“Sustainability is much more than what fabrics are made out of”
Priya Ahluwalia is making sustainability sexy. That isn’t to say that her instantly beloved namesake brand, Ahluwalia, is comprised of sexy designs (although with their sleek lines and clever cuts, a more appropriate word would be ‘sensual’). Rather, the London-based designer’s approach to earth-conscious fashion is so singularly alluring, it makes the occasionally dry - albeit vital - notion of sustainability thrilling.
It is for this reason that the designer was honoured at last night’s Fashion Awards as an environmental Leader of Change. The British Fashion Council selected Ahluwalia for her “commitment to approaching her work sustainably, ethically and consciously.” Other honourees in the sustainability space included Gabriela Hearst and Stella McCartney.
Ahluwalia SS22 collection. Photo: Ahluwalia
Photo: Ahluwalia
“I’m a designer first, before anything else,” Ahluwalia tells me when I reach her over the phone.“To make something sustainable, it’s got to be desirable in the first place.” Though fashioned from upcycled materials, her collections never veer towards the DIY aesthetic that so often traps her peers. “I just want to prove that you can make interesting or beautiful clothing in a way that’s better,” she says.
Though ostensibly a menswear line since its launch in 2018, Ahluwalia began introducing womenswear into her collection in Spring 2022 by way of irresistible patchwork denim and slinky silk dresses. Earlier this year, the designer presented a full womens capsule in collaboration with Danish fashion juggernaut Ganni. Ahluwalia “doesn’t really know, to be honest” how the collaboration came about. “I think Ditte [Reffstrup] had been shown my brand and really resonated with it, and it kind of went from there,” she says, noting that Scandinavian way of business was “really nice.” “The UK needs to really take some of that on,” she adds.
Priya Ahluwalia. Photo: Ahluwalia
As Ahluwalia has grown, racking up awards (in addition to last night’s honour, she’s also taken home The Queen Elizabeth Award for British Design and £150,000 for this year’s BFC/GQ Menswear Designer Fund Award, not to mention fans and top retailers worldwide, she faces that dreaded upcycling quandary: scalability. “The thing is, there’s metric tons of discarded clothing, the problem is, the system isn’t set up so we can access it,” Ahluwalia says. So she set up a system of her own, not only building relationships with wholesale suppliers, but creating a platform to source material directly from consumers.
Ahluwalia recently patterned with Microsoft to develop a platform called Circulate. British users can upload images of items they no longer want and, if the items are accepted, Ahluwalia picks them up, using the material in her collections. In exchange for their items, users are given points towards buying new Ahluwalia goods. “We’re trying to engage our community in a way that they can contribute,” she says.
Ahluwalia x Ganni collection. Photo: Ahluwalia
Photo: Ahluwalia
Community has been a common theme in the Ahluwalia universe. The British designer’s Nigerian-Indian heritage is weaved into her brand, both by way of aesthetic and ethos. “Sustainability is much more than what fabrics are made out of,” she says. “It’s about how people are being treated or the places that they work, or being respectful to people from different countries.” As her star rises, Ahluwalia sees an even greater opportunity to celebrate the narratives that resonate with her. “It’s about using my position that I have to be able to amplify certain stories,” she says.
Last night, however, she took a break from singlehandedly changing the way fashion views sustainability to celebrate her accomplishments. “I’m staying in a nice hotel nearby and Charlotte Tilbury is very kindly doing my makeup. I know a lot of people going so I’m sure I will be surrounded by friends,” she says. “I’m looking forward to going to an afterparty and dancing the night away.”