BORED with your board game – then turn it into a dress. Computer on the blink – don’t chuck it out, turn it into some statement jewellery.

That’s the sort of thinking that is inspiring the young designers behind Sustainably Stylish – a fashion show with ethics appeal.

Latest looks from up-and-coming designers as well as clothes from boutiques specialising in fair trade and vintage fashion will be unveiled at a catwalk show at The Pitcher & Piano on Wednesday evening.

York University student Hanah Mamoojee has a design shaping up nicely for the show – a dress inspired by the board game, Twister.

Former York College student Isabel Wong will be showing some of her works in progress. Isabel, 22, graduated from Edinburgh Art College last year and turned down a design job with Abercrombie & Fitch to concentrate on launching her own label.

Sustainability sits comfortably with her fashion ethos. Isabel reuses the central processing units (CPUs) of junked computers in her designs – as necklaces, buckles and brooches. She makes leather rings from left-over material too.

“I never throw any fabric away,” she says, with a soft laugh. “I just stick it all together and use it in my samples.”

Isabel also buys much of her fabric from a company that resells materials that big design houses would otherwise throw away.

“I love to be creative,” says Isabel, who works from a studio at her family home in Holgate. “If I can do something with scraps of fabric, I will, but I will make it look like it was purposefully meant to look like that, and not recycled. I am a perfectionist that way.”

Isabel’s style is very sophisticated; she drapes her elaborately-cut pieces, presenting them in a palette of muted colours such as cream, grey, mink, rose pink and light blue.

One boutique, which sells ethically-sourced clothes and accessories from Grape Lane, York, and Vintage Emporium on Fishergate (opposite Weatherspoon’s pub on Piccadilly), will also be displaying their wares on the catwalk.

Designs made by Gillies Fabrics of York as well as pieces from charity shops and labels Antiform, Peppermint Giraffe, which specialise in funky, customised, one-off items, will also be on show.

Event organiser, York University student Hannah Clugston, said: “The main aim of the event is to get people thinking about alternative ways to dress that have better moral implications.

“It’s our responsibility to think about where things come from. We can’t complain about clothes being made in sweatshops if we still buy them.

“Those sweatshops will be kept running as long as there is money to be made.” Hannah said she wanted the fashion show to challenge people’s pre-conceptions of ethical fashion. “People think it is expensive, or unfashionable or a little bit hippy. But you can get lovely things from second-hand shops and vintage stores. Or you can decide to support a local designer like Isabel Wong – instead of sweatshops in another country.”

Sustainably Stylish, at Pitcher & Piano, York, Wednesday June 29th from 7pm. Tickets: £5 for adults or £3.50 for students, available from One boutique, Vintage Emporium or from Hannah Clugston on 07540 226 294/email: hannah.clugston@nouse.co.uk