20 ***^ Wednesday 7 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
of Fashion and co-founder of Swap
Rebellion. “We didn’t want it to be
like a jumble sale, looking through
tights and leggings; we wanted to
make it more curated. It’s why we did
a summer edit today.”
Swap Rebellion, which was dreamt
up by Yong and friends as part of their
dissertation, organises clothes swaps
around the capital in charity shops
such as Shelter and Mary’s Living and
Giving Shops to promote sustainable
fashion options and raise money for
charity (tickets for this event cost
£10, including prosecco, snacks and
a panel talk). Yong explains that the
idea behind it came from wanting
to increase usage of clothing, which
is lower than ever; a recent study
found that 50 million outfits will be
purchased by Britons this summer, at
a cost of £2.7 billion, but will only be
worn once.
“What we need to do is make use of
what we have,” explains Yong. “There
are sustainable fashion options out
there, but no one is making clothes
with 100 per cent recyclable materials.
For real impact, we need to improve
usage with things like exchanges.
Clothes are more than just things you
purchase; they have meaning.”
It’s true. While the clothes swap
satisfies our desire for the new (at least
new to us), what also appeals are the
stories behind the clothes. One floral
shirt is accompanied by a tag reading:
“Shirt coming from an ex-boyfriendwho failed to understand my taste.
To swap is better than to burn.”
Meanwhile, when I try on an
oversized navy Cos dress, someone
behind me says, “Oh look, it’s Helen’s
dress!” I’m told that Helen still loves
this dress, but chose to donate it
because her job in a “posh paint shop”
involves lots of running up and down
stairs, and she finds it difficult in this
dress. “She’ll be so glad it’s found a
new home with you, though,” her
friend tells me.
I have a similar experience when
I fall in love with a burnt orange silk
slip dress. I hadn’t expected to find any
current fashion trends at the swap,
but this “Aperol Spritz” colour (not
to mention Nineties slip dresses) is
all over Instagram and I can’t resist
it – especially when its former owner,
Kat Terek, comes up to tell me how
much it suits me. It turns out that
she’s a fashion photographer who
bought it for some shoots, planning to
keep it afterwards, but it didn’t fit her
properly. “For some reason I kept it,
hoping it would somehow fit me one
day,” she says. “And obviously it never
did, so I brought it along today.”
This is a common conversation I
keep overhearing at the swap. Most of
the clothes people have donated aren’t
their worst cast-offs: they’re items
they bought with love but hardly wore
until the clothes swap provided them
with the perfect guilt-free solution
to lose the constant reminder of
buyers’ regret. It’s the same reason I
donated my chosen items to the swap,
and I’m excited when I see people
“purchasing” my clothes. I love that
they’re all finding new, better-suited
homes – though I do feel a pang of
rejection when my & Other Stories
jumper is left hanging on the railsFASHION
‘H
ere you go,”
says the event
organiser, dropping
seven buttons and
a glass of prosecco
into my hand.
“Enjoy the swap!” These buttons are
my money for the night. I receive
them in exchange for seven items
of clothing I’ve donated, including
a pale pink leather pleated Topshop
skirt that never fit me properly, a
grey Hush T-shirt I hardly ever wore
and an & Other Stories jumper that
just didn’t match any of my other
clothes. With my buttons in hand,
I’m ready to start browsing the
rails bursting with other people’s
unwanted summer clothes – all
priced at one button each.
Welcome to the world of clothes
swapping. Many of us will be familiar
with the fundamental principle
of a clothes swap – exchanging
your clothes for other people’s
without any money changing
hands – and some may even have
tried it informally with friends.
But recently, alongside a growing
conscientiousness around the
environmental damage of fast-
fashion, clothes swaps have become
more popular than ever.
“Having appeared to have gone off
the fashion radar, swapping seems
to be back,” says Caroline Jones,
Instagrammer and author of Knickers
Model’s Own: A Year of Frugal
Fashion, written about her year
shopping solely in charity shops.
“Keeping things in the circular
economy, restyling items, modifying
and being creative has to be the way
forward. Linear is so last season.”
Unlike buying sustainable (but
new) fashion or renting new pieces
for your wardrobe, swaps go back
to basics by encouraging people to
re-wear existing clothes – which has
no negative environmental impact
whatsoever.
It’s why they are increasingly
popping up across the country.
A quick look on social media andBanish thoughts of piles of dusty cast-offs: for the ‘cost’ of a
button, clothes swapping just got stylish, says Radhika Sanghani
How to get a whole
new wardrobe
- without spending
a single penny
Guilt-free: after exchanging her donations, Radhika set to work finding new pieceswith the other unwanted items at the
end of the night.
“Don’t worry,” says Terek, a regular
at clothes swaps. “Some of the items
that people went for today were
the ones leftover from a swap at the
weekend.”
She’s a big advocate of the circular
fashion movement, explaining: “I
love shopping and fashion, and I have
no self-control, so swaps are perfect
for me. I can take up to 10 items
home without spending any money- or doing any more harm to the
environment.”
The other upside to the clothes
swap is the sense of fun and
community. While normal and online
Coal Drops Yard. Until now, I’ve only
ever been to relaxed clothes swaps
at friends’ houses, rooting through
dusty wardrobes, but this sold-out
event is evidently on another level. It’s
filled with stylishly dressed women
ranging from their twenties to their
sixties (and a smattering of hipster
men), browsing through racks of
Whistles, Cos and Zara clothes – all
interspersed with vintage pieces
and even handmade items and the
occasional designer label.
