ORGANIC MAVERICKS

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ORGANIC MAVERICKS

Written by Eva Anastasiu - Monday, 28 July 2008

It seems that the eco-designer is the new must-have item of any good fashion competition. First there was the sustainable designer on Project Runaway, and now the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) and VOGUE have announced the ten Finalists for the next CFDA/VOGUE Fashion Fund initiative, and guess what? Organic by John Patrick is in the running! This line of modern classics made from the purest natural materials is certainly one of the head-turners in the world of eco fashion. It’s one of those labels that speaks loudly about fashion and whispers, ever so convincingly, about eco.

So what could a prize like this mean for a new label like Organic? Let’s do a quick case study of last year’s winner, incidentally another eco favorite: Rogan. Before the CFDA win, Rogan Gregory already had his hands quite full designing his namesake line (which includes some organic elements), its 100% organic counterpart Loomstate and, until recently, collaborated with Bono and Ali Hewston on their label Edun. The first thing that happened after the awards was a slew of media attention including feature articles in magazines like Vogue and Wallpaper , which certainly can’t hurt a career. This spring, he brought organic to the masses with a successful organic collection for retail giant Target and opened his flagship store in New York’s Bowery District. Finally, he took a walk on the artistic side by creating a sculpture dialogue with his friend Michael Stipe on the theme of obsolete technologies, the opening of the exhibition, on June 27th, brought out a slew of celebrities including Jeff Koons, Chris Martin, Jake Paltrow and Cecilia Dean (if you’re in New York, this is the last weekend to catch it, it closes on July 27th).

Although John Patrick seems a little less chummy with the stars, we hope that he will take home the prize and help open wider the path to a world where people won’t ask “is it organic?” but say “of course it’s organic!”