Bra & Bebe nursing bra

 

It occurred to me recently that I've barely worn a "proper" bra for nearly two years. During pregnancy underwired bras can dig into sensitive breast tissue (not to mention I found them extremely uncomfortable) and postpartum I've been nursing for 16 months and counting! I've found this quite limiting to my wardrobe - although some breastfeeding mums are quite happy to work around their regular wardrobe, I've never quite got the hang of it. I hate having to practically undress if Eden wants some milk, so even now 16 months on I'm still living in nursing bras. This isn't necessarily a problem - the main thing is they're very comfortable! - but they tend to be very plain. That's fine most of the time but sometimes it's nice to wear something that feels a bit special, a bit pretty. The high street seems to be extremely limited when it comes to nursing wear in general, so I was thrilled to discover Bra and Bebe. They sell some beautiful designs that are perfect for pregnancy and nursing, and I'm so thankful that the lovely Daria gifted me a grey lace nursing bra for review. It's by far the most beautiful nursing bra that I own.

Secondhand Sunday: Upcycling

I've been excited about this week's #secondhandsunday because it's the first time I've upcycled clothing in forever! And my first time ever dyeing clothes.

Plastic Free Fashion

Today's prompt for #setmeplasticfree is "fashion" and I have a lot of thoughts on the fashion industry (explained much more in my #slowfashionseason post here from July 3rd) but basically the TLDR is we all need to buy less, make conscientious choices, and think about how ethical our wardrobes really are. For those of us (🙋🏼‍♀️) who don't always have the money to buy from responsible, organic and ethical brands who pay workers a fair wage and are responsible to the environment, buying second hand is a great option. This way we aren't voting with our money for companies that don't care about their workers or the planet.

Slow Fashion Season

So it turns out #slowfashionseason has begun! As ever I'm the last to know about such things but I think it's so important to chat about slow fashion. I'm a former charity shop manager and that's hugely influenced my buying choices (why buy new when you can reduce, reuse and recycle am I right?!) but until I watched The True Cost and started to get educated I didn't realise the true impact of my former impulse buying.

Sustainable September

"It’s estimated that more than two tonnes of clothing are bought each minute in the UK, more than any other country in Europe. That amount produces nearly 50 tonnes of carbon emissions – the same as driving 162,000 miles in a car.

New research by Oxfam shows just how polluting the UK’s consumption of new clothes really is. In one month alone, the carbon footprint of new clothes bought in the UK was greater than flying a plane around the world 900 times."

September has been a brilliant month for raising awareness of our impact on the environment - between the climate strikes and "secondhand" or "sustainable" September, it seems more of us than ever are trying to do our bit to lessen our impact on the planet. However, it's important that we remember that we make hundreds of decisions that can impact our environment every single day, and our consumption is a huge factor in that.

How Sustainable Is Your Wardrobe?

My name is Hannah and I'm a recovering shopaholic.

Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration - I was never exactly addicted. But I loved to shop. As a recreational activity one of the things I most enjoyed was a trip to the high street with my mum or my friends. At university I loved going to the student lock ins with my housemates, and for many years my university or workplace's proximity to town resulted in me picking something up on my way home more often than not. But for all the time I worshipped the high street, I never gave any thought to the ethics or sustainability of my shopping habit. So what changed?