United Kingdom

Forget flowers, this Valentine's Day is set to see a record spend on jewellery, an altogether much more significant and lasting token of true love. US retail figures indicate that spending on jewellery for Valentine's day gifts will top $1.7 billion in the United States alone, climbing from $1.6 billion in 2015 (source: Statista.com). With such heartfelt sentiment behind these gifts of love and devotion, it's surprising that so little attention is paid to the provenance of these presents. Whereas the labels on a dozen red roses will reveal precisely where they were grown, and the tag on the designer bag tells us exactly what it's made of (and where from), our jewellery purchases are strangely silent. Look down at your wrists and hands - do you know where your adored adornments came from? Does it matter? I believe we should know and that yes, it does matter.

The raw materials used to make some of our most precious possessions are too often shrouded in secrecy. Gold, silver and precious gemstones can have a very murky past (think 'Blood Diamonds' and slave-labour mines), which is why provenance is all the more important here than in any other areas of the luxury goods market. After all, who wants the wages of war to spoil such a special token of affection? Consumers and jewellers alike increasingly demand transparency and traceability of their precious metals and gems, and there are a number of new and good initiatives to make an ethical choice an easier choice. By far my preferred favourite is the Fairtrade gold certification, as it is the only mark of authenticity to have a clear and independent audit trail, with no vested interest.

Working with small-scale artisan miners in both South America and, most recently, East Africa, the Fairtrade Foundation ensures that their certified gold and silver is some of the cleanest (in every sense) and fairest in the world. Not only do they help protect the environment by minimising the use of the toxic chemicals (arsenic and cyanide) used in the refining process, they also provide safer working conditions and better welfare for the artisan miners and their families. They pay an additional premium for their gold (currently $2000 per kilo) that funds community projects such as clean water. And the Fairtrade Foundation also bans anyone under the age of 18 from going down the mines, so it's a child-labour-free guarantee too.

What I love most of all, is the knowledge that buying Fairtrade jewellery is making a genuine, tangible difference to the lives of thousands of artisan miners and their families. If we're going to enjoy our jewellery for years to come with a clear conscience, seeking out the more ethical options is the only way ahead. And what better day to start to share the love than this Valentine's Day.

How to buy eco and ethical jewellery:

1. Look for the Fairtrade hallmark
Established in 2011, this mark guarantees artisan miners have received a fair minimum price for their gold, as well as reaching set standards for working conditions, health and safety, chemical handling, women's rights, child labour and environmental protection. It's the 'gold standard' of gold standards.

2. Be a curious consumer
Check the traceability of your jewellery. Ask your jeweller what country the gold came from? The name of the mine? Is it Fairtrade? If they can't tell you, don't buy. Asking questions not only helps us buy more ethically, it also signals to retailers that consumers increasingly care about provenance and cannot be kept in the dark. The retailers, in turn, will have to ask more questions from their suppliers, encouraging greater transparency.

3. Know your diamonds
Although the percentage of 'blood diamonds' or conflict/terror-funding diamonds has significantly decreased since the Nineties, this doesn't mean that all is now fine and peachy. Miners (including children) still face tough working conditions, including exposure to arsenic and other harmful chemicals. The Kimberly Diamond Process aims to certify diamonds as being 'conflict-free', although many say its monitoring is not as rigorous, or as impartial, as it could be. However, it is a step in the right direction. A further step forward is to ensure you know exactly where and how your diamonds are sourced. As an example, Arctic Circle Diamonds are one company with a range of fully certified, traceable, conflict-free Canadian diamonds.

4. Find a jeweller you can trust
Retailers are becoming more inspired to stock ethical and Fairtrade jewellery to offer their customers an increased choice. In the UK, Cred (who I collaborate with for my own designs) lead the way for only selling ethically sourced fine jewellery, making it easier to shop with a clear conscience. When commissioning a bespoke piece from a jeweller, look for designers who can trace the origin of all their materials, from gold to gemstones.

5. Support small scale
Small brands such as Geronimo Jones, Just Trade and Birdsong enable us to connect to community projects supporting artisan makers, often giving livelihoods and dignity to those who have been rescued from poverty, indentured labour and trafficking. Usually working in cheaper materials than gold, they work at grassroots level to tangibly improve the livelihoods of some of the poorest and most in need. Check websites for online providers of community-based and not-for-profit ethical jewellery.

Buying a piece of jewellery is so often an act of pure love. Let's make sure our buying power shares that love with those who produce it.

Liz Earle launched her range of certified Fairtrade jewellery in September 2015, to be voted Best Emerging Designer and Best Ethical Jewellery by Professional Jeweller magazine 3 months later in December 2015. www.lizearlewellbeing.com

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I am an Asian woman. I am a size 12 Asian woman. I have been a size 18 Asian woman. I have been a size 6 Asian woman. I have been a size 18 disabled Asian woman.

At no point in my thirty years, have I ever felt truly represented by the fashion industry. This is despite growing up in London, arguably the most cosmopolitan city in the world, known as the capital of fashion, the birth of trends in art and music, and part of a democratic country that prides itself upon its capabilities within "political correctness."

What's going on? How is it possible for such little progression to emerge by 2016? How can anyone look themselves in the mirror knowing that they are promoting and profiting from bold segregation, a crime akin to racism? Exclusion is merely a passive-aggressive way of discriminating. It's pathetic and outrageous, and extremely sad that the government has not yet been more heavily involved in forcing equality, and more so, that the fashion industry is so short sighted, closed minded and xenophobic that it would have to take government intervention to remedy their blatant disregard of anyone who does not fit into their (frankly ridiculous) mould of what they deem as beautiful, and essentially, acceptable.

Christ, I mean even for the able-bodied, predominantly Caucasian girls, the standards are scarcely human. They must be 5'10", but with the body of a male who is 10-years-old, and the proportions of someone eight inches smaller than their frame. They are pressured to emulate a look that genuinely resembles famine, and most of them lead a lifestyle of malnutrition that is conducive to that look. When I was a model at 15, I was eating one red pepper a day, and if I had a big day of castings, I would survive off a bag of Haribo, which gave me the 500 calories a day that would keep me alive. I was congratulated daily on my appearance, the more vertebrae upon my back you could count, the better my auditions went. By 16, my periods had stopped completely. By 17 I had bed sores on my hips and lower spine.

I felt ashamed by what I was doing when there were people in my home country literally starving to death with no choice but to wait to die. I never did that again. For a while I became a model scout and agent, thinking naively I could change the industry from the inside, and even kicked off the famous "size zero debate" with an article I wrote to the evening standard about my concerns from behind the curtain of the business, back in 2005. I was on all of the news channels at 19-years-old, begging for the industry to wake up and mend its damaging ways. There was all sorts of fuss, and promises made by the BFC, government chin stroking and nodding. But ten years later, a girl who isn't a size 6 walks the runway or appears on a magazine cover, it still makes front page news.

I'm so embarrassed for the fashion industry. And I am confused. It is an industry in which the agents, scouts magazine editors, writers and even bloody designers are almost all quite fleshy, with varied ethnicities, of varied heights, and with varied physical capabilities. So it does beggar the question, "What the fuck are they all doing?" I mean, don't they want to see themselves represented in the world of style and beauty? It can't be good for their self esteem to never promote a look similar to theirs as an acceptable form of aesthetic?

I once questioned a very, very big magazine editor about why magazines don't take charge and insist on bigger samples from designers to fit girls who are over size "Baby Gap", seeing as if they refuse to put the clothes in their pages, designers would be devoid of a huge medium for the world to see their art, so would have no choice but to cave.

She answered, "We are selling a fantasy."

What? WHAT? Imagine the depth of how dark that statement is. Such a swift and blunt declaration of elitism, that is birthed by who exactly? Who got to decide that flesh was not beautiful, that love handles and tummies weren't sexy and womanly, that a wheelchair didn't just make you a woman who was sitting down, that walking aids or hearing aids subtracted from your right and ability to be deemed attractive? Who decided that none of these things could allow you to be a fantasy?

You can't just pretend that most of the world doesn't exist! The average size in the UK is a size 16, there are 11.9million people out of only about 67million who have a disability, and the variety of ethnicities in the UK, and the West generally, is staggeringly vast. Having a token black, Indian or Japanese model, is a mortifying concept in this day and age.

All human beings deserve to feel good about their appearance. We all deserve to feel sexy and desirable. It is not a tiny industry's right to tell us otherwise via their dangerous and thoughtless propaganda. When I visit London Fashion Week, I just feel sad as I watch the girls totter down the runway, looking sullen and devoid of energy or the delicious youthful glow that anyone not being practically starved to death, would possess in their teenage years.

Also the age thing is bizarre, while we are talking about diversity. What 16-year-old, who isn't a Kardashian or Hadid, can afford Chanel, Celine and Louis Vuitton? What 26-year-old can even afford these things? Why are grown women, who are the only realistic customers of these brands, forced to try to imagine themselves in clothes and products modelled by children? Aside from the fashion industry's unhealthy obsession with youth, and terror of gravity and wrinkles, they realise that teenagers aren't fully grown yet, so it is easier for them to achieve that elusive thigh gap, their breasts and hips have not yet made a proper entrance and they have the time and energy to exist on very little nutrition, and they are young and impressionable in an industry full of adults, so will be more willingly complicit in achieving impossible aesthetic standards. But they are selling those clothes to grown women who are developed and have jobs and children and cellulite, breasts and flesh on their upper arms, who then feel inferior for not matching how the clothes look in the magazines.

So the industry perpetuates a constant cultural feeling of unrest and inferiority that is based on the nonsense manifestation of some uncompromising maniac's ideal of "beauty".

The definition of a model is a system or thing used as an example to follow or imitate.

