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XR at London Fashion Week: No more ‘business as usual’

A few hours before the opening of London Fashion Week in mid-September, Extinction Rebellion activists staged a ‘die-in’ outside the central venue.

Buckets of fake blood were used to symbolise how ‘business as usual’ in the fashion industry is contributing to the extinction of life on earth.

The aim of the climate rebels was to show the ‘ugly truth’ of the industry which is “one of the most polluting industries in the world”. According to the Ellen McArthur Foundation, the industry has an annual carbon footprint of 3.3 billion tonnes of CO2 and is forecast to significantly increase.

Protests continued throughout London Fashion Week. On the final day, XR organised a funeral march and demanded an end to the industry in its current form.

200 people, most of them with funeral outfits and black veils, joined the funeral with two coffins at its centre. One read ‘RIP London Fashion Week 1983-2019’ and the other ‘Our Future’.

 However, the movement Fashion Revolution argues that shutting down Fashion Week is not a productive solution. The aim should be to make fashion sustainable and ethical.

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