THE GUILT-FREE FASHION SPREE

We’re talking ethical style this week (see Editor’s Picks on page 13) and caught up with Cora Hilts, co-founder of Rêve En Vert – sustainable fashion’s answer to Net-a-Porter – to find out how brands with a conscience are entering the mainstream and set to change our shopping mindset in 2018. WHY DID YOU START THE SITE? Fashion is one of the most polluting industries on Earth, so I wanted to create a destination that made shopping sustainably both luxurious and easy – a curated platform of the best ethical brands. WHAT IS SUSTAINABILITY? To us it means fashion that doesn’t exploit people or the planet. We define that through locality, organic materials, remade items and fair production. WHY IS ETHICAL SHOPPING SO IMPORTANT TODAY? Because fashion is so incredibly pervasive. It is crazy that one of the most creative and boundary-pushing industries in the world has been so slow in coming around to the fact that it must change. YOUR FAVOURITE DESIGNERS ON THE SITE? I’m partial to REV by Rêve En Vert because I designed it! Also Fonnesbech for classic pieces and Mara Hoffman for more fluid items. WHERE DO YOU SHOP MOST (APART FROM THE SITE)? Reformation for party dresses, Coclico in New York for sustainable shoes and Paris for vintage. THREE TIPS FOR DRESSING SUSTAINABLY? Avoid fast fashion as much as possible. Steer clear of polyester and nylon (unless recycled) – they are plastics that take hundreds of years to decompose. And buy things you really want to wear. WHICH PIECES SHOULD EVERY WOMAN OWN? A long trench, fitted black trousers, a comfortable sweater, heeled boots and sunglasses. And organic lingerie underneath – it’s too intimate not to want the fabric to be natural. YOUR MOTTO ‘Everybody has to live their own lives’ – I said that to my father when I was three when he asked me to stop climbing a tree! BIGGEST EXTRAVAGANCE Eating way too much fromage in France. CAREER HIGHLIGHT Being in Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2015 when we were new. ON YOUR BUCKET LIST Taking a phone- and laptop-free holiday. ARE ATTITUDES CHANGING TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE FASHION? Absolutely. It has never been more up to the customer to create change – every time we purchase something we are voting for the sort of world we want to live in. Every time we don’t buy a plastic bottle we are helping to save the seas from the plastics epidemic. Individuals can encourage sustainability – and I think 2018 will see more of this empowerment. WHAT’S IN STORE FOR YOU AND THE SITE IN 2018? We’ll be expanding the REV line and launching a plastics-free section of organic beauty and make-up. And on top of it all, I will be getting married and trying to organise a fabulous eco wedding. BELOW: DRESS (in orange and red), £185, and TOP, £59, all REV, from reve-en-vert.com