An Interview with The Pretty Planeteer

Happy Monday gorgeous people! Hope you had a lovely weekend and are feeling ready to take on this week!

I’m so pleased that this interview is finally happening, I’ve been following the work of Csilla Herbszt, and her blog The Pretty Planeteer, since I first got involved in vegan fashion! Csilla was born in Hungary and currently lives in Switzerland and started blogging about sustainable fashion in 2017. We met up at the Bare Fashion event in 2018 and I instantly liked her! Her style is so unique, yet timeless, and she has such a strong sense of justice, she knows what’s right and wrong and isn’t afraid to speak up!

I asked Csilla some questions about how she got into vegan fashion and what she makes of the fashion industry currently, read on to find out what she thinks…

Keep up with Csilla: The Pretty Planeteer blog | The Pretty Planeteer Instagram | Csilla Herbszt Instagram

1. When did you go vegan and what convinced you to make the change?

I went vegan almost 3 years ago, in June 2017. But it feels like I was always vegan at heart. I'm the kind of person who never kills a spider, but places them gently outside. But you know, I ate cows, chickens, and pigs, because I was raised with the same beliefs and biases as everyone else; that we need to eat meat to get protein, cows are bred to be killed so it doesn't matter, vegans are hippies, etc. And I didn't want to go vegan, I liked eating meat, and I was fine with my life as it was.

But in 2017 I decided to start an ethical fashion blog, and I was looking at other ethical bloggers and youtubers and realized that many of them were vegan, so I got curious. I was watching some videos from Kristen Leo and in one of them she recommended a video called "The Food Matrix - 101 Reasons to Go Vegan". And fortunately, I clicked on that video and one hour and eight minutes later I was like "F*ck, I have to go vegan now."

I wanted to make a gradual change, but from that moment, I just couldn't think of any animal products as food anymore.

2. When did you start exploring vegan fashion? What made you change how you view your wardrobe?

Since I discovered veganism through ethical fashion bloggers, I transitioned to vegan fashion at the same time as I started eating plant-based. Honestly, I've never owned many leather, wool, or silk items so it wasn't a big change for me. I was buying a lot of second-hand clothing anyways, and I'm okay with buying non-vegan clothing second-hand. I know that a lot of vegans don't share my views, but buying second-hand doesn't hurt animals, and it's a great way to repurpose clothes that would go to waste otherwise.

The only thing that changed actually is that I started looking into more vegan and ethical brands and I discovered so many cool ones. It really opened my eyes to all the amazing things happening outside the fast fashion bubble.

3. What would you say to people who don’t know what vegan fashion is?

I would just show them the Stella McCartney Eclypse Sneakers. No, but seriously, vegan fashion is just fashion. Only the materials change, but that doesn't mean that they look less stylish or they are of worse quality.

For people who don't know what vegan fashion is, I would just say to look into their wardrobes, check the labels, and I'm pretty sure 80% of their clothes are already vegan. So they can see that vegan fashion comes in every style, color, and shape. (Ok, size inclusivity is still a problem in the whole fashion industry, but it's getting better I think.) Then I would advise them to look at your blog or mine, or any other vegan fashion blogs and find some cool brands that match their aesthetics and lifestyles.

4. There are so many great vegan brands to support now! Which one’s really stand out for you?

There really are so many! It's getting so hard to keep up with all of them... If I had to choose one, I would say Stella McCartney. Because she's one of the industry leaders, and even though she's not perfect, she sets an example for the whole fashion world. But they are not very affordable so I'm going to have to mention some that I really like and where I can actually shop.

For stylish clothing, there's Noumenon which I absolutely adore. I also love Armedangels which is not a 100% vegan but has a huge selection of vegan clothes. I have bought two amazing pairs of shoes from the German brand, Bahatika, I highly recommend them. And if I was about to purchase a new bag, I'd go for Sans Beast, they have the most stylish and trendy vegan bags I know of.

5. What’s the piece of vegan clothing/accessory that you couldn’t live without?

My metallic pink Doc Martens. I bought them only six months ago, and honestly, I don't know how I survived without them before. I wear them almost every single day. They are super comfy and water-resistant. They're also very trendy right now, and I always feel badass when I wear them. I got so many compliments on them from a lot of different people, even from my 80-year old grandmother.

It also makes me super pumped that brands like Dr Martens who's main profile are leather goods, are starting to offer more and more vegan items. In my almost three years of being vegan, I never felt that I have to give up on a trend. Most major brands have vegan collections now. And even if they don't, I'm 100% confident that I can find a vegan brand that offers just what I'm looking for.

6. Who inspires your personal style?

Everyone and everything! I get inspired very easily by people on the street, by a piece of art, by different colours, and of course by some influencers. But I don't have a style icon per se. I haven't found the right person who pulls off the style I'm going for. So if you have some recommendations, please let me know!

There are two conflicting aesthetics I'm attracted to. One is a very clean, minimalist look, and the other is grunge. So these are the two styles I try to mix and match, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. It's only a matter of trial and error.

I think the most important thing is not to let yourself get inspired by brands. They try to sell you a different style, a different idea of who you could be every other week, and it's just not sustainable. It's not sustainable environmentally, but it also prevents you from really developing your own personal style.

7. Have you found any items that are difficult/impossible to find a vegan alternative for?

Vegan knitwear is very difficult to find. There are some brands that sell cotton knits, but let's be honest, it's not as warm as wool. So currently I buy second-hand wool, but I'm not a fan of that either. Wool is very itchy and you have to hand wash it which seems to be too much effort for me.

I guess wool is still considered less cruel than leather or even silk and that's why they don't work on finding better alternatives for it. People think that sheep get nice haircuts and that's where wool comes from, and that sheep need to be shorn otherwise they'd die. Which is partially true. Sheep need to be shorn but only because we've bred them to grow excessive amounts of wool to get more money of course... The solution is not the shearing (which is a lot more cruel process than people usually think) but to stop breading them and stop torturing them altogether.

This is a topic that's very important to me to talk about because I feel like people are very ignorant about this. And then brands post pictures of cute sheep, alpacas or cashmere goats on Instagram with captions like "Best material to keep you warm in winter" or something like this and makes me so frustrated. It's not a material, it's a living creature who just wants to play and be happy, and not be tortured.

8. Where do you see the vegan fashion industry in the next 5 years?

It'll grow for sure, but vegan fashion has still some battles to win especially in the sustainable community. Whether we like it or not, the fashion industry is full of ethical and sustainability issues, and vegan fashion isn't going to solve them by itself.

There's plastic for example. I know a lot of people who really care about living a plastic-free lifestyle. You can't say to them to just buy PU leather instead of leather even if for us, vegans it seems the more ethical and environmentally-friendly option. But is it? What about microplastic that pollutes marine life? We don't know who's right. Probably both of us. So we still have a lot of things to figure out.

On a more positive note, I think we'll see more vegan fashion on the runway as the new generation of designers is taking over the field. And I think they're amazing, they're ready to change the world, and they're going to revolutionize the fashion industry as it is.

I also think we'll see at least a vegan line from all major fashion brands, and some of them will go fully vegan. If veganism continues to grow at this speed (and it certainly will), in five years' time, the brands that don't design clothes with vegans in mind are going to be out of business!