This ethical fashion label is a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge - but it's biggest selling point is the positive effect it has on the lives of sex trafficking victims
BY Kate Salter | 07 January 2014
It's always great when you can feel fashionable and virtuous. Beulah London, a label set up by Lady Natasha Rufus-Isaacs and Lavinia Brennan has an admirable philosophy at its heart.
In 2009 Rufus Isaacs and Brennan spent time in Delhi volunteering for an organisation that helped women who had escaped the sex trade. Many of these women were, Rufus-Isaacs says, from the suburbs or villages, and had been promised work or a better life. Inspired by the charity's work, they decided to start a company that would provide such women with an income and skills as well as raise awareness of the issue. Despite no formal fashion training the girls decided to found an ethical fashion company, and in 2011 Beulah London was born.
Rapunzel dress, £495; Esther dress, £585
The clothes have a smart, sophisticated feel described by Stella's Style Editor, Kate Finningan, as 'very Kate Middleton'. Rufus-Isaacs is, in fact, a friend of the Duchess of Cambridge and she has worn a number of Beulah's dresses (the powder blue knee-length chiffon dress the Duchess of Cambridge wore in 2012 during her tour of Asia had women clamouring for stockist information).
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The clothes are, Rufus-Isaacs has said, 'on-trend but not trendy.' There are party frocks, tailored dresses, romantic floaty day dresses in silk chiffon and proper va-va-voom evening gowns. Despite the label being relatively young, Beulah seems to have gathered a roster of glamorous women in its fanclub: Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Sienna Miller and Tess Daly have all worn Beulah.
Aurora silk chiffon print gown, £740; Cameo coat £495
Rufus-Isaacs says she and Brennan come up with themes and looks then work with a designer to hone the collection. The clothes are now all made in a factory in East London, something that Rufus-Isaacs says gives them more control over quality. For their next collection they will be introducing more daywear and separates.
Every Beulah purchase comes with a canvas bag made by women who have escaped the sex trade. The bags are produced through the fair-trade business Freeset, based in Calcutta, which gives women a living wage and therefore a way out of prostitution, or the chance of rehabilitation and recovery after escaping the sex trade.
Topaz silk knit top, £225
Beulah's logo - two Bs forming the shape of a butterfly - conveys the idea of the butterfly effect: through the manufacture of a small canvas bag a woman's livelihood is assured. Rufus-Isaacs says that a key to saving these women is providing them with the skills to give them a real chance of supporting themselves. 'It taught me the importance of education because traffickers prey on the uneducated, the ones who have no options. I realised that providing skills could prevent trafficking'.
Freeset itself is located in Sonagacchi, the main red light district of Calcutta where within only a few square miles there are more than 10,000 sex workers. Many of the women here have been trafficked or are so poor they have no option but to resort to prostitution to support their families.
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Natasha says that another reason that motivated her is that fact that so many trafficked women end up on British shores - 'it's happening on our doorstep - of the 300 brothels in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, only 25 per cent of the girls are there of their own free will'.
Last September, Beulah opened a 'pop up' shop on Elizabeth Street in Belgravia, and the label is also sold at Harvey Nichols, Fenwick and via the company's website. Meanwhile, Rufus-Isaacs and Brennan have now started their own foundation, The Beulah Trust, which, through donations and 10% of the sales from Beulah's accessories, gives grants that pay for skill courses - giving women who have been victims of sex trafficking the chance to find work and an independent life.
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