Marnie Skillings' new fashion label just raised the bar for sustainable and ethical fashion
- Fashion
Marnie Skillings has a new ethical and sustainable label
And it’s making us feel optimistic about the state of fashion
It’s a highly curated, whimsical, vintage inspired collection of tea dresses, blouses, denim cut-offs and reclaimed and repurposed men’s shirting. Marnie Skillings has re-entered the fashion realm with Skillings, a label that carries on all her old sustainable principles, but this time it will be in the form of small collections“I don’t want to do huge runs; I want the collections to be unique,’’ Marnie tells us at a preview of her collection.
“Everything is either organic or sustainable cotton, we’ve used reclaimed fabrics, our trims are either sustainable or dead stock and it’s all been made here in Sydney, Australia.’’
Marnie Skillings at the showing of her new sustainable label, Skillings
Each of her garments tells a story. There’s vintage denim shorts, jackets and t-shirts all numbered – and feature pre loved scouting badges, souvenir patches and pins with the option of monogramming your initials.
There are dresses coloured using natural dye sourced from Australian native bark in a collaboration with Warndu, the producer of pantry items like wattleseed candied balsamic vinegar and free dried powdered finger lime, made using whole food native Australian ingredients.
Marnie, who studied at East Sydney Technical college, launched her eponymous brand in 2000 but after 12 successful years she shut its doors in 2012, after the economic downturn.
This time it feels like the evolution of Marnie we’ve all been waiting for. There will be no bricks and mortar stores, her designs will be sold exclusively online and if her launch soiree is anything to go by – it was open to the public with women of all ages browsing the racks and Marnie herself inhouse to talk about her designs and the conscious concept – it’s going to be a hit.