We all love to love LOVE ISLAND.. and this year it's all about Pre LOVED.
We talk to talented stylist AMY BANNERMAN, this year’s Love Island stylist. HUGE NEWS - this season, Love Island chose to partner with E-bay..
PHOTOS_ ANDREW WOFFINDEN
“So, Amy, who are you? Tell us about yourself..”
I am a half Canadian 41 year old stylist who is, and always has been, totally and utterly obsessed with second hand clothes. I live with my baby son Alfie in a Victorian house in East London which is furnished almost entirely with second hand furniture and I drive a second-hand car too. This isn’t a trend, it’s a way of life!
“How did the collaboration with eBay and Love Island come about? Had you worked with eBay before? Did you know you loved working with preloved? Were you a huge Love Island fan?”
I have been an eBay customer for over 20 years, buying and selling and being so addicted that I have previously Googled “is there an eBay addicts support group in London”. I had just accepted redundancy whilst on my maternity leave from Cosmopolitan and was in a weird employment hiatus, enjoying very much just bumbling about with my baby, eating too many baked goods and going to the charity shops every day. I was walking one day and really focussing my thinking on what I wanted to do next. I thought very clearly “eBay is where I want to work” and so set out and did some LinkedIn research on what roles they might have available. There was nothing appropriate on LinkedIn, but the manifestation gods must have been listening because the next day I was approached by eBay completely out of the blue and asked if I had time to talk about a project they wanted me to work on. It was a real dream life moment where everything aligns. I had never seen Love Island but obviously I haven’t missed one since I have been working on it! Now I can see why it’s the biggest show on TV, it’s genius!
“How did you feel about the project?”
It was a literal dream come true, pre-loved and eBay have always been a huge part of my life. When I was the Fashion Director at Cosmopolitan, I was very driven to change the perception readers had of pre-loved. The Cosmo reader A-typically shops at PLT and BooHoo et al, so I felt that with Love Island’s previous sponsors I would be reaching the same type of consumer. It felt like a territory I knew very well in regard to both pre-loved and fast fashion. When eBay asked me, I felt very shocked but immediately knew the enormity of what it would do to the pre-loved industry.
I felt very proud to be part of such a seismic shift, and so relieved that pre-loved is suddenly having it’s moment and is seen as something aspirational.
Long may it continue.
“Do you think it was a big deal for a commercial show to accept/embrace the challenge/risk of pre -loved?”
Yes, it’s massive! It was extremely brave and cool of ITV to make the move away from fast fashion. They couldn’t have partnered with anyone who would have made such a storm in the media, no one else could have had this effect. It was EVERYWHERE. To have titles like Vogue, The Telegraph and The Times, wanting to talk about Love Island, it just says it all!
I went to a Sustainability dinner with The New York Times and the President of the NYT closed the entire evening to remark on how Love Island partnering with eBay showed that change is finally happening.
He stressed how HUGE the partnership was for sustainability as a whole.
“Were there any compromises/challenges? What were the benefits?”
No, we didn’t compromise on anything and the beauty of eBay means you really can find anything. Like when they had the themed dates, we could buy really specific things and we could really go to town on the looks for the final. I would say the only challenge was that TV can be quite reactive and last minute, and obviously there are lots of people coming into the villa and leaving unexpectedly, so at points we had to shop fast!
There were so many benefits! The fact that we could have such major fashion moments and dress them in things like vintage Versace, Gaultier and Maharishi felt so good after seasons and seasons of the style being very samey.
We could also get to know their individual styles and send in things that were specifically for them, which felt like personal shopping, and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. One of the things I was really keen to do was to show viewers that shopping pre-loved means you can really find your individual style; I think we really succeeded in doing that and there was a lot of really positive chat this throughout the show.
“How long did it all take you? How did you manage it - did eBay help or did you buy from individuals?”
We started in May and had one week to collate a kind of physical eBay shop to show to the ITV execs and the first 18 islanders, this was broken down in to four trends. Once I had talked all of them through it I got an understanding of what they really did and didn’t like and then we did the bulk of the shopping from that point. eBay gave me a budget and then I shopped as I would if I was buying for myself, just a LOT more items! We met some great people along the way, like a mum who had been asked to post her daughters Poster Girl dress, and she’d snuck a note in the parcel to say: “can you believe this actually fits an adult human?”. That dress got worn on the show and I loved that it had this entire story before it had even arrived on screen.
“What are your thoughts on the fashion industry in general in terms of sustainability?”
I think sustainability is suddenly very much in the forefront of everyone’s minds, which is obviously great. There is a lot of positive association attached with brands being more responsible but the issue with this is you then get green washing for “likes”, the laughable Kardashain PLT collab is the perfect example of everything that is wrong with the world right now, in terms of sustainable fashion. The only solution is that we need to buy less, make less, and try and break this never-ending cycle of consuming.