How dare anyone feel that it is acceptable to force such an elusive stereotype? And high fashion complains that year upon year it is losing money to the high street. Well the high street caters to a size 16, and (so bloody) slowly, but surely, high street brands for larger sizes are growing in power and influence. So it's not even good business. It's cutting your nose to spite your face in the most mortifyingly obvious way.

We need to move fast to make reparations. There is (the much larger) portion of society who deserve to be heard, and dressed. And they have good money to spend, and can breathe some god damn life and inspiration into the high fashion industry that is walking the green mile towards its demise if it does not listen to the cries of the people.

A wheelchair, a lack of symmetry, a few lumps and bumps, freckles, dark skin, short legs, full arms and frizzy hair, are not bad things. They are part of human beings. They belong to real lives that are being lived everyday, who are being subliminally rejected every single day.

It begins with the designers. You have a job to do. You have a platform and a responsibility. You have a power to make anyone in the world feel beautiful at your fingertips, which is one of the greatest gifts you can give to a person. Prove that you have the imagination, will, and basic talent to be able to make something that isn't solely a walking rail, look spectacular.

Aside from the fact that you will be doing something fair and noble, you will also be bloody rich. If nothing else is a motivation, a 90% higher consumer rate, must be something to look forward to.

Surely.

This February, HuffPost UK Style is running a month-long focus on our Fashion For All campaign, which aims to highlight moments of colour, size, gender and age diversity and disability inclusivity in the fashion and beauty world.

We will be sharing moments of diversity at London Fashion Week with the hashtag #LFW4All and we'd like to invite you to do the same. If you'd like to blog about diversity or get involved, email us here.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

I've spent a few days struggling how to write this article, so please forgive me if it gets a little heavy in places. I began wanting to write something joyous after hearing that the Huffington Post has joined forces with Models of Diversity for a campaign to run for the whole of February call #Fashion4All. The drive is to get the fashion industry to become more diverse, and to finally represent the wider society it is trying to sell to. I have been a supporter of MoD for many years and have covered their campaign for magazines, interviewed some of their models and even modeled for them myself. You see I was one of the first disabled people to ever do catwalk, at London Fashion Week, way back in 1996, when I modeled for a club wear designer called Dane, who went of to design stage wear for the Spice Girls. That show was made up of every type of model, whatever their ethnicity, sexuality or ability. The diverse line up made a Benetton advert look tame. To be honest I was a well known TV presenter and musician at the time and this was more fun that a possible career choice. It also wasn't a huge political and cultural statement by the designer, he was just mirroring the clientele from the thriving club scene at the time.

In the 21st century, and yes that does make me feel old, we now have a generation of young disabled people who see modelling as career and they want the chance to strut their stuff. Not as a token but as a professional. Models like Kelly Knox, Chelsea Jay and Jack Eyers prove that disabled people really can be model material. There are many more too. I will also be supporting the MoD team as they travel the UK this month asking the public for their support for a campaign to get more disabled models on our catwalks and on the pages of our glossy magazines. However, recently the news have been full of stories that make their battle for professional recognition become part of the bigger battle. A fight not for representation but to seen as a valid part of the wider society at all.

Yesterday my wife and I wandered round Camden Market near to where we live. It's not the easiest place to shop if you are a wheelchair user like me, and I am working with the market's management to create a map of the easiest route for people with mobility impairments, and then to make physical improvements to the site. It's annoying to fight your way round your local shops, especially if they are such iconic hot spots for fashion. But imagine how it might feel if you were barred from even entering your local shopping centre. Well if you live in Macclesfield you don't need to imagine, as that is what has just happened.

The Macclesfield Express reported on January 28th that the owners of the Grovsvenor Centre have barred wheelchair users and people with mobility scooters from entering the centre after a fire safety inspection. Steve Gibbons, head of Cheshire's Fire Protection service said "We have serious concerns that if a fire was to break out in the Macclesfield Grosvenor Shopping Centre some people would simply not be able to get out." A spokesperson for the centre explained "Following instructions from the Cheshire Fire Authority, we were unable to allow access to the centre for disabled and mobility impaired persons, due to concerns over the accessibility of fire exits within individual stores." However Mr Gibbons did not agree with this explanation of the centre's reaction "We have not prohibited people with disabilities from visiting the centre - we simply need the owners to satisfy us they have effective means in place to ensure the safe evacuation of everyone, particularly those with mobility issues." To be honest I bet no one in Macclesfield really cares who said what, they just want the right to shop like everyone else. The shopping centre's owners shouldn't be allowed to let anyone in if it isn't easy to escape in case of emergency, as many people have mobility issues who are not as easy to see as sitting in a wheelchair might be. More than that, the centre should never have been allowed to open without an effective fire escape procedure in place, one that encompasses every possible user.

As we spend February fighting for #Fashion4All, let's also make sure we fight for access to the shops that sell that fashion too. Let's fight to make sure that disabled people are not seen as a group who can be barred entrance to anywhere just because of who or what they are. That's how Black people were treated in apathieid South Africa and segregationist America of the 60's. Then Black people were told "get to the back of the bus". In Macclesfield it seems disabled people aren't even allowed on the bus. Sure, seeing disabled people up on the catwalk will help change the way we are thought of by society but so will creating a society that doesn't exclude us from stuff non-disabled people take for granted. Not everyone out there has what it takes to be a model but we must all have the right to go shopping? I wholeheartedly support #Fashion4All but in truth I want #All4All.

Photo by permission

This February, HuffPost UK Style is running a month-long focus on our Fashion For All campaign, which aims to highlight moments of colour, size, gender and age diversity and disability inclusivity in the fashion and beauty world.

We will be sharing moments of diversity at London Fashion Week with the hashtag #LFW4All and we'd like to invite you to do the same. If you'd like to blog about diversity or get involved, email us here.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

At New York Fashion Week a relatively unknown model and artist Ashley B Chew made a silent protest with a leather tote that read 'Black Models Matter.' Her word play on 'Black Lives Matter,' a slogan prominent in recent US protests against police brutality against African-Americans, brought big questions about racial equality into the field of high fashion. This seems to be happening with increased frequency.

Vogue recently declared that 2016 would signal a change in direction for the magazine. In the January issue, editor-in-chief Anna Wintour writes 'All of the many progressive societal changes that we have experienced recently are pointing us to a place of far greater inclusiveness, tolerance and diversity.' This uncharacteristic declaration suggests a fashion world keen to embrace equality and inclusivity.

The fashion industry lacks diversity in terms of race, class, sexuality, ability and size. From its inception, fashion reflected bourgeois European concerns, which made whiteness the measure of true beauty. Fashion's rigid hierarchy of race and class was inherited from the colonial mind-set established by the art, literature and drama that preceded it. If fashion creates images of social power, then why has the industry suddenly grown a conscience? The answer may lie in the challenges fashion has faced in recent times. Alongside frequent calls for more black and Asian models, the industry has also been criticized for the pressure it places on all women to conform to white standards of beauty.

The comedian, Chris Rock's 2009 documentary film Good Hair drew attention to the efforts - and cost - for many African-American women who work against the natural texture of their hair in an effort to be fashionable. Perhaps this is why supermodel Maria Borges gained attention for sporting her natural hair on a recent Victoria's Secret show. The typically upbeat response from American magazine People was to celebrate 'another big stride for beauty' rather than criticizing the industry, or using words like racism.

The persistent use of painfully thin bodies is one of the most insidious practices in the fashion industry. There have been some signs of change with the recent signing of Tess Holliday, a size 22 model, to a major London-based modelling agency. So too, the singer Beth Ditto plans to launch her own clothing plus-size line this year, in collaboration with the fashion designer, Jean Paul Gaultier. Both Andreja Pejic, who has worked as a model for menswear and womenswear, and Caitlyn Jenner who posed for Vanity Fair in 2015, have given fashionable form to transgender debates.

Terms, such as non-binary, once confined to university seminars and political meetings now surface in trend forecasts and twitter rows. As an educator, I see this as evidence of a new generation of fashion graduates determined to address questions of power. A recent report from the trend forecaster WGSN, describes the demand for products and services that take account of inter-faith and multi-cultural needs in explicitly political terms as 'a consumer call-to-action.'

With so much user-generated imagery and bloggers, the traditional fashion magazine no longer sets the agenda; many people are influencing the fashion world from beyond it. Threadbared, a project set up by Mimi Thi Nguyen and Minh-Ha T. Pham, is a good example, whereby academics are using an online presence to join debates on the politics of fashion. The cultural appropriation debate emerged almost exclusively online where images are freely shared. When a design by Kokon to Zai (KTZ) at a London show appeared online, Salome Awa noticed a striking resemblance to a garment designed in 1922 by her grandfather, who was one of the last Shaman of the Canadian Inuit.

In the past, it might have seemed okay for models in fashion magazines to wear Native American war bonnets for fun, blissfully unaware that these 'looks' might actually be part of someone's cultural heritage. With fashion media crossing national and regional boundaries, images are likely to reach audiences who have intimate knowledge of their social, cultural and religious meaning. The digital sphere is unlocking fashion's ugly secrets. People are prepared to expose cultural insensitivity in an effort to discourage designers, stylists and editors from appropriating cultural motifs at will. And these debates are taking place online.

Changing global markets and new flows of information have altered industry priorities. Fashion can no longer afford to be elitist and white. In many ways, too, the world of fashion blogging has upset the white privilege of the fashion media. A new site, Hijablicious, founded in 2010 by two London-based women caters for those who want products and style tips for modest - usually faith-based - dressing. The rise of bloggers and e-commerce exposes the gulf between fashion consumers and the traditional end of the industry. While it plays catch up, new media fashion innovators are busy setting the agenda, which has no doubt, finally pushed Vogue to embrace equality at the grand old age of 124.

