Eco Fashion World

The fashion flock has now migrated to London, but New York City is still aflutter from the success of The GreenShows held at the MetropolitanPavilion this past week. We previously wrote about the ten sustainable fashion designers to be featured at this premiere NYFW showcase, and as anticipated, the three-day fashion event in Chelsea’s arts district was a smashing success. From the vibrant ‘urban tropical’ collection of Auralis Studio to the rocking DIY fashion sensibility of Eliza Starbuck’s Bright Young Things, the message is clear: sustainable fashion is not only finding it’s groove but is now inviting us along for the ride as active participants in its very evolution.

Opening night at The GreenShows featured the recycled ‘trash-to-treasure’ couture creations of Miami-based artist/designer, Luis Valenzuela. Principally recognized for his eco art installations and South Florida community recycling projects, Valenzuela worked some haute-craft magic with everyday household materials such as pleated drapery, chandelier-lamp parts, and recycled silks digitally printed with soy-based inks. The presentation was a bit more theater than highly polished fashion construction, but the spirit behind the designer’s sculptural ingenuity demonstrated a certain resourcefulness that spoke to creative maximizing with ready-made materials.

LUIS VALENZUELA 

Ecouterre.com, Boho Magazine, and FAIR Trade Spirits were several of the event’s noted sponsors, and both the runway presentations and the eco-friendly parties that followed were impressively orchestrated and diversely festive in offerings. I spoke with Camille Marchand of FAIR, and in conjunction with the sustainable fashion initiatives currently underway, she described how FAIR’s clients are now looking for quality spirits that incorporate both certified-fair trade and environmental practices in their manufacturing. The growth of ‘conscious consumer’ luxury goods seems to be infiltrating both fashion and lifestyle decision-making choices, as increasingly informed style makers do their homework on living responsibly while also looking gorgeous in the process.

 SAMANTHA PLEET

The event’s Spring 2011 collections ran the gamut from chic convertible black dresses to carefree rompers and shibori and hand-drawn prints. Samantha Pleet’s   SS 2011 featured her signature-style playsuits as well as flirty bloomers and shorts. Pleet also complimented her stage presentation with a documentary style art film, an increasingly popular narrative device for conveying the mood and sartorial details of one’s collection.

Bright Young Things by Eliza Starbuck was an animated parade of DIY dress up and playfully accessorized approaches to sustainable styling. The designer’s crisp, clean 8 piece collection for Spring 2011 is innovatively mapped out to be a clever twist on limitless combinations of classic and chic reversible/convertible garments. With the range of options like the ones that Starbucks is proposing, it seems as if the future of ‘power dressing’ is very much about the individual and the creative input that each person brings to their wardrobe. I was thrilled to participate in the runway show for Bright Young Things, and one of the most striking aspects of this event was the refreshing diversity of models – be it age, body type, ethnicity, or professional background (a few were even mothers). With the season-to-season fashion calendar churning out new designs annually, it is promising to see a young designer like Starbuck decisively take the reigns in order to steer our attention towards the possibilities of unique timeless styling and slow fashion, garment production.

The belles of The GreenShows were definitely Auralis Herrero Lugo of Auralis Studio and Brooklyn-based artist, musician, and fashion designer, JoAnn Berman. Both staged boldly vibrant and polished shows that stripped away any residual notions about sustainable fashion being dull or unsexy. The ‘urban tropical’ theme of Auralis Spring 2011 married Brooklyn street style with Puerto-Rican retro-salsa-glam, and the red and gold ahimsa silk dresses that the designer sent down the runway were total show stoppers. Similarly, JoAnn Berman served up an eclectic flight of fancy with her vintage remix, mod ensembles and low-impact, digitally printed ikat-textiles that referenced far flung travel destinations such as Goa and Ghana.

JOANN BERMAN

All in all, the message conveyed was that sustainable fashion might finally be able to hold its own in mainstream fashion arenas, but with an agenda that now extends beyond the advancement of eco-textiles, ethical and fair trade practices, and locally made goods. Perhaps we are finally entering an era where fashion is increasingly about the individual influencing the designs, or at least our unique interpretation of the designs, as a means to extend the life of our clothing as we don and choose to celebrate it from season-to-season.

For more information on all of the designers who presented at The GreenShows for Spring 2011, visit the event website . Photos are courtesy of Elisa Hyman Photography , with the exception of JoAnn Berman’s collection, which was photographed by Nina Berman, and Rafael Diaz and Monica Felix for Auralis Studio.

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