– I can’t remember having walked a red carpet before. You know you can pass by? Anna Lotterud, better known as the artist Anna of the North, laughs raw. She has snuck past many camera lenses and microphones during her career. Photo: private – There is so much fuss and so much planning! During the Spellemannprisen earlier in April, she nevertheless ventured out, in a wedding dress with white lace from Fretex. – Since I was nominated, I just had to keep going, and then it was a matter of course that I had to go with recycling. – No longer trying to hide that Lotterud was not the only one who appeared in reuse on the red carpet during the Spellemannprisen. Ramón wore an outfit from Fretex, Dagny arrived in a dress from Uff and a jacket from a vintage shop abroad, Sondre Justad was dressed in a gray suit that he had bought used ten years ago and Chris Holsten wore a shirt from Uff. Artist after artist appeared in garments from thrift stores or family heirlooms, while some had self-made outfits from old textiles. This shows that reuse has gained an established role in the fashion scene, believes fashion expert Ida Eritsland. – In the past, reuse or second hand has perhaps been more of a separate style – a bit younger, a bit alternative – possibly something you would rather not show that it was. Now it has shot, and has become something that highlights famous faces, even on the red carpet or at a party. It’s new. – Don’t want to be part of it Anna Lotterud is not too fond of short trends, and she believes that red carpets often help encourage greater consumption. – In the industry I work in, there is a lot of new things going on, we are sponsored, and we have a lot of influence on the fashion scene in Norway. I don’t know if I want to be a part of it. There is a lot of history in the wardrobe of the artist from Gjøvik. There is the denim shirt for my mother, the party top for my older sister, the flannel shirt from the vintage shop in Melbourne, Australia, where she first got into music. – It means something to me. It also has a different structure to it because it has been used. It doesn’t feel stiff and new. The artist says she likes that the clothes she wears have been on a journey. – Like that shirt for mum, it has probably been involved in a lot of strange things. It reminds me of her tending the garden in the 90s. Lotterud has been interested in vintage and reuse for a long time. – It’s me, it’s my aesthetic. I like to think that it also makes me stand out in a way. I know no one else has this, at least not now anymore, and that’s fine. – The established fashion system no longer works There are more people who are starting to think like her, according to fashion expert Ida Eritsland. – There is a lot of reuse to be seen everywhere, it is a megatrend, something that permeates the entire fashion industry or the fashion field, at all levels. It is not surprising that something is changing, she believes. – I think the established fashion industry, the fully commercial fashion system and its machinery, is idling. It doesn’t work as it has, we see that all too well. – “New” has been the only right thing What the fashion industry has sold us is not advertising for “nice” clothes, points out professor of clothing and sustainability, Ingun Grimstad Klepp. – The whole sales argument has been about the fact that it is “new”. But why should one change one’s clothes if the new ones are no better than the old ones? asks Klepp. She criticizes the media for repeating the fashion industry’s arguments, by creating stories about clothes that you “must have now”, or reports with “autumn trends” and “spring news”. – As long as everyone believes in it, it will also be true. The clothing industry, “with a few honorable exceptions”, has not yet started the important work of making better and fewer clothes, she says. – Campaigns with collections made from recycled polyester are just nonsense. It’s greenwashing. – Creates mountains of textiles that no one wants to use According to Framtiden in our hands, two out of three items of clothing are now made from synthetic fibres. Polyester, elastane, nylon and acrylic are plastic materials that are not sustainable. In addition, we buy twice as much clothing as 15 years ago, and each garment is worn for half as long. There is a lot of clothing in circulation. We are happy to deliver the clothes we get tired of, for example, to Fretex. But a very small proportion of it gets a further life in Norway. According to surveys, only 3 per cent is resold here at home. In 2019, we exported 37,000 tonnes of used clothing, and much of it eventually ends up as rubbish in other countries. It creates major waste problems in countries such as Ghana and Kenya. – When things go in and out of the wardrobe quickly, it only creates bigger and bigger piles of textiles that no one wants to use anymore, says Vilde Haugrønning in SIFO. The used market for online clothes has certainly exploded, now millions of garments are posted on apps and websites every year. But the fact that more people shop second-hand does not currently help to change our buying patterns, say the researchers. – If, in addition to buying a lot of new, you also buy a lot of second-hand, as we have seen in the research we have done, then this only leads to even more clothes in the wardrobe and even more clothes in circulation without reducing consumption, says Haugrøning. – Outdated fashion system Fashion expert Ida Eritsland believes, however, that the old fashion system, which was supposed to encourage overconsumption and the constant purchase of new things, has now become a bit out of date. Perhaps we will see a change in Norwegians’ purchasing patterns in the future, she believes. – Trends that help drive that machinery have been replaced by a trend where “anything goes” and “everything is legal”. There is a greater focus on quality and things that last a long time. She says there is less focus on buying specific trends, and more on developing yourself as a fashion person. – I think it will be more about creating your own fashion world, finding treasures, maybe learning to sew. That one should be in several ways, use and cultivate one’s interest in fashion, instead of being a passive consumer who buys something from a rack in the store. And the celebrities can have an important role in showing the way. This is what both fashion expert Ida Eritsland and clothing researcher Ingun Grimstad Klepp think. – When they show and say that second-hand can be both nice and trendy, in fact just as nice as new clothes, then there is a criticism of the industry that is much bigger than the second-hand purchase itself, says Klepp. – You don’t always need to have the very latest Artist Anna Lotterud believes that celebrities must become even better at showing that you don’t always need to have the very latest. – Finding something just to find something, I feel many people do that today. That need to always have something new, that’s not something I have. She reminds that reuse is also about using things you have invested in, several times, rather than just once. Recently, she went on tour where her stage outfit was a pair of jeans bought second-hand, which she wore over and over again. – I have never been embarrassed about reuse, but it may be that some people are. If I can inspire others to do the same, then that’s pretty cool. Anna Lotterud on tour in Mexico, Thailand and New York. Video: Private
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The fashion system that encourages overconsumption has become unfashionable, says fashion expert Ida Eritsland – Kultur
