Behind the Scenes: The EcoChic Design Award Shoot

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By Chere Di Boscio

In our printed magazine last month, we featured a fabulous fashion shoot highlighting designs created by the contenders for this year’s EcoChic Design Award. The star of that shoot was Bonnie Chen, who’s also an EcoChic Design Award Ambassador. Here, we show Bonnie behind the scenes, and get some inside info from the people behind the shoot.

Bonnie on why she decided to be a brand Ambassador: “There is so much pollution in the world and so I love modelling for The EcoChic Design Award designers because they are talented and care about our planet’s future. The shoot challenges me in exciting ways because I know I am presenting the designers’ works and aspirations and that collectively in this project, we are all making a difference in the world”.

What was the best feature of the clothing she wore for the shoot? Bonnie says: ‘I am most impressed by the creativity of use of resources such as old wedding dress materials, discarded linings, hotel bed sheets, care labels and fabrics with iron scorch marks. Everything is so stylish that you can’t even tell it’s made from waste’.

Beauty tips from the shoot: Makeup Forever Mat Velvet Foundation applied with a Kabuki brush took off the shine, while Aveda Control Force hair spray kept Bonnie’s locks frizz free in the Hong Kong Humidity. Mineral Makeup Artist Eyeshadow Palette 2 gave Bonnie’s eyes some depth and a bit of mystery.

Bonnie’s favourite pose: Looking slightly over her left shoulder

Photographer Tim Wong’s take on the shoot:

“Having shot for The EcoChic Design Award for three years, I’m beginning to feel part of this global family of creatives who are using their professions as vehicles for change. It’s energising to help Redress and the designers through my photography so they can continue to move mountains,” says Wong.

Denise, the Creative Director, speaks out on choosing ‘From One Side to Another’ as the concept for the shoot: “As a stylist working in the fashion industry I am constantly surrounded by beautiful clothes, but The EcoChic Design Award designers’ passion always inspires me,” she says. “This year, as usual, there was huge variety in how they transformed textile waste. So for the shoot, I divided the finalists’ pieces into two contrasting groups, light versus dark and stillness versus movement.”

Christina Dean, the founder of Redress, the NGO behind the Awards, on why she launched EcoChic in the first place:

‘We wanted to make change in the fashion industry, which is the world’s second most polluting industry only second to oil. To do this, we had to educate those people making the decisions at the drawing board – the all-important designers! It’s estimated that designers influence 80 to 90 percent of the environmental and economic costs of a product. But we were witnessing a huge lack of knowledge about how designers can reduce fashion’s negative impacts. So The EcoChic Design Award was born, an educational competition to drive positive change into tomorrow’s industry leaders”.

The Big Day: First prize will be awarded to one of the 10 talented finalists later this month, and the finale will be streamed online at EcoChic’s website. We can’t wait!