Eco Fashion World

There’s a certain thrill in rummaging through your closet and finding fashion treasures of the past. And this year, this excitement is fully realized with designers—both ethical and mainstream--dedicating clothing lines to timeless styles. It holds particular appeal for already-ethical clothing buyers constantly trolling consignment shops to add new pieces to their wardrobes.

As we reported back in August, shops like Second Nature via designer Emily Katz and online site Shrimpton Couture have creatively picked up on the trend by blending vintage and sustainability for high-fashion looks.

Anyone could try and revive a vintage classic, but eco-conscious designer Deborah Lindquist specializes in working wonders on the average garment. Her current ready to wear collection features roses and thorny branches sewn onto hemp and silk-passed zipper vests, complemented with wide belts created from recycled materials. Voila! A retro, sustainable outfit is born.

Lindquist may be about bringing old, tattered clothing back to life, but Doucette Duvall designers Stephanie Doucette and Annebet Duvall take it one step further by manufacturing their collections using pre-existing fabric and trim that never quite made it to the inside of a closet. Their fall 2009 collection can be defined as vintage-meets-street style, and touts eschewing hang-tags and garment bags, as well as a “little green dress,” which donates payments to a green non-profit group.

Even high-end Yves Saint Laurent has developed a vintage and sustainable clothing line for ‘09. YSL’s “new vintage” collection, which debuted recently at Barney’s, is comprised of 50 pieces also created with recycled fabrics from the YSL brand’s archives. The clothing line features dip-dyed bustier dresses, embroidered trench coats, separates made in plasticized cotton, and a Downtown bag and a sandal.

While eco and vintage are the perfect bedfellows, even mainstream non-eco designers are proving that vintage is king this season. On August 30, Anna Sheffield launched an inexpensive, vintage-driven jewelry line for Target including sterling, stone and mixed metal pieces, while Topshop recently debuted a 66-piece “vintage glamour” collection modeled by Kate Moss that will be all over the London Fashion Week runways.

Looking for DIY ways to achieve a vintage look? We love Bridget Artise and Jen Karetnick’s how-to guide, “Born Again Vintage: 25 Ways to Deconstruct, Reinvent, and Recycle Your Wardrobe.”

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