This Monday, May 4th, I’ll be giving a talk at The Fashion Institute of Technology in Room 6, 706 from 10:30-11:30AM. Come join if you’d like. It’s for the class, but if you reply here with your details by 7AM Monday morning and we’ll make sure you’re on the list.
A little sneak peek from my Parsons talk that I gave in April:
I shot these dark, cinematic images with photographer Rinze van Brug and stylist Anett Gabriel of Dutch House Photography for the Linhardt Design Collection. Rinze’s photography has a precious, antique quality. The softened tones coupled with the voyeuristic set-ups can instill feelings as wide-ranging as peacefulness to trepidation. We started shooting at dusk and shot through the evening to capture the aura of New York City’s Lower East Side at night…
I’ve known Lisa, the designer for awhile. We were first introduced through Ron from RecycleBank. At the time she was taking jewelry design courses at F.I.T. and now she has opened up an amazing boutique in the Lower East Side showcasing some of the best in sustainable jewelry design. She sources and designs with a number of cooperatives around the world. Later this Spring, we’ll be releasing the a.d. schwarz line there, so please stay tuned.
Model and green activist Summer Rayne Oakes wants the world to know that dressing green isn’t about burlap and Birkenstocks. In her new book, Style, Naturally (Chronicle Books, $25), she instructs the earnest on how to be fashion-conscious and environmentally conscious at the same time. Here are some of her shopping tips, plus some sources for eco-fashion.
1. Buy the basics. Start with items you wear most regularly: socks and undergarments. Gaiam has basic, functional undergarments; UK–based Enamore offers sexy intimates. Then look for basic tees, sweaters, shirts, and jeans, focusing on pieces that will wear well and work season to season.
2. Accessorize. You don’t have to start big. Accessories like shoes, bags, wallets, and jewelry are a good place to start if you’re looking to green up your wardrobe.
3. Save for something special. Many eco-fashions tend to be on the high side, so find something you love and save.
4. Don’t limit yourself to the mall. The best green shopping can be online.
5. Go vintage. It may be the most stylish way to recycle. Find a few shops you like and stop by often. Or troll eBay. Just be careful with sizes; pay attention to measurements online.
CLOTHING
High-end sustainable design from Bahar Shahpar and friends, The Four Hundred, www.showroomfourhundred.com
Organic high-style, Stella McCartney, www.stellamccartney.com
Chic, eco-friendly outfits for women, EcoSkin,www.ecoskincollections.com
Organic cotton jersey dresses and tops, Doie, www.doiedesigns.com
Hip clothes for both sexes (even organic plantation selvedge denim),Howie’s, www.howies.co.uk
Weekend casual for men and women, Loomstate, www.loomstate.org
Organic or recycled cotton eco jeans, Levi’s, www.levi.com
SHOES
Limited edition footwear from recycled materials, Niki Robinson’s Té Casan, www.tecasan.com
Made with vintage fabrics, Kitty Cooper, www.kitty-cooper.co.uk
Uses latex, wood, and recycled rubber soles in the Vivo Barefoot line,Terra Plana, www.terraplana.com
See www.stylenaturally.com for an extensive list of designers and e-commerce stores.
Safia Minney, People Tree
People Tree works with 50 fair-trade cooperatives in 15 countries, teaching locals how to improve their designs and materials for a global market. The company recruited designers such as Thakoon and Richard Nicoll to add a couture sensibility by collaborating with particular co-ops on some products. People Tree even launched organic cotton-growing programs, which are a win-win for their co-ops and customers: no local exposure to pesticides, sustainable fiber for buyers. The result is artisan-made clothing that doesn’t just sustain the environment but communities as well. www.peopletree.co.uk
Ann Wizer, XS Project
They say one person’s trash is another person’s treasure, but some trash is just trash — until XSProject gets ahold of it. The nonprofit buys flexible-plastic packaging from the “trash pickers” of Jakarta, Indonesia, who collect and sell consumer waste for a living. That garbage goes to small nongovernmental organizations and cottage businesses for transformation into colorful messenger bags, notebook covers, and other whimsical accessories. www.xsprojectgroup.com
Blake Mycoskie, Toms Shoes
Traveling through Argentina, Amazing Race alum Blake Mycoskie saw hundreds of barefoot children and had a brainstorm. He designed a shoe patterned after traditional Argentine footwear and announced he’d give one pair to a kid in need for every pair he sold. The project took flight, and now celebs such as Keira Knightley, Tobey Maguire, and Scarlett Johansson are sporting the colorful, comfortable shoes. And Toms is still doing its one-for-one donation, but now in Africa as well as in Argentina. Now that’s a feel-good shoe. www.tomsshoes.com
LA Times devotes multiple pages to sustainable style for Earth Day.
That makes the rise of “green” and socially conscious fashion a welcome development. But pinning down exactly what terms like “green” mean is no simple task. While organic foodstuffs and beauty products bear the familiar U.S. Department of Agriculture label and have strict guidelines, buildings have LEED certification and appliances Energy Star ratings, when it comes to fashion, clarity evaporates.
Even if consumers could accurately parse terms and claims such as “conflict-free,” “fair trade,” “carbon neutral,” “upcycled” and “post-consumer waste,” that’s only the beginning. Denim woven with certified organic cotton and dyed with all-natural indigo can then be bleached with caustic chemicals.
Hemp is a less energy-intensive crop than cotton, but because its cultivation is banned in the U.S., it has to be imported — which increases the amount of carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere. And wooden bracelets that one group certifies as coming from “sustainably harvested forests” may not pass muster with the standards set by another organization.
“I said this five years ago, and I’m probably going to be saying it five years from now, but what the fashion industry needs is transparency” — a way to show the impact on people and the planet of every step in the life of a garment.
The Organic Consumers group’s Zinn says his organization is working toward a set of guidelines for apparel that would be as concrete as those put out by the USDA for organic food, guidelines that also would take into consideration things like workers’ rights and carbon footprints.
But it’s not there yet. And as consumers wait for such initiatives to take hold, Oakes says, the responsibility lies with them to start buckling down before they start buttoning up. “People need to get to know their brands and what they do all along the supply chain. . . . And look, if someone comments on your bangles or your shoes and you’ve got a great story to tell about them, that’s going to make them better than the bangles or shoes on someone else — because you’ve got the story to tell. These stories of corporate responsibility are going to be the new prestige.”
In that spirit, we’ve profiled a trio of Southland folks who are striving to combine style and sustainability. Rather than aiming to have no impact at all on this blue/green planet, they’ve each found a way to tread lightly, do well and do good at the same time. And let their actions speak louder than their labels.
As with any busy schedule, I’ve tried to keep up with blog posts, but some just have a tendency to slip right by in the midst of everything else going on. Figured that it’s about time to highlight the cool series of events happening over on the London scene. I definitely got my fill of ethical fashion during February – from Estethica to Prophetik’s show at Beach Blanket Babylon; Made-By’s UK Launch to the People Tree Foundation launch during Fair Trade Fortnight. Show standouts at Esthetica were for sure Mark Liu (Zero-Waste Design), Raeburn Designs (re-purposed military gear), Minna (delicate, feminine detailing) and Beyond Skin (vegan footwear). Noir showed during London Fashion Week (see below), but got some designers panties in a bunch because they aren’t as “green” as the other labels. You can totally tune into the low-down on the event on Discovery Earth Live.
I did a soft launch for Style, Naturally at Esthetica and later at Beach Blanket Babylon alongside Prophetik’s show (seen above in first picture). Have the pleasure of an ambassadorship with two cool new programs out of the UK – including Made-By, an umbrella label (originally founded in the Netherlands in October 2004) that helps other brands track-and-trace and become more transparent along the supply chain – as well as Safia’s People Tree Foundation. I’ll touch upon both of them in an upcoming post on planetgreen.com, so stay tuned!
Next week marks the launch of Style, Naturally: London fresh off the heels of a successful NYC launch on February 10th. You’ll be able to catch Style, Naturally at plenty of locations, including a book signing in conjunction with Fashion TV on February 19th at DIVO from 8PM onwards (open to the public).
The day after, Style, Naturally will hit the halls of the Natural History Museum with London Fashion Week in conjunction with Estethica, which kicks off at 12:15PM on February 20th with a short fashion film and catwalk compliments of Noir (open to press, trade, and registered guests). Then we’ll let it loose with the Style, Naturally: London launch party featuring prophetik designs A/W 09 runway show at Beach Blanket Babylon (Private invite only).
Finally, on the 24th, attendees of the Made-By UK launch will get a little sampling of the new book (invited guests). If you’re interested in where we’ll be next, check out the stylenaturally.com Events/Appearances page.
