Last week was World Fair Trade Day and I decided to wear my Johari Tafriji dress as I love the pink colour and leopard design but also because I wanted to celebrate a brand that is really making a difference to peoples lives in Africa. I am also featuring Johari in my ‘Story Behind the Brand’ series as I think there is a really interesting story behind their clothes.

Johari’s Philosphy is simple, they believe that fashion should be ethical, stylish and beautiful. Johari means ‘something precious’ in Swahili and each piece of clothing and jewellery is handmade in Kenya by Social Enterprise Johari Designs. Johari empowers vunerable young adults to build a living for themselves and their families.

I have posted about Johari in the past here so thought that this time I would focus on the story of just one people behind the brand.

In its work with schools the Johari Foundation has recognised a need for support of particular children with their educational and social needs. They aim to help improve the employment prospects and provide long term economic opportunities for children who don’t have high academic achievements and avoid them being caught in a trap of poverty, drugs or prostitution.

Agnes (pictured above) is just one of the girls that has been employed by Johari as an apprentice on their Miale Scholarshop Scheme in Naorobi Kenya. 100% of the profits from the sales of Johari products go into funding this project.

Agnes says

“Ever since joining Johari as an apprentice my life has changed for the better. At Johari I have found a team that has encouraged me to look at life positively and found a reason to believe in a possibility of a good future. I have so far perfected my skills in dressmaking, and I’m familiar with purchasing of the workshop materials”.

Agnes has been working in the Johari designs studio, a bright airy space with plenty of natural daylight on the top floor of a building in central Narobi, since 2008. The workshop is well equipped with sewing machines, overlockers and jewellery making equipment. Agnes’s roles at Johari include making sure the production department have the necessary materials, sourcing and purchasing at least twice a week and compiling weekly reports. She says that her favourite aspect of working with Johari is purchasing as she gets to meet lots of different suppliers. She also likes unique items like the Ungana Necklace.

As part of the scholarship, apprentices are be given the opportunity to gain exposure to all aspects of the design, manufacturing and sales process. The girls  divide their time between hand making intricate jewellery and dress making. They work between 9am and 5pm with 2 breaks and an hour for lunch and recieve £100 per month in pay plus access to people who can help with any social issues that they have including additional support with housing if needed.

Neema Dress

Haki Necklace

If you would like to find out more about Johari Designs and the fantastic work that they are doing and check out their fantastic clothes and accessories, please check out www.johari.co.uk. You can also find out more about Agnes on the Johari blog here and meet the rest of the team here.

With warmest wishes

I have been admiring clothes from Seasalt Cornwall on style-is.co.uk for a while now, so when I got a bit of money for my birthday, I decided to invest in a striped tunic as stripes never go out of fashion and they are also really versatile. This tunic could be worn as a top with leggings or jeans or as a dress when the warmer weather finally arrives.

I was really pleased with the tunic and know I will wear it loads because it is so comfy and easy to wear. It is made from really soft certified organic cotton which is lovely and thick. The flattering cut also means it skims rather than clings which becomes ever more important the older I get. The high neck is also great for wearing with statement necklaces and definitely my favourite style for casual clothes. Seasalt Cornwall were the first UK company to use cotton certified by the Soil Association and they still use more than any other company in the UK they also clearly show their purchasing / ethical policy on their website. I feel really confident that Seasalt Cornwall clothing has been manufactured with respect for people and planet.

The bag was also a birthday treat and is from My Green Bag. The leather is a by product of the food industry and sourced in Bangladesh and Afghanistan where it is hand cut and sewn into bags. They are then hand polished in the UK using natural substances. It states on the website that the leather is ‘organic’. I am struggling a little to understand how it can be classed as organic. To me organic means that the animals were reared organically and the leather tanned using organic vegetable substances and also that there is some sort of organic certification to prove this. As far as I can see there is no guarantees of how the leather is tanned though or how the animals are reared as there is no certification. I was told when I asked by email that the leather is sourced ‘untreated leather directly from farmers market’. The website doesn’t really give me enough information to know if vegetable tans were used or animals reared organically but I am thinking not. Reading this article in the Guardian about toxic tanneries, I am even more concerned. The quality of the bag is not great, the zip keeps breaking. I am wondering whether I should have considered this purchase a little more carefully rather than just seeing the ‘organic’ label. What do you think?

