Posted by Fashion Junior at Large
On Sunday, I spent some time looking around this year's Estethica exhibition- LFW's ethical arm and a chance for some of the most exciting people doing ethical fashion to display their wares. There were some brilliant stories to be heard so I thought I'd share some with you.
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| Eva at her Estethica stall |
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| One of Eva's most recent designs, using organza and leather |
Eva Zingoni well and truly eschews any remotely hippie, sack-cloth elements that may still be associated with ethical fashion. She has always been involved in fashion, starting out as a trendspotter before retraining as a designer. She worked at Ralph Lauren before moving to Balenciaga where she eventually became the label's 'special orders' person. Basicallly, she was the middle woman between Nicholas Ghesquiere and Balenciaga's super special clients, including world famous actresses like Nicole Kidman. Zingoni says that this time meant she was' very close to the manufacture process of these houses. I saw all the fabrics they didn't want'. In 2008, Zingoni decided to leave Balenciaga and go it alone, creating a new kind of business which had formed its structure in her mind as she had witnessed the huge amounts of material wasted by big fashion houses. She had created her first collection by September 2009.
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| Eva Zingoni SS12 |
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| Eva Zingoni SS12 |
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| Eva Zingoni SS12 |
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| (Images from londonfashionweek.co.uk) |
She may have taken time out to have a baby since then but her
maison is now a destination for Parisiennes to get their own piece of couture at a fraction of the price they would usually pay, simply because Zingoni can buy her fabric, top designer quality, at extremely reasonable prices. Her industry contacts are arguably her greatest asset. Unfortunately, due to the fact that Eva's pieces are very limited edition they are not available online. At the moment,
the main place to find Eva is at her workshop in Paris, but she is also stocked at a handful of shops in Spain, Japan and Belgium. This means that any purchasing desires are not so easy to fulfil as clicking through to an online site, at the moment. The very nature of Eva's business means that items are limited and so cannot be made available on any kind of mass scale. However, if you were thinking of buying Balenciaga or the like but are now thinking of Zingoni then you could afford a long weekend in Paris on top of your purchase for what you would have spent; her pieces retail at between 95 and 550 euros. Keeping it local is also an important principle which Eva works on 'It must be made in France' she says 'there is a lot of emotion which goes into creating my clothes'.
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| Pieces from Eva's AW10 collection. Images from LoPetille |
I love that Eva's version of ethical is a completely practical one- it's all about making the most of resources and mechanisms which are already in place so it's cutting waste right now. Her business model accepts the way the industry works and slots into its own niche to improve thing the status quo rather than going for a big shake-up. Crucially the clothes are beautiful too, but we wouldn't expect any less from a Parisienne with such a stellar CV, now would we?
Find out more about Eva at
EvaZingoni.comTop Images: Fashion Junior at Large
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