that’s it exactly. Lauren Bravo is a journalist/author who wrote a book on breaking up with fast fashion. She volunteered for years at a charity shop at the weekend (still does I think). She genuinely believes in what she writes.long time lurker on this thread but just wanted to say I totally agree with everything you said here!
I think she’s probably a nice person irl & I find the whole Max situation worrying… but every time I see her stories, I find myself wondering about her passion for the cause. I would likely post about going out for nice dinners/on trips too if I was rich, don’t get me wrong. But as someone with a hell of a lot of free time from not working a regular job, she could easily volunteer several times a week somewhere like a charity shop, sorting through donations or merchandising stock. I guess a lot of anti fast fashion influencers prefer to stick to podcasting/content creation & doing collabs with luxury ethical brands because it doesn’t involve getting their hands dirty
Venetia can lobby and protest and post facts and figures all she wants, but realistically if she wanted to change behaviour at a micro and macro level, she’d encourage buying secondhand and she’d get involved in promoting that.
Posting about the evils of high street brands is all well and good, but people still need to buy clothing. The single best choice they could be making is buying second hand - yet Venetia seems to have very little appetite to promote this particular aspect of sustainability.
since the start of this year, I think she’s done a post to promote Vinted and a post to promote a swapping event. Her activism is almost solely done online which… is still great, but I’d have thought for something that was a true purpose and passion for someone, they’d pursue it in their day to day life too - or make it their career.
Her dad is a third generation architect I believe, with a pretty strong work ethic. I find it interesting that this work ethic just doesn’t seem to have extended to his daughters, both of whom make a living faffing about on Instagram. But I suspect that’s why Venetia has to make her Instagram-faffing “noble” by turning it into a cause.
she’s not workshy and shallow when she posts selfies, it’s all for the greater good (wink wink)