This does kind of highlight the difficulties of consumers when trying to buy ethically and sustainably. How do we know if some thing really is produced sustainably and ethically if it doesn’t have any certifications?

With warmest wishes

I wanted to share an event that I thought would appeal to all lovers of vintage fashion tea and cake – A Vintage Tea Party at Vintage Fashion Fair London.

This looks like the perfect opportunity to get dressed up in a lovely vintage dress and catch up with friends or meet up with some fellow vintage loving fashion bloggers.  The vintage tea party will be held at VIntage Fashion Fair London on 19th May. It is the perfect way to spend a leisurely afternoon with a vintage afternoon tea served on vintage china, music from the forties performed by singing and dancing act ‘My Favourite Things’ and the chance to shop for vintage clothes, accessories and textiles on the vintage stalls which stock a great selection of genuine vintage from a variety of decades. If the weather is nice there will also be tables available in the garden at Cecil Sharp House.

Tickets are £10 and available in advance from Eventbrite

* Entrance to the Vintage Fashion Fair for some great shopping.

* A lunch or tea consisting of delicate finger sandwiches, a selection of delicious cakes and a pot of tea or coffee.

* All served on vintage china at pretty table settings.

* Entertainment from ‘My Favourite Things’ who will be performing at 1.00 p.m. and 3.30 p.m

Further information visit www.vintagefashionfairlondon.co.uk

Cardigan – charity shop
top – Zakee Shariff at People Tree
Leggings – People Tree
Denim Skirt – upcycled
Shoes – Melissa

The bank holiday weekend was our first chance this year to get away in our old camper van, Roberta so we loaded her up with beer and pointed her south. We stayed in a lovely campsite in Weymouth that we stayed at last year when the Olympics were on. Admittedly Saturday was very windy and pretty cold, I spent most of the day huddled in the campervan with my book whilst, the children played and Mr Style Eyes amused himself with cooking a barbeque and insisting it wasn’t that cold until eventually he gave in and put a jumper on. I am afraid due to the mass hair frizziness caused by the wind, I took no outfit photographs!

Sunset and the view from our campsite over Fleet lagoon and Lyme Bay

Top – SkunkFunk
Cropped Jeans – really old!

On Sunday, to my relief, the weather was so much better so we packed a picnic and headed down to Weymouth beach to check out the Kite festival, make sandcastles and enjoy a cheeky glass of cider in the beach cafe.

I won’t bore you with all my kite photographs as I think you really had to be there! But here are just a few

The time passed far too quickly and before we knew it, it was time to go home so we trundled across some of the most beautiful countryside home.Here we stopped off for a bit of lunch to give the old girl a rest (and let the queue of traffic behind us pass) after climbing the massive Spread Eagle Hill. It was well worth the effort as this hill has the most amazing views as far as the eye can see across Somerset (the Levels, I think) which you can sort of see in the top photograph.

I hope that you had a lovely bank holiday weekend and enjoyed the sunshine, fingers crossed for lots more of it.

On a more serious note, today I have read that yet more people (at least 7 people) have been killed in a factory fire in Bangladesh. So incredibly sad and needless, I hope that there will be change in the fashion industry soon. Yesterday I wrote a post for Ethical Fashion Bloggers about How Fashion Bloggers Can Make a Difference. I would be really grateful for any shares or comments as I thing this is a really important issue and we can all help to prevent more tragedies.

