I contacted Vogue Scandinavia’s press office for more information, asking who made the clothes, and all that was shared was that ‘a Swedish and a Danish designer’ were involved. 

This was, in my opinion, a missed opportunity to educate and showcase to the Vogue audience what sustainable clothing really is, how much it might cost, and how you can get some for yourself, at home.

A few pages later (or clicks if you’re going green and reading the paperless online version) and you come to other features in the inaugural issue. The most jarring, perhaps, is a ‘Roaring Twenties’ photoshoot promoting the idea of over the top dressing, of piling on the crystals, feathers and tulle in an 80,000 euro Dior dress and diamanté Chanel earrings. ‘Isn’t it about time we had some fun?’ the copy asks.

Could Vogue be accused of delivering exactly the kind of tokenistic, greenwashy mixed-messaging that its cover star so despises? Or was Thunberg’s idea, all along, to preach to what she knew might be the hardest audience to convert?

I’m picking on Vogue Scandinavia here. Mariann Jacobsson, the magazine’s head of sustainability, acknowledges in the launch press release that it’s ‘very hard for any organisation to be fully sustainable’, and it’s good to see any fashion magazine making any effort to be greener.

The whole episode proves a point though; for every act of eco-good that occurs in fashion, you could roll out a counter argument that denies it.