Artistic license might be just the cure for what ails us each fashion season.

With fashion week season slowly melting away the deep winter freeze here in Europe, it is promising to feel a bit of stylistic heat from the recent runway shows in Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Stockholm. Autumn/Winter 2013 might be the last thing on our minds as we struggle to channel coral-hued resort ensembles, but looking ahead can be a good thing when so many creative dimensions are at play. The sculptural experimentation seen on the catwalks during January and early February have demonstrated, perhaps, that smaller European design houses know how to take risks with conceptually bold approaches to their collections. Whether through extreme knitwear, origami fold wearables, or cool geometry, the license to explore fashion follies seems hyper-real in combination with a sustainable edge.

One of the things that I like about the smaller European shows that take place before the heavy-hitter line-ups in New York, Paris, London, and Milan is the excitement that comes from supporting local talent in style geist outposts where fashion schools and converts to sustainable style are looking to cure their fashion malaise. Perhaps this is also why some of the recent catwalk presentations can afford to be a bit more theatrical, as designers present their works as part of a storytelling continuum and with textile innovation as a creative selling point.

Designer Isabell de Hillerin’s MOSAIC collection (photo by Amos Fricke)

I was so impressed last January with the public interest in Berlin Fashion Week – anyone could attend the presentations at the Lavera Showroom (RSVP’s required, though). Berlin has demonstrated increased momentum on the green fashion frontier with venues like The GREENshowroom, The Ethical Fashion Show Berlin, as well as this year’s first Slow Fashion Awards. I was smitten yet again with Berlin-based ethical fashion label, Isabell de Hillerin, who sources many of her woven and embroidered textiles in Romania. Isabell’s new MOSAIC collection encourages the wearer to experiment freely in order to find lasting styling solutions and wardrobe combinations. The designer shares, “Playing with balance, this latest collection is inspired by its individual parts that collectively form a mosaic of colors and shapes. Rich and contrasting fabrics fuse with soft shapes to define a new whole. Folkloric handmade Romanian materials combined with clean cuts represent a position between new design and tradition.”

Princess Máxima (center) at The Green Fashion Competition during Amsterdam Fashion Week (photo courtesy of Style.com)

The much-anticipated Green Fashion Competition at Amsterdam Fashion Week generated quite a bit of interest this season, and the finalists definitely demonstrated a range of eco solutions to the three-piece runway presentation. Much of the excitement was centered around the event’s VIP guest, Princess Máxima, who won major points by attending the runway competition at the Westergasfabriek (Amsterdam’s equivalent to Bryant Park). Winners of the event included Amsterdam’s own Studio Jux and NYC’s ethical fashion it-girl, Carrie Parry.

Carrie Parry’s bold eco separates at The Green Fashion Competition in Amsterdam (photo courtesy of the designer)

Designer Carrie Parry takes the prize at The Green Fashion Competition (photo by Patricia Fewer for Hegedus Style)

Mark Smith of Style.com shared the following comment about having a real live princess at the Green Fashion Competition: “Carlien Helmink of Studio JUX, the fair-trade brand that scooped first prize for its chic collection of Nepalese-produced dresses, said, ‘She (Princess Màxima) was so enthusiastic and even told us that she had expected the jury to choose us as winner.’ New Yorker Carrie Parry, who won the Category Two prize for most promising start-up, was also impressed. ‘Having a real princess witness the unveiling of your designs is pretty much a fairy tale, isn’t it?’”

2011’s Green Fashion Competition winner Elsien Gringhuis kicked off the catwalk event (photo by Patricia Fewer for Hegedus Style)

The stuff that fairy tales are made of just might turn the tide of fast fashion. Eileen Moran of Origin 23 feels that cities like Amsterdam are definitely at the forefront of a green fashion revolution. She shared the following with us after completing the circuit in Europe during the past two weeks, “In the merger of the French Federation’s Pret a Porter and Who’s Next Paris, they decided to eliminate the So Ethic section this season. Many of the designers and buyers who have been going to that show for years to seek out what’s interesting in ethical design, moved to MINT at Modefabriek in Amsterdam or to one of the many shows in Berlin, including the GREENShowroom. I really feel that Amsterdam is going to be the next epicenter for eco and ethical fashion. In speaking with buyers, the press, and consultants, most feel that Paris is now more a place to go for fashion week runway shows as well as The Ethical Fashion Show, but Berlin and Amsterdam are steadily taking over as the destinations for trade shows.”

As a counterpoint, I found it interesting that Brazilian-born Priscilla Camargo, the founder of Hegedus Style in Amsterdam,  felt that only three pieces by each designer on the Green Fashion Competition’s runway lacked a bit of depth in terms of presenting a broad cross-section of eco and ethical fashion expressions. Priscilla commented that she was better able to understand the message of designer collections during her visit to MINT at Modefabriek. That said, she was extremely impressed by the designers’ creative efforts and the enthusiasm of the crowd, but looks forward to the event gaining more applicants from abroad for 2013. You can read more of Priscilla’s coverage via her blog.

Green Fashion Competition finalist Zaida Adriana Goveo Balmaseda’s ‘Calafuria’ collection featuring recycled fiber knitwear (photo by Peter Stigter)

As a knitwear enthusiast, I was excited to see the recycled fiber creations of Green Fashion Competition finalist, Zaida Adriana Goveo Balmaseda – who we previously featured in our article Plying A More Fashionable Fiber Frontier. Zaida’s Calafuria collection pays homage to a natural beach reserve in Tuscany that features rock formations called “tafoni.” These other-worldly forms are mimicked by the “weathering” and “cementation” of materials and surfaces in the designer’s organic pieces. Natural fiber and eco-friendly methods used include hand-spun textiles, scraps or pre-consumer waste gathered from designer studio production floors and textile centers as well as organic cotton that was naturally dyed and batted with PET recycled batting. Dead stock wool was also recycled for  the “aveolo” pieces that were stunningly tinted with natural substances and then hand-embroidered.

