About me
I’m Laura Madden. Thank you for being here! I'm a fashion advocate, influencer, stylist and model. I support sustainable fashion brands and report on the intersection of style, sustainability, and self-esteem.
The purpose of my work is to share how style and sustainability can coexist and how we can employ fashion to elevate our self-esteem. When one chooses to shop sustainably and curate a conscious wardrobe, it is assumed that style, luxury, and convenience will be compromised to some extent and that it will cost extra for responsibly sourced items. These are just a few of the stigmas I intend to challenge to change the conversation to a more empowering one.
I hope you’ll follow my journey of how I choose to live a stylish and sustainable life.
This is where fashion & consciousness collide.
What you’ll also find here is style inspiration, sustainable shopping advice, and what I consider self-esteem boosting content. I hope you will use this platform as a resource to use fashion as a force for good and as a tool to empower yourself, so you can have a positive impact on the planet while enjoying a stylish life.
A little more about me ...
For most of my life I was obsessed with shopping- everywhere and anywhere. It was all about how much could I buy for the least amount of money. I was all about the deal. I had loads of clothes, shoes- a lot of stuff with no connection to it- no appreciation or respect for it. No wonder I never felt fulfilled. So of course, I shopped more!
It's just shopping, right!? This isn't hurting anyone.
But deep inside I knew there was more to this story.
In 2015 I watched the True Cost documentary, which pulled back the curtain on the social and environmental injustices of the fashion industry. I was changed forever. You can’t unsee what you have seen. My guilty pleasure that I assumed wasn’t hurting anyone was in reality hurting a lot of people. Those $5 garments from fast fashion retailers were in reality the root of a severely broken industry.
My excessive shopping habits were a huge part of the problem, fueling the demand on the fashion industry to produce faster cheaper clothing. I couldn’t stand the fact that something I loved so much was creating so much distress on the planet. How could something that brought me so much beauty and joy be so dirty and destructive?
That same month I started working as a personal shopper & stylist at a thrift store in Minneapolis. I couldn't believe it- I was finding the BEST stuff. all. the. time. Not to mention for a fraction of the cost I would be paying if purchased brand new. I decided to try shopping only secondhand for a month. That turned into 2, then 3, and before I knew it I was closing out the year only buying secondhand clothing! Again, I was changed forever. And my wardrobe hasn’t been the same since.
Today, I shop 95% secondhand. If I need something I can’t find secondhand, I buy it from a sustainable fashion brand, many of which I endorse and can be located here (with exclusive discount codes too!) I hope to positively influence you as a consumer to demand a responsible and sustainable fashion industry simply by voting with your dollars. By choosing differently we can change the outlook of the future in a significant way. Every purchase is a vote for more of what we want to see in the world.
Cheers to looking good, feeling good and doing good! Thank you for being here!