As you might have heard, the LA vegan fashion happened last week. It happened just a few days before the Fall 2019 shows begin with New York being the first one, which kicks off the start of a busy fashion month.

You might not have had a chance to head over to Los Angeles for this event. And who could blame you for that?

It’s been a few days since the event has passed, so we thought we sum up the nine things that excited us the most about this phenomenal event.

I) The First platform with a cause like this.

The LA Vegan Fashion Week had a clear mission, which was being a platform to help promote (vegan) brands to a broader audience.

At the same time, the mission was to raise awareness for animal rights.

“We believe if we all come together, we have a greater impact”, said founder and organiser Rienda.

II) The founder’s resilience to keep on promoting vegan fashion.

Speaking of the incredible founder, we admire her resilience and her wish to keep on doing such great work.

To quote her: “Vegan Fashion Week is going to exist until every fashion house decides this is the norm.”

We couldn’t possibly put it in any better way than this.

She is also very right in saying that there must not be any room for the cruelty and for the ways that the fashion industry is pollution our beloved planet.

III) The number of (vegan) companies exhibiting.

Of course, the event was hosted in Los Angeles. So, of course, there will be plenty of companies exhibiting their vegan collections.

We at ALIVE Boutique, however, were positively surprised that no less than 54 brands gathered at his phenomenal show.

A non-exclusive list of brands which we thought seem noteworthy is: Dr Martens, Bayem, Matea Benedetti, Noemie Devime, Altiir, Bayem, Ecopel, Enda, New Rock, Mink Shoes, Mistohn, Sarah Regensburger, Chloé Trujillo, Vegan Club, WastedLA and Arsayo.

IV) The founder’s spirit in believing in people.

We not only love her strength of character.

We also admire her spirit in believing in people in general and in designers in particular, who she says are “honest and they’re not afraid to go against the masses with their products to show what’s best.”

V) Apples and oranges join mushroom and pineapples.

You might have heard of vegan leather made from Pineapple leaves. It’s called Piñatex and needless to say that it was a hot topic on the LA Vegan Fashion Week as well.

And you might have heard of mushroom-root leather and a lab-grown, bio-fabricated collagen cell leather which both sound fascinating.

At the same time, there now also is leather made from oranges and apples. The former is yet to hit the market (soon, as we have heard).

The latter, however, has been around for a while. Matea Benedetti, a designer from Slovenia, has shown her work at the Vegan Fashion Week and it was met with roaring applause.

VI) Her humbleness

By now you’re probably getting the idea – ALIVE is officially a fan of the organiser of the Vegan Fashion Week.

But it is somewhat rare to see a person like this who is pulling off an event of this size and staying on the ground.

“We are such a grassroots movement” was one of her statements. It seems fair to say that there are plenty of events (not just in fashion) where the organisers are less humble about their achievements.

VII) Why does my heart feel so plant-curious?

We’re not sure what sort of vegan fashion show it would be if Moby would not be there.

So technically, this isn’t much of a surprise or something that should excite anyone.

Moby did say, however, that he was indifferent about the event at first and not interested in putting “on grown-up-person clothes. But if they are going to make an effort to have a Vegan Fashion Week, I had to come”, he said.

VIII) LA

Did you know that LA did ban not only sales of fur, but also foie gras and animal-tested cosmetics?

We must admit that this was new to us. And yes, that was a fascinating fact for sure.

LA also has been the birthplace of many social trends that they have expanded into globally accepted norms.

As Moby noted, “If you look at the last hundred years, how many social movements and world-changing movements have come from Los Angeles?”

We love this point. It made us think differently about this vegan-friendly city. And it makes it more clear why it is such a great place for people on a plant-based diet.

IX) The announcement of the next show.

Once we started doing our research, we got a bit upset. We thought that this is it. At least for a while.

We believed that it would take another year to experience another Vegan Fashion week. And that it will mean travelling all the way to LA again.

But then we have heard that the lovely team behind this event is indeed already planning another one.

And this time, they are thinking of doing it in New York, or even Paris. We at ALIVE Boutique would love that since both cities are (a bit) closer to London.

The only thing better than that? A Vegan Fashion show here in London of course 🙂