Samuel WinesLast month, Stella McCartney unveiled her latest menswear film featuring American actor Ashton Sanders. Recognised for his critically acclaimed performance in the Oscar award-winning film ‘Moonlight’. For the AW18 menswear film, Sanders is seen self-styled, and narrates the film; providing insight into his career and personal style.
Sanders has always been drawn toward the performing arts, and he remembers ‘simultaneously being in the program and having gone to see the Lion King at the Pantages Theatre, and the circle of life came on and they had all these humans as animals going down the aisle ways and everything, I was literally on the edge of my chair… At that moment I was definitely like ‘Yo that’s what I want to do’. Reflecting back on his propulsion into stardom, Sanders feels that ‘Moonlight was a project that was very near and dear to my heart, and to everyone involved. I think we all kind of left the project after filming, and it changed people.”
Fast forward to 2018 and this 22-year-old is set to play alongside Denzel Washington in ‘Equaliser 2‘ something that Lamber’s is excited for and looking forward to. Sanders will also be starring in ‘Native Son‘, an adaptation of the book by Richard Wright. It’s a classic black novel; he feels that ‘it’s going to be really important in the film world and the black community’. Something he’s ‘really excited about’.
When asked about how he wears his clothes, Sanders said ‘the looks I create or the clothes I wear (are) extensions of myself, of a part of myself. Whether it’s my actor self or just who I am living in the world, and that’s always changing. So that’s where that stems from.’ Sanders feels like his style changes sporadically, and ‘is a kind of self-expression… It’s how I feel, where I’m at in my life.’
”Well fashion is kind of like its own form of art; and art is self-expression.”
The brand is always exploring innovative ways to become more sustainable across the board. As a lifelong vegetarian, Stella McCartney doesn’t use any leather or fur. The brand is committed to ethical values and takes into consideration the resources they use and the way it impacts the environment. The recent AW18 collection from Stella McCartney really set a precedence for ethical and sustainable designer fashion. The collection’s key sustainable pieces are highlighted in the film and include the camo splatter repurposed fabric tailoring, organic cotton denim, regenerated cashmere pants and the eco-innovative and completely recyclable Loop sneaker in both white and orange. Sanders also wears an oversized check wool tailoring coat matched with new season hiking boots.
Here at Man of Style, we pride ourselves on our core values and beliefs surrounding sustainability in the fashion industry. The fashion industry already creates 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions every year–more than international flights and shipping combined. Unless changes are made; as much as one-quarter of the worlds annual carbon budget will be used by the fashion industry. So in a world where disposable fast-fashion rules supreme, Stella McCartney is proving that the fashion industry doesn’t just have to make us look good, they can do good too.