Buoyancy is a hard quality to come by this late into show season. Many of us start to feel deflated come week three. Not Kit Willow. It could be because she hails from sunny Australia—they’re naturally happy down there, right? Or maybe it’s because she’s got her kids and her mom in tow, which sure beats FaceTime. Us? We’re chalking it up to her green design practices.
In the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, the impact of climate change is becoming harder to ignore, President Trump and the U.S. Republicans’ best efforts notwithstanding. The issue is more on the minds of fashion people than ever—witness the high-profile turnout at Milan’s Green Carpet Fashion Awards on Sunday. But if the industry has begun to recognize its polluting ways, there are still miles to go. Willow, who launched her ecologically minded label Kitx a couple of years ago, has a nice head start.
Earth goddess vibes are everywhere in Willow’s clothes—the macramé lace, the handkerchief hems, and the nubby linens—but she’s not preachy about her eco-mindedness. This season’s knockout dress in silk dyed in the labor-intensive bandhani method, with a ruched bodice and a single draped sleeve, radiated an easy glamour. Ditto the slinkier numbers that corkscrewed around the body. Willow based all of her patterns on rectangles, which have a surprisingly graceful lilt when draped. She tinkers here and there with tailoring to round out her offering. Her leather and suede are treated without chromium, a pollutant; and the cotton cupro she used—a by-product of cotton waste, believe it or not—had an amazing hand, like washed silk. But dresses are where she shines. A cargo green linen dress with a smocked waist would be a boon for Fashion Week. Comfortable, chic, and with a good backstory: Linen, made from flax, requires less water to produce, which lessens its environmental impact.