Dutch designer Iris van Herpen’s wearable art and ‘escapist’ sculptural couture (photo courtesy of The Wild Magazine)

Three-dimensional experimentation and extreme silhouettes were also featured prominently in the Paris Couture Fashion Week presentation of Dutch designer, Iris Van Herpen. Whether wearable art really leads us down a path of statement piece activism or even multi-purpose fashion, is debatable. That said, many of these creations do allow us to explore metaphors and vocabulary related to organicism and mimicry of nature. Both Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Stockholm and Copenhagen Fashion Week  designers seemed to be sharing this message as well – in combination with thawing out fashion lovers on blustery winter nights.

V Avenue Show Repair at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Stockholm

Gaia at Copenhagen Fashion Week

Stine Ladefoged’s extreme knitwear at Copenhagen Fashion Week

Beckmans College of Design at Copenhagen Fashion Week (photo by Kristian Löveborg)

lead image: Winde Rienstra, photo by Peter Stigter

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Artists are working to create a more fashionable frontier for all.

The blank slate of a new year is as seductive as the lure of a crisp white piece of clothing for one’s mishmash wardrobe. We all crave a fresh start and the promise of renewal, although I have never been one to hastily cast off the old in order to usher in the new. I am just way too practical as an artist who examines and preserves every scrap of fiber for some drafty hole that might present itself unexpectedly. 2012 will instead be a continuation of my ongoing mission to seek out individuals who understand the power of resourcefulness and the collective twining of fiber taking flight.

Naturally dyed-fiber from The Sacred Valley of Peru via Source4Style 

2011 found us exploring therapeutic connections between the heart, the mind, and handcrafting, and the year to come will no doubt be a continued testing ground for how and why we choose to implement DIY strategies as well as having increased access to sustainable fiber and artisan-made textiles via sites like Source4Style. I will be looking to designers, (outsider) artists, storytellers, and even urban gardeners for evidence of why the cultivation of local narratives and subversive craftiness makes good sense. It is at the fringe of these diverse realms where I feel that many sustainable solutions reside.

‘Knitta, Please’ urban fiber installation in Sydney, Australia

Fashion happenings are all good fun but for a huge sector of the population, this is still foreign territory and not so inviting at that. Our day-to-day lives are riddled with break out moments of stylistic genius, but it is is our immediate environs that influence how we look and feel in a sustained manner. I like the idea of casting the net wider to consider ideas related to ‘fashioning self and the environment’ – meaning that, a true understanding of how to map out a lasting fashion sensibility must now include a closer (smarter) examination of self in relation to one’s environment and the resources available.

The ‘Knitta, Please’ handknit bus paves the way for a more fashionable frontier

Women are quite good at this. We know how to make do, mend, and even tie together the loose ends to create safety nets for ourselves and those random beings who dare to cross our path. We also know how to turn an impossible situation into a crazy quilt that warms an entire community of loved ones. I am reminded of artist Magda Sayeg who went from being a single mother on welfare to being an entrepreneurial design maven with her knitted public works (aka guerrilla yarn bombing projects) under the studio name, Knitta, Please. In a recent article on Magda’s work in the Wall Street Journal, one is seduced by the power of crafting a path to a brighter future with a stockpile of pop art yarn and the conviction to subversively adorn just about everything labeled commonplace or inconsequential.

Textile scraps being handspun for knit couture by designer Zaida Adriana Goveo Balmaseda

Similarly, I admire how designer Zaida Adriana Goveo Balmaseda is currently scouring the floors of designer work rooms and studios for scraps of textiles that are being hand spun into knitted runway creations for The Green Fashion Competition at Amsterdam Fashion Week in late January.

 Handspun fiber is knitted and prepped  for the runway by Zaida Adriana Goveo Balmaseda

Zaida shared some of the following sentiments with us regarding her resourceful process and intention:

“Through my work I intend to encourage and engage people to use craft for solutions, and for my current project we are recycling studio textile waste. I discovered the spinning process while researching recycled yarns, and given that I was not really satisfied with my finds, I wanted to work with a fiber that I had complete control over and that would positively impact my surroundings, including the people I know. Spinning yarn can be done with a very simple tool, and many people can participate in the transformation of this raw material. In just one week I taught my grandparents, brother, sister, and mother how to spin. We are creating and sharing stories together, and it has been incredibly rewarding to see everyone cooperating and enthusiastically wanting to learn a new skill. Each skein is unique, just like its spinner and the runway garments that we are knitting as well.”

Recycled fiber forms by Abigail Doan include street flotsam and recycled textiles

In regards to my own work, the challenges that interest me the most are those where seemingly complex situations might be untangled and plied into revitalized objects of texture and hue. In preparation for Vogue Knitting Live‘s curated fiber gallery this next week, I have been creating sculptural fiber forms, some of which include “Plarn” or recycled plastic bag yarn created by a Roma woman named Abibe in Eastern Bulgaria. I was introduced to Abibe by my friend Charity Wright, who is currently working as an educator and sustainable business consultant while in the Peace Corps in Malko Turnovo. This historic border town at the gateway to Turkey has a history of traditional textile weaving as well as organic wool production from the flocks that roam freely in the Strandja Mountains. I welcomed this introduction to Abibe, as she was some one who had never worked with recycled materials for an art installation but had instinctively been repurposing items in her own home for a recycled plastics and crocheted eco-accessory collection. Through the bridge that Charity helped to build with this self-taught artist, my most recent fiber forms have even more layered meaning and a connection to the lifecycle of Abibe’s household.

Artist Abibe of Shau New Light, proudly shows off her recycled accessories in Bulgaria

It is interesting to think about fashion as something that connects us to those fibers that transgress borders, trends, and in turn might even redefine who we are dressing up for. It has been eye-opening for me to create my latest work with input from some one who has never traveled out of Bulgaria or visited my distant home, but definitely shares the same worries and concerns as a mother and artist trying to carve out time for herself. I will be so honored to present this effort to the public in New York City next week.

