Jennifer Horgan: We must take swift action against sequin dresses and fast fashion

But it’s not so lovely for the planet, and it’s not so lovely for us in the long run, since the toxic plastic we’re pumping into our water is now getting into our bodies.

Because, as we should all know but seem to be collectively denying,  sequins are really bad news. They might look shiny and fun but they’re made from petroleum-based plastics such as PVCs that contain toxic chemicals, including carcinogens and hormone disruptors. When washed, they release thousands of microplastics into freshwater streams. Microplastics are seriously hazardous and they are now being found in human breast milk, placentas, and baby faeces. 

By 2050, our oceans will contain more plastic (by weight) than fish.

Maya Angelou, one of my favourite people to listen to when I’m feeling wobbly, always said: “When you know better, you do better.” Her adage doesn’t apply when it comes to our attitude to fashion. We know better but we are not doing better. There are sequins for every budget this Christmas, despite their harmfulness. You can bag a pair of sequined flared trousers in Penney’s for only €20. Marks and Spencer’s has an actual “sparkle and shine” section, where you can buy a sequined top for €40. Dunnes Stores has a lovely Savida €50 sequined slip dress.

As is always the case, the sequins craze comes directly from the top of the fashion chain. High street brands will always imitate London, Paris and New York, and an official trend of 2023 has been sequins and nobody seems to be batting an eyelid, despite the obvious glare.

Alexa Chung, to give just one example turned up to the London Fashion awards this week wearing a bespoke dress by 16Arlington, made with 3,900 silver metal discs. The various ‘homage’ dresses available in Zara and H&M are not made of metal of course, because they’re mass-produced, plastic knock-offs.

We used to be better at fighting for change in the fashion industry. Take the fate of fur, once the most desired item of clothing, now a quick way to getting a bucket of red paint poured over your head.

Fur offers us a bit of blueprint, and potentially a source of hope, if we could ever be bothered to fight for right again. People power got rid of fur — nothing more complicated than that.

Organisations like PETA and individuals like Stella McCartney and Charlize Theron made it genuinely awkward to wear fur. Thanks to actual leaders in the industry, fur is officially uncool now, despite its gorgeousness. You’d be more cool in a pair of grey socks and leather Jesus sandals. And to be fair, whatever their reasons, all the big designers have finally started to shun it: Gucci, Prada, and Chanel. Fur is out.

Who is going to do the same for sequins?

Celebrity influence

If I could wave a magic environmentalist wand I would wave it under the nose of Taylor Swift, who is not only mindbogglingly influential but is also a giant, shiny walking sequin most of the time.

The talented performer wore full-body sequins to the iHeart Radio Awards this year, but her 2023 black sequined number paled in comparison to the one Glamour magazine reported on in 2019 when “she made her grand re-entrance to the red carpet in a short-sleeve romper entirely covered in iridescent paillette sequins.” The magazine concluded in their coverage of this event, “Swift has said that she enjoys experimenting with fashion and that her wardrobe choices are often related to her music. Fans already guessed that new music was on the way — so now that she's officially unveiled a sparkly new look, they can assume it's coming soon.”

 I’m not going to shun someone at my Christmas party wearing sequins, but I am happy to call out Taylor Swift for her lack of leadership. And it doesn’t matter if her dresses are ethically made, the teeny-bopper iterations certainly won’t be.

Swift could do a lot worse than take a stance against sequins, and while she’s at it, she could also stop flying on private jets, and she could stop selling vinyl records made with unrecyclable plastics, and she could stop selling beaded friendship bracelets to little girls who love her. She could earn a little less money, play fewer concerts, and stop disproportionally contributing to the death of our planet.

Of course, Swift is one of, well, most celebrities and world leaders who fly private, one of the worst possible activities you can do to harm the planet. Cop28 seems laughable to most sane people. World leaders gliding down the steps of their private jets as if there is no contradiction in it whatsoever might as well be aliens landing from Mars — they are so out of touch with reality. Again, they know better, but they are not doing better. Not yet. And they won’t until we, the ordinary people, demand it.

Crisis mode

People power is what is needed now and it’s sadly missing — or it’s distracted — that mass swell of people who want to make a difference, who are willing to put leaders and influencers and corporations under pressure to change.

I listened to two inspiring environmentalists this week. One was Mary Robinson, a hero of mine, who visited UCC for a sustainability event. During her candid conversation at my alma mater, she said that the world needs the same momentum as before the Paris agreement in 2015. Recalling people shouting, “1.5 to stay alive,” she added that leaders know the problems exist but they’re not in crisis mode because the people aren’t in crisis mode.

I’d say people are very, very far from crisis mode, Mary. You say we’re not moving fast enough, well I see people moving, positively shimmering, in the wrong direction altogether.

The second person I spoke with this week was Frank O’Connor, who along with his partner Jude Sherry, through their agency Anois, continues to fight for more sustainable practices and an end to dereliction in our city. I use the word ‘continues’ because Frank has been working in this area for decades.

I asked him this week what we can do to change people’s attitudes and behaviour. He said he didn’t know, but getting people to refuse bad design and disposable products would be a good place to start.

“There is an absolute lack of political and cultural will,” he said. “I thought we were in trouble in the 90s. I have been talking about this for a very, very long time but nothing is changing.” 

This Christmas, look around you. You’ll see that lack of cultural and political will everywhere. You might even be wearing it yourself.