Remembering the importance of self-care in the fashion industry – Ellis + Noronha

This week I’ve handed over the reins for a guest blog post by Ellis & Noronha!

Everyone knows that the fashion industry is ruthless, and not for the faint hearted. At this point, particularly on the production side of fashion, we are fairly certain that the industry created the phrase “you can sleep when you’re dead”. The pressure is put on young fashion creatives from such an early stage in their career, first you’ve got the ruthless university experience, followed by the gruelling unpaid internships; and if you manage to land a paid job at an early stage, no one ever takes it easy on you.

Now we are fairly new in the industry, but we have a lot to say about the pressure that the industry puts on people, and the affects it can have. We have seen so many creatives at absolute breaking point, both mentally and physically. Right now, we’re at a turning point. We’ve had our world turned upside down by a global pandemic, and things completely out of our control have put the industry in perspective. Talks of sustainability have ramped up, and discussion around excessive pressures have also started to have a seat at the table. Environmental sustainability, as important as it is, needs to sit alongside personal sustainability.

1)      Sleep

Obvious, right? Wrong. As hand embroiderers, our work is not quick. One piece of embroidery can take up to 100 hours, so it is safe to say we have had our fair share of sleepless nights. But no one, not even superheroes, can produce work to their highest standard at their optimum pace on no sleep. It’s not possible, it’s not sustainable, and it’s not worth it! So, when things get rough, when everything gets too much, there’s a huge deadline and it’s not looking hopeful, guess what we do? Get some sleep. Because we guarantee, in the morning, you will feel way more fired up and ready to get on with what needs doing.

2)      Slow down

A broader point, but so relevant and so important to discuss in fashion. The British Fashion Council in the last few months, released a manifesto encouraging brands to slow down, fewer collections, fewer pieces. And all we can say is, thank god! The sheer pace of the industry is crippling, not only for the environment, but for the people trying to keep up with it. Luckily, there are more brands now who are slowing down, we listened to a discussion with Kerby Jean-Raymond about how he has changed the schedule for Pyer-Moss to allow his team time to breath, and it was so great to hear. We have decided to only produce one main feature collection a year, supplemented with smaller capsule diffusion collections throughout the year. This gives us the space to regroup, recover, and actually enjoy the process.

3)      Get back to basics

Speaking of enjoy the process, ENJOY THE PROCESS. Why did we all get in this industry? Because we enjoy designing, we enjoy creating, and we enjoy making something we’re proud of. So, enjoy it. Don’t get caught up in the pressure, don’t forget why you’re here in the first place. There’s no surer way to kill your last spark of creativity than hating what you’re doing. Get back to the basics of what you enjoy; if you enjoy painting, go and paint. If you get your concepts from books, find a new read. Spark an idea from a basic process you enjoy. Go back to what got you going when you first decided you wanted to be in fashion, and find that spark again.

4)      Support

Sometimes this is easier said than done, but particularly in these testing times, it’s never been more important to have your group of lifelines around you. We are very lucky to have each other, and we are best friends first, business partners second, and we have said for years that we keep each other sane. Having a person who you can just go to, vent, cry, talk nonsense, not even form coherent sentences to, is SO therapeutic. As cheesy as it sounds, a problem shared IS a problem halved. More often than not, if one of us is having an absolute crisis, by the time we explain it to the other person, it’s already become clear that the world is not falling apart. Just vocalising your problems goes a very long way.

5)      Spend time away from the work

Finally, one of our biggest mottos is if all else fails, take a break. Walk away from it. Whether it’s for half an hour, or a week (a luxury we don’t always have). A break can do absolute wonders. Do something else for an hour, go for a walk, get some air. Spend a day catching up on mindless tasks before you go back to the hard stuff. Get out and do something fun, remember those fun things you did before the industry took over your life? Then come back and look at things with fresh eyes. It works every time for us. And 9 times out of 10, we come back, and things aren’t half as bad as they seemed.

Our new collection, ‘Self’, is a fashion film featuring 5 pieces inspired by the ways in which people cope with mental health challenges. You can find more information on this here: https://ellisnoronha.co.uk/blog/2020/9/14/self-a-collection-by-ellis-noronha