River Island is shunning labels for its empowering new campaign

'100% BOSS'

'100% BOSS'

River Island is 30 years old, and the high street store is celebrating in a pretty damn inspiring way with a new campaign.

The Labels Are For Clothes shots by photographer Richard Burbridge feature a core group of unique individuals who have all been subject to stereotyping and are poised to reclaim their label in the most positive way.

With the idea that labels don't matter, each picture comes with a tongue-in-cheek care label. Curve model and body convidence activist Sabina appears next to the message 'do not shrink', while gay couple Charlie and Bella pose next to 'do not separate'.

Another shot sees Stav Strashko, who was born male, affirm she is '100% woman', while Zara, who is of Pakistani heritage, wears a hijab and was born in London, commands that you 'do not stereotype' her.

As well as pushing the message that being yourself is always the right sartorial choice, River Island has designed a selection of t-shirts and sweatshirts, with £3 from each sale being donated to Ditch the Label, a leading international anti-bullying charity that believes in a world that is fair, equal and free from all types of bullying.

Shop it below, and feel empowered.

Shop now: Orange Ditch the Label cropped T-shirt for £18 from River Island

Shop now: Black Ditch the Label charity sweatshirt for £26 from River Island

Shop now: Grey marl Ditch the Label charity sweatshirt for £26 from River Island

Shop now: Pink ‘#labels are for clothes’ T-shirt for £18 from River Island

Time to spread the joy of fashion and ditch the labels for good.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.