Judith Scott’s fiber sculpture crafted out of recycled textiles and found broken objects

I am reminded also of the fiber artist Judith Scott who was institutionalized for more than thirty-five years for being profoundly “retarded” with Down Syndrome. It was not until Judith’s twin sister Joyce was finally reunited with her, that the threads of this story unraveled. Celebrated in her later years as being one of the most powerful textile artists of this century, Judith Scott is still considered by some to be an “outsider artist” who operated at the far frontier of contemporary craft. Scott’s sculptural forms, created out of artfully wound scrap fiber and broken objects that had been blatantly dismissed, make her pieces ones that rival many of today’s upcycling expressions. Which begs me to ask, whether the plying of the marginal and disenfranchised with our current ideas about what is fashionable might finally redefine the edginess that we are so desperately hoping to occupy? I say, let’s work to ply a more fashionable frontier for all.

lead image: Jazmin Berakha

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Textile expressions are shaping next season’s ethical spirit

It is amazing to think that the Spring/Summer 2012 fashion week presentations have been underway for close to a month now. We kicked off the season with our announcement of the Ethical Fashion Show in Paris during the first few days of September, and now things have come full circle with the close of Paris Fashion Week today. Plenty of designer and runway celebrities have reveled in the media spotlight, but some very deserving names on the ethical fashion and textile innovation scene might have slipped under your radar. Read on for highlights of the bright new design stars we currently have our eye on.

New York

Kaelen S/S 2012 with Coclico shoes

EcoSalon was on the scene during New York Fashion Week (NYFW), and for the first time ever a (Sustainable) Fashion’s Night Out at the Textile Arts Center in Manhattan set the stage for fashion as a vibrant community outreach initiative. As a fiber and textile enthusiast, I was rather smitten with Kaelen’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection presented at Drive-In Studios. What’s not to love about cool macramé fringe and pleat dresses presented in a stand of birch trees? Designer Kaelen Haworth made wood nymph chic (and Steve Nicks redux) seem transcendent. The pairing with ethically made Coclico shoes was pure genius as well.

Titania Inglis S/S  2012 organic dip-dyed peak dress

Brooklyn-based designer Titania Inglis had a whole lot of textile brilliance going on with her latest collection featuring natural dye methods, local production collaborations, and zero-waste experimentation. I love that Titania creates garments that are versatile as a suite of designs that dovetail efficiently together.

The above dip-dyed ‘Peak Dress’, created with natural dye expert Isa Rodrigues at the Textile Arts Center, has timeless appeal. The chic styling with Bliss Lau jewelry accents the fluid geometry of the draping. The peak dress was created out of Japanese organic cotton voile with a stripe texture, dip-dyed with logwood for the gray hue, and a mix of natural dyes for the peach hue.

Titania Inglis S/S  2012 collarless jacket and pleat short

This collarless jacket and pleat short are also great investment pieces as separates to re-invigorate an existing wardrobe. Materials include a dip-dyed organic cotton denim pieced with a dead stock cotton twill for the jacket, and the same dead stock cotton twill for the short.

Ivana Helsinki S/S 2012 celebrates ethnic prints for Indian Summer

Another favorite textile-inspired line up at NYFW was Ivana Helsinki’s Indian Summer collection. Finnish designer, Paolo Suhonen’s artistic melding of ethnic patterns and graphic feather motifs pave the way for a trend-free and border-defying form of global nomadism. I like that Suhonen always looks to her Scandinavian roots for ongoing inspiration and indigenous source material as well.

London

Mary Katrantzou S/S 2012 takes digital printing for a bold ride

Designers at London Fashion Week certainly were not shy about bold innovation in textile printing technologies, and many would agree that Mary Kantrantzou is still a clear frontrunner in the wild abstraction and remixing of patterns that are mind-blowing on the runway as well as hot on the retail scene. Spring/Summer 2012 was no exception for Katrantzou, although some felt that her pop art ‘brushstrokes’ were a bit too broad this time around. Regardless, I like that this designer pushes her medium to create textiles that fuse repeat patterns in nature with a textured maps of metallic car parts.

Ada Zanditon S/S 2012 ethically-produced Poseidon Dress

Ada Zanditon was, as usual, a must-see show on the ethical fashion circuit, and in keeping with the current trend to host film or installation projects in lieu of a full-blown runway show, Zandition’s Poseisus collection did not disappoint. The pièce de résistance was this Poseidon Dress, which pays homage to the principles of biomimicry as well as the plight of endangered seahorse species off the south coast of London.

Felicity Brown S/S 2012 marries Victorian grace with hand-dyed tribal patterns

One of the most romantic expressions at the London shows was Felicity Brown’s S/S12 exquisitely dyed and adventurously draped dresses. The designer describes her intent best: “Taking inspiration from Victorian lady explorers in Africa, such as Mary Kingsley, Felicity imagined how the influence of the tribes’ women would infuse into their dresses and create a hybrid of the two opposing cultures. The stiff rigidity of the neckline and corseted bodice is reworked with fluid, laser cut silk jersey tubes that have been hand dyed with a deconstructed tribal pattern. The contrast and tension between soft femininity and strong cage like structures are another theme that resonates powerfully throughout Felicity’s work.” – S/S12 press release

Michelle Lowe Holder’s zero-waste designs at Estethica

On the accessorizing frontier, Michelle Lowe-Holder created a stunning showcase of her zero-waste cuffs, collars, and neckpieces crafted out of fabric and textile wastage for London Fashion Week’s Estethica. I also love that this designer also styles her look book shoots in a manner that defies gender, age, and racial stereotypes – totally modern, in the best sense of the word.

Milan

I am basically going to skip over the Guccis, Puccis, and The Sartorialist street style shots from Milan Fashion Week. We know that the Italians are unbearably stylish when it comes to making upcycled boyfriend jeans and cobble-crushing stilettos look killer. I am married to someone who was born in Milano, and trust me, he can make a plain white shirt look like a million bucks.