This February, HuffPost UK Style is running a month-long focus on our Fashion For All campaign, which aims to highlight moments of colour, size, gender and age diversity and disability inclusivity in the fashion and beauty world.

We will be sharing moments of diversity at London Fashion Week with the hashtag #LFW4All and we'd like to invite you to do the same. If you'd like to blog about diversity or get involved, email us here.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Changing the face of beauty - the model with Down's syndrome

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful,
for beauty is God's handwriting -
a wayside sacrament.
Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every flower,
and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

When Natty was born we were all struck by her petite fragility.

Her features seemed so prefectly-proportioned for a baby.

That feeling that she would 'grow into' her ears, that I had noticed when I looked at her elder sister as an infant, wasn't there. She resembled a perfect little china doll. Before she was born I would probably not have associated Down's syndrome with beauty. I was probably conditioned by the images we see all around us; our media, art, literature and our advertising messages.

Suddenly I was struck by how equally beautiful all children are, just in different ways. Natty had a unique look, so delicate and perfect. Others obviously thought the same, because they used to cross the street to tell us how very pretty she was. Maybe there was an element of wanting a closer look at the little baby in the sling, may some were surprised to find that Down's syndrome is beautiful, but I always stopped to chat. To each and every one of them. I never once got annoyed at people for staring, I drew them in to conversation and left them smiling. And they all went home with a slightly different perception of Down's syndrome.

This is where we began changing perceptions of Down's syndrome from within hearts without even realising it. It was small scale, we were educating one person at a time, but the shift had started.

When Natty was about 12 months old, I recall walking past a shop window and seeing a small poster in a shop window with a happy family group advertising snuggly fleeces. The girl in the photo had Down's syndrome. She was about eight years old and gorgeous. My heart skipped a beat. Never before had I seen a child with Natty's condition represented in advertising. When I got home I began to wonder why this image had stood out so for me. Why was this a wonderful but exceptional event, worthy of such note?

The shop was Weird Fish. They were ground-breakers. The year 2008. Surely by then our society should have already been more inclusive.

Years passed, Natty grew, I began blogging and writing about our experiences, and the thoughts of inclusive advertising that truly represented everyone within society came to the fore. I began writing around, approaching companies with my request to see our beautiful Natty in their glossy pages. After all, society should be reflected as it is.

Many polite rejection letters and then a yes! The rest is history of course and Natty has featured in various high profile campaigns. She enjoys every minute of it and the boost to her confidence has been vast. Of course she is a natural diva and a show-off, which helps as well.

More and more companies are now seeking to include models with disabilities in their campaigns. Large scale companies such as Marks and Spencer and Sainsbury's are helping broaden our narrow visions of beauty.

We have far to go of course and maybe one day models who use a wheelchair will feature in mainstream images in our high street chains.

Natty is just a little girl first and foremost, but seeing her in these ads shines a light for new parents and shows just what a natural part of life Down's syndrome is. It sends out a message to Natty and her peers that they are valued and accepted for exactly who they are and furthermore, it shout from the rooftops that children with disabilities love funky fashionable clothing and having fun with their friends just as much as the next child.

Our kids are not going to be hidden from view any longer. And soon talking about their presence in every arena of life will not be newsworthy.

Or so I hope...

This post first appeared on Model Natty on my blog Downs Side Up.

This February, HuffPost UK Style is running a month-long focus on our Fashion For All campaign, which aims to highlight moments of colour, size, gender and age diversity and disability inclusivity in the fashion and beauty world.

We will be sharing moments of diversity at London Fashion Week with the hashtag #LFW4All and we'd like to invite you to do the same. If you'd like to blog about diversity or get involved, email us here.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

"Few people in the history of fashion can claim the influence of Coco Chanel," writes Megan Hess in the introduction to her book. It is difficult to appreciate just how groundbreaking the French designer was. Born in 1883, Chanel pretty much created the modern woman, liberating them from restrictive corsets and heavy decoration - and even long hair. She introduced activewear for women, simple silhouettes and, of course, that perennial favourite, the Little Black Dress. And perhaps more importantly, she was arguably the first woman to establish a global brand.

Ahead of her time in not just her dress sense, she lived an unconventional life with a string of admirers including the Duke of Westminster. Though she came from humble beginnings, she counted Salvador Dali, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth Taylor and a host of celebrities and socialites among her friends.

"My life didn't please me, so I created my life," Chanel once famously said. Born the illegitimate daughter of a laundrywoman and a merchant, Chanel was just 12 when her mother died and she was taken to a convent to be looked after by nuns. It is here that the designer's penchant for monochrome palettes and simple styles were forged.

Chanel's passion for invention began with her own life including changing her name from Gabrielle and reinventing herself. She was her own advertisement, wearing the unadorned felt hats that she made and jodhpurs to go riding - unheard of at the time. With the help of a wealthy and well-connected patron Balsan, Chanel opened her first boutique in Paris in 1908 and quickly attracted a loyal following. Just two years later, she opened an atelier at 21 Rue Cambon called Chanel Modes.

Her simple, elegant and chic designs caught the public mood and in just a few years, she was able to buy the whole building, establishing a workroom and apartment above the store.

"I make fashions women can live in, breathe in, feel comfortable in," Chanel said. She is the reason why the shops today are filled with Breton shirts for spring, and women wear trousers. While her interlocking Cs is one of the most instantly recognisable logos in the world.

Coco Chanel: The Illustrated World follows the life and work of the designer from her early life and the start of her business to her death in 1971 and the handing over the design mantel to Karl Lagerfeld.

There are no surprises here and anyone who has seen the 2009 Audrey Tatou film Coco Before Chanel will be familiar with much of the material presented here. Nonetheless, Coco Chanel: The Illustrated World of a Fashion Icon is a gorgeous book, attractively presented and drawn with flair and wit. It serves as an excellent introduction to the world of high fashion and would make a lovely gift for a young niece.

Available from Amazon and all good bookshops

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Many young people find the idea of starting their own business to be so daunting that they never give it a go. The number of people slaving away, doing jobs that make them deeply unhappy, when they clearly have the talent and discipline to successfully follow a career path that they actually enjoy, is something that saddens me.

I'm a 25-year-old designer from London and my eponymous brand, Tom Cridland, is best known for The 30 Year Sweatshirt, our campaign against fast fashion in the form of a luxury jumper that we guarantee will last for three decades. I started the business in 2014 with a £6,000 government StartUp loan, as a modern languages graduate from the University of Bristol. I spent half of my startup funds finding suppliers and making our first samples. Despite having only £3,000 left in the bank and no stock, website or experience in fashion or business, it never occurred to me that I might not press on.

With no further investment, we turned over £250,000 in our first year through organic growth and, this year, we have just opened our first shop in the King's Road in London. We have made clothing for the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Hugh Grant, Rod Stewart, the Elton John Band, Ben Stiller and Daniel Craig.

Based on what I've learned over the past couple of years, here are my five tips to running a startup with severely limited resources:

1. Don't outsource anything you can easily do yourself

Be extremely careful with your funds and don't outsource any work unless absolutely necessary. While you're building up sales and turnover, you should be packing and dispatching all your orders yourself, even if it means you're working late and getting up early. Most importantly of all, be very wary of PR agencies, who often quote exorbitantly expensive monthly fees, tie you into long contracts and, ultimately, don't secure you any press.

2. Prioritise ruthlessly

Your time is one of your most valuable resources and the growth of the business must be your absolute priority. If you find yourself dealing with an excessively difficult customer who is taking up too much of your time, just refund them. If you're spending hours agonising over social media but press and word of mouth promotion is what drives traffic to your site, just post less to your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Always remember the Pareto principle that 80% of your achievements are the result of 20% of your actions.

3. Don't pay fees to stock anywhere

In an age when retail is in decline and high street stores are struggling, it's madness to be sucked in by the allure of "serviced retail" like I was. I was stocked by a London boutique who charge me an expensive monthly fee for the dubious privilege of putting my brand's trousers on sale in their basement. Luckily, e-commerce sales were rising at the same time as word of my brand spread, so the loss I made on the venture didn't affect the fortunes of my business. The lesson firmly learnt here, however, is never pay anyone to stock your product. A shop should be happy to buy your good wholesale or take commission on sales, otherwise it's clear they don't really have faith that they'll be able to sell it.

4. Pay attention to the boring details

The chance to often be creative is one of the best things about being an entrepreneur but it's equally important to focus on the less exciting details. Maintaining accurate records, book-keeping, managing stock and logistics, and generally being well organised is crucial. Coming up with a great idea is half the battle. Executing it well requires discipline.

5. Think outside the box

I wanted to grow and scale my business at the end of last year with a bigger stock order, but didn't want to take out a risky loan. Instead, I founded a PR boutique two months ago, which I run alongside my clothing brand, and have signed my first 15 clients already. I was nearly bankrupted by PR agencies and serviced retailers as a young entrepreneur just starting out and this is what inspired me to do this. My menswear brand has always sought to innovate and I want to do the same in fashion PR.

Above all, entrepreneurs should be working on their ideas because they love what they do. If what you do is a labour of love and you genuinely enjoy it, you are more likely to do it better.

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If you're reading this article, it means you're interested in improving your style. A man's shoes are inarguably one of the most important fashion accessories he wears. Just as the eyes are a window to the soul, so are shoes a window to his personality. As a man, the kind of shoe you choose to put on your feet provides an opportunity for people to decipher the kind of person you are.

Gents, true or false people notice your shoes? That's correct, it's true and purchasing new shoes can be a challenge for most men, which is why I have selected my favourite styles and trend to match anyones style and preference as well as occasion.

