Helen Bamber Foundation and Emma Thompson @ Ronnie Scotts
My second passion after human rights is Jazz Funk, so I was thrilled to be asked to come along and support the Helen Bamber Foundation by Stephen Brenninkmeijer, a friend and big supporter of People Tree and social business.
Helen, the founder recounted the desperate stories of people that she treats. The boy whose older teenage brother had brought him to her after he had picked up a booby-trapped walkman that blew off his hands and blinded him and how HBF helped him to find the will to live and help find special schooling and support his brother to look after him.
Left - Stephen Brenninkmeijer starts things off and Right - Emma Thompson and Helen Bamber
Emma Thompson talked about the sauna she passed every day since childhood near her home. It had been a bit of a joke in her family not knowing what went on at the sauna, they’d made jokey ticket presents for each other when they were little to visit the sauna. Then one day she’d been asked by HBF to meet a girl who’d been imprisoned and forced to work there for years. She’d been promised a job as a receptionist and come to London with high expectations only to find herself forced into sexual slavery.
HBF and Emma set about helping the young woman to deal with trauma in the most innovative way. Emma described how they divided the experience the young woman had faced into 7 parts (realisations) and set it up as an exhibition for the public. It was a huge success in educating the public and the young woman became involved as a volunteer and watched peoples reactions to it. “Is the girl alright now?” said the tearful burly bloke on his stepping out of the last part. The young woman was there to give him a big hug and tell him that she was alright - somehow there sympathy became the key to her healing.
Many asylum seekers are victims of this kind of human rights violation. This is Emma Thompson’s story not mine.
Left - Me and my husband James and Right Dennis and his braces "tall duck and handsome"
A lot of money was raised for HBF that night, even though I couldn’t afford to buy artworks for thousands of pounds, I did buy two tickets and danced to JazzXchange and Appleton (love them!) – with my friend Stephen on the drums!
Check out the Helen Bamber Foundation!
Shooting the People Tree catalogue - behind the scenes
Busy - back from Nepal now in London where we're shooting the Autumn/Winter collection - today it's the mens shoot for UK and Japan.
I've started shooting the outdoor location myself and Jonathon Rose the photographer shoots studio and kindly assists me on location. There is also Louise on styling and Fraggle (must be a nickname) on hair and makeup - then Lucy and Laura who do the catalogue here at People Tree.
I've been art directing for 15 years - I started by shooting my son in washable nappies (a baby at the time!) and myself in organic underwear (was a bit more slender then!). Then worked with professional Japanese photographer 'Hiro' using friends and People Tree staff as models.
We still use gorgeous friends and volunteers sometimes. Today we shot Christian Lambelin of Select Model Management. He was such an amazing model - He's also worked in Japan too!
Anyway he seems to like us as much as we like him and told us again and again how great the clothes feel.
"I love organic cotton and hand-woven textiles, I have got sensitive skin and the fabric feels much softer, I really like the combat style trousers and check shirt I wore on the People Tree shoot. It's great wearing stuff made by people who are well paid and making a good living as they should be."
Christian Lambelin, (Select Model Management)
We were having such a good time and got carried away and shot some really arty stuff too. So here's a sneak preview of Autumn Winter collection above and arty below.
We launch the People Tree foundation our AW09 collection and have a lot to say about the government’s sustainable clothing road map
Jo Wood and Safia at the launch of the People Tree foundation last week.
The tasks ahead for the People Tree Foundation are huge.
Fashion has a dirty side, yet many low-price, fast fashion brands are seeing sales growth, in the face of economic down turn. Despite media exposes in the last 2 years on labour abuses in garment factories and child labour in the developing world – customers are too slow to take responsibility for their part in it and to hold companies accountable. There is widespread public support for fair trade, but so far most of the educational, general awareness building and campaigning work has been done in the area of trade and food commodities, not manufactured products like fashion. People Tree Foundation will be working alongside People Tree and other NGOs to research and publish materials and short films to empower educators and responsible consumers to open the debate. The Foundation aims to create powerful visual tools that make clear the need for higher minimum ethical and environmental practice in the conventional fashion industry – at the same time as showcasing best practice in fair trade and sustainability.
“If I earned 50% more I could feed myself and my family properly – even though I work 14 hours a day for overseas customers, I still cannot” Begum Ali, conventional garment worker in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
People Tree has built a reputation as a major force in capacity support and technical assistance for artisan groups in the developing world, and helps them overcome barriers, so that they can sell their products in quality-conscious markets like Japan and UK. People Tree Foundation will help scale up these activities, to benefit an even greater number of people, by funding and providing technical services to help build producer capacity and train hundreds more people. People Tree Foundation hopes to document ‘How To’ Fair Trade Fashion, so that one day, high street brands can partner with a weaving project and deliver the same benefits.
Jo Wood of Jo Wood Organics helped me launch the foundation last Monday. She recently accompanied me to Bangladesh to see the difference for herself that Fair Trade fashion makes. We’re going to work closely together to make the dreams of the People Tree Foundation a reality. You can read more about it on Treehugger, The Gin Lady and Green My Style.
London Fashion Week started for me with the Minister of Sustainability, as he is often called, Lord Hunt and his launch of the government Sustainable Clothing Road Map. There are huge problems with only 14% of clothing being recycled and disposable, and the un-biodegradability of fast fashion so I’m thrilled that the government are taking an active role to get the fashion industry engaged – but the Road Map does not go far enough as I explained in our press release.
People Tree had an exhibition at Estethica, where we showed our new Autumn Winter 2009 collection, which unlike other brands we have largely ordered two months ago, as it is made by hand it takes much longer to make. We had a lot of interest from new ethical stockists in the UK and Europe, despite the recession, it is clear that Fair Trade fashion is not a luxury it is fashioning the future. (Even WGSN, (World Global Style Network) referenced People Tree’s sustainable, Fair Trade practice as a trend for Spring 2010 that the luxury and big brands will follow :) ).
Aurelie at the LFW week stand and with Madeleine, Antony and Ruth
I also had a few inspiring hours at shows of friends Bora Aksu and Eley Kishimoto.
My front row!! The PT team Misato, Jenny and Antony
At Bora Aksu's show
Top: Gorgeous Bora, so sexy!
Bottom: Fabulous punk in black
At Eley Kishimoto's show ‘Jet Set Masala’
Top: Fabulous prints and pretty tailoring
Bottom: My favourite EK dress and a fab blazer.
