MS.OCTOBER

The Uniform Project (U.P) started in 2009 when Sheena Matheiken pledged to wear the same Little Black Dress for an entire year as a creative fundraiser. After Sheena's 365 days came to a close last May, having raised over $100k for the Akanksha Foundation, supporters of the project let her know that they wanted more. As a result, the U.P launched Year Two: 1 Dress. 1 Month. 1 Cause. The 1st of every month U.P will unveil a new girl wearing her ideal version of the staple LBD, designed in collaboration with U.P to raise funds for a cause of her choice.

LEAKEY

When you were little, you might recall complaining to your parents that “It’s not fair!” if you weren’t allowed to do something, or in my case, had to go to bed earlier than my friends did. Fair is one of those attributes that our parents tried to instill in us, even though we’ve all experienced at one time or another that “life just isn’t always fair.” Today, however, there’s a growing social and environmental movement which relies on fairness and it’s having a positive, global impact on the lives of women and children world-wide; it’s called Fair Trade.

EMESHA

This season saw a number of new designers ESTETHICA, the eco-fashion initiative at London Fashion Week. Many of the designers took inspiration from nature, history and art, with a number of them collaborating with high street retailers to produce special edition collections. Other inspirations include strings and geometric shapes in the beautiful feminine and ultra clean silhouettes of EMESHA, a young but fast growing sustainable brand. Her covetable AW10 collection combines strong masculine and ultra feminine elements, representing the ever changing emotions of a woman - with inspiration coming from the emotional extremes of love and hate, happiness and sadness, soft and rough. These feelings are reflected in the mix of shapes, colours and fabrics, combining draping with cutting edge tailoring, to all blend into a visually balanced collection.

Forsya

Take a walk down Main Street in Vancouver and you will be seduced by at least one of the many independent boutiques in this eclectic shopping district. Recently, I had a chance to speak with Julie Hebb, owner of Forsya Boutique, who also launched a small line of women’s attire in Spring 2010.

EVGENI PETKOV

With fashion weeks in major cities now having come to a close, the future of eco and ethical fashion is shining ever brighter as momentum continues to build for authentic sustainable fashion offerings. From NY’s The GreenShows to London’s Estethica to Vancouver’s Eco Fashion Week to Hong Kong’s EcoChic Asia, the word is definitely out that a global shift is taking place as designers adopt strategies to responsibly source and produce their latest collections. In certain regions, eco fashion initiatives still do not have the same organized support, but talented individuals are finding resourceful ways of contributing within their communities to the green fashion phenomenon. Given that I will be reporting from Eastern Europe for the next few months, I thought that a round up of talent from this corner of the globe might demonstrate just how varied the offerings are here. Evgeni Petkov, Ceca Georgieva, Reet Aus, and Isabell de Hillerin are all standout designers and artists who use local materials as original expressions of Eastern European cultural and ecological awareness.