Edgy met veggie on Project Runway as designers were presented with the opportunity of a planet’s lifetime: to create green cocktail dresses for their beautiful models.
The new crop of Christian and Jeffrey wannabes cheered after Tim Gunn explained their new challenge of using "environmentally responsible textiles" in episode 502: The Grass is Always Greener.
You can’t help but notice that the budding artists he addressed don’t exactly look like big hemp fans with their pale skin, tatooed arms and sculptured hair fashions that might have been executed on Bravo’s sister show, Shear Madness. Still, their enthusiastic response signaled they fully appreciate the toxin-free direction the show was taking.
I cheered too, like a fool, as I watched on the sofa in an old blue poly-nylon terry bathrobe at my mom’s house in L.A. I believe the robe belonged to one of my brothers. I was thrilled my favorite TV show gave the nod to eco-fashion by choosing sustainable material for a challenge. A tear might have even welled up. EcoSalon is really getting to me.
In the past, we’ve seen plenty of the "reuse" angle on Runway: plastic garbage bags and tablecloths this season. Levi 901 jeans and Hershey candy wrappers in past seasons. But this new twist had the models acting as the clients and strutting to the infamous Mood fabric house to shop for bamboo, hemp, and organic silks and satins.
The designers, who usually are in charge of the shopping, were worried sick the models weren’t up to the riggors of the task. Did they understand what constitutes green fabric? Could they count the yardage? Could they count?
The winner was a blonde with a blue mohawk named Suede, who produced an adorable party dress with a woven bodice of interlaced strips of red and white fabric and a drop-waist ballet skirt. Suede gushed that his fresh take gave a new spin to green-chic since not a lot of cool stuff has emerged in the category (he ought to read EcoSalon!).
His dress really wowed hard-sells Nina and Michael as well as celebrity guest judge, Natalie Portman, who introduced a vegan shoe line for Te Casan last February in New York. Natalie donates 5% of her profits to various charities.
Sure, there always has to be a loser and fate would have it that 22-year-old Wesley from Massachusetts was "out" for his brown satin mini number. Eco satin like traditional satin is an unforgiving material which shows every clumsy tuck and stitch. Poor Wesley.
But I’m happy to report, none of the looks had that dowdy, homespun silhouette of early eco fashion, like the all-too-familiar boxy jackets with oversize buttons. I think it is also clear that young designers (including a friend of mine now at textile design school in Berkeley) are eager to get their hands on green fabrics, and I hope the world’s weavers meet the demand.
Kudos to Project Runway for going for the green garb. Some day, bombshell Heidi Klum can say auf wiedersehen to all those nasty chemicals from factory produced textiles allowing this three-dimensional art form to become truly pure.
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