Km/a’s recycled parachute coat melds materials and conceptual storytelling

I do want to call out one of my favorite labels, km/a of Vienna, who exhibited again this season at WHITE Milano. Sass Brown has profiled them in the past on Eco Fashion Talk, and they have also been standout exhibitors at The KEY.TO during Berlin Fashion Week. Km/a’s novel approach to fusing art, fashion, and the recycling of parachute materials as well as military blankets puts whole new spin on surplus chic and textured storytelling.

Paris

With Paris Fashion Week coming to a conclusion today, I am happy to report that there appears to be a new wave of locally made, ethical fashion in France. Hélène Sananikone, owner and proprietor of Green in the City in the Marais, shared news that, now more than ever, ready-to-wear ethical brands are increasingly available and with colorful and vibrant hues for the upcoming season.

Hélène wrote to us, “When I opened my boutique only three years ago, I could hardly fill my store with French ready-to-wear brands. It was also not very easy to find these designers at the shows that I visited in Paris, and it honestly seemed as if all of the eco fashion was happening abroad. Now, more and more French eco designers have their place at the most fashionable fairs. They can develop fabrics with their manufacturers, particularly exclusive prints with Oeko-Tex dyeing. For a long time they had to be careful and propose basic colors. Now for Spring/Summer as well as for Autumn/Winter, they can dare to add colors and unique prints. Eco fashion need not envy fashion anymore. It is fashion.”

Parisian label ‘Ambryn Tribu Urbaine’ creates hand-drawn whimsy for textiles

Ambryn’s A/W 2011 illustrates eco-luxurious hues and trans-seasonal appeal

Green in the City carries French-made Ambryn Tribu Urbaine in their boutique and for Spring/Summer 2012, this indie label is offering a unique interpretation of ‘Behind the Garden’ with hand-illustrated prints and ethically-sourced fabrics. I am still savoring Ambryn’s Fall 2011 pieces – particularly the hand worked green collar on the above piece for autumn.

EELD S/S 2012 ‘Bird of Paradise’ bio-silk top made locally in France

Also not to be missed on the broadening ethical fashion scene in Paris is the new French-made label, EELD. Designer Chloe Bourrioux recently debuted her bio-silk and eco-friendly dyed pieces for S/S 2012. Added details like her support of traditional lace making techniques from the world famous Calais region and silk from Lyon makes EELD a genuinely French expression of textile rich fashion and local goodness.

Lead image: Michelle Lowe Holder, Kaelen photo by Jeannine Tan via Kaelen’s blog, Titania Inglis photos by Evan Browning,  Mary Katrantzou via Style.com, Ada Zanditon photo by Sarah Brimley, Michelle Lowe Holder photo via Oxfam.

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Might the next chapter in ethical fashion be all about the genius of place?

With the fashion week season now upon us, this is an ideal time to assess just how far we have come and how far we still need to go on the ethical fashion frontier. I love that this week’s Ethical Fashion Show in Paris kicks off  September’s line up of designer presentations and runway shows. Even though editors and buyers are holding out for the hoopla that begins in New York City a week later, anyone genuinely invested in what the future of fashion looks like knows that events like this are critical to the change that needs to take place. On the eve of the Paris gathering, I asked several fashion luminaries how they thought that ethical fashion needed to evolve in the year to come. They had some insightful and inspiring ideas about how we might focus our efforts moving forward.

Ethical fashion is about traditions and textured codes that provide meaning and purpose – Marcella Echavarria

I make no claims on being an ethical fashion expert, and as a woman who has been juggling an art career, family life with twin toddlers, as well as writing assignments about sustainable fashion for over five years now, I have definitely observed and concluded a few things as someone who truly cares. That said, it is important for us to acknowledge that there are others right now who have devoted every ounce of their daily existence to the advancement of ethical and fair trade fashion as well as the implementation of new standards required to make fashion more sustainable and humane. This is the nature of growth and the advancement of any cause, and we should welcome this new generation of writers, bloggers, and activists who are on a mission to transform our ideas about fashion as a mode of personal and cultural expression.

A garment worker in Narayanganj, Bangladesh, photographed by Taslima Akhter

I will say though, that there are things happening in fashion right now that we will look back on someday with complete horror and disbelief. The unjust treatment of textile and garment workers globally must, once and for all, be fully exposed and brought to an immediate halt. Enough preventable factory atrocities have occurred in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and other pockets of the globe, that we now know that fast fashion is a hellacious fix that we wrongfully feast on as a cheap and disposable offering. I was thrilled to see the New York Times recently feature the work of activist/ photographer, Taslima Akhter, and as a prelude to fashion weeks everywhere, her poignant work sends a clear message that fashion as we know it must finally be altered and ethically retro-fit.

Isabelle Quéhé and Abigail Doan at EcoChic Geneva in 2010

I met the founder of the Ethical Fashion Show, Isabelle Quéhé, at EcoChic Geneva in January 2010, and if ever there was a woman who understood why and how global fashion needed to change, it was Isabelle. She spoke of a new dawn in the industry and the heart that needed to permeate all that we consider to be fashionable and sustainable. Now that the Ethical Fashion Show is seven years old, the inroads made are impressive in a world that is stubbornly waking up from the deep slumber of consumption and globalization – but we still have a long way to go. With organizations like the Ethical Fashion Show and their current partners, we just might get there, slowly but surely.

“Fashion makes people dream. On a global scale, the fashion industry is first and foremost a huge market and an economic driving force for job and wealth creation. This prosperity can and should in turn become the catalyst for sustainable development and social justice, and it is in this goal that Ethical Fashion Show strives since 2004. For the seventh year running, Ethical Fashion Show is bringing together designers from the world over who all share the same goal: designing cutting-edge fashion which strives for a better world, a world which respects mankind, the environment, and the skills inherent to each culture.” – (Ethical Fashion Show press statement for 2011)

Consumer awareness seems to be front and center with all of the ethical fashion experts and advocates we reached out to. Fortunately many conscious designers have now found ways to access and share sourcing and fair production information, but ethical fashion might also now embrace expressions of cultural identity linked to thoughtful regional design that demonstrates lasting purpose and shared meaning. The informed consumer should be a part of this equation, but not simply as some one waiting expectantly at the end of the factory assembly line or in a retail venue with no contextualization.

