Interview with slow fashion activist Becky Hughes

Becky Hughes

Meet the slow fashion gal taking Instagram by storm

“I want to do different and actually make a change” Becky Hughes’ journey breaking up with fast fashion “Its nice to be a part of doing something a bit different” says sustainable fashion influencer Becky Mary Hughes. With many Gen Z’s waking up to the climate crisis, comes the rise of the sustainable blogger. Becky, 24, began her slow fashion journey on Instagram in 2019, “I was doing loads of hauling of fast fashion as I usually did back in uni and one of the days some of the stuff that came was ripped and torn.” she explains, it made Becky take a step back and ask who really made my clothes?

Like many of us Becky felt like she could be more attentive to what’s going on in the world, “I was naïve to a lot of world issues and injustices” she says, “so I did loads of research and found Fashion Revolution which is a platform I found really helped me learn about all this.”

Originally going as @theniftythrifter_ on Instagram, Becky realised she wanted to document her own journey on parting ways with fast fashion, and so her platform was born. After 4 years she has grown a cult following of 15k on Instagram and become the one to watch in the slow fashion community.

Taking a quick glance at Becky’s Instagram and you will think you wandered into Cher Horowitz’s wardrobe. From eclectic aesthetics, dopamine dressing and top-tier layering may I add. Becky would describe herself as someone who thinks outside of the cycle of fashion. “In this day and age because we’re surrounded by trends all the time, they’re everywhere, so it’s sort of hard to not subconsciously be taking them in. If I can follow them in an ethical and sustainable way, then I feel like its not an awful thing to do.”

Amongst the hidden gems in Becky’s wardrobe is one of her current faves, “my black knee-high boots, I got them from Vinted, and they were £20, like a squared toed 90s sort of vibe so I absolutely love them” she says - and we do absolutely do too. Her best charity shop find has to be her seventies shirt, “it’s got a dagger collar and its multicoloured, right so it sounds a bit wild but its proper vintage. I just love it, fits me great as well I’m like yeah I’m going to be wearing you all the time!”

Her knee-high boots

Her vintage shirt

o Trying to sort out our consumption is another big player in cleaning up our fashion footprint. “Try and sort out the shopping issue first if you can” she says, “I mean that sounds so much easier than it is. But when I first stopped buying fast fashion, I found that I just replaced it with second-hand clothing. I had so much second-hand clothing like I just hauled it for ages.”

The slow fashion community has become a place where you share the eco-love for sustainable fashion and connect with fellow bloggers, “I’ve found like-minded people who also have the same end goal which is to try influence others. My sister is now obsessed with Vinted, and she definitely wouldn’t have been before if I hadn’t encouraged her.” Becky also found herself looking to others when she started influencing, “Lauren Bravo’s book, ‘How to Break Up with Fast Fashion’ it was one of the first books I read” Becky says, describing her slow fashion journey. Sustainable fashion activists Venetia La Manna and Aja Barber also make the list.

..

B e c ky h as he re ye

Reflecting on becoming an actively conscious consumer, Becky says “In this day and age we are taught that shopping is like a part of everyday and that it’s not a weird thing to be buying things all the time.” With the popularity of haul culture, we all need to take a step back and slowww down with what Becky calls a ‘wardrobe audit’. “Get all your stuff out, it would be a bit of a mess, but I do recommend it. Know what you’ve got and give some stuff away, but I would say the best thing to do is try sell it on so then you know that the item is probably going to be worn by someone who likes it more.”

n.

“Obsesse d with this slow fashion shop c a l l e d ‘ F a s s i o n ’ i t ’s basically this website w h e r e t h e r e ’s l o a d s o f independent sellers and its lots of individuals creating their own c l o t h i n g . T h e r e ’s a couple of pieces on there that are so a m a z i n g l i k e k n i tt e d d r e s s e s .”

You can get your sustainable fashion fix by following Becky on Instagram @beckymaryhughes, start your own journey!

Becky before

slow fashion

Knitted dresses from Fassion