“What are positive influences in the fashion industry right now?”
I love seeing celebrities wearing preloved, Rihanna wearing vintage Gaultier at her pregnancy announcement was a really cool moment for preloved fashion. She is iconic and so influential, she really used her power for good and couldn’t have looked more major doing it. Sadly, I think celebrities like the Kardashians are the ones who really can affect change on a mass level, which is why the PLT collab was such a disappointment.
“Did you enjoy working with the Islanders? Were there any really fun moments? ”
I LOVED it, from meeting them all the first time before they go on the show and they’re all so excited to seeing Tasha when she came out and working with her for eBay. It was such a different thing for me to work on a TV show, I am also a die-hard romantic so I loved meeting them and trying to guess who would be suited to who! Tasha was my favourite when I met them all, I loved how enthusiastic she is about clothes, and she was so excited by the idea of being dressed in pre-loved. She really just gets it! When I found the H&M conscious pink heart shaped dress I knew she’d love it! Then I found out she chose it to wear to the final and it felt so good seeing her wear it, such a satisfying experience from start to finish. I am working a lot with her throughout her eBay ambassadorship so we are planning lots of exciting stuff, we chat endlessly about clothes on WhatsApp which is very fun!
“Where could this lead?”
It’s leading to lots of exciting things already! I am working on more projects with eBay, they’re such a great company to work with!
“What role does preloved play in your life outside of eBay x Love Island? ”
It’s such a kind of fashionable thing now but for me it’s just how I’ve always lived.
I had a vintage market stall in Spitalfields when I was 23, funded by a Princes Trust loan (3k). I travelled to Canada and trawled the second-hand shops and shipped it all back in a container. What an adventure! I have always bought preloved in all areas of my life, my cars are always second hand, almost everything in my house is from eBay, my son’s wardrobe is a mix of hand-me-downs and carefully selected pieces from charity shops or children’s clothing resale businesses (Les Petit Champignons is brilliant). For my own wardrobe it is just how I have always shopped. I love going into a charity shop and finding something brilliant and unexpected, it’s not the same as buying from a “trend”. I really do think people are tired of the concept of trends, who wants to be told what to wear and when to wear it and be constantly told what they’re wearing isn’t “in”. what a load of rubbish. Wear what makes you happy and what suits your body. When I was working in the magazine industry, I would see runway looks, fall in love, and then search for them on eBay. On an assistant’s salary it wouldn’t even cross my mind to spend thousands and thousands on a piece of clothing, it would have meant not eating for months and food is too important.
“Why do you personally choose preloved over buying new?”
For many reasons. I don’t like wearing the same things as other people, and largely it’s been a cost thing. I LOVE clothes and designer clothes especially, but I don’t like paying full price, who does! I feel happy to wait a couple of seasons and get it for a fraction of the price and there is something about the wait and then finding it which is indescribably satisfying! I love altering things too, seeing something that isn’t quite right and seeing potential in it, making something new out of something old!
“Do you remember your first pre-loved purchase? What was it/what was the story behind it? ”
It wasn’t a purchase, it was some things handed down from my older cousin, she did it in a very nonchalant way at an otherwise uneventful family gathering at my Grandparents’ house. She was completely unaware that those discarded pieces would propel me out of feeling like a total douche, in-to someone with an iotas possibility of being vaguely cool myself. The pieces were some black Levi’s 501s and a navy ribbed scoop neck T-shirt which I wore almost every day from that moment. This is why I love passing things on to friends and family, it’s not just about selling and donating, it’s very special to receive something which has been loved by someone you love!
“Whose wardrobe would you most like to sift through to have a look at/try on their preloved pieces? ”
Goodness, what a great question. Hard to choose! Kate Moss was such a style icon when I was growing up, she must have an incredible trove of vintage and preloved, I would LOVE to have a rummage in her loft! I used to assist two stylists who dressed Claudia Schiffer and we spent a lot of time with her, she told us she has a temperature-controlled kind of hangar in the countryside which has all of her archive campaign outfits from the 90s. I mean, even thinking about it gives me heart palpitations…! I am still waiting for my invite...
“How do you build a capsule wardrobe with preloved pieces? ”
Winter
Navy wool long coat (mine is a cashmere 80s floor length one)
Navy sweater. Wool or cashmere.
Navy sweater. Wool or cashmere.
Cardigan, for layering and to use as a scarf.
Summer
Levi’s shorts
White T shirt long or short sleeve
Loose cotton shirt
Black linen dress
Year round
Mannish suit (wear broken down in to separates too)
White shirt
Denim jacket
Levi’s blue jeans
Men’s striped shirt
A-line skirt. Mini midi or longer depending on what you like.
Denim skirt
Shirt dress
Classic black sunglasses
A small evening bag
A handbag in a neutral colour that works for your lifestyle
