(9 Sep 2019) LEAD IN: Sustainable fashion is creating a demand for recycled and upcycled high end clothing in the UK.
The jewellery trade is also undergoing a natural revolution with consumers buying up fresh water pearls, rough hewn metals, and organic materials.
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Luxury doesn't tend to be linked with sustainability.
But as far as the UK fashion and jewellery graduates here are concerned, there's no reason why the two should be mutually exclusive.
The design graduates behind this show are hoping to catch the attention of buyers here at International Jewellery London.
The emphasis is on recycling what ever you can get your hands on, from plastic sheets, bin bags, fabrics culled from charity shop remnants and even the odd parachute silk.
Partnering the fabrics are some whimsical, but clever items of jewellery. A giant pencil sharpener becomes a modern statement bangle.
Compering the show is fashion expert Hilary Alexander. Designers at leading fashion houses around the world would wait to read her columns, now she's President of Graduate Fashion Week and the Graduate Fashion Foundation.
She says the designers interest in 'throwaway fashion' now means finding a to use for what society is throwing away.
"We've seen more and more emphasis on sustainability. I mean in the past maybe you would have had students wanting to go and buy expensive materials, or get sponsored for rich brocades and embroideries, but now they will scour second hand shops, go round to factories and get what is called dead fabric, remnants, or as you saw on the catwalk just now, even old sandwich bags and carrier bags," says Alexander.
While catwalk fashion has a reputation for being extraordinary, jewellery tends to be more conservative, but here rings are made of corian, that's the stuff that's usually found in kitchen worktops.
This bird necklace is called "Time Flies" with good reason. It's made with chains, pendulums and cogs from disused watches and clocks.
Perhaps one of the most surprising items of jewellery on the catwalk appears to be the most traditional. This jewelled tiara for example.
A closer look backstage shows all is not as it seems. The jewels have been replaced by sweet jellies, useful when you need a little sugar boost at the end of a long day.
Whether many brides will be sporting such tiaras remains to be seen.
Fashion influencers say styles of jewellery are aiming to be different, but coloured stones made popular by recent royal weddings in the UK are still going strong.
"There's definitely a feeling that people are interested in organic material, so fresh water pearls, rough hewn metals, that idea that something is not too perfect and not too polished I think is definitely a big trend. But there are lots of micro trends that we see across fashion and social media and that can range from really small little things like fruits, coloured fruits have become a little micro trend. Horizontal stones and rings as well are having a big moment even in the engagement kind of sector which is really interesting and coloured stones definitely."
Pearl are very much in vogue at this years international jewellery show. They're being partnered with diamonds and other stones, as far as you can get from the pearls your grandmother would wear.
One of the biggest trends in jewellery is the spike in demand for fine watches.
Timepieces aren't about just telling us the time, we have numerous digital gadgets to do that for us, including our mobile phones.
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