Vegan Fashion Week October 2019 Photo: The Hendrys
FASHION
‘Ethical Fashion Talks’ Launches to Maintain Momentum of Vegan Fashion Week
After postponing her April edition of Vegan Fashion Week planned for Los Angeles, founder and Chief Executive Officer Emmanuelle Rienda brainstormed about how she could spread a message of cruelty-free fashion as stay-at-home orders in the city continued to be extended due to COVID-19. Despite the postponement of her event until October, Rienda found inspiration from the current challenges facing the fashion industry. Launching May 15, Rienda’s "Ethical Fashion Talks" are an opportunity for vegan-fashion creatives to engage in virtual discussions regarding how the garment segment can move beyond the coronavirus pandemic to evolve into a more-responsible industry and a leader in ethical business.
“'Ethical Fashion Talks' [is] a virtual rendezvous for conscious creatives,” Rienda explained. “This online series is a platform for creative self-expression, healthy debates and powerful discussions. This is an opportunity to think about the cause of the pandemic, see beyond social distancing to create new awareness and change behavior in the fashion industry and beyond.”
Moderated by Rienda, the premiere session will include a panel comprising advocates and professionals who represent the environmental, socially responsible and vegan-style segments. The list of panelists for the inaugural virtual event includes Maggie Baird, vegan advocate and founder of Support + Feed, who is also the mother of entertainers Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell; Kate Nash, musician, songwriter and actor who is also a feminist and supporter of vegan causes; Emily Farra, Vogue’s senior fashion news writer; Aditi Mayer, social-justice advocate, sustainable-fashion voice and founder of the Adimay vegan fashion blog; and Thomas Silverman, ethical hairdresser and recipient of Vegan Fashion Week’s October 2019 Vegan Hairstylist Award.
“We are leading positive change through conscious creativity. All life is interconnected. Animal exploitation and the current ecological disaster is directly linked to the health and economic crisis humanity is experiencing,” Rienda said. “We need to rethink the way we consume, what we consume and how to sync sustainability with ethics.”
Accessible through a livestream hosted on ethicalfashiontalks.com and YouTube, the "Ethical Fashion Talks" panel will begin at 11 a.m. PST.
