Fashion Fights Poverty made my Top 10 Green Fashion Revolutionaries Hit List back in April. Sure D.C. – equipped with stuffy suits and political cronies – seems a most unlikely candidate for a fashion event, but fashion is anything but apolitical! Behind all the love affair for glam – there is the onerous reality of trade policy – including the ever-present argument of free trade vs. fair trade. FFP helps release some of the burden from these issues by spotlighting designers and organizations that advocate for responsible consumerism and poverty alleviation through their designs. If you happen to find yourself in our nation’s capital the night of September 25th, 2009 – join me for the re: define form, re:fashion show and re:lease event at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel. It promises to be a triple threat for political poverty advocacy (and stuffy suits).
If you were one of the awesome people out there who helped fund Tara’s new Square Project via Kickstarter: BIG THANK YOU! You made her dreams come true and now she is heading to the runways. View her Fashion Presentation on September 15, 2009.
I traveled to Sydney, Australia before Greenfest in Brisbane to check out their sustainable style scene. If you are in Sydney, you must stop by my friend Rachel’s shop, Bird who is also in the pages of my book Style, Naturally. Just a couple years ago she was still very small but now she’s expanded into two shops and is in just about 100 retail locations.
Even if you are not in the shopping mood, you’ll at least stare in wide-eyed wonder of the store’s magical landscape of whimsical printed organic clothes, linens and other novelties. I was most certain that some nymph or naiad would stretch its tiny limbs and work its way out of her printed fabrics and alight on my shoulder. Or at least a fairy or two. Regardless, some flight of fancy must have come over me because I fell under a spell that resulted in a more-than robust credit card bill! Just check out some of the ambiance below.
My next stop was at Screenhuas where I met Steve Woods. He works on the lost art of serigraphy, doing hand-print screenprinting for many fashion houses and local Australian designers. He uses more environmentally-responsible print dyes that can be used on anything from undergarments to baby clothes.
A couple weeks ago now I headed to Brisbane’s Courier Mail for Sunday’s sustainable style feature and a bit of an interview. Bianca, Colman’s daughter from Greenfest, was totally cool and helped out on the set. Australia has the beginnings of some great sustainable fashion labels including Bird Textile (have a bunch of Rachel’s stuff – wait till you see the video of her shop in Sydney!), Sosume (has a wide-selection of buttery soft, papery thin tees that just hug the body); Gorman’s organic cotton collection; Cylk (terrific silky dresses); Pure Pod (cute print tees); and a number of others.
Check out the feature here and some behind-the-scenes below.
I’ve taken so many videos over the last few weeks – blue jean factories and shoe manufacturing in China; environmentally-responsible print shops and cool eco-boutiques in Sydney; photo shoots in Brisbane…got a lot of editing and catching up to do is I guess what I’m saying, but in the interim, enjoy the nice little video compilation Coco Eco put together from our photo shoot and beyond.
And you can take a look at our full editorial here, compliments of photographer Courtney Dailey.
