Eco Fashion Week Australia has partnered with Fremantle-based wool merchant, Scanlan Wools Pty and their partnering company Sunshine Textile Group from China to challenge local design students and established eco-designers to create one unique garment using only three square meters of Merino fabric.

Since the late 1700’s, wool has been very much a part of the Australian landscape. Western Australia now produces 71 million kg wool per year with over 95% of Merino wool destined for the luxury fashion market.

A total of ten student designers from Western Australia educational institutes plus six eco designers received Western Australian Marino wool that is created with superfine 18.5 micron fibers from Scanlan’s Merino wool growers, was sent to China to be woven at Sunshine’s’ wool mills and returned to Perth to be created into custom garments.

Last evening at EFWA, the final results on the runway were amazing. From high fashion glamour of long dresses and casual street style to children’s wear.

Eco-friendly consumers want to know how and where they fabrics are made these fashion designers has shown that Australia Merino wool is the choice when it comes to style, comfort and sustainability.

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Eco Fashion Week Australia has been successful in bringing together both established and emerging fashion designers as well as artists, activists, media, businesses, local governments and the broader community to raise awareness for environmentally conscious fashion in both Australia and on a global scale.

Now in its second year, Eco Fashion Week Australia’s expansion to a traveling, two-city runway show is all due to the efforts of Zuhal Kuvan-Mills, founder of EFWA and eco-friendly luxury fashion designer. Through both her own line Green Embassy and EFWA, Kuvan-Mills promotes sustainability and slow fashion with passion and determination.

Above photo: Green Embassy collection by Zuhal Kuvan-Mills | Model Lauren Di Meglio – Dane Selby Modelling Agency |Make-up Jessica Vlog | Photo Aiden Green

Port Douglas: Fashion for the Rainforest

Home to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef – the world’s largest reef system – and the vast tropical biodiverse rainforest of Daintree National Park, Port Douglas is the perfect location to bring home Eco Fashion Week Australia 2018 message of how beautiful and yet fragile our environment is and how we must consume less fashion in our daily lives in order to protect our planet.

After Port Douglas, the show travels to Fremantle, the port of Perth, for a second week of designer fashion shows. Both venues will feature business and educational programs, eco seminars and mending workshops, providing opportunities for each of us to learn how we can make a difference in our world.

As a media sponsor, Style Drama will be reporting on the latest eco fashion news from the front row and offering up luxury travel stories on the best of Port Douglas and Fremantle’s hotels, restaurants and attractions such as wellness, adventure and shopping options during the week.

Sustainability is the New Black

Zuhal Kuvan-Mills will be introducing Green Embassy’s new collection which is inspired by the Carnaby’s Cockatoo, an endangered species in Australia whose numbers are declining rapidly.

With their natural habitat of native vegetation cleared by urban development, this species is expected to be extinct in less than a decade. As the population declines, they are no longer breeding in up to a third of their breeding sites.

The cockatoos form lifelong pairs and live up to 50 years in the wild. But with a large portion of the population past breeding age, and very few younger birds to keep the species from declining, this bird’s days appear to be numbered.

Zuhal Kuvan-Mills created her Carnaby’s Cockatoo collection using a myriad of fabrics such as Australian merino wool, alpaca fiber, organic cotton, silk as well as cheesecloth and recycled window dressings. This represents just a sample of her collection which will be featured at both locations.

Eco Fashion Week Australia 2018

With the goal to inspire us to change our perspectives on fashion, Eco Fashion Week Australia showcases the most creative, artistic and beautiful designs while remaining socially and environmentally responsible. Need proof that environmentally conscious fashion doesn’t have to be drab? Look no further than Style Drama. Our coverage of the exquisite and fashion-forward collections at Eco Fashion Week Australia 2018 will make you an green fashion convert.

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With its rebel history and its distinctly Parisian je ne sais quoi, it’s no surprise that the beret is making a comeback, appearing in the runway collections of Yves Saint Laurent, Isabel Marant, and Dior. Current incarnations of this stylish staple include brightly colored versions in textured wools and others in black leather studded with colored stones. Models with their hair up wore the look best though leaving hair long and loose is a stylish option too.

This age-old icon of French fashion originated in the Pyrenees about 400 years ago. Berets were first worn by rural peasants and then by soldiers in the 18^th and 19^th centuries before becoming a worldwide symbol of French chic.

Propelling the humble beret to its current luxury status is Laulhére, France’s oldest and last remaining beret manufacturer which just opened a boutique on Paris rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore near the shops of luxury designers such as Hermes and YSL.

Laulhére began manufacturing berets 170 years ago and still uses the same century-old machinery to knit the luscious merino wool used for the hats which it then steams, forms and colors. This process takes nearly two days to complete but, despite the labour intensive technique, Laulhére now sells over 200,000 berets a year with a prices ranging from US$75 for a basic model to nearly US$1200 for a leather hat decorated with stones and crystals. Their main clientele are now international tourists looking to take home a piece of archetypal French luxury.

Back in the mid 80’s, there were over 20 beret manufacturers in the Pyrénées region but by they were all driven out of business by Chinese and Indian factories producing lower cost products. The workers at Laulhére  are passionate about preserving this French tradition and proudly offer their clientele quality Made in France berets.

During your next trip to Paris, pay a visit Laulhére to acquire one of their beautiful berets. Not only will you look totally chic and absolutely au courant, you will also be helping keep the production of a quintessentially French fashion icon rooted in home soil.”

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