lifestyle sustainability
Moray Luke:
Shaking Up The Fashion World, One Fish Handbag At A Time
From her Bridgend bedroom to London and Paris Fashion Weeks, Moray Luke’s fish leather handbags have taken her on a whirlwind journey this past year. Before jetting off to Tokyo’s own Fashion Week, Hannah Collins chatted to her about her love of the sea and how we can be better ‘eco-warriors’ without giving up Instagram.
Where did the idea to use fish leather come from? I grew up on the coast and I’m obsessed with things like sirens and mermaid culture. And I swim all the time, I love kayaking - I’m an outdoorsy girl, to be honest with you. I moved to Brighton to be near the sea, which is where I did my degree, and then I was in Venice Beach for a long time. I got obsessed with Hans Christian Andersen who created The Little Mermaid and the whole folklore element of it. Using the byproduct of fish is kind of like a unique way to celebrate that culture and protect the seas.
So you were already passionate about the sea and then the sustainability stuff just fed into it? Yeah, I used to be really arrogant about it. Like ‘oh, I’m really big into climate change’ and not, like, conspiracy stuff like that, but big oil and stuff like that. People on message boards said my attitude is right: We’re gonna face so much uncomfortable stuff in the next 50 years, our generation does not have the luxury of ignoring climate change. So fish is a strange material but we’re going to do a lot of strange things that are going to have to become normal. I hope that my bags are just the start of my fashion house and fish as materials that are the norm.
Another thing is, I believe that people being negative and being like ‘oh, we will never solve climate change’ or, like, ‘all the oil companies control climate change’ and stuff like that... That’s the attitude they want you to have. So, like, just try and do whatever you can. Even if you save one bird, or one plastic bag from going into the ocean, congratulations! You have succeeded. I’m not the best eco-warrior - I enjoy KFC, you know?
When we talk about sustainable fashion, how far do you think the industry still needs to go to improve? People in the fashion industry have still not adjusted to sustainability as far as I’m concerned. But as people my age are getting more attention, the more they realise that we can’t ignore climate change. Sustainability is a little like Brexit these days - everyone’s got a different opinion about how we should have done it. And they get angry about the problem rather than being proactive about it. I’m like, right, it’s not going to save the world, you know, but I do think that it creates a conversation starter.
We’re so used to a [certain] lifestyle, like buying a new outfit for Instagram. And that doesn’t make us bad as humans, we’re just tricked by capitalism. We need to find cultural solutions. For example, rental websites and thrifting are really good ones. What we’re going to have to do, in my opinion, is change the way we consume, but so that we can still have all the bells and whistles. And I feel like I’m kind of that solution.
How big a part do you think social media is playing in all this? I don’t think Instagram culture will change. But I don’t really blame the people who are watching and using this stuff - I blame companies for profiting off entrepreneurs. We have to help change people’s habits and encourage them to find good solutions. For example, with me, I’m now gonna be doing a lot of appearances. I love vintage clothes. And I have big boxes of stuff I bought from vintage sites because I’ll be expected to wear a new dress every time [I appear somewhere]. It’s ridiculous. We are our own celebrities now; Instagram has commodified us. I don’t think that’s gonna change at all, so we have to work around it. And as a designer, I’m saying that it is my job now to help people work around these problems.
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