Alabama Chanin brings real texture to handcraft and the genius of place

Additionally, with continued efforts to streamline waste and throw-away materials in various phases of the design process, our efforts might also be focused on what Sass Brown wisely refers to as “historic skills” that provide authenticity on multiple levels and also define ethical practice as something that has a very real timeline and connection to the past and future as well as place. This might ideally happen in regions all over the world as well as domestically in the United States where numerous textile initiatives have dried up and folks are grappling with unemployment and the unraveling of communities. Designers like Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin have demonstrated, gracefully and persistently, that returning to one’s roots to cultivate and revitalize local crafts and the inherent strengths of a region has definite appeal for discerning fashion followers. Ethical fashion in this instance is very much about the ‘genius of place’ as well as a certain resourcefulness that honors what works for one’s immediate environs.

Read on for what some of our favorite ethical fashion experts and advocates had to say:

Made In Swaziland baskets proudly shared by a local artisan (photo: Marcella Echavarria)

Marcella Echavarria, cultural and social entrepreneur, founder of SURevolution, contributor/editor of HAND/EYE magazine

“As 2012 approaches, the key word for the new era we are starting is: consciousness/awareness. This applies to fashion in many different ways:  its relationship to people, nature, and especially its role in the preservation of cultures and traditions.  I think the cultural aspects of fashion will become much more relevant now that social and environmental issues are quickly becoming non-negotiable standards that companies are following and consumers are demanding.  The artisans who are carriers of very old traditions and textured codes will be more and more in demand, not any more as labor or manufacturers, but as strong voices carrying a powerful message to a world in need of meaning and purpose.”

Indian label, Ela, as featured on Sass Brown’s Eco Fashion Talk

Sass Brown, writer, editor, researcher, and author of Eco Fashion

“I would like to see luxury and couture level designers take the lead in valuing and saving traditional craft skills by working in partnership with artisanal groups and historic skill sets as a means of valuing indigenous cultures, elevating the value of their work in the eyes of the world, and gaining authenticity through their use.”

Veronica Crespi, slow fashion consultant, styling expert, and founder of Rewardrobe, London

 “When I talk with colleagues about ethical fashion, I often find we are discussing ways that things can be improved within the industry. However, it’s the consumer I am very much interested in, and trying to show clients how to manage a sustainable wardrobe is the mission behind Rewardrobe. Even though one year is not long in the grand scheme of things, I hope to be able to say, in a year’s time, that I’ve been able to find more and more solutions for customers to change their shopping patterns, and buy into sustainable fashion brands more.

As a personal shopper, I find the difficulty lies in the lack of retail spaces for these brands. Sure enough, in London there are a few private boutiques that stock some amazing labels – however that still doesn’t compare to the convenience of the high street. Only particularly committed customers will take the time out to research and then go shop in these boutiques – but most of them will just head down to a famous retail area to buy whatever is available there. One of my projects for the next year is to highlight itineraries for shoppers to follow, showing them that if a shopping trip is well planned, it can be just as convenient to make alternative choices.”

The Andean Collections’ designers and artisans work hand-in-hand

Amanda Judge, Founder and Designer for The Andean Collection

“I would like to see more of large and specialty retailers carrying ethical fashion brands in 2012. We are currently working with a number of retailers who have never carried ethical fashion (or at least they never picked up a brand because it was ethical), however, because of a shift in corporate social responsibility, a lot of large corporations are now looking to source more responsibly. It’s a fabulous shift!”

Vegan retailers like Cow Jones Industrials offer cruelty free fashion that redefines ethical chic

Donna Oakes, animal rights activist, vegan spokesperson, and founder of Cow Jones Industrials, Chatham, NY

 “Over the past few years, there have been significant strides made in the world of sustainable fashion as designers have focused on cruelty-free, environmentally sound and fairly produced products. At this point, I think that the major shift has to come from the consumer – they must not only demand that such products become available, but they must also be willing to support these initiatives with their purchasing power. To ask for sustainable fashions and then buy at Forever 21 or H&M is a contradiction. We must all stand behind our words – designers, retailers and consumers united to effect true change. “

Kestrel Jenkins, fair trade fashion advocate, writer for Ecouterre and founder of Hoverstyle

 “I hope to observe a clearer understanding amongst the mainstream of ways in which an ethical/sustainable lifestyle and fashion can coexist via diverse creative avenues.

I also anticipate the resurgence of more handmade or slow fashioned apparel, in addition to a re-appreciation of global traditional skills and the way in which they can drive an evolved focus on the meaning of waste reduction.”

lead image: The Ethical Fashion Show 

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Rubber bands recrafted by M2 Jewelry make office chic a bit kinkier.

If being stuck at the office on a Friday afternoon in August is really cramping your style, consider donning a wearable art piece by M2 Jewelry. Office supplies and recyclables craftily twisted into necklaces, rings, and brooches send a clear message that there is indeed life beyond the cubicle. Designer Margarita Mileva of Milev Architects has been artfully reusing and upcycling paperclips, punched business cards, rubber bands, mosaic stones, and presentation wire binding elements – to name a few, as a way of putting a totally fresh spin on the standard desktop ingredients.

Mileva’s excursion to the desert southwest inspired this complexly textured necklace and as a wearable work of art, Arizona Dream, is transporting in both hue and tactile spirit. The designers wants her pieces to mimic nature but with their own organic sensibility and contemporary twist. Succulent and sweet.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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Haute couture goes to new extremes in order to create waves globally.

As a woman who tends to wear her favorite ‘uniforms’ to social gatherings and art/fashion events, the realm of haute couture has never really been something that I have felt particularly connected to. Sure the artistry and pageantry is alluring and the bevy of VIPs flanking the runway is seductive, but I have always considered haute couture to be an artificial phenomenon that creates a rigid caste system within fashion rather than a stage for democratic beauty – until now.  After the most recent summer fashion shows in Europe, I ask myself whether an artier side of couture might be creating a watershed moment in the future of a more aesthetically and culturally diverse fashion?

