Fashion done your own way

by Molly Dutton

London Fashion Week is well underway, with brands such as PrettyLittleThing making their debut on the runway. As many of my readers will know, fashion week is one of my favourite sources of inspiration as it allows brands to exhibit the best of their collections, whilst demonstrating the ethos of each of the fashion houses. Whilst I feel extremely passionate about the implications of fast fashion brands, it is somewhat refreshing to see the appearance of more affordable collections on the London runway. PrettyLittleThing has been the source of much debate across social media platforms this week, after the brand made its debut into London Fashion Week with Creative Director, Molly Mae, at the forefront of the show. 22-year-old Molly Mae was controversially appointed to be the Creative Director of PrettyLittleThing last year which sparked big conversations surrounding the power of influencers in current society. The public has demonstrated very mixed opinions, acknowledging that, whilst the show expressed great levels of diversity through its models, the brand itself still fails to recognise the poor wages given to its workers. With conversations surrounding the runway show filling my Twitter feed, it seemed only fair to explore the brand of PrettyLittleThing from all of the different angles. The runway show was located at the Londoner Hotel, with many influencers present in the audience to support the Love Island star in her fashion week debut.

Let’s begin with the runway collection itself before delving any further. The collection really explored the neutral and subtle colour palette that is so widely associated with PrettyLittleThing; baby blues, beige and chocolate brown were right at the forefront of the new clothing items. Faux leather and snake print had a very big presence throughout the show, with many coats and shorts showing off this trend focus. Molly Mae herself wore one of her favourite pieces from the collection to the after-party; a nude, snake print, leather jacket along with a matching skirt.

As a young teen growing up, PrettyLittleThing was the best thing I could get my hands on. It was one of the only places that provided affordable, trendy clothes that could be worn to birthday parties, day trips and anywhere else that I could think of when I was younger. Amongst my friendship group, all of their collections were extremely popular and became the topic of many conversations. I have always had a personal connection to all of the items that I’ve purchased because the brand played such a huge part in my ‘growing up phase’ (I say this as if I’m

not still in this phase). For many girls like myself, PrettyLittleThing was a reliable and consistent place to buy our clothes from, and it’s almost as if it grew up alongside us. Despite loving this brand for a long time as a teen, it hugely lacked in body diversity on its website which was something that has been brought up in the press for many years. However, in the London Fashion Week Show, they made a positive change to this and expressed a much greater awareness of diversity in terms of both racial and body diversity. UK blogger, Tess Daly also made an appearance at the show, reflecting PrettyLittleThings’ aim to represent all individuals, including models with disabilities. Their acknowledgement of diversity must be noted when analysing the catwalk as it has played a huge part in the current success of their collections and also shows the development of the brand’s social awareness as a whole.

Now comes the difficult part. Whilst I have always loved their clothes and the way that they have developed according to my style over the years, PrettyLittleThing has not existed without its fair share of controversy and problematic behaviour. It is important to note that, at this stage, the problem does not always lie directly with the brand itself, but instead with Boohoo Fashion Group, of which PLT is a part of. At the event on Wednesday, protesters gathered outside of The Londoner hotel to express their anger towards the brand’s wage scheme that provides its workers with extremely low pay in order to produce their affordable products. Another issue that has arisen amongst the other problems is PrettyLittleThings’ contribution to the current climate crisis. They have been under fire for this for many years due to their mass production methods that allow them to keep up with the fast-fashion trends. Amongst the protesters was fellow Love Islander Brett Staniland who appeared across many news platforms explaining the damage that the Boohoo Fashion Group has contributed to the global crisis of climate change.

PrettyLittleThing has revolutionised the fashion industry in both positive and negative ways; showing the power that developing fashion brands have in the modern world, particularly on social platforms such as Instagram and Twitter. The London Fashion Week show has also paved the way for online fashion platforms to stand amongst high-end fashion houses on the runway.

Image courtesy of Charlota Blunarova