More than 1,500 pieces of designer clothing, including key items from Jean Paul Gaultier, Azzedine Alaia, Thierry Mugler and Vivienne Westwood, go on sale today as part of Fashion Revolution Day, an initiative to commemorate the Rana Plaza disaster.  

The clothes – which belonged to Hannelore Smart (pictured, right, in Alaia), the fashion-obsessed millionaire widow of circus impresario and television personality Billy Smart, Jr and date from the 1970s, 80s and 90s – will be sold from as little as £20 at high-end second-hand pop-up shop Designer Jumble in Westfield, Stratford City.

On this day a year ago, the Rana Plaza building, a factory where thousands of garment makers made clothes for Western high street chains collapsed, killing 1,133 people and injuring many more. It was a wake-up call to all of us who consume high street fashion and today the disaster is being remembered as part of Fashion Revolution Day, an event created to encourage all of us to think about the provenance and the life cycle of the clothes we wear. 

Online, people are being asked to turn their labels #insideout and ask retailers where their clothes are made, and in London, shoppers can get into the spirit of the day at Designer Jumble.

"Fashion itself is not the problem. We’re saying you can be into trends and into how you look but not affect the planet."

Designer Jumble’s owner, Abi Chisman, who as a former editor of UK Vogue.com has strong fashion pedigree, says: ‘The day is about showing people how you can wear today’s looks using second-hand clothes. Sustainable fashion needs to get a better reputation. People assume it’s hemp shirts and we’re saying it isn’t.’

‘Essentially it’s a day of showing people how to be resourceful, we’re saying fashion itself is not the problem. Fashion gets a bad name as being the producer of all this landfill but we’re saying no, you can be into trends and into how you look but not affect the planet.’

Blogger Susanna Lau will be at the shop dressing the windows, stylists Chisman knows from her Vogue days will be on hand to offer advice to shoppers, the make-up artist Lauren Baker will be conducting makeovers and seamstresses and designers will be showing people how to alter, mend and upcycle their clothes.

But perhaps the most exciting element of the day is the launch of the Fashion is a Circus sale. ‘[Hannelore] is a woman who basically spent 30 years being a patron of fashion,’ Chisman explains. ‘She loved clothes and she loved really good clothes.’ Indeed Smart amassed a collection comprising some of fashion’s most recognisable pieces: the sale includes a 1980 plastic body corset by Issey Miyake (a key piece of fashion history), 40 pieces of Alaia, 50 by Jean Paul Gaultier as well as ‘loads of Antony Price, lots of YSL, plenty of Vivienne Westwood, Louis Vuitton Versace and Ralph Lauren’.

Fifty of the pieces will go on sale via the online auction house Gavel & Grand – items like the Mugler plastic body will be bought for thousands, snapped up by museums or the houses themselves – but many others will be on sale in the Designer Jumble, priced from £20 to £500.

‘The purpose of this sale is highlighting this extraordinary woman and highlighting the fact that anyone can be a fashionista. What is lovely is the joy that’s in here,’ says Chisman. ‘The whole point of my pop-up shops is that I’m selling designer things at what I call affordable prices, prices that correlate to the high street. I will sell an Alexander McQueen part dress for £99, which is a similar price to what you’d pay for a party dress on the high street.’ 

Abi Chisman's tips for enjoying fashion on Fashion Revolution Day

1. Rediscover old things in your own wardrobe. Separate what's in and what's out, and enjoy a dig around in last year's 'out' box once a year

2. Buy what's made to last: journalist and sustainability expert Lucy Siegle recommends you only buy something that you can imagine wearing more than 30 times. Imagine what you are buying it for and what you will wear it with, don't just buy it because you love it. This will save you money too

3. Second-hand can save lives. Something you have may not be right for you, but it is right for someone. Don't throw it away. Even shredded fabrics can be disposed of responsibly via charity shops. Meanwhile try buying second-hand yourself. You will find more unique pieces, and stuff that looks good after it's already been worn is going to last well...

4. Mend, customise, make: learn basic sewing skills from people like thegoodwardrobe.com. Too many of us discard something because it has lost a button or ripped. There's a lot of reward in being resourceful.

5. Seek out ethical designers: sustainable fashion doesn't mean hemp shirts. Truly creative people use sustainable supply chains – think Isabel Marant, Paul Smith, Roksanda Ilincic, Katie Jones, The North Circular...

The Fashion is a Circus pieces will be revealed at a private event tonight, April 24, and will be on sale at Designer Jumble, The Street, Westfield, Stratford City from tomorrow. 

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