As I included in the post here are a few things that you can do:

Join Ms Wandas 1% Campaign calling for companies to invest a minimum of 1% of theirprofits to ensure the human rights of garment workers are properly protected. You could also tell your readers about these campaigns. Facebook and blog badges and Twitter Avatars are also available at Ms Wandas.

Sign the petition Amirul Haque Amin, President National Garment Workers Federation in Bangladesh to ensure safety for workers & compensate victims of building collapse and the Clean Clothes Campaign petition telling brands to take responsibility and sign the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement then Share it through your social networks.

Write to the CEO’s of brands or contact them through Twitter and Facebook to ask them to take full responsibility for their supply chain ensure safety for those working in it.

With warmest wishes

This is what I wore to see Liberty London Girl talk at Bath in Fashion, just one of my birthday treats. The dress and jacket are both from Rokit Vintage and the shoes Dream in Green.

I some how managed to stretch out my birthday celebrations and treats for at least a week (pretty good this year, I usually try for a month!). On the Sunday before I wore this to the Bath in Fashion Vintage Fair both the vintage dress and belt were from a clothes swap, the bags was from Oxfam Fashion and the shoes are El Naturalista.

As usual I got mostly money for my birthday so felt compelled to treat myself by buying a few new clothes. Obviously I really don’t need anything new but even though I didn’t really do well on the ‘buy less’ front, I am hoping I may have made up for it on the ‘choose well’ and ‘make it last’ front. The clothes that I bought were all by ethical and sustainable brands and also very carefully considered and chosen as items that would last me ages and compliment my existing wardrobe.

I have been after a pair of printed trousers for some time and when I saw these Nancy Dee trousers it was definitely love at first sight. When Think Boutique did a 20% discount on Earth Day, I grabbed the opportunity and ordered them up straight away. The jacket is from Rokit Vintage as before and shoes by Melissa. The other clothes i have bought will I am sure be featured in outfits soon!

Here are just few instagrams from my birthday week

Birthday tea with my girls!

A blow out at the local Chinese followed by a fortune cookie!

New necklace by Hiro and Wolf

New necklace by Mata Traders

So that is it birthday week over with, now for the bank holiday. Do have any fun plans for the weekend?

With warmest wishes

I have a pretty fun packed week with lots of birthday treats and celebrations. On Saturday I treated myself to a ticket to the ‘Can Fashion Change the World?’ talk at Vogue Festival. The Panel for the talk consisted of Livia Firth, Katherine Hamnett, Tom Craig and Vivienne and was hosted by Vogue features director Jo Ellison. The talk was entertaining informative, though provoking and inspiring in equal parts.

Each member of the panel talked with passion about how they though fashion could change the world and also how fashion related to a bigger picture. It became quite heated in parts with Vivienne Westwood insisting that she continue with her talk despite running out of time and blaming Vogue for not organising it properly!

Vivienne was keen to share information on the Climate Revolution, you can find out more here.

Unfortunately there was no time for questions, but I had wondered before the event how they were going to cover such a huge topic in such a short space of time. I have written a fuller review of the debate in my post Vogue Festival – Can Fashion Change the World?.

My favourite quote for the day came from Livia Firth

“Not only can fashion change the world, but it absolutely must”

Unfortunately the lighting and my poor photography skills prevented me from getting a photograph of the panel but you can check out more photos on the Vogue blog.

I also met up with the lovely Angela of Sasstainable and took the opportunity to chat ethical fashion, blogging and take some blogger pictures before and after the talk.

Dress – SkunkFunk
Jacket – Rokit Vintage
Necklace – People Tree
Shoes – El Naturalista

I was lucky enough to have the whole day to spend in London so after a wander round to check out some of the amazing outfits, braid bar and Vogue covers on the wall, indulging in a extra stylish bottle of Coconut water and Vogue muffin, I headed out to check out the view from the bridge and made my way to Brick Lane to check out the vintage shops.

I hope that you had a good weekend.

With warmest wishes

In my first post for the Natural Beauty spot I was delighted to get the opportunity to review a box of goodies sent to me by a new green beauty company SoukSouk. The box is described as ‘clean and green’ and subscribers get the chance to try out a wide range of natural, organic and chemical free beauty and skin care products. For some one like myself who has been thinking about greening my skin and beauty products for some time but not really had an idea where to start, this is great way to try out new products to see which work best for you.

My box contained:

Essential Care Lemon & Tea Tree Facial Wash – I was really interested to try out this product which has 70% organic ingredients because I have always liked using tea tree facial wash. This one felt less drying than the on that I currently had and my skin felt clean and soft afterwards. It also had a lovely but subtle smell to it. I would definitely consider buying and using this product again.

BalmBalm Mandarin Eau De Parfum - this single note scent is 100% organic and contains pure mandarin essential oil. It had a simple orangey smell, my daughter said it smelt like a tangerine, just sweet and citrussy. It would be great for daytime wear as it is quite subtle but you can also mix it with other BalmBalm perfumes to create your own unique smell.

Green People Fruit Scrub Exfoliator – I really loved this face scrub which is 88% organic and contains finely ground apricot kernals, mandarin and fairly traded bergamot oil. For me it had just the right amount of exfoliation and left my skin feeling really fresh and soft.

Green People Vita Min Fix – this moisturiser contains 89% organic ingredients including evening primrose oil and avocado oils ti regenerate the skin and Tara Besh, Seaweed and Baucalin to hydrate and increase colllagen production. I have never really used moisturisers and haven’t had a chance to try this out yet but think it is about time I started using one so can’t wait to give it a try.

Lucy Annabella Organics Bath Milk – This bath milk has been certified by the Soil Association and has been handmade in Northern Ireland using essential oils. It is smells lovely, definitely great for a bath time treat.

Bomb Cosmetics Cooler Shaker Bath Creamer – this bath bomb is handmade and chemical free. It contains shea butter and lime and basil essential oils and smells lovely.

The box also contained a natural beauty magazine which was an interesting read including articles about both beauty and sustainability, I was particularly interested to read about palm oil a common ingredient in beauty products and how it is contributing to destruction of tropical rainforests and peatlands in Asia.

The Little Green Beauty Box contains 4 or 5 carefully selected products each month plus a magazine and costs £12 per + £2.95 P &P each month or £36 for 3 months, £60 for 6 Months or £120 for 12 months (plus a special gift). You can find out more on their website www.souksouk.co.uk.

All in all I loved the idea of this beauty box either as a treat or birthday gift or just a way or discovering new products. All of the products were great quality and natural, they also smelt great and seemed to be reasonable gentle on my skin. The great thing for me about using green beauty products is knowing that I am not exposing myself to potentially harmful substances contained in many other cosmetics.

What do you think? would you love to recieve this as a gift?

With warmest wishes

Ceri x

So here is my round up of my favourite Spartoo shoes including summer sandals, trainers and shoes, all from the fantastic green (Sustainable/ eco) section of course.

Birkenstock have been making shoes since 1774, so it goes without saying that they pretty much know what they are doing by now. I have had a pair in the past and they are super comfortable but the new Papillio collection is also very stylish and a little more feminine than their mainline collection. I love the floral print on these great for wearing with dresses, shorts and jeans, even on those days when you haven’t had time for a manicure.

I am completely in love with Swedish Hasbeens and whilst the really high heeled styles are amazing and great for creating height on someone as short as me (5ft 2), I have decided that flatter styles are a much more practical alternative for day to day wear. I love the quirky chunky style of them.

My favourite sustainable shoe brand Dream in Green have really excelled themselves for Spring with a fantastic selection of shoes to choose from. I love these ballerina pumps, so versatile and a great alternative to the Melissa ballerina pumps that I virtually live in.

Also loving these by Dream in Green for adding a casual edge to skirts and dresses.

What do you plan to wear on your feet for spring? comfy flats or leg lengthening heels?

With warmest wishes

Ceri x