Like Swishing, Ms Wanda is all about beautiful clothing that doesn't cost the earth. As well as a prolific blogger, Ms Wanda is also the creative director of Ms Wanda's Wardrobe, a veritable treasure trove of sustainable goodies for the eco-chic.
My name is Wanda and I used to be a Primark addict. There I said it! I’ve got it off my chest.
They were my wilderness years, the years when I could be heard saying: ‘it doesn’t matter if it falls apart because it cost so little.’ I thought I was being good because I took all my clothes to a charity shop when I was bored of them. I never really thought about the fact that if they were falling apart the charity shop wouldn’t be able to do anything with them.
It was when I did some volunteering with Oxfam, in their online second hand store, that I realised what a huge problem waste was. In their warehouse they had this huge bin, about 10ft high and 10ft wide. It was stuffed full of clothes. And that was only two weeks worth. The warehouse manager told me that around 70-80% of it will be useless because it will be in such bad condition. All of that ends up on landfill.
It was a friend of mine who introduced me to swishing and inspired me to start my year long challenge of only wearing recycled clothes. I’m six months in and enjoying it so much. I’ve had so many people tell me they have been inspired to do the same, and asking me for advice. Therefore I have set up a pop up shop to promote sustainable fashion. There will be a whole range of things going on in the space, from upcycling workshops, to a slow fashion consultancy. And of course there will be a swish.
The swish takes place on Sunday 3rd April at Ms Wanda’s Wardrobe at 3-5 Whitechapel Road, London E1. Drop off you old clothes between 4.30pm and 6pm. Swish doors open at 6.30pm. The swish cost £5 to enter and all profits go to Greenpeace. For more information visit http://mswandas.co.uk/events