London Fashion Week: Five sustainable fashion influencers to follow on Instagram

These are the environmentally friendly names to note before the bi-annual trade show gets underway

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London Fashion Week ​sees the most revered designers in the British fashion industry come together to debut their latest collections in shows attended by editors, buyers, models and, of course, influencers.

Thanks to the advent of social media, what was once a trade-only occasion has become content fodder, with today’s fashion week attendees showering our Instagram feeds with runway shots and backstage videos – the #LFW tag now has more than two million posts.

But what you see on your feed very much depends on who you follow, and as the British Fashion Council continues to strive towards a more sustainable future, fashion fans are looking to engage with the industry in more environmentally friendly ways – that includes following influencers who advocate slow fashion.

By carefully curating your Instagram feed ahead of LFW, you can ensure you’re learning as much about small sustainable labels as you are about the established brands at the upper echelons of the industry.

Read on for our recommendations for the sustainable fashion influencers to follow now.

Venetia La Manna

Anti-fast fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna regularly offers tips on where to source trend-driven second-hand clothes across the UK in addition to showing people how she re-styles key pieces in her wardrobe.

This season, La Manna tells The Independent she will spend fashion week celebrating the clothes she already owns – and encouraging her 73,000 followers to do the same.

“When I ‘need’ something new, I source it second hand, either via a charity or vintage store, eBay, Depop or Vestiaire Collective,” she says.

“For events and special occasions, I love renting pieces from Hurr. I’m hosting a fashion panel on the future of luxury with Kimai in a few weeks, for which I’m really excited to be loaning a piece from Maggie Marilyn, one of my favourite ethical designers. The message I encourage is for us to love what we own, so we can keep clothes in our closets and out of landfills.”

Niomi Smart

Author and YouTuber Niomi Smart posts a mix of lifestyle content across her social media platforms but has a particularly keen interest in sustainable fashion.

Smart regularly supports brands such as Stella McCartney and Nanushka, which design garments and accessories made from environmentally friendly materials such as vegan leather and recycled nylon.

She is also a major advocate of rental fashion services, such as Hurr Collective, which offer users the chance to rent designer clothes for a fraction of their usual price.

Aja Barber

Writer and fashion consultant Aja Barber uses her feed to champion both sustainable fashion and intersectional feminism.

On her website, Barber explains why it’s so important to see the two as connected: “If you care about all the things which fall under the umbrella of intersectional feminism then you should also care about who makes your clothes, whether they’re making a fair wage and what effect fast fashion is having on developing nations.”

Barber regularly features fashion brands that are conscious of their carbon footprint and celebrate a range of body types and ethnicities.

“The brand Birdsong is definitely one to watch,” Barber tells The Independent, also mentioning Lora Gene, a contemporary and ethical label where she has just designed a capsule collection.

The collection focuses on clean cuts and structured silhouettes, says Barber.

Ruth Macgilp

Blogger and activist Ruth MacGilp offers some excellent styling tactics on her Instagram page, where the outfits she wears are usually sourced from Red Cross or Salvation Army charity shops.

MacGilp is based in Edinburgh and frequently posts about ethical and sustainable fashion shops in the capital, such as vegan retailer Treen.

The digital marketeer is an excellent person for those looking for some inspiration for ways to spruce up their wardrobes and create new looks using items they already own.

Lucy Siegle

Author and journalist Lucy Siegle was an executive producer on The True Cost, the groundbreaking 2015 documentary that examined the fashion industry’s impact on the environment and featured interviews with eco-friendly fashion experts such as Stella McCartney and Livia Firth.

Siegle is a passionate anti-climate change activist with a keen interest in and knowledge of what the fashion industry can do to lower its carbon footprint.

Her feed offers a mix of educational sound bites on recycling your clothes and how the industry can improve itself from an ethical perspective.