carpet, who can forget that gorgeous Henrietta Ludgate dress that Livia met President Obama in, or last years Oscars look with an incredible dress by Gary Harvey and jewellery by Anna Loucah?

This year has seen the Green Carpet Challenge take things a leap further with Livia and her team working with some of the world’s top designers including Armani, Valentino and Paul Smith to create looks for a whole host of actors and actresses. Between this and Suzy Cameron’s Red Carpet, Green Dress project that launched in 2009, the whole Red Carpet looks set to turn Green by 2013.

But what about our wardrobes? Well through my 12 Rules To Dress By, I have been sharing my ideas with you on how we can get our own green closets, and of course sharing my fashion purchases with you at the end of every year. But I have found something that will help us share the best of ethical fashion currently available. It’s called Nuji, and similarly to pinterest you share things you like from around the web. The main difference being that on Nuji, people can retag the things you like and also buy them. I think it’s great for helping people to discover new brands and independent retailers.

I have set up my own page on Nuji, and all the pieces that I have tagged are picked with my 12 Rules To Dress By in mind, making them guilt free purchases. When friends ask me how easy/difficult it is to only dress ethically, I usually share that it is a bit of a challenge. I know that the fashion exists, but I don’t always have the time to find it, or the money to pay for it, so I have certainly had to compromise my style in my quest to find a positive story behind everything in my wardrobe. But I keep at it because I know that the more of us that demand it, and celebrate it, the more sustainable style we will be rewarded with in the future. Putting together my wishlist on Nuji made me realise that there is not as much gorgeous ethical fashion available online as I had thought, the opportunity to curate pieces without having to check my bank balance or have an occasion to wear it to, should have pulled up hundreds of stunning pieces, but it didn’t.

So my challenge to the industry is to get it out there. There are so many great collections that I can’t find online, get them up there so we can find you and share you.

Here is a peek at my first Nuji selection (to which I am adding to daily):

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You can join Nuji.com and that way we can share what we find and what we love. It’s invite only, but I have an invite just for you.