By choosing the right shoes you can elevate your outfit to the next level. Most people can look stylish however, if wearing a pair of shoes that doesn't match the outfit this can take a potential style opportunity and turn it into a style liability.

Most people shoe taste differs due to age, personal preference and style. So here are my latest shoe guide collection and kicking it off are the latest Spring/Summer 16 must have picks:

'Slits' Trainer, Handmade in England £195.00

A true fusion of old and new, the trainer is handmade by craftsmen, it's lines are distinctly minimal and contemporary. The upper is a 'whole cut' piece of raw edged leather (whole cut means the upper is cut from a single piece of leather, stitched at the heel). The tongue has a uniquely split and rolled upper edge - which we call 'reverse kilting'. This is a feature (literally turning tradition upside down) provides cushioning on the tongue (a common feature of trainers) without the use of internal padding.

Nebula £110.00

Nebula, Geox's most breathable shoes, designed for walking, as light as a cloud. Resulting from the fusion of a modern design with maximum comfort, Nebula represents the peak of GEOX technology. Designed for travelling the world, perfect for any season, they naturally adapt to every movement of the foot. This is the perfect shoe for those who love to travel with style and personality, without compromising on comfort.

Patrick Cox has a capsule collection designed for Geox £140.00

This exclusive collection designed by Patrick Cox: a capsule collection that combines the designer's iconic cult style and Geox's revolutionary breathable technology, making footwear that is functional with an ultra contemporary appeal.

Geo Damocle £115.00

Geox Damocle, a classic brogue with a modern twist. Beautiful navy suede upper, with a beautiful white sole. Arriving in store and online in Mid February.

So Arama £175.00

Oded Arama shoes are handmade and feature leather soles, producing stand out styles of exceptional quality. This classic men's Oxford in suede and calf leather is accented with Royal Blue stripes for a truly versatile look. All of the shoes are handmade and feature leather soles, making them supremely comfortable. Moreover, the shoes are unisex so the possibilities are endless.

Frank Wright Logan White Leather High Top Sneaker £90.00

This fresh style from Frank Wright is crafted from soft leather and features a minimalistic design. The high top sneaker is the smart addition to every man's wardrobe, with a cup sole and discreet Frank Wright branding, this style will see you through all the seasons.

Ash Mens QUINCY Trainers Woven Navy & Black £159.00

Ash Mens Quincy trainers in a navy and black colourway are crafted in woven elastic covering a comfortable neoprene upper. The modern upper makes for an interesting design whilst the colourway keeps the style understated. A white architectural, geometric sole makes this a truly unique style.

Gola Classics Men's Harrier Suede Trainer £55.00

Gola Classics Men's Super Harrier Blue £55.00

The Gola Harrier trainer has been produced in hundreds of different colour combinations and today is one of the best loved Gola men's trainer designs around.Super Harrier returns for SS15 with a modernised look with a nylon upper, D-ring lacing and a new look toe bumper to give Super Harrier a new lease of life almost four decades after it was first launched.

Paolo Vandini Tanner Navy Suede £69.00

Contemporary casual slip on loafer shoe with suede leather upper with tassle detail.

Brown Suede from BHS £28.00

Stylish brown suede look shoes with padded inner sock and gum sole, with leather look detailing to the back.

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Every six months I look forward to this moment. The moment where fashion enthusiasts, designers, stylists, photographers, models and celebrities gather for fashion. Yes, I'm talking about fashion week in New York, London, Milan and Paris. Everyone wants to work in fashion but not everyone makes it. Trying to make a name requires persistence, perseverance and being at the right place at the right time. Fashion week is a great opportunity to get noticed by renowned photographers, journalists or bloggers who have the potential to expose you to their millions of followers. So come to London Fashion Week prepared by following these "Get Noticed" techniques.

Network like a pro
Fashion week is a five day networking event where you can meet hundreds of people who can you help you grow your network. So make sure to have in mind a clear definition of what you want to achieve during these five days and stick to your plan. During every encounter, you must exchange contact details. Provide a business card or connect on social media immediately to not miss a great opportunity. After the event, this is when you should leverage your new connections. Re-connect online or face to face to discuss possibilities and opportunities. This is the fundamental part of growing your fashion network and cannot be neglected if you want to achieve your fashion career goals.

Be unique
If you want to catch the attention of professional photographers, you need to be original not ridiculously eccentric. Choose garments and accessories with unusual fabrics, cuts, shapes or colours. Finish off with a great hair and makeup look. Your style identity must appear unique and well put together. So be creative, prepare different outfits before fashion week and take photos of yourself to see how it will look in photo. Ask your fashion friends to help you create styles with a wow effect. Most of the time, less is more. It's all the details.

Photo by Flavilla Fongang - 3 Colours Rule

Master the art of colour
In a very dull world, where most people wear black; be the ray of sunshine with your look. People who wear colours get photographed twice as often than the ones who don't. During these five days, plan different outfit colours . If you notice, you get photographed more often in certain colours, wear them more during the following days.

Photo by Flavilla Fongang - 3 Colours Rule

Show charisma
Think movie stars on the red carpet. Their body posture is relaxed while they pose with confidence. They walk and blink slowly to give time for photographers to snap them. For once in your life, live it in slow motion. Be confident when you enter the fashion arena. Don't stay in the same spot but wander around to encounter as many photographers, journalists, bloggers as you possibly can. Remember less is more, so be mysterious. Don't say too much to raise curiosity.

Photo by Flavilla Fongang - 3 Colours Rule

Choose your partner in crime
Fashion people who come in pairs also get photographed more often. If you have a friend or relative who is as passionate about fashion as much as you are, go together. Plan your looks together to ensure you complement each other. If you are a designer, you could always get two models to wear your collection and present your brand with attitude.

Photo by Flavilla Fongang - 3 Colours Rule

To conclude, you are your brand. To be successful it is about who you are, your impact on others and how you use your knowledge to help others and achieve your goals. Be you and enjoy the shows.

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Few fashion designs have stood the test of time like the Breton stripe. It came into being in nineteenth century France, was a symbol of haute-bourgeois style between the wars, and few women today could imagine a wardrobe without it. It's chic yet practical; it knows no bounds, be they age, gender or nationality.

But before a bottle-blonde Welshwoman suffered a catastrophic car accident 23 years ago, the stripe was out of reach to a much-in-need group here in Britain: pregnant women. Back then, JoJo Maman Bébé founder Laura Tenison MBE tells me, maternity outfits consisted of tent dresses and unflattering dungarees.

Like many entrepreneurs, Tenison has a fascinating story to tell. Her enterprising tendencies began at a young age, when she would sell fruit to lorry drivers as they meandered past her childhood home on the A40. During sixth form, she created a men's clothing business. Later, when a role at a publishing house failed to inspire, Tenison decided to turn her love of tailoring into a full-time job.

We often hear of entrepreneurs struggling to access finance, of banks not lending and VCs predominantly investing in male-led tech companies. The tenacity with which Tenison approached financing goes some way to explaining why she's has been so successful:

"I was turned down by half a dozen high street banks, and couldn't find a family member or friend willing to back me. So I decided to become a French property agent - my father was a diplomat so I speak the language fluently. I taught myself how to design architectural plans and set about finding derelict, rural houses in Brittany to sell to British clients. The company was sold two years later and the proceeds gave me £50,000, which was matched by a bank overdraft - enough capital, at last, to go into fashion."

Tenison had planned to focus on menswear, but while recovering in a French hospital bed after a near-fatal collision, she met a bed-ridden mother who complained about the lack of choice in maternity and babywear. The idea for JoJo was born: quirky British fashion inspired by her French adventures.

Knowing little about the market, Tenison launched JoJo as a 24-page catalogue with a collection of maternity and baby clothes. Over the past two decades the business has grown organically, and is proud today to be the largest independent mother and baby brand in the UK. Tenison has fended off competition from bigger retailers, like Mothercare, by offering unique products designed in house. JoJo doesn't do wholesale, and Tenison thinks those businesses which fail to safeguard their retail offering "dilute their unique position and impair the customer experience". She has a point. If TK Maxx starts selling JoJo items at a discount, where's the incentive to pay full price?

But while its designs channel French chic, JoJo's operations remain firmly British. In its 23 years of operation, the retailer has been based in the unemployment-ridden dock town in South Wales where Tenison grew up. The company's ethos is to help regenerate local high streets, rather than open in big retail parks. She may crave growth, but you sense she'll forego the fast cars or lavish yachts: for Tenison, success goes hand-in-hand with social good.

Somehow, while managing a company with 300 staff, a turnover of £55m and over 70 UK stores, Tenison finds time to champion female entrepreneurialism (through the Female Founders Forum, for example), take on work experience students with Down's Syndrome, and support the Nema Foundation - which works with Mozambique communities to relieve poverty and protect the environment.

"The best thing a human can do in this world is provide safe and ethical employment. You should help people, give them education and practical advice. Business shouldn't just be about money," she says. She has little sympathy for those individuals who think entrepreneurship should be easy: "There's an extraordinary belief among some founders that everything should be given to them on a plate.

"I worked three jobs when I started JoJo. I slept on the floor of my flat and rented out my bedroom. Entrepreneurship is hard. And even in an established business you will come up against downturns, changes in legislation, new competitors. But I feel those entrepreneurs who are really challenged in the early years are those who achieve longevity. They're the ones who know how to solve problems." She needn't look far for proof of the theory.

