By Luka Terihaj

‘I want people to look at the fashion and go [dramatically feigns a combination of shock and disbelief] THAT’S SUSTAINABLE!?!’

These are the words of DONT WALK’s Head of Fashion for 2020 Ava Hariri-Kia and it would be criminal to understate just how ambitious DONT WALK’s goal is this year. I am told by Ania Juszczyk and Mark Chong who co-direct the creative aims of this year’s show that a target has been set for the fashion team to source 75% of the clothes for the final show from sustainable designers. The focus is unapologetically lucid; Ava tells me with a confident but also very genuine smile that “There’s no compromise here… sustainable fashion can be viable, wearable and something that genuinely intrigues” and I believe every word of it – this is no tagline and certainly is no gimmick.

This is crucial to mention because the world of capital ‘F’ fashion has been able to continuously override any environmental considerations under the guise of aiming to achieve a higher artistic aesthetic at all costs. Very rarely have designers at any level wholeheartedly acknowledged the environmental impacts of their work and whilst there are notable exceptions to this precedent such as Vivienne Westwood and Christopher Raeburn the industry as a whole has managed to hoodwink society into allowing it to behave as though it was above the environment.

So, with a palpable sense of belatedness, St Andrews’ most provocative fashion show finally poses us with an environmentally considered question. The DW team utilised their annual launch dinner as the platform to present ‘Silent Spring’; a new genesis for St Andrews fashion where another world is possible. ‘Silent Spring’ asks its audience to explore how we want the artificial elements of our post-industrial and globalised world to interact with the remaining natural environment as we enter a new decade.

As guests of the launch ambled over to their allocated tables, they were confronted with a truly unpredictable set of table ornaments. Used petri dishes were repurposed as beds for insects and lined each table; thankfully these insects were dead and did not disrupt dinner proceedings beyond producing an initially jarring aesthetic sensation. This typified the immense level of immersion DW is looking to create this year regarding sustainable fashion. Cynics might argue that I’m overdoing it here but using petri dishes as homes for animals provides a reminder that we must find solutions to both plastic decomposition issues and habitat destruction.

Guests are seated and dinner comes and goes unremarkably. The real excitement begins as the room darkens and we are then treated to the first sightings of ‘Silent Spring’. As lights begin to trickle through the darkness the audience is greeted by female models who enter the room in garments in shades of blossom and dusty pink. Whilst all unquestionably Disney princess-worthy, the peak of these pink looks was a satin double-breasted long coat that concealed tulle fabric which peeped out from the beneath the coattails. Quite frankly, sustainable fashion shouldn’t be able to look as good as this did. Environmentally considered fashion has always held quite a clunky connotation of well-meaning but ultimately undesirable clothing. I am pleased to reassure readers that this was certainly not the case here.

Even the looks which initially underwhelmed me because of their generic styling displayed pleasant subtleties. A velour sweatshirt had been combined with one strap unbuckled on some denim overalls with a very surface level, 90s-streetwear ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ reference that we have seen cookie-cuttered by fast fashion stores relentlessly. However, upon closer examination it became apparent that beauty in the garment was to be found in the sweatshirt’s arms which had been constructed to drape like layers of curtain providing a necessary gentler silhouette to compliment the hard-boxy cut of the overalls. A word or more is needed on denim here because it appeared in abundance: it was generally distressed and cut up to create patchwork garments and significantly, it all appeared to be repurposed which is a genuinely positive achievement given the future need to reuse denim as a result of the adverse effects dyeing denim has on water supplies.

Cohesion has often proven to be a snagging point for many a St Andrews fashion show in years gone by. Whilst many fashion teams have been able to source garments that fall in the ‘jaw-drop’ category of reactions, rarely have audiences of previous shows been able to draw the dots from look to look to understand the overarching narrative. Perhaps this is a slightly more manageable task if the number of looks is reduced as they were at the launch event, but it appears as though a conscious effort has been made by the fashion team to incorporate a look only if it lives within their new world.

During a conversation with Mark, he mused over being able to direct a show where looks of synthetic colour palettes work alongside garments of earthy tones cohesively describing it as a way of ‘getting the artificial within the natural world.’

It is undeniable that a radically different approach is being taken and it’s refreshing to watch DW reprioritise how they aim to achieve provocative art. For the majority of us, the new year will start in January but for DONT WALK’s ‘2020 clearer vision’, we will have wait until February.