Giorgio Armani Prive Haute Couture 2011/2012 (photo: Le Segretain/Getty Images)

While Americans were celebrating Independence Day during the first week of July, editors, buyers, and celebrities had assembled for the Paris Haute Couture Week presentations, and despite the exclusivity of it all, the energy during these shows had a ripple effect throughout Europe and beyond. I read something on Twitter during this time that claimed, “Approximately five hundred fashionable women in the world are able to afford and become regular customers of haute couture.” This estimate seemed obscene and surely did not fit with my ethos of making objects of beauty accessible to all. Who are these elite couture supporters, I asked myself, and do they really have anything to do with the rest of us?

Iris Van Herpen Haute Couture 2011/2012 (photo: Victor Boyko/Getty Images)

In reviewing the Paris collections and the exquisite handwork that went into their crafting, I had a new appreciation for the designers who aim to take their clients on ecstatic flights of fancy that honor the traditions of bespoke craftsmanship and the laborious finessing of designs. Granted the price tags for these garments must be astronomical and grossly inflated in this era of economic belt tightening, but as expressions of cultural pride and imaginative ingenuity, contemporary haute couture definitely celebrates fashion as high art as well as sustaining the historic timeline of the atelier model.

Like ethical fashion, there are quality standards that haute couture designers must adopt and abide by in order to receive the prestige of calling oneself a couture house for advertising, marketing, and participation in fashion weeks on the annual calendar. Members of the Fédération française de la couture must follow strict rules and practices, for example:

• Create made-to-order couture for private clients, with one or more fittings.
• Operate a workshop (”atelier”) in Paris that employees fifteen people full-time.
• Present a collection two times a year to the press, comprising a minimum of thirty-five runs/exits with day and evening wear represented.

As fast fashion continues to erode the very soul of creative designs and our dreams about fashioning self, it seems as if indie and haute couture designers have more in common than I might previously have surmised. To be sure, their clients and company economics are typically at opposite ends of the spectrum, but the risk-taking and the hands on methods demonstrated in their production cycles allies more than divides them, at least in the spirit of the craft. I will not go so far as to say that haute couture follows a slow fashion agenda, but the idea that fashion of this sort might be a source of national pride rather than a copyright embarrassment or garment factory nightmare, is something to view as a thing of promise.

Haute couture with culturally diverse roots at Georgian Fashion Week

Perhaps there is a philanthropic nature to the women who collect and invest in couture creations in the same spirit that blue-chip art is handpicked from galleries or costly film projects are backed by individuals who believe in a story that must be told and shared. Despite the pomp and circumstance that goes on during fashion week, the integrity of the atelier as an institution that supports endangered handwork and artisan techniques is a model that is micro in nature and historically human in scale. There are, no doubt, horror stories related to the excessive use of materials in the creation of haute couture collections, not to mention the unbridled use of “luxury” fabrics and fur and the exploitation of skilled workers. But as organizations like the EcoChic Fashions in Hong Kong as well as green showcases at fashion weeks in London, Milan, Paris, and New York continue to push our definitions of eco-luxurious couture into uncharted territory, creative diversity continues to take center stage. In many instances, we really cannot overlook the fact that cultural preservation, and in turn, timeless fashion methodologies are sustained by the very presence and persistence of the haute couture shows.

EcoChic Geneva runway finale at the United Nations Headquarters (photo: Abigail Doan)

I am reminded of the diversity represented at the EcoChic Geneva runway presentation at the United Nations Headquarters in Europe during January 2010, where the cross section of cultures, textiles, and innovative approaches to redefining couture and beauty was extraordinary. If we can work to preserve fading architectural monuments, tracts of pristine park land, and indigenous folk traditions globally, then we can also labor to sustain the diversity of garments and the role of haute thinking as an agent of change. It’s the business of fashion that we should be weary of, not the persistence of the imagination or the seemingly foreign nature of biodiverse materials.

image: Iris Van Herpen Haute Couture via The Guardian

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Green is a complex issue as illustrated in this new textile exhibition in Washington, D.C.

There is no doubt that new directions in fiber and textile art are influencing the recent crafting and handwork surge in contemporary fashion. Makers are always swapping ideas between the realms of art and design, so it is inevitable that a collective unconscious of sorts permeates shifting style and color trends. The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. is on to this creative phenomenon with their latest exhibition, Green: The Color and the Cause, on view through September 11, 2011. This call-to-artists showcase features a diverse spectrum of wall pieces, sculpture, and site-specific projects — all celebrating the role of green as an influencer of rising eco-consciousness as well as a hue that is evocative of change.

Green: The Color and the Cause has unified artists from diverse backgrounds and disciplines in conjunction with thirteen textile examples of historical precedents from the museum’s own extensive collection. To assemble the group of artists represented, The Textile Museum issued a call for entry to contemporary fiber artists across the country and around the globe. Exhibition co-curators Rebecca A.T. Stevens and Lee Talbot reviewed more than 1,000 works of art submitted by nearly 300 artists. From this group, the co- curators selected 32 contemporary artists—representing 18 U.S. states and 6 countries—to participate in the exhibition.

A Woman of Substance basket coiled from discarded silk blouses by Jackie Abrams (photo: Liz LaVorgna)

Materials and methods featured include the innovative recycling of household textiles and threads, sewing and embroidery, cast papermaking, green typography, as well as a lace vegetation arbor. Several of the show’s pieces reference craft and women’s work as an indicator that the resourceful use of fabric and cloth bits has always been a natural expression of green as an eco-friendly studio methodology. As an environmental fiber artist, I would never make the claim that women are crafters first and environmentalists second just because they opt to pick up a needle to get the job done. What I do know, is that crafting a green vision is a total process and something that flows between the head and the hands with some serious input from the heart.