Many of the clothes still have tags
on, and my worries about finding
people’s poor-quality, damaged
clothes are immediately put to rest.
“Oh, we wouldn’t allow those,” says
Yolanda Yong, a former lawyer and
current MA student at London College‘Normal and online
shopping can be
stressful. This feels
more like a party’
‘We didn’t want it to
be like a jumble sale,
looking through
tights and leggings’
Fashion
UnzippedFor more debate, listen
to The Telegraph’s
Fashion Unzipped podcast
on Apple Podcasts nowHow the humble nightie became
W
hen it comes to
challenging
fashion trends,
pyjama
dressing
is surely
up there. Though the thought of
wafting around in a silky shirt and
trouser combination evokes images
of Bianca Jagger on a Moroccan
rooftop, the reality can be a little
more midnight dash around the local
24-hour supermarket. However,
this summer offers an altogether
more wearable incarnation.
Once upon a time, stepping
out of the front door in a
nightdress would have
raised eyebrows, but now
floaty frocks with boudoir
appeal have become the
summer dress go-to- not least because
they are lightweight
enough to wear in the
current temperatures.
On the spring/
summer 2019 catwalk
Chloé championed
ankle-length cotton
dresses with bedtime
stripes, while Erdem
did silky Forties
and lace Victoriana
styles and The Row
nodded to both Wee
Willie Winkie, with
its gathered-collar
smocks, and Peter
Pan’s Wendy (as
she flew out of the
in John Singer Sargent’s Carnation,
Lily, Lily, Rose.
Meanwhile, fashion editors and
the beautiful people of Instagram
have replaced their floral midis with
linen nightdresses by Ukrainian
label Sleeper – the puffed-sleeved
Atlanta (£255, the-sleeper.com) being
particularly popular. And Ghost’s
nightie-esque midi slip (£95, ghost.
co.uk) has been worn by influencerswindow to Neverland), with the blue
silk Sante maxi on sale at Net-a-Porter.
Nightie fever has taken hold of
the high street, too, thanks to the
launch of John Lewis & Partner’s
new loungewear brand NRBY, which
features maxi nightshirts in grandad
stripes, while Zara’s tiered poplin
smock (which is tipped to replace the
ubiquitous polka-dot frock) looks like
that worn by the nightie-clad childrennight
raise
float
app
sue c s C a d s dan
st
n
W
i
sBaby doll: Gwyneth
Paltrow on the
Met Gala red carpetSmocked or slinky,
nightgowns are a practical- and chic – solution to
climbing temperatures,
finds Frankie Graddonsites like EventBrite shows dozens
happening this summer, either run by
organisations such as Swapaholics UK,
local groups like Recycle Devon, or
more informal parties created through
Swishing, which enables people to
set up their own swaps. In October,
high street brand Toast will introduce
Toast Circle, allowing shoppers to
trade high-quality preloved pieces for
tokens to spend on others’ swaps, to
three of its stores (Edinburgh, Bath
and Westbourne Grove in London)
before rolling the initiative out
nationwide in 2020.
The swap I’m attending is
organised by the social enterprise
Swap Rebellion, hosted by the
Boutique by Shelter charity shop
in King’s Cross’s newly renovatedThe Forties
nightieThe most glamorous of
this summer’s nightdresses
makes for a slinky, old
Hollywood take on the
loungewear look; think
Rita Hayworth reclining
in her dressing room
in floor-length
silk. A grown-up
interpretation of the
ubiquitous slip dress
trend, the joyful
absence of spaghetti
straps means it can
accommodate a bra.
For formal evening
events or any late
summer weddings,
look to Olivia
Rubin’s pink
polka-dot
Elizabeth dress
(£395, oliviarubinlondon),
worn by Joely Richardson
at Wimbledon.
This peach dress from
Olivia von Halle would
make the perfect partner
to a martini – just add
cocktail earrings –
while & Other Stories’
buttercup-yellow
gathered satin maxi
(£89, stories.com)
gives starlet appeal
for less than £100.scalow
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(Silk dress, £
(oliviavonhalle.
com)Lyocell and
lace midi dress,
£
(stories.com)The grandad
shirtFor those who subscribe to
a pared-back aesthetic,
the oversized bed
shirt is the nightie for
you. Longline styles
in cotton or linen
worn over bare legs
make for a casual
beach-holiday outfit,
or layer over jeans
or slim-leg cropped
trousers for city
wear. A crisp cotton
style cinched at
the waist with a
jewelled belt and
heels will even
work for dressy
dinners.
Toas t ’s
double-faced
cotton nightshirt
(£85, toa.st), with a
grandad collar and
below-the-knee
hemline, comes in four
colours, while this Hush
button-down iteration
comes in classic
blue-and-white
stripes for seaside
appeal. For low-key
evenings, try John
Lewis & Partner’s striped
Chrissie shirt dress
(£130, johnlewis.com).s
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(£85, toa.st
grandad co
below-the-
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colours,wh
button-dow
comes inc
blue-and
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appeal
evenin
Lewis &
Chrissies
(£130, johnCotton shirt
dress, £
(hush-uk.com)РЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS