The city of Exeter has a lot to offer the charity shopper, with a number of shops concentrated in certain areas.

Sidwell Street
Start at the Odeon end and work your way down towards the town centre. Visit British Heart Foundation and Hospicecare on one side of the street, and British Heart Foundation and Kidney Research UK on the other. Kidney Research Shop is my favourite, the window display is always inviting and I’ve found some wonderful clothing bargains there.

Paris Street
When you reach the start of the High Street, turn left into Paris Street, for five charity shops in a row: Save the Children, ECTA, Children’s Hospice South West, Age UK, and RSPCA. Clothing in these shops can be a bit tired and sometimes overpriced, but always worth checking. One of my favourite charity shop buys of all time has been a pair of men’s Savile Row shoes from Children’s Hospice South West.

South Street
You might want to walk back to the High Street and down its length (aghast at the high prices for cheaply-made, mostly unethical, clothing), then turn left into South Street where you’ll find a large Oxfam. The shop is always well-stocked and attractively laid out, and with clothing for all tastes.

Fore Street, Heavitree
It’s worth taking a short bus ride from the city centre (A, R or S route) to Heavitree for the best charity shopping experience. Here you’ll find Devon Air Ambulance Trust, and – the best charity shop in Exeter – Force Cancer Charity. The majority of my Magpie Monday finds come from here. If you want to find out more about why Force is the best charity shop, read my interview with manager, Wendy Syme.

There are of course other charity shops in Exeter, but I’ve concentrated on those best for clothing, and easily accessible to those shopping in the city centre. So why not give the High Street a miss and take a trip down this alternative shopping route instead?

Moll writes the blog Molly and the Princess and vintage, vegetarianism and Vienna

This weekend at Hoxton Hall a bunch of bright and beautiful women will be getting together to take their clothes off. This isn’t a weird orgy or Our Bodies, Ourselves dungaree fest, but a weekend of good humoured burlesque.

Many find it strange that feminists can also enjoy a bit of burlesque as they only see it as stripping. But burlesque is more than that: it’s a celebration of the female form; a performance art; and a bit of a giggle.

Most burlesque nights are a far cry from the sordid strip clubs of Soho. For a start they tend to have a high percentage of women in the audience, which immediately changes the dynamic. The burlesque dancer is in total control of what is going on, and actually enjoys what she’s doing. And finally, nobody seems to take themselves too seriously.

The first burlesque night I went to had a ukelele player before the main act, and a magician following it. Then a middle aged woman dressed as a cowboy came round and offered us tea and cake. You’re not going to see that at a strip club.

If you’re not convinced by these arguments then maybe you should go along to Burly Camp and make your voice heard. They’re holding a debate on burlesque and feminism as part of the weekend’s attractions.

As well as debating and learning how to be a burlesque dancer, Miss Lolly Pops, (haven’t I seen her somewhere before?) will also be running an upcycing workshop to create sustainable burlesque costumes.

What ever else you were doing this weekend can’t be nearly as interesting as this, so just cancel it. Cancel B&Q, cancel cleaning the house, cancel watching Voice on Saturday night and go and and find your inner burlesque dancer. You know she’s just screaming to get out!

Burly Camp runs all weekend at Hoxton Hall, London. For tickets visit the website.

Photos: Lori Smith

If Botticelli was around today and had access to Photoshop what would he have done with it? A new exhibition from Italian artist, Anna Utopia Giordano, hints at a few ideas.

“Art is always in search of the perfect physical form,” Utopia said in an interview with Eco Salon. “It has evolved through history, from the classical proportions of ancient Greece, to the prosperous beauty of the Renaissance, to the spindly look of models like Twiggy and the athletic look of our own time.”

The athletic look she refers to appears almost anorexic compared to the sumptuous curves of the Renaissance. Yet the Renaissance portrayal of soft, floppy, fey looking women has also been criticised by feminists. In some ways, as pointing and angular as some models today are, they are more assertive and strident.

Which do you perfer? Passive, soft curves of the Renaissance or the svelte and hard-edged modern look?

The Venus Series is in the exhibition, Why Goddesses Are So Beautiful: Love & Beauty in Antiquity at the Museum Het Valkhof in the Netherlands through August 12, 2012.

Animated images of the altered classics can be seen at designcollector.net

Why don’t we repair things any more? Too much hassle, not worth the money, easier to buy it new? But now the Dutch are showing us how it should be done through their Repair Cafes.

Mr Wanda looked at me with sad eyes. “The zip’s broken on my jacket,” he said. “I’ll have to throw it out.”

I did consider divorce for a fleeting second, then thought educating him might be better.

I explained that zips could easily be repaired, and it shouldn’t cost too much. I even told him where to go, what to ask for and how much he should expect to pay.

After his first attempt at getting it fixed he came back feeling a bit sorry for himself. He went into a tailors who told him it would cost over £100 to fix. The woman behind the counter said it would be easier to throw it away. He explained the jacket had cost him £140. She shrugged and said nowadays it was easier to buy new than repair old.

After my blood pressure had returned to normal I explained that he’d gone to the wrong place. The best places were dry cleaners, as many do repairs too. Together we found one and for £15 they agreed to replace the zip. We pick the newly fixed jacket up tomorrow, all good to wear again.

Sadly this story isn’t unique. It happens every day. And it’s why there is so much textile waste clogging up our landfill sites.

But a repair culture is growing. Just last month, 10:10 organised ReMade month, encouraging people to organise workshops and events where people could get things fixed. And now, according to Grist, over in Holland they have over 30 Repair Cafes that meet once or twice a month to fix things for free.

Repair Cafes are generally run by volunteers who pool their skills to get things fixed. The foundation that oversees these projects has raised funds from the Dutch government, foundations, and small donors.

Marjanne van der Rhee, a Repair Cafe volunteer said: “Different people come in. With some, you think, maybe they come because they’re poor. Others look well-off, but they are aware of environmental concerns. Some seem a little bit crazy.”

In the UK are we crazy enough to try a project like this? What do you think? Would it take off over here?

Have a look…

By See Gadget

World Fair Trade Day is a worldwide festival of events celebrating the fight against poverty, climate change and the world economic crisis. In this short film fair trade fashion label, People Tree, and Rewardrobe, a slow fashion style consultancy, make their case for ethical fashion holding it’s own in the world of the style conscious.

The shortlist for the  Observer Ethical Awards 2012 has been announced. Among the front-runners are some great names in ethical fashion. 

The Observer awards are in their 7th year and celebrate businesses, ideas, projects and activists who make sustainable change a reality. They are judged by a mix of ethically-minded experts and celebrities, and reader voted categories.

This year in the fashion category Ada Zanditon, Bottle Top and Veja have been nominated. Here’s a little bit more about those brands.

Ada Zanditon
Ada graduated from the London College of Fashion with a First. In September 2009 she made her catwalk debut. Since then her collections have been worn by celebrities including Lilly Cole, Katie Melau and Jameela Jamil. Everything she produces uses organic and natural fabrics and employs waste and energy conscious production solutions. The back end of her production also aspires to sustainability by using low energy lightbulbs, ecological cleaning products and recycled stationary.

Watch her latest collection on You Tube.

Bottle Top
Bottle Top make quirky wire frames bags from recycled aluminium ring pulls. The production supports over 40 previously unemployed women in Brazil. The Bottletop Foundation helps support awareness projects around issues including drug abuse, HIV & AIDS and teen pregnancy. They have also supported 35,000 young people through education projects in Brazil, Rwanda, Malawi and the UK.

Veja
The French company, Veja, work with organic cotton from North East Brazil, Amazonian rubber and ecological leather to produce fashion forward sportswear and accessories. Their founding concept is to work in solidarity with both the environment and small local producers to create products that are ethically sound.

Who do you think should win? Take part in our quick fire poll.

Now everything from number of cars driven in Australia to most fashionable states in America has been turned in to beautiful graphics. Information just got pretty!

We’ve picked out our top four infographics about fashion. But have we missed something? Let us know of an infographic you like in the comments section below.

Mind Your Waste by USAgain.

T-Shirt Lifecycle infographic by Sleeping in My Head

Empowering Women Through Design by Raven & Lilly

A history of fashion in silhouette by Retrogasm 

Ms Wanda’s Wardrobe is a non-profit organisation. It is funded through its shop, which sells a mix of pre-loved, upcycled and vintage clothing. This season we’ve been working with two great upcycling labels, Nurmi and Maiya.

Tell us what you think. 

_____________________

Mad Men style dress from Maiya. Buy now!

Monochrome shift dress from Nurmi. Buy now!

Multicoloured shift dress from Nurmi. Buy now!

Pre-loved dress from Warehouse. Buy now!

1950s brown tea dress. Buy now!

1960s green tea dress. Buy now!

1970s dress from Jigsaw with greyhound print. Buy now!

Last week the Fashion Mob were sent out on their first mission. They came back almost immediately with a result.

The Mob campaigners were asked to leave messages on Topshop’s Facebook wall asking them if they use child slave picked cotton from Uzbekistan. You may remember that previous attempts to get an answer from them were ignored, and in one case questions posed on Facebook were deleted.

However this time they responded to Ceri Heathcote, Fashion Mobber and ethical fashion blogger. They stated they had banned Uzbekistan cotton since 2008. 

With the champagne in one hand I went to double check the information with Anti-Slavery International, who had this response:

“Arcadia Group, which includes TopShop, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins has instructed its suppliers to source cotton from countries that do not use child labour, but has not  committed to not using Uzbek cotton in its products. Also, if they did ban it in 2008, then why haven’t they signed this [cotton] pledge?”

So seems our mission with Top Shop is not yet over. Time now to follow up and ask them why they have not signed the cotton pledge?

Leave a message on their Facebook wall and ask them today!

Copy and paste this message on to the Top Shop Facebook page.

You say you banned child slave picked cotton from Uzbekistan in 2008. So why have you not signed the Forced Child Labour in Uzbekistan Cotton Pledge?

http://www.sourcingnetwork.org/the-cotton-pledge/