Hand-sewn and hand-embroidered ‘Swing Coat’ by Alabama Chanin

Some of my favorite artists and crafters are featured in this exhibit, and one of the most intriguing observations made by designer Natalie Chanin is the irony that true green dye is not any easy thing to produce naturally. “Despite the prevalence of green in nature, no single plant produces a color-fast, deep green dye. Until the invention of synthetic dyes in the nineteenth century, people around the world typically combined indigo blue with various yellow dyes to create green textiles.”

Chanin’s contribution to the show is a show stopping cotton jersey ‘Swing Coat’ hand-sewn and hand-embroidered by her team at Alabama Chanin. As the exhibition’s curators highlighted: “Incorporating organic and repurposed materials, Alabama Chanin garments are hand-sewn using traditional quilting and stitching techniques by women who live and work near Florence, Alabama. These women, ranging in age from their 20’s to their 70’s, work together in circles reminiscent of quilting bees to create socially and environmentally responsible fashions.”

Treatment?, 2009, hand-painted silk quilt by Linda Gass

The subversive quilting spirit is alive and well in Green: The Color and the Cause, as illustrated by the work of Linda Gass. Her quilted reproduction of an aerial photograph of a water treatment plant on the San Francisco Bay, calls our attention to “the engineering wonders that have made contemporary lifestyles possible, but also questions the wisdom of our long-term strategies for sustainable development.”

Estuary: Moods and Modes, 2007, Nancy Cohen (photo: Ed Fausty)

Nancy Cohen’s handmade abaca paper sculpture of the ecosystem of coastal New Jersey emulates the ebb and flow of the artist’s study of the New Jersey Pine Barrens ecosystem—a million-acre tract of largely undeveloped land in the nation’s most densely populated state. Her wild topographical melding of marsh grasses and cast paper is perhaps a more revealing way of conducting an environmental impact study while also creating allure with undulating folds.

Arbor Lace, 2002-2011, live vegetation installation by Michele Brody

One of my personal favorites is artist friend Michele Brody’s Arbor Lace (2002-2011) project, an outdoor installation assembled out of synthetic lace, grass seeds, copper pipe and water. Brody has been working with live vegetation in sculpture before green design or eco art became trendy, and her site-specific projects create structures, which she calls “passageways,” for both rural and urban dwellers. The grass seed planted in the arbor will sprout, grow, and die in approximately six weeks time. New seed will then be planted and the cycle will begin anew. You can watch the seeds grow over time at the following link. Brody’s work is the perfect metaphor for understanding the life cycle of textiles and the precious resources required to sustain life and beauty as we desire it.

Gyöngy Laky’s ALTERATIONS,  featured on the cover of the New York Times magazine in spring 2008

There is so much visual fodder in Green: The Color and the Cause that the exhibition is obviously something to be experienced more than described. As a participant, celebrated artist Gyöngy Laky humbly shared, “I am interested in making a small dent in changing attitudes about the environment and our relationship to it.”

Detail of Gyöngy Laky’s sculptural typography work

Green as a color and marketing phenomenon is increasingly a part of our daily lives, but for me, the transformative aspect of this hue is the fact that it’s deep range urges us to see green in those things that also lie at the other end of the spectrum. Craft, innovation, and renewal is often about taking something seemingly mundane and transforming it into something life supporting and wildly complex. No formula exists and no pattern need be duplicated.

Green: the Color and the Cause is co-curated by Lee Talbot, Associate Curator, Eastern Hemisphere Collections, and Rebecca A.T. Stevens, Consulting Curator, Contemporary Textiles. The exhibition will be on view at The Textile Museum April 16 through September 11, 2011.

image: “Hothouse Flowers” by Maggy Rozycki Hiltner via The Textile Museum

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Ethical textiles from a British design duo makes ‘handmade’ a natural choice for interior design projects.

I loved chatting with the folks at Handmade Interiors during the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in NYC this past May. Their London-based design company draws inspiration from a melding of rich cultural backgrounds with a commitment to the revival of traditional hand block printing techniques. Founders, Indian textile designer, Piyush Suri, and Turkish interior designer, Burcu Akin, have over ten years of experience in the industry and their collaborative efforts have boldly redefined the modern appeal for natural fabrics and organic pattern motifs.

With pre-made and bespoke offerings that include curtains, cushions, table linens, throws, lampshades, wash bags and upholstery fabrics, Handmade Interiors offers a full-range of printed textile goods to feather your cool, green nest.

Shop the Handmade Interiors collection here.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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Art, fashion, and design join forces to create a transcendent solution.

The lazy days of summer have officially arrived along with fashion staged in leafy gardens and endless beaches with drifting clouds overhead. Writer and curator Alicia Lubowski-Jahn has tapped into our summer reveries with her latest endeavor, LEAF // CLOUD: Nature Tangible and Transcendent at the NYC townhouse art space, Fair Folks & a Goat, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Part indie showcase, part voyeuristic glimpse into how to really live with art, design, and fashion, this extremely thoughtful exhibition pairs eco-conscious art with designs that celebrate creative upcycling, recyclables, and renewable materials in an innovative and fashionable manner.

LEAF // CLOUD opened with a stunning turnout on June 1st, and for the next installment, the curator has joined forces with sustainable fashion expert, Kate McGregor of Kaight boutique, to host an eco fashion trunk show that will be custom-tailored to the Fair Folks & a Goat gallery space. This trunk show will take place on Tuesday, June 14, from 6pm to 9pm, and promises to highlight impressive names in handcrafting, fiber work, and heirloom fashion design.

Writer and curator Alicia Lubowski-Jahn at the opening of Leaf//Cloud in NYC

As Alicia Lubowski-Jahn so eloquently outlines in her reasons for curating an exhibition in a setting like Fair Folks & a Goat, this contemporary art venue that mimics a private home creates an intimate dialogue for ideas about craft, sustainable production, and layered expressions of environmental awareness.

