By Tsitaliya Mircheva

While quietly waiting for the summer to show up from around the corner of the streets I bike along on sunny warm days, I am struggling with the feeling of disappointment enveloping a desperate lover who’s been stood up. I am thinking of all the summer dresses, my sandals and charming straw hats waiting in my wardrobe. But instead of letting my tears and sadness take control over me, I realise I can still make this summer work for me. I can pull up my summer dress and wear them with a pair of old cowboy boots I own, with a chunky autumn sweater or a gilet and still feel amazing.

If you are one of our By Adushka clients living in Australia, US, Canada or the UK, you are probably dealing with very different weather conditions than over here in Switzerland. So I tried to imagine some of by Adushka sustainable pieces in a different context, with different temperatures and humidity.

I found out that most of the By Adushka pieces I own and are available now in the shop are seasonless. If you like to play and have fun with fashion, you certainly can pimp up your so called summer wardrobe with a few interesting autumn pieces, like a cosy and chic sweater made in Italy, an original vest made of wild virgin wool, a vintage waistcoat or a soft velvet spring/autumn duster.

I think no-one of us needs to be convinced that comfortable seasonless style and ageless classics are about to replace runaway trends. Why? The very simple answer is that customers have been so overwhelmed with choices in the past 10 years, being constantly bombarded with the new collections four times a year minimum, not to mention that seasonal fashion makes the products highly disposable. And it hurts the planet.

Seasonless fashion on one hand means fashion that does not conform to typical seasonal trends or schedules. On another hand its means that it can be both sold and worn throughout the year.

With the increasingly erratic seasons, and unpredictable weather when it can feel like mid summer one minute and winter the next, it becomes harder for trends to settle in. Last year the winter in Switzerland was unusually and this summer feels like autumn on most days, when you need a light duster or sweater to get you through the day and especially on any evening out.

Since the advent of digital media, it has became increasingly clear that fashion is disconnected from traditional seasons. Consumer purchasing has instead been hugely influenced by novelty and creativity, as opposed to seasonal needs (take for example a country such as the UAE, which has no climatic “seasons” and is consistently warm throughout the year). 

Beside the practical reasons, seasonless fashion can shift the conversation in the industry for good, returning the focus to beauty, imagination and craftsmanship which remain at the core of this business. In other words let creativity and storytelling influence collections instead of the pre-set multitude of seasons in the fashion calendar. This process of course involves not only designers, but consumers too. Imagine if you own 10 dresses that you can wear all year around, layering them with a coat, a pair of jeans, a good quality light sweater and a timeless pair of boots (not to mention adding scarves and hats). Think of pieces in your wardrobe that can be versatile and possible to wear on any occasion.

If you are further interested in the topic of how the fashion industry and its insiders are trying to rewrite the rules visit #rewiring-fashion

In the meantime we have several styling tips on how to wear your summer dresses even when it gets a little cold and gloomy outside. We are excited to share with you some of our beloved seasonless pieces, which can be worn on pretty much any day of the year. And of course we will use this opportunity to give you a small pre-view of what is coming next from our selection of sustainable brands. Stay tuned.