Ethical Style » Past, Present, Future

Past, Present, Future

M.J. Prest | March 2010

Innovators in eco-fashion have stepped up their game in the past few years. But the movement began much earlier than that — with the eco-revolution of the 1970s.

Click on any image below to launch a slideshow of the most important milestones over the past 40 years of ethical fashion history.

: 1970: Congress designated hemp as a “Schedule 1” drug under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, making it illegal to grow hemp without a license from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, despite its usefulness as a sustainable textile.

: 1984: Slogan-shirt pioneer Katharine Hamnett made the news for wearing her own anti-missile message tee to meet Margaret Thatcher at a Downing Street reception for London designers.

: 1985: Kenneth Cole’s very first ad campaign meshed HIV/AIDS activism and fashion at a time when fear of the disease was reaching a crescendo.

: 1991: PETA debuts its “Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign with an ad featuring the Go-Go’s, kicking off nearly two decades of debate that still rages to this day.

: 1998: Vogue and Anna Wintour court controversy for demanding that Oprah lose 20 pounds before photographing her for the magazine’s October 1998 cover.

: 2005: An awareness of the problems associated with disposable fashion hits a fever pitch, leading to commentary like this paper dress by Hussein Chalayan.

: 2009: Consider this a wearable art project. The Climate Dress from Diffus of Denmark is decorated with sensors and LED lights that glow and flash whenever the amount of atmospheric CO2 changes.

: 2010: Fast fashion gets a quick makeover. U.K. retailer Tesco unveiled its stylish recycled-textile clothing line in collaboration with From Somewhere.

Issue 32

Past, Present, Future