Eco Fashion World

EMESHA

4 – 5 September
The Art of Fashion
Electric Picnic Music and Arts Festival - The Global Green Area

The Global Green is the place at the Electric Picnic to slow down, recharge and reflect on a better world. Nestled between Green Crafts and Body and Soul, this year the Global Green explores the themes of togetherness and community using the picnic theme ‘Together we are Electric’ as the inspiration.

Re-dress has been asked to co-ordinate a sustainable fashion project in the global green area and have teamed up with art collective FOR THE LOVE OF (FTLO) to inspire festival goers with a live FASHION / ART design challenge.

The live design project will run on the Saturday with illustrators/artists chosen by FTLO designing fabric themed around "together we are electric." Designers chosen by Re-dress will be asked to create pieces inspired by this theme and in collaboration with the illustrators/artists. It will finish with a styled shoot on Saturday evening.

Eco entrepreneur Sarah Van Aken has launched www.savafashion.com to bring the same socially conscious retail choices from her successful flagship boutique SA VA, located at 1700 Sansom Street, Philadelphia, to the rest of the nation. As in the SA VA store, the interactive web site allows women to shop for fashion-forward garments by selecting seven different sustainable categories including: Local Made; Fair Trade; Hand Made; Organic; All Natural; Made in the U.S.A.; and Recycled.

TransFair USA, a not-for-profit organization, is one of twenty members of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO), and the only third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States. Transfair USA thoroughly examines transactions between US companies offering Fair Trade Certified™ products and the international suppliers from whom they source, in order to guarantee that the farmers and farm workers behind Fair Trade Certified goods were paid a fair, above-market price. In addition, annual inspections conducted by FLO ensure that strict socioeconomic development criteria are being met using increased Fair Trade revenues.

I first stumbled across ‘Let them eat cake’ whilst embarking on a whimsical google episode; Children’s Tailcoats - a wild goose chase sure to waste hours on a grizzly afternoon, but unlikely to turn up any trumps. I was more than surprised to find that there was in fact a children’s clothing brand making tiny tail coats. Sweet little tailcoats for sweet little girls no less. Imagine my delight when I deduced that this cream and navy striped gem could be purchased guilt free; made, as it was, in the UK from reclaimed vintage textiles. Frankly, I would wear it myself if a size 8 could take the strain of my post eating-for-two charms*.

With a résumé that includes model, television host, best-selling author, environmental activist, and social entrepreneur, Summer Rayne Oakes, the woman dubbed the first eco model, took a ‘time out’ amidst her demanding calendar of events to sit down and tell me about her present day ventures, aspirations for the future and some of the fashion items she is currently coveting.

Last month we enthusiastically announced our collaboration with Eco Fashion Week Vancouver and promised to keep you up to date with all the latest news surrounding the festivities which will take place September 27 – 30.