Leaf//Cloud art and design mix at Fair Folks & a Goat’s apartment style gallery

The opening of Leaf//Cloud on June 1 at Fair Folks & a Goat

“One of my curatorial goals for Leaf//Cloud: Nature Tangible and Transcendent was to showcase amazing artists reflecting on the environment in an array of media. You’ll see in the exhibit artists working in a variety of materials, including recycled cork, sustainably-harvested or salvaged wood, and recycled plastics as well as repurposed computer and electronic parts. With regard to the exhibition’s title, the contrasting physical quality of a tangible “leaf” and a transcendent “cloud” very much captures my interest in exploring materiality.

The Fair Folks & a Goat townhouse offers a unique salon setting that allowed me to combine fine arts and design pieces on and off the walls. I am delighted that the fashion and accessories collection curated by Kate McGregor will add another category of design that broadens our nature-inspired and earth-friendly design spectrum. The fact that Kate has specially commissioned unique pieces from such talented designers makes this a rare treat.

The show’s title is actually a reference to a passage by the nineteenth-century English aesthetic critic John Ruskin. Several of the fine arts pieces in the exhibition, including those by Dana Matthews, John Patrick, and Patrick Winfield, are informed by pre-industrial 19th-century nature aesthetics and design techniques. I think these historical references help us to understand the present age in which our relationship to materials is drastically changing and our ideas about what is beautiful are also in flux.” – Alicia Lubowski-Jahn

Cyanotypes by Dana Matthews (above) and indigo painting by John Patrick (below)

Designer John Patrick creating an indigo painting as featured in the NYTimes T Magazine’s blog

This highlighting of the work of designers and artists who demonstrate a genuine passion for and knowledge of natural materials seems fitting in a climate that is in need of slowing down fashion cycles as well as grounding inflated art world strategies. I love that John Patrick of the sustainable fashion label John Patrick Organic is exhibiting his paintings along side botanical cyanotypes by artist Dana Matthews. Again, the curator explains this elemental pairing:

“Dana Matthews’ documentation of organic farming in Delaware County, in New York’s Catskill Mountains, suggests the pastoral idyll of French Barbizon landscape painting. Her impressions of plants in the chemical-free cyanotype process recall the work of English botanist and photographer Anna Atkins (1799–1871), who made some of the earliest and most beautiful cyanotypes of plant specimens.

John Patrick … created an indigo painting, which is part of his wider exploration of historical natural and handmade pigments including honey, cochineal, and china ink.” – Alicia Lubowski-Jahn

Trey Speegle’s ‘You Are The One’ painting at Leaf//Cloud

Felt ‘wall brooch’ by Liz Burow in situ

Other standouts from the exhibition are the paint-by-number paintings of Trey Speegle, sculpture by Susan Benarcik, and a felt wall brooch by Liz Burow.

I asked Alicia what the trunk show will add to the pieces that are already on view at the gallery space, and she had this to say about the expanded view of sustainable fashion and production in conjunction with Leaf//Cloud’s overall message:

“When I approached Kate (McGregor of Kaight) to curate the eco fashion trunk show, we also talked about the relationship of ‘sustainable design’ to ‘craft’ and ‘heirloom’ manufacturing and values. The fact that the collection explores hand-made and natural dye techniques has a heritage component that fits the historical outlook of Leaf//Cloud.”

Eco fashion trunk show exhibitors include: Abigail Doan, Ceca Georgieva, Fr. Andrew O’Connor of Goods of Conscience, Kizzy Jai Knight, Marcus Hicks, Melissa Kirgan and Xing-Zhen Chung-Hilyard of Eko-Lab, and Sono Kuwayama to name a few. Further details can be found on Kaight’s blog.

LEAF // CLOUD: Nature Tangible and Transcendent” is on view through June 27 by appointment. Participating artists include Trey Speegle and Dana Matthews together with Susan Benarcik, Liz Burow, Lilian Cooper, Clemens Kois, John Patrick, and Patrick Winfield. Participating designers include Fernando and Humberto Campana, Kevin Cunningham, Emiliano Godoy, Stewart Webb, and Brooklyn-based designers Stéphane Hubert, Daniel Michalik, and Colleen and Eric Whiteley.

Images: ‘Natural Pattern’ by Susan Benarcik, Trey Speegle, gallery photos by Abigail Doan

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Recycled saree fabrics bring new meaning to a well-heeled existence.

Following on the heels of Louise Lagosi’s in-depth investigation into the destiny of cast-off clothing, it seems fitting that a query into summer sandals of the endlessly chic variety would be essential fashion beach reading.

I never know how to identify the perfectly stylish sandal that will last beyond one season. Given the wear and tear that I put my trusty shoes through, a durable heel with some amazing flirty detailing seems like the impossible find. Enter Mohop Shoes and their new ready-to-wear Saree Collection. Crafted out of recycled saree fabrics from a bold non-profit enterprise in India as well as sustainably farmed Pará rubber tree wood, these interchangeable lace-ups are all about empowerment for the user and everyone along the way.

Designer Annie Mohaupt takes on sustainable fashion in fearless style

Sandals are an age-old fashion staple, and now that the gladiator sandal is old news, it’s time slip on some heels that really take you places, both on foot and in mission. Annie Mohaupt of Mohop Shoes has considered every last detail when it comes to her goal of creating the most eco-friendly shoe available. This architect turned shoe designer has had her toes in the soil from the very beginning, as her upbringing on a small sheep farm one hundred miles west of Chicago primed her for life as a some one attuned to the resourceful use of materials as well as the life cycle of her designs.

Mohop Shoe’s high wedge sandals with recycled saree fabric

When I asked Annie what makes her shoes such knockouts, besides their chic design appeal and the cool versatility of the interchangeable saree ties that easily lace up through elastic loops, she had this to say about each of Mohop’s Saree Collection components:

Recycled Saree Textiles

“The Saree Collection is pretty exciting due to our new collaboration with Jhoole, a non-profit social enterprise in India. Each saree sandal tie is made from re-used sarees, which are brought to life again as colorful, scarf-like ties for our sandals. Indian women