Sustainably Chic April

Breaking Ground with Florals

Welcome to our series Sustainably Chic. Each month we internet-window shop for two new outfits all chosen from sustainable, ethical, and environmental brands, and we make sure at least one of those outfits has no animal products for our vegan readers. At Rust and Fray, we believe that living sustainably is a lifestyle choice, and we’d like to help you find an outfit that not only matches your bag but lets you be environmentally conscious from head to toe. We’re here to show you how good sustainability can look and how easy it can be to find.

So the weather is still a little all over the place, but pretty flowers are in bloom so we’re going to be rocking some classic spring looks. Now, Meryl Streep might throw shade at us for suggesting florals for spring, but we believe wearing these looks maybe just might help the sky remember what spring looks like. Also they’re super cute.

Enjoy

The Bag

This first bag is one of our most loved products, and is perfect for both for a fun spring wear and for people with acceptance letters in their hands who want a backpack with style. This genuine leather backpack is sturdy enough to last for years and stylish enough to turn heads. Now let's go get those florals.

Outfit 1:

 
The Reformation - Elyse Dress

Everlane - Denim Faded Bluewash

Able - Estefani Knotted Wrap Heel

You can’t talk spring and florals without talking about the floral sundress. The design is pure classic so you can wear it year after year, but the mini length and the shoulder frills keep it fun. Speaking about shoulders, when you’re outdoors and want a little more cover we’ve got a high quality jeans jacket, cause jeans jackets are one of the coolest thing to ever come out of America (second only to Humphrey Bogart and the music of the Duke). Plus, the blue brings out the blue of the flowers in the dress. Finally, we’ve got a bright red wrap heel, short enough to wear without killing your feet, eye catching, and perfectly spring.  
 
 
Vegan Version

The Bag:

 
We’re keeping the backpacks for spring idea, but this time we’re saving the animals and saving some money by opting for a cloth bag. Now, you might be concerned with the stripes and florals, but the smaller black and white structured pattern plus a colorful floral pattern will let the checkers act as a neutral, and plus the florals will be an inner layer. The backpack itself again has a minimal but useful design, and is still designed with the sturdiness in mind to carry your books for years. And yes, that leather logo is vegan leather. And now for the outfit.

The Outfit

 
The Reformation - Adela top

Everlane - High rise skinny and Denim jacket in Bone

Matt and Nat - Flair casual black wedge

A flowery corset top is another cute way to scream spring. Easy to wear with a lot of designs and works both as a stand alone or when layered. The high waisted jeans look good with corsets, look good on you, looked good on your mom, and will look good on those Gen Z girls when they’re old enough to appreciate timeless looks. We’ve switched to a white jeans jacket to prevent this look from going complete joutfit. That said, if you do want to joutfit, Rust and Fray does offer a backpack that would add a third shade of denim for you. Finally, we added a cute wedge because cute wedges are great.

Companies Featured in these Outfits:

Matt and Nat - Combining material and natural, they have a commitment to using zero animal products and employ a host of environmental ideas.

The Reformation - Makers of high quality celebrity fashion whose pieces are as sustainable as they are cute.

Everlane - Creators of environmentally conscious basics, with their eco-friendly denim being particularly noteworthy.

Abel - Making change in the world and ensuring ethical manufacturing by empowering female artisans and providing jobs, not charity.

Thanks for checking out our outfit today, be sure to share it around. If you decide to rock this look or something similar to it, let us know by snapping that selfie and tagging our Instagram, Twitter or our Facebook. If you’ve got a particular look you want us to work with next time or a particular sustainable brand you think we should check out for future outfits, comment below. We’d love to hear from you!