Interview with Towy Vaughans and Laura Avery of Fashion Cares BCN
Fashion Cares BCN was launched in 2022 by Laura Avery and friends at the Barcelona Women’s Network (BWN) as an answer to the growing concern for the amount of waste generated in the fashion industry. This creative group with decades of shared experience in the textile industry uses fashion as a platform to promote sustainability and support women’s non-profit organizations. They host a number of events focused on sustainability, featuring donated items demonstrating how pre-loved and upcycled fashion can be stylish and trendy. We sat down with two of the group’s organizers to learn more about the initiative and their thoughts on making a difference in the face of the current trends.
Who Are Towy Vaughans and Laura Avery?
A New Yorker and a Londoner settled for good in Barcelona. We’ve both had long, but very different careers in fashion. We are Fashion Cares BCN.
What Motivates You These Days?
We both hate the environmental damage our industry inflicts and want to do something about it. If that sounds a bit pompous, we believe that every little helps and, if we all do our little bit, it can add up to quite a big bit. And think what a difference we could make if we all work together as a community.
How Do You Think Individuals Can Make a Difference?
How do you change a 300 year old habit? Since the industrial revolution we’ve been brainwashed by consumerism. When governments and multinationals tell us they are going green, it's too often just greenwashing. Until they stop telling us their latest products will change our lives and we stop believing them, they'll continue destroying the planet and we’ll continue allowing it.
The only solution is to buy less and buy carefully. To stop them building obsolescence into their products, to insist on buy-back and repair services. We’ve got to relearn old skills like darning, dying, restyling. That's what people used to do. But as the developed nations got richer, buying second hand, using old stuff, carried a stigma.
If we all start buying less new stuff, and start sharing our caring, mending and restyling skills we can put pressure on retailers to turn things around. Aren’t we sick of clothes that look like rags after one wash and the brainless Instagram influencers who promote that junk? And as for Louis Vuitton and Pharrell Williams’ $1m Millionaire Speedy bag: shame on you! So let’s get together and give these guys the finger. There is power in community.
And You Think That Will Happen? Is That Realistic?
We have to try. The only hope is to encourage people to recycle, refix and reuse. But with carrots not sticks. Fashion Cares is about creating a community of people who are trying to make the idea of buying pre-loved, not just acceptable or necessary if you're broke, but fun and exciting, intelligent and smart: something to be proud of. Although shopping pre-loved is, by definition more random than High Street shopping, that's half the fun—it’s the thrill of the hunt. It’s the triumph of finding a hidden gem for almost nothing. And Fashion Cares is about helping others, too.
Tell Us More about Fashion Cares
Fashion Cares is a community building, not-for-profit initiative that promotes pre-loved sustainable fashion and supports local women's charities. While we support all the pre-loved clothing sales and swaps around town, we have created an event that is so much more than that and supports charity.
The third annual Fashion Cares event on February 25th, at Palau Dalmases is, of course centered around the sale of women’s, men’s and kids pre-loved clothes and accessories, but there’s also advice on alterations, styling and color from some of the top fashion professionals in Barcelona. In short, the kind of personal shopper service you‘d get in a high end boutique. But for free! We’re also presenting some fabulous local artisans who make amazing fashion accessories from recycled materials.
And from 11:00 until 23:00 there’s a rolling program of top live entertainment, including jazz, blues, rock, classical music, burlesque dance, comedians and drag acts, including our much adored Lady Red Velvet. You even have a chance to have a go at flamenco yourselves! There will be interactive fun and games, catwalk shows, plus a bar and café.
So that’s the main Fashion Cares 2024 event on February 25th, but we run smaller Fashion Cares events throughout the year. Some of which are specifically fashion events, but also private dinners, wine tastings, treasure hunts—they are all fundraisers whose proceeds fund the main event.
We’ve also started an ongoing image styling program, working directly with the Fundació Ared that does amazing work with vulnerable women. All Fashion Cares proceeds go to them this year. Fashion Cares has become Barcelona’s premier public fashion event and it’s getting bigger and raising more money every year.