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What is Grey? This is the question I asked when researching the concept of a mature model agency early in 2015. On launch we wanted to challenge the perception of 'grey' and did so via an In-Your-Face slogan T-shirt campaign - fronted by punk vintage model, Sara Stockbridge, slim cool Antony and beautiful body art, Matthew, all sporting the ballsy, confrontational, Am I Grey? Tee.

grey model

©Paul Spencer

Six months on and the 'grey' revolution has moved far beyond the embrace of silver hair or the hint of wrinkles in beauty campaigns, it is a revolution that redefines our perception of age and ageing. Those of us who have reached our 5th, 6th or 7th decade are the same generation who attended anti-war demonstrations, grew our hair long and offered peace, love and sex as an alternative to war and controlling class systems. We were the rockers, the Mods, the Punks and the New Wave, expressing our values and identities through music, art, fashion, design and popular culture. We have not changed. We are still innovators, disrupters and style-changers. We are the New Generation Grey.

Grey Model Agency represents the new age of Grey embracing the diversity across that age range; our #UnitedColoursOfGrey defines the colourful characters, the culturally diverse fashionistas, the international beautifully-ageing ambassadors of healthy, fun-filled lives that the younger generations admire and aspire to become.From the moment we launched Grey's philosophy captured the imagination of the international press: This is the aged rebellion, the final frontier in overcoming discrimination and like the punk movement, Grey fashion unapologetically defies convention; Doc Marten-clad models in their 70's sporting big hair, bold colours and brazen attitudes. Beige is ironic, grey is the new blonde and experience is the new sexy.

grey model

©Trisha Ward

Our first clients were the forward-thinking fashionistas. Rankin's Hunger Magazine booked 82 year old, Frances - a New Face in the world of modelling - along with silver-haired Italian beauty, Alex Bruni and the androgynous Sanna for their main Prada fashion feature, I Was A Teenage Anarchist, captured in gritty North London by photographer, Trisha Ward. The models are ageless their styling an eclectic mix of colour and texture. Far from ridiculing age, the shoot illustrated how cutting-edge fashion can be endorsed by our Grand Dames. A sentiment embraced by the quite brilliant NYC-based designer, Fanny Karst, and her collection, The Old Ladies Rebellion.

grey models

© Iris Bjork

Hunger was swiftly followed by a Look book and catwalk show at London Fashion Week where the extremely exciting and talented young Chinese designer, YouJia Jin launched her mother-daughter inspired SS16 collection illustrating how modern chic sophistication need not be age dependent.

grey models

© Hakim Satriyo

The doors to the East had opened and through them walked Grey model and scholar, Alex Bruni, on sabbatical in Indonesia during Jakarta Fashion Week. Deconstructing a schedule that focused once again on youth, Alex's Goddess-like presence attracted the interest of top designer, Tri Handoko, who harnessed her signature silver locks to add drama to his SS16 collection and show. In just two months the fashion-leaders of the East had recognized, embraced and endorsed the relevance, diversity and sustainability of mature models within fashion. If London's Grey Model Agency is the trailblazer in redefining mature models then the fashionistas of the East are the forward-thinkers who are picking up the baton and running with it.

grey models

©Ari Seth Cohen/Christine Hahn

But fashion is changing too. Moving off the catwalk and driven instead by social media platforms, the changing public perception of age, beauty and style is being exercised on the pages of Instagram, Youtube and Facebook.

Spearheading the rise of the New Global Grey, Grey Model Agency signed 60 year old Instagram It Girl and style icon, Sarah Jane Adams to its Specials board. With a following of over 46k Sarah, aka Saramai's, unique eclectic wardrobes, that team Adidas Originals with Indian Sari silks, homeboy hoodies with hippie batiks, have captured the imagination of young and old, male and female, desperate for a torchbearer to lead the way in self-expressed styling and anti-conventional lifestyle.

Sarah's 18 month rise to style-icon status, her unflinching punk attitude and her embrace of age with the hashtag: MyWrinklesAreMyStripes is the personification, the ambassador of this New Generation of Grey. The world is changing, the market is media savvy and forcing a move away from the artifice of youth to embrace the healthy, the wise and the diversity within their own age group.

Saramai #MyWrinklesAreMyStripes - A hardback limited edition book will be released by Unbound Publishing on 21st January 2016.

https://unbound.co.uk/books/saramai

This February, HuffPost UK Style is running a month-long focus on our Fashion For All campaign, which aims to highlight moments of colour, size, gender and age diversity and disability inclusivity in the fashion and beauty world.

We will be sharing moments of diversity at London Fashion Week with the hashtag #LFW4All and we'd like to invite you to do the same. If you'd like to blog about diversity or get involved, email us here.

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What's the first thing you think of when you think of beauty...?

Who decides what is beautiful?

Is it you, or is it the advertisers' perception of beauty?

What do you think when you see the image below?

kelly knox

© James Alexander Lyon, Lyon Photography

In a world of expansive diversity, we still very much live in a visual age where beauty is in the eyes of the advertiser, and not in the eyes of the beholder.

As the co-founder of new campaign Diversity not Disability, alongside the UK's leading disability Fashion Model, Kelly Knox, we have launched a positive awareness campaign to challenge the beauty ideal. One of the ways we seek to achieve this ideal is by approaching the advertisers, the fashion labels and the beauty brands and asking them why they are not using disability models in their campaigns. Why they are not reflecting the diverse society we live in? Why are disabled people made to feel invisible by brands?

We are committed to challenging society's perception about what is beautiful in a positive and encouraging way, where all body types are celebrated for their uniqueness. We are not here to name or shame brands, but to ask them to acknowledge the gap in the models they are using in their campaigns, and ask them if they would be willing to try something new.

Diversity not Disability aims to encourage fashion brands, beauty labels and advertisers to appeal to a wider audience. To choose the models they use with an inclusive thought process, to represent the diverse society we live in.

Why is there no consistency when using a disabled model? If used once, it's rare they will use again.It's like the latest trend, so some will try it and then tick that's done and they move on. If one leads, the others will follow, it only takes one brand to make a difference and take a leap of faith. Who will be the Pied Piper of fashion? If one in five people in Britain has a disability*, that's 19%** of the UK population that are not being fairly and equally represented in the media. Consumers with disabilities are the largest untapped market.

Both myself and Kelly are active ambassadors in changing the face of beauty and creating positive body confidence. We are especially passionate about the younger generation and building confidence in young people.

Where are the positive role models for young children and teenagers growing up with disabilities?

Many fashion labels are happy to embrace a para Olympian in their campaign, but not all children growing up with a disability enjoys sports. Positive role models are needed to encourage inclusivity in a diverse world where choices are unlimited.

Young people love fashion and are affected deeply by the visual role models they see in magazines. There are countless stories of young people who lack body confidence and are taking their own lives because they cannot live up to the unrealistic perfection of the air brushing.

We want to encourage brands to embrace diversity at all levels in their campaigns and reach an inclusive audience. Disabled people wear clothes too. Disabled people love to wear make-up.
Disabled people love to feel good and look good.

Kelly and I are committed to making a difference and paving a new way in developing positive body confidence in the face of negative attitudes towards what is beautiful. We feel it is every person's birth right to grow up confidently, accepting and loving the skin they are in. The younger generation are more accepting of difference and if we start young enough, everyone will grow up celebrating their individuality. Some disabilities are visual, some are not, but nobody should be made to feel different. We are all human beings and we live in a world where we can love and accept one another based on what's on the inside, in the heart. So let's join together and celebrate diversity at all levels, and build a world that is inclusive and equal for all.

Beauty should not be defined by ability, size, age or colour - beauty is for everyone.

Join us at #DiversitynotDis

*Government. Gov.uk Jan 2014

** Family Resources Survey 2014

This February, HuffPost UK Style is running a month-long focus on our Fashion For All campaign, which aims to highlight moments of colour, size, gender and age diversity and disability inclusivity in the fashion and beauty world.

We will be sharing moments of diversity at London Fashion Week with the hashtag #LFW4All and we'd like to invite you to do the same. If you'd like to blog about diversity or get involved, email us here.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

When I was 15, I found myself in the Canada, as if teleported from another planet. Communist Hungary's Revolution in 1956 left the borders open for a sliver of time, and my parents were among those who took one inconspicuous suitcase in the middle of the night and escaped with their two children. My eight-year old brother, and moi.

Through a nearly miraculous event... lo and behold... I was "Discovered" with a capital D by 20th Century Fox Studios... not a short story. They imported me, and a mere three days later I was costarring in their high profile comedy with James Stewart called Mr. Hobbes Takes a Vacation. The heady Edith Head, the dressing room with the star on it, the now legendary make up and hair artists: Hollywood, another whole new Galaxy, before I was even 17.

For immigration and other inconvenient reasons my movie career shrunk much too soon to a TV career, and subsequently sizzled out in the famed frying pan, also known as a flash in the pan.

Never mind that though, I soon had a normal life, a wonderful husband, children and parents nearby, and a busy life. Conventional comes to mind for the next 30 years, packed with joys and worries, as most families.

In 1995 however, an upheaval of titanic proportions occurred; whereby all that I knew had once again disappeared. I lost a child, husband and mother in that year, and this time I truly had no roadmap.

What was required of me was no less than reinventing my whole world in order to go on.

I was fortunate to be able to create an organization that carries my teenage son's name: the Andre Sobel River of Life Foundation (www.andreriveroflife.org) that offers in 24 hours financial help to desperate single parents of terminally ill children. For the next 18 years I worked from a basement office or from my home in the mountains. I was invisible and wounded, but also healing through finding a most relevant purpose.

Than once again, in the fullness of time, an unexpected shift occurred. Burned out from 12 hour working days, I decided to take a sabbatical. When I returned after a three-month break, I knew for sure that an era had ended, and new one began. All I had to do was to look and listen to the still small voice in my head. Almost immediately a gift without a ribbon came; I started to channel art. (valeriesobelart.com) As I got lost in the charm of assemblage, my dormant love of fashion also re-blossomed or I might say detonated. I started to go once again to places, renewed connections i.e. like my Academy (of Motion picture Arts and Sciences) affiliation, and started to appear in print because of my unrestrained take on fashion.

Enter Mr Ari Seth Cohen of Advanced Style, official patron saint of older (sometimes even wiser) spirited ladies and gentleman.

Being "discovered" in 1960 was followed after a hiatus of 55 years with being rediscovered in 2016.

Being on the cover of his new Advanced Style: Older and Wiser book makes me wonder, how is it possible that 75 looks like this?

Ari does NOT use Photoshop, he even frowns on a benign filter, so what you see is what it is.

How can my cautionary tale serve you?

It's not possible to sum up a life, but I can share some ideas that come with experience.

Health: The pillar that upholds it all. Be very sensible. Don't do irreversible harm with the wrong foods, sedentariness, smoking or daily liquor...and don't forget to breathe.

Fashion: Don't be sensible at all. Be creative, reinvent, dare. Mix inexpensive with vintage, and now and than add an eccentric treat. Decide to be captivating and original. You think you can't? than you may be right, so change your mind.

Skin: there is a lot of help out there, but basically it's about moisturizing and hydrating, protection from harmful rays, a good night cream, under-eye cream, and cleanser. Never have the morning find you with yesterday's make up on. No no.

Beauty: it's not all in the eye of the beholder. It's in you... straighten your shoulders, hold your head up high and believe that you are special. Whatever it takes build confidence, until you can't imagine YOU without it. Don't be afraid of artifice. Use all there is.

Oh yes, don't forget a whiff of perfume...

Yours truly,

Valerie von Sobel

This February, HuffPost UK Style is running a month-long focus on our Fashion For All campaign, which aims to highlight moments of colour, size, gender and age diversity and disability inclusivity in the fashion and beauty world.

We will be sharing moments of diversity at London Fashion Week with the hashtag #LFW4All and we'd like to invite you to do the same. If you'd like to blog about diversity or get involved, email us here.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

The way sustainable fashion is perceived is a direct response to the way it is marketed and talked about.

I recently wrote that I used to be ashamed to say that I worked in the fashion industry, because of the negligent beast it revealed itself to be. But increasingly, the way sustainable fashion is understood is driving me round the bend a little.

When I say I write about sustainable fashion, or I have a knitwear brand trying to approach fashion in a more responsible way, people try and change the subject. They think it's boring, convoluted and will probably make them feel guilty.

And part of me understands why.

I don't know how many articles I've read that talk about how many buckets of water or number of carbon dioxide filled balloons go into a garment's production. I can't be the only one who struggles to relate to these statistics.

But as the situation gets worse, it is so important for both designers and consumers to at least be engaged in the discussion around current fashion industry practices, even if we struggle to mimic that in our purchases right now. As Chemmie Squier recently wrote in The Debrief, 'Supporting ethical and sustainable fashion doesn't have to cost the earth, or anything at all, but not doing it probably will.'

There is a desperate need to interact with these issues and I believe that will come through positive story telling, relatable statistics and talking more about tangible products that look incredible. Phrases about reducing your waste footprint by x% are not going to drive serious engagement.

In such a fast paced world, time is arguably our most precious commodity; so no wonder the more 'boring' or 'problematic' topics get pushed aside. Increasing our awareness of the need for responsible fashion needs to be a pleasure not a chore.

Of course, it's important for us all to be aware of these deeper issues, whatever our role, but it's in our nature as human beings to dismiss the negative and respond to the positive - so let's talk about the good.

I recently got some feedback from a post I wrote last month, featuring a list of articles and programmes that I thought offered a variety of ways to learn more about sustainable fashion (and I didn't have nearly as much choice as I would have hoped).

Interestingly, my research highlighted that 'education' (of both designers and consumers alike) was one of the most talked about issues concerning sustainable fashion in 2015.

As well as feedback on the content (kudos to all the writers!) somebody also observed how refreshing it was to see an article about sustainable fashion that was presented in an engaging and approachable way. That being unusual is not a good sign!

Those who don't get shifty eyes when I tell them what I do, love it and want to know where they can find brands who reject the typical fashion system and work in a more responsible way.

To that end, I will continue to use this blogging platform to champion original, innovative and responsible brands, with interesting stories, which are tackling issues such as waste, overconsumption and lack of transparency and producing a knock out product at the same time.

This post was originally featured on the study 34 blog

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2016-02-14-1455412744-1880069-nickjoejonassundancefilmfestivalsaturdayfanselfies25.jpeg

Singer, Joe Jonas - Sundance, January 2016

It's been called everything from the 'Harry Potter scarf' to the 'modern-day invisibility cloak for social media' - and the brand posted a quote on Instagram, where Banksy described invisibility as a superpower. Banksy would know...

2016-02-14-1455412980-5920292-495cd7c9e17442de96e3ddc7f8b714fboriginal.jpeg

Actress, Hannah Simone - 'Cece' in New Girl
[Left photo without flash, Right photo with flash]

But for me this is more than just a James Bond gadget. It's stone cold chic and taps into the love-hate relationship that we all have with social media - where we want to be seen on our terms.

ISHU CEO, Saif Siddiqui

Inventor and entrepreneur Saif Siddiqui is the brains and founder of The ISHU - a new fashion brand, whose first product is a scarf that allows the wearer to disrupt flash photography. It's also about to appear on the shelves of Harrods.

Saif is a new kid on the block worth watching. His professional footballing career was cut short through injury. So he swapped the goal posts, instead for those of business - scoring a degree in Advertising and Marketing and then a bright career working for IMG on sports sponsorship. I know Saif well, because he was my Branding and Advertising student, graduating in 2010; and it was cool finding out that he remembers my lecture slides on Pharell Williams, Nigo, A Bathing Ape (Bape), and the Teriyaki Boyz, back when I think some of the class were thinking who, why, and WTH?

Footballer, Jerome Boateng - Bayern Munich/Germany

But his story is just starting to get hot. Saif was negotiating lucrative sponsorship deals and image rights for some of the world's top sportsmen and sportswomen - but burning the midnight lamp thinking about his next move made Saif decide that quitting his job was the only way that he was going to make his ideas happen.

Enter the ISHU scarf - a blend of innovation, chic and mystique. There aren't many companies that can claim sales generated from an elite list of A-list celebrities in their first four months after a soft launch, with no advertising, no endorsement contracts - just pure buzz, social media and word-of-mouth.

2016-02-14-1455413366-7111212-ScreenShot20160208at13.30.56.png

Actor, Jeremy Piven

But this isn't a fluke, it's been a labour of love. Saif has spent the past six years developing the design and new innovations in the materials, and they all started with a speed camera and a motorbike. When his friend mentioned that he avoided getting a speeding ticket because the high visibility jacket he was wearing ruined the flash photo looking to capture his number plate, Saif saw a way to give back control, fashion, and a business.

But it would be wrong to assume that this is all about catering for the rich and famous. Whilst they have been the early adopters, from the start he saw a wider application for the product. He is developing a range of clothes for children and garments with hidden panels that can be unzipped, for that now you see me now you don't moment. When I caught up with Saif he also mentioned that he had been approached by several organizations, who see other possible applications for his innovation.

What else would someone like Saif want? I mean Kanye West's got one, he's personally handed them to P.Diddy, Justin Bieber, Cameron Diaz and a whole host of other stars - all of whom paid for them. Well, he's got a smartphone full of new ideas, he doesn't sleep much, and he's desperate to use this as a platform for his long-game, which is to make a deeper difference to the lives of those in emerging economies.

Saif and my undergrad Marketing Communications students

That's probably why he's been so successful, because away from the flash and bling, his feet seem firmly placed on the ground. The fact that we bugged out over a kebab in a take-away and he came back to his old classroom at the University of Greenwich, spending a day with my students meant a lot to us all.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

This February marks the 22nd LGBT History Month, a month that celebrates the progress made by the LGBT community. It also continues to be a campaign that throughout the year aims to challenge homophobia, biphobia and transphobia. If you're interested in learning more or getting involved yourself head over to, http://lgbthistorymonth.org.uk/. The website is full of great things, such as the last news, resources for students and also a list of yearly events.

An important part of this month is keeping awareness high about issues that may face the community but not others. For example, to remember aspects of life that many may take for granted but the LGBT community does not, such as travelling with partners (or even on our own).

Preparation and awareness for LGBT travellers is key to staying safe and well while travelling to new places.

Preparation, information and awareness should be part of any traveller's pre-departure plans. Knowing local customs and cultures can help keep you out of trouble and keep the locals happy. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office website is a great place to start with information on 225 countries and territories! This local understanding is even more important for the LGBT community. Attitudes towards the community can be very different from those within the UK depending on the country you're planning on going to.

Some countries are still very openly homophobic prohibiting any form of it by law. This applies to foreigners in the country too! IGLA (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association) has a map on their website (http://ilga.org/) which shows the status of LGBT relationships globally. This interactive map can also take you to specific webpages that will have more information on a country. The FCO also has some great general advice for LGBT tourists (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/lesbian-gay-bisexual-and-transgender-foreign-travel-advice). Their twitter account @FCOtravel is also full of current issues that you may need to be aware of. It's a great way to make sure you always know what is going on in the world! An important part of travelling. These websites (along with many others) are a great tool for the LGBT traveller who wants to make the most of global travel, while staying safe. It gives you the chance to be fully equipped with the knowledge you need to know before you go!

Another way to make the most of your holiday plans is to go through a travel agent... albeit it being (a lot) more expensive sometimes. Many specialise in Gay Travel and not just the party holidays! Such as ANAZURE, who offer the chance to explore a diverse range of countries, from Japan to Botswana. This travel company give you the chance to make a customized programme, including meeting with gay locals and activists in these amazing places. A unique travel opportunity.

The LGBT community should feel able to explore the freely, making the most of the chance for cheap travel that is widely available today. But precautions and planning can help to make the holiday not only safe but the best it can be!

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

At a first glance I think it is really easy to notice all of the negative elements that are still occurring within the plus size industry and how there are still many disappointed plus size/curvy/fat or whatever name you feel comfortable calling us fabulous women, still very unhappy with their choice of clothing, availability and lets not even get started on some the designer's choice of cut!

BUT the question is 'have we progressed? and I would have to say a big fat wobbly YES!

I have been working in the plus size industry for the last six years and feel that not only have I been able to see a change but I feel proud that some of the work that myself and team have done as helped to contribute to push things forward in a positive way.

I was just a normal plus size woman not a blogger or a journalist, I had never worked in fashion before and my background was working in television and music but I was simply frustrated about the lack of options of clothing and I wanted to see images that I could identify with - well that frustration led me to create an online fashion magazine called Evolve at a time when there was not much out there for us ladies to inspire to and from that I went on to create two award winning fashion events for the curvy community as a precursor to London Fashion Week called British Plus Size Fashion weekend and most recently the largest fashion event for us women with curves UK Plus Size Fashion Week.

But what I love most is the fact that the industry has slowly started to shift and embrace plus sized fashion but this was not because some retail executive suddenly decided they wanted to embrace us NO it was because we has a community started to stand up and refuse to continue to take the substandard sacks labelled as dresses, racks of the forgotten clothes pushed to the back of stores and images of women size 8-10 modelling plus size clothing and having no representation of us on catwalks as though we did not matter. I like to call it the Curvy Revolution we armed ourselves and took control by creating what we needed instead of waiting for it to be given to us - Go US!

We started to create magazines such as Evolve and Slink and others. We had a rise of bloggers stepping out and speaking up, we created events such as the ones I produced that gave us the opportunity to start to sit with the brands and voice our opinion of what we needed and wanted and we had a surge of new independent designers inspired to give us clothing with shape and style.

And slowly but surely the media started to talk about what we were doing and brands started to see what we have seen all along plus size fashion matters!

So what has changed I hear you ask? Well.

We absolutely have more choice now especially with the growth of online shopping. A variation of new brands now stocking plus size clothing around the world, some that were previously only stocking regular/smaller sizes such as Boohoo, Asos, Mango to name a few and we give credit to some of our original retailers such as Evans and Simply Be who we have seen actively looking at their designs and trying to make more edgier trendy collections, with larger plus size models over a UK 20 such as Tess Holiday and Olivia Campbell being signed to major modelling agencies and heading campaigns for brands such as Yours Clothing it just may seem like someone is finally listening to the masses.

Yeaaaayyy!!

But let's not get too carried away, we still have a long way to go and let's be honest there are some brands and designers who are just jumping on the bandwagon for the dollar signs that they see - the plus size industry is estimated to be at around 5.4billion in the UK and over 17 billion in the US alone.

I would not have a problem with them cashing in if they were all supplying us with great designs and fit that don't just go up by size but are altered to flatter both a size 16 and a size 26 woman - it's not one style fits all guys! And it is frustrating that there is not more brick and mortar stores holding our sizes on the high street and we are being driven to shop 90% online.

The truth is we are still one of the most underserved segments of the fashion industry even with all the work we have put in - BUT with new brands releasing curvy collections such as River Island and events such as UK plus size fashion week and allowing us to shop 'til we drop with designers from around the world - one thing is for certain it may not be changing as quickly as we would like but onwards ever backwards NEVER!!

This February, HuffPost UK Style is running a month-long focus on our Fashion For All campaign, which aims to highlight moments of colour, size, gender and age diversity and disability inclusivity in the fashion and beauty world.

We will be sharing moments of diversity at London Fashion Week with the hashtag #LFW4All and we'd like to invite you to do the same. If you'd like to blog about diversity or get involved, email us here.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

I had the immense pleasure to meet with my dear Beth Ditto this morning to talk about the launch of her new collection! Here's what went down...

BonjourClem: What was your inspiration while working on this collection?

BD: I wanted to do something that wasn't oppressive, that was comfortable and in some ways luxurious. I don't love the word luxury because it feels Bougy to me, but I wanted pieces that would last and that people would feel good about investing in. I don't feel like that exists for us (plus-size women)... Since I was 19, I was needing that type of garments for special occasions and events and there was just nothing available to me. Now it's different than 10 or even five years ago. But still, we are finally getting this attention that we deserve and yet there's nothing to keep up with it. When I think about the idea of Rebel Wilson having to go to the Oscars and not having something amazing to wear that's made for her, it drives me mad.

beth ditto

And for people who aren't in the public eye, it's just about having something they feel really good about that is qualitative and creative. I feel like we have plenty of cheap and easy options in fast fashion and I would shop fucking anywhere, I love leggings from Walmart and such, I just wanted to bring something more to the equation. I am tired of spending a little bit of money in a lot of pieces because they keep on falling apart.

beth ditto

BC: Who do you look up to as a new designer?

BD: I love Vivienne Westwood. Her work is so interesting, you can always find something that's great and fits you. I am a size US22, I am short and I don't have an hourglass figure. I can always find something there. I also love McQueen. I find inspiration everywhere. I love challenges and my favorite thing is to find something ridiculous and be like "if it's all that I have available to me, I am gonna make it look the best that I can".

beth ditto

I love to make people feel like they are taking a part in their own body and evolution. Don't wait for things to change for you, change it yourself, because if you wait for people to do it, it's never gonna fuckin' happen and most certainly not on your terms either!

BC: What's your work process when you are designing? What do you start with?

BD: Drawing is always my first step. The shape is the most important to me because it is what really matters and what's really missing in our market. Anything else is easier. We are able to find prints, to find cool materials elsewhere but shape is always lacking in plus. For the prints, you just have to work around what is available. However, we did make two original prints this season, designed by one of my friends. The fit is my main focus, I want the fit to be great and that's the focal point for me.

beth ditto

BC: What do you think is the must have in this collection?

BD: The black bubble dress is a must! The leggings are absolutely amazing too, they fit perfectly and let you breath when still being super high-waisted. They are everything and so easy to pair anything with. What I am wearing today (Double Bubble Dress - Eat Your Make-up) is my jam! Love that dress. All the pieces are my favorites but this one is so comfortable for a day like this when I am sitting a lot, moving and running around...

For a date night I might go for this one in a black or a grey.

beth ditto

BC: Let's talk about this silky jumpsuit... I am obsessed!

BD: OMG! This is everything. It takes seven yards of silk to make that and it might sound crazy but I don't think it is, I think it's fucking awesome and I think we deserve a piece like that. We can wear it at home, naked, during the day with a bodysuit under it or at night and even at the pool as a cover-up! It's super versatile and everyone loves it!

beth ditto

BD: I think that's also why I love the bubble dress so much and I don't think it gets enough attention. It will fit anyone. Actually, I designed it thinking about some of Westwood's creations.

Make it huge and let the customers make it whatever they want with it when they wear it. Everyone is so different and plus-size women have such different shapes, it will look unique on everyone! I also love that somethings are boxy, oversized and shapeless and it's amazing. Most women want that look but because they have curves, it looks snug on them when they wanted it to look oversized.

BD: I love Missy Elliott in 1999 when she was wearing that trash bag looking outfit! She looks huge but she looks badass! We have to stop this idea that we have to be a certain shape. Not everyone wants to be sexy everyday, wearing tight dresses and spanx...

beth ditto

BC: This is why it's a great collection to me personally. The collection doesn't impose an idea of the plus-size woman to the customers. When buying those products they are still free to make it what they want, whatever their shape is.

BD: The plus-size revolution that has been happening lately is incredible but it's also creating this "other" beauty standard in which you have to be an hourglass, you have to be super sexy and fierce about showing off your curves. That's quite frightening to me, and I don't fit in it, I don't want to fit it. It creates a sad division between plus-size women when we talk about " you are that kind of fat..." when we are all in the same boat and should love and respect each others. It creates another division in an already way too divided fashion industry.

beth ditto

BC: What can you tell us about your next collection?

BD: I think it's going to be incredible. It's AW so it's just gonna blow it out of the water and I just can't wait. If you think this is something, just wait! I have learned so much making this first collection that I am excited to use all of it towards making the next one even better! It's been an amazing learning curve and experience. My team and I loved working on this challenging projects!

beth ditto

BC: What about those amazing vintage custom jackets?

BD: I love them so much. I wanted to do something really psychedelic, fun and colorful inspired by the 70's. We had someone from the team going through every single denim stock in the country and finding big size jackets. It wasn't an easy task to find them but it was so worth it! It was hard for me to settle on doing vintage because I am not quite a believer of vintage for bigger people, but it came out so well! Each one of those jackets are absolutely unique and that makes it a killer piece for all the girls to have!

Find the full Beth Ditto Collection exclusively on her website

Follow her adventures on her instagram

Thank you to Mei Smith for my outfit today!

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"I have nothing to wear".

How many of us start our day by muttering this under our breath?

The experts say that we only wear 20% of the clothes in our wardrobes. I have been hoarding clothes for years and I reckon I only wear about 5%, getting by with the same oversized grey jumper, jeans and boots on casual days, and three or four shift dresses on rotation for meetings.

I know it's a first world problem of the highest order. It's hard not to come across as spoiled when writing a post about decluttering one's wardrobe.

But this isn't just about clothes. It's about confidence, identity, dressing for where I want to go - in the metaphysical sense.

As a recruiter I have given presentations about how to impress in interviews, explaining the importance of first impressions - yet I've rarely given much thought to the visual cues I give out. I seldom feel that I've put much effort into my wardrobe. If I don't care about how I look, what does that say about the care I put into my work? What message does it send out to clients or my kids?

There's a debate in the UK press at the moment about women taking their kids to school dressed in their pyjamas (the mums, not the kids). Just, NO! How can kids take school seriously if their parents can't even be bothered to get dressed?

So I've sought out help in the form of Esther Zimmer, a personal stylist who takes a holistic approach to her work - encouraging her clients to become the best version of themselves.

Here's what happened during my first session, including five tips to help you find your personal style, which I've learned from Esther.

Style tip #1: figure out what's driving your shopping habits
I completed a questionnaire about my personal style and shopping habits, which we discussed during our first session. This revealed that I don't shop with any strategy in mind, and I don't buy clothes that create the style I want to achieve.

I shop because I have free time between meetings, or a couple of hours to myself at the weekends. Spending money is like an addiction - at the till it feels great to find a bargain and as soon as I get my clothes home, I am wracked with guilt. Without a regular pay packet at the end of the month, I can't afford this whimsical shopping anymore. I'm left with a wardrobe full of separates which don't coordinate, because no thought has gone into their purchase.

Style tip #2: go shopping with a purpose
Esther promised to bring some discipline to my shopping habits and to provide me with a list of wants and needs, so when the urge does take me, I'll have a specific goal in mind. I have to train myself to avoid buying something that isn't quite right just because it seems like good value and instead, take my time and enjoy the process of looking for the perfect item. She also suggested that I build in different ways to alleviate boredom between meetings - a coffee and a quiet place to enjoy my book, instead of shopping.

Style tip #3: look for inspiration
Stage two of day one was to define my new personal style.

I've been collecting age-appropriate fashion images on Pinterest for a while. We looked through these plus a couple of dozen fashion magazines to find inspiration. I struggled to find anything I liked - so many of the glossies publish an unattainable image of underweight women in crazy, unwearable clothes. I managed to find a few photos and there did seem to be a theme emerging. Esther took these images away to do some research for day two of the programme.

Style tip #4: dress appropriately for where you want to go (in life)
Most of my clothes are grey, boring, middle of the road, middle range, safe. I definitely dress for comfort and warmth, not style. Unfortunately dressing like this is confidence sapping. Covering everything up in grey and baggy clothes makes me invisible. I don't want to be that person.

I have my own business. I give people advice about their careers and having confidence. I need to dress appropriately to be taken seriously.

She asked me what I like about my body, which threw me. I wasn't prepared for the positive spin on the body question. I didn't think I had hang ups about my body, but I honestly couldn't find anything positive to say. Which speaks volumes.

But Esther's programme isn't about my body concerns. It's about dressing in a way that makes me the best version of myself.

Esther asked me to define how I would like to look if money was no object. I can only describe the look I want as 'well put together'. I'm not bothered about designer labels; I do want to look stylish. No mean feat for a 5ft 2inch, 'curvy', curly haired, stressed out, working mum. And yes, the curly hair does make a difference - if there's just the slightest hint of any moisture in the air, it won't be long before I look like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards.

Style tip #5: have a clear out
Back to day one. After lunch (which she brought with her, if you can call a health bar lunch), we piled up ALL my clothes on the bed. Despite the earlier clear out I'd had, she had never seen so many dresses in one wardrobe .

I held each item up to my body in front of the mirror, while Esther asked me how they made me feel. She made no judgements, just watched my reactions. There was so many items that made me squirm. Some were the wrong colour, many looked dated or overly washed, and several of the little dresses I'd kept to cling onto my youth just aged me. They formed a pile for the charity shop.

There were a few items which brought a smile to my face and complimented my skin tone. These were the pieces we would work with during the following session.

We were together for around seven hours, which flew by. Esther usually spends a little less time with clients on day one, and longer during the second session, but she fit her programme around my schedule. It felt both decadent - spending all that time on me - and also cleansing. After our session I drove to the charity shop and donated about three fifths of my wardrobe.

The next morning, I looked at my wardrobe and thought 'I have nothing to wear'. This time it was truer than ever. But I knew that Esther would be back the following week to help me put my new look together.

I write a lifestyle blog at Lifestyle Maven. You can follow me here:
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"But You Don't Look Blind!"

Out of all the things I hear on a day to day basis, this is above all one of the most frequent comments I receive. It's a social enigma and one that, for me, seems to be entrenched in a huge amount of misconception that people with sight loss do not have a relationship to fashion or style.

My name is Emily Davison, I'm a writer and in my spare time I'm a fashion blogger, who also happens to be registered as severely sight impaired. I have lived with sight loss since birth from a condition known as Septo Optic Dysplasia which damaged my optic nerves causing me to have no vision in my right eye and severe vision loss in my left. I now work with a guide dog by the name of Unity and live a relatively normal adult life.

I began fashion blogging in 2012 when I created my own fashion and lifestyle blog under the name Fashioneyesta. I created this blog after I'd received a lot of comments over my fashion sense and that people were so incredulous that someone with sight loss could take a interest in fashion and beauty. I wanted to create an online space to discuss the myths that surround disability, but at the same time talk about things like trends, beauty and style in an accessible way for both those with or without sight could enjoy. I believed and still do believe that the fashion industry does not embrace disability nearly as much as it should and so I wanted to be a presence online and to speak for the visual impairment community in the area of fashion.

I wanted to prove that being disabled doesn't define you, I opted to talk about topics like fashion, trends and beauty to highlight that having a disability doesn't prevent you from adopting everyday interests or enjoying similar activities to those who may not have a disability.

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It's a common myth in society that many of my readers have had similar experiences with that people with sight loss do not have an interest or a grasp on fashion and how to style themselves.

"It's as if people automatically think that someone with limited sight is excluded from the fashion and beauty scene," comments one of my readers. "Just because I don't have a lot of sight doesn't mean I can't apply eyeliner or wear a floral print dress. It's important to look good even if you can't see yourself. I want to be able to get a job, go out on dates and do all the things that people with sight do and looking good is part of that process."

One of the messages I promote on my blog is that fashion is more than something we perceive with our eyes, it appeals to many of our senses. Fashion is more than a visual concept, it's language and a form of expression and it's tangible. It uses textiles, different fabrics, embroidery, different cuts and stitches. It's something you feel, smell and, in some cases, hear as much as it's seen. I feel the texture of an embroidered jacket, I smell the old smell of vintage apparel bought from a vintage fair, I feel the way a full circle skirt moves as I walk like a strong current of wate and I hear the satisfying tap my high heels make against the floor as I walk.

It's a mode of communicating to people who I am as a person, since my teenage years I used fashion as a way to allow people to see a portion of my personality and look past my disability. I believed if I wore quirky prints, bohemian inspired scarfs and striking colours I could allow people to appreciate me for the way I used style to represent the person I stood for and that I didn't allow my disability to mould me. I still adhere to this principal idea, although I use fashion as a way to enhance my confidence I also use it as a way to prove a point to wider society. I believe that through this small act of adopting my own style in my own way I am helping to educate people about sight loss by challenging the stigma that sight loss stops you from having fashion sense.

Whenever I write blog posts, share my outfit of the day images with my followers on Instagram or talk about my latest fashion finds on the high street some of my readers ask how I access fashion despite being visually impaired. Technology has expanded vastly over the last few years and the accessibility features and options open to people with visual impairments has grown along with it. I use a combination of Apple devices including my iPhone and Macbook with the built in accessibility features such as speak selection, zoom, colour contrast options and magnification apps to read fashion magazine features, browse the web for latest fashions, read blogs from other fashion bloggers, write my own blogs and view the images from catwalk shows. When I attend London Fashion Weekend every year I use a Monocular, which allows me to see things from long distance like details on outfits worn by the catwalk models. I use a camera which features a very powerful lens with a high magnification which helps me take clear photographs. I make full use of the technology and features available to me to be able to access fashion and style with my remaining vision and relay it to those who may not have sight themselves.

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Yet, the fashion industry is not as inclusive or accessible towards people with disabilities as it could and should be. To date, a number of large online fashion retailers do not include detailed descriptions of garments or accessories. Fashion and style apps and magazine apps are not always made accessible to people who use accessibility features. Fashion websites are not always comparable with screen readers like Jaws and Dolphin. This is made more surprising considering that two million people in the UK alone live with sight loss according to a study conducted by the RNIB.

Fashion stores are not always fully accessible for wheelchair users or guide dog owners.

"It can be really difficult when you're a disabled shopper," one reader commented. "Especially when fashion shops regularly change their layout, it becomes really confusing when you have a visual impairment and you walk into the shop and you don't know where anything is because it's been changed."

There is still a vast lack of disability representation in the fashion industry as a whole, in the UK there are around 11.9million people living with a disability according to figures from research by Livability. Yet, this huge group of people is not being properly reflected by the fashion industry.

July 2016 marks my fourth year as a fashion and lifestyle blogger and although I have seen some major positive changes in the way society perceives disability, I must ask, when will the fashion industry start to embrace people like me who live with a disability?

Don't forget to check out my blog, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, podcast channel and Facebook page for more of my work and thoughts.

This February, HuffPost UK Style is running a month-long focus on our Fashion For All campaign, which aims to highlight moments of colour, size, gender and age diversity and disability inclusivity in the fashion and beauty world.

We will be sharing moments of diversity at London Fashion Week with the hashtag #LFW4All and we'd like to invite you to do the same. If you'd like to blog about diversity or get involved, email us here.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

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