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Whether 16 or 60, women everywhere know and admire Twiggy.

The youngest of three girls, she was born Lesley Hornby in north London to a carpenter dad and a factory worker mother who worked at a Woolworths counter to earn extra money. At 167cm, – short for a model – Twiggy weighed only 41kg when she exploded onto the London fashion scene.

And this icon model, singer, dancer, actress, and author continues her legacy with her “Twiggy London” fashion line for the Home Shopping Network. This affordable line of jeans, ruffled blouses, gypsy skirts, jackets, and accessories in bold colours will be available up to around size 20. Good news indeed for those of us not blessed with Twiggy’s skinny genes.

When asked how London influences her sense of fashion and design, Twiggy’s reply was

London is a great city – it’s very diverse, it’s got wonderful theatres, galleries and shops. I also think we have some of the most talented fashion designers, but it’s not just about fashion. The whole ’60s revolution thing really came out of London. You had The Beatles and so much else going on. The whole idea of calling my line Twiggy LONDON was to reflect my love for it. And I think it’s a great label. And I’m very involved. I’ve always been obsessed with clothes, obsessed with fashion. I love to design and sew myself.

Twiggy is still around forty years after she was discovered by Vogue magazine. And with her new “Twiggy London” fashion line, she proves once again that she will be in the headlines and in our hearts for many more years to come.

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During London Fashion Week , Burberry (showing in London for the first time in more than ten years) had a perfectly-produced collection. Creative director Christopher Bailey’s talent shone. This was a lovely show including the iconic trench coat in the most gorgeous garden colours as well as the odd flash of silver to acknowledge British fashion’s very own silver jubilee. “Twisted Classics” (shown above) featured coats, dresses and skirts–all cut to no longer than mid-thigh and ruched, pleated and knotted around the body to girlish but never sickly-sweet effect.

The British Fashion Council, with more than half the shows, were gathered in the grand Somerset House on the Strand.

Elsewhere, attendees were treated to collections at the Guildhall (for House of Holland), a deconsecrated Polish church (for Antonio Berardi), the Royal Opera House (for Nicole Farhi) and Whitehall (for Roksanda Ilincic).

The international press attended:  Anna Wintour, Glenda Bailey and Carine Roitfeld all made an appearance.

Marios Schwab’s collection was one of the most accomplished of the week. Schwab, a conceptually–led designer, is newly installed at the New York label Halston and will show his first offering for that label next season.

Louise Goldin patchworked pale and interesting fabrics. Goldin is also now responsible for a capsule collection for Ballantyne.

Christopher Kane is a designer who can change his look each season and his work doesn’t look like anyone else’s. His collection was light, pretty and highly flirtatious in flavour.  Kane has a consultancy with Versus. Donatella Versace, perching front row, must have been pleased with her choice.

Luella Bartley’s collection was the quintessentially London girl in spirit.

See more of the highlights of the week at www.londonfashionweek.co.uk

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Ethical fashion has been gaining ground in Europe. London Fashion Week’s “Estethica” section promotes the best in British eco-sustainable, fair trade and ethical styles while alternative fashion fair “White in Milan” has created a new eco-fashion space called SloWhite.

As ethical fashion slowly gains momentum in Korea, the exhibition provides a peek into how Korean and foreign designers are adopting the new principles.

Most of the styles make use of materials that are recycled, eco-friendly, organic, or obtained through fair trade. But up-and-coming British designer Mark Liu goes a step further, creating designs with the concept of zero waste.

In an interview with The Korea Times, Liu noted how 15 percent of the fabric used to make a garment is wasted from pattern cutting and sewing. For inspiration, he looked towards traditional Eastern designs such as the Japanese kimono and the Indian sari, which make use of the entire fabric in its design.

“I tried to hybridize these Eastern designs with Western ones. I wanted to create something brand-new, a new way of thinking in Western design where you design a piece of clothing to deliberately waste zero fabric,” he said.

Using a single piece of fabric, Liu uses what he describes as a “jigsaw puzzle pattern,” wherein all the pieces are put together in the final garment. He showed off several pretty black dresses with petal pattern designs. Even the material he uses is “reclaimed,” meaning it has been discarded and given away by textile companies.

Liu currently only creates these designs by commission, but he may be doing a “zero waste” collection in India soon. “It is still going to be a high fashion collection. But after that, there’s nothing stopping us from making jeans or T-shirts commercially,” he said.

Fair Trade Designs

From afar, you might think the chic metallic tote bags are nothing special. But upon closer scrutiny, you will find that they are made of hundreds of pieces of aluminum can tabs. These are part of Paris-based Brazilian designer Ana Paula Freitas’ “fair trade” collection of trendy handbags, clutches and accessories.

Freitas said the bags and accessories are all handmade by workers at a Brazilian women’s labor cooperative. Consumers are not just buying the product, but are also helping to improve the lives of the workers.

“I developed a new, more fashionable collection with the cooperative. We work together. A lot of work goes into this because each tab is incorporated one by one. To make a tote bag like this, it takes 3 days and uses 1,000 tabs,” Freitas said in an interview with The Korea times.

Other designers and artists have found ingenious and practical ways of incorporating the principles of ethical fashion.

The London-based design team of Orsola de Castro and Fillippo Ricci uses consumer-waste fabrics, swatches and production off-cuts to create high-end women’s wear for their brand “From Somewhere.”

Hong Sung-wan’s men’s wear collection uses only fair trade cotton fabric from Nepal, Bangladesh and India. Lee Kyumbie designed women’s footwear using recycled packaging and banners, such as a fun pair of boots covered in a ramyeon-packaging design.

Hong Kong’s Movana Chen has been creating clothes by knitting shredded strips of glossy magazine paper since 2004.

“For this exhibition here, I used Korean magazines. The inspiration comes from the media and how the media gives us messages. It tells us what to buy, what to wear. But it also focuses on two-way communication. We don’t understand the meaning of the (Korean) text, but you can see the colors, and it’s another way of communicating with a different culture,” Chen said.

While ethical fashion is gaining ground mostly in Europe and United States, hopes are high that ethical fashion will spread throughout the world, including Asia.

“In Europe, people are very open to these kinds of things, like recycling and fair trade. In 2000, there was not so much of it but now it is everywhere,” Freitas said.

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There are still some corners of London where quirky fashion, contemporary art, & cultural food thrives.

Go East to find areas that thrive with items crafted by young British designers. Brick Lane is one of those areas.

An old building that used to be the Truman Brewery stands out from the rest of the street and is packed with independent shops. The Truman Brewery has been an important creative and cultural hub.

One shop at the old brewery sells clothing made out recycled material. You can make a one-of-a-kind item from one of your old garments; just bring it to the shop and the designer will make it into a new item for you. Other shops sell vintage clothing. You can get an East London Quirky Shopping guide from visitlondon.com

Many shops in the area encourage young designers to display their collections by offering affordable rental rates, allowing talent scouts from major chains to find budding designers.

Besides Brick Lane and the Truman Brewery, East London has several neighborhoods boasting dozens of independent shops. Socially aware shoppers can buy a wedge card from www.wedgecard.co.uk for 10 pounds, of which 5 goes to a local charity. The card allows you to support local shops while obtaining special offers and discounts from over 150 businesses in the East End.

Apart from shopping, East London is also increasingly known for contemporary art, with many galleries, museums and shops. With more than 80 art galleries, there’s something for everyone’s taste in the East End. Don’t miss the famous WhiteCube and Whitechapel Art Gallery, but also look out for hidden gems scattered all around this area waiting to be discovered. Dozens of the area’s galleries host cultural events and contemporary art exhibitions.

And talk about food! If you’re after comfort food, Brick Lane is THE place for bagels and baltis. If you are craving a curry or just need a quick bite, head for the famous Brick Lane Beigel Bake, which is ALWAYS open–24 hours a day, 365 days a year. (You are sure to see one or two London Black Taxi drivers in there at any time of the day or night!)

At visitlondon.com, you can download a guide called DIY East that will show you where to find East London’s quirky fashion, comtemporary art, and posh (and not so posh) nosh.

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Hogg’s designs — she is best known for her catsuits — have a cult following among stylists such as Katy England, and Kylie, Siouxsie Sioux and Debbie Harry are all fans. A riot of net, PVC and metallic, sequined and wet-look Lycra, the suits are meticulously tailored from more than 50 pieces. They sculpt, rather than cling — “I hate clothes that are made to make you look sexy,” she says.

Immediately after the show, Hogg went to a Peaches (the electroclash queen, not the Geldof) gig at the Double Club. “I was exhausted, but I got a call saying Tilda Swinton wanted me at her table. I wore the Liquid Metal catsuit, and the first person I bump into is Kate Moss, who is, like, ‘That’s amazing, why don’t I have one?’

For years there have been whispers: “Pam’s back doing fashion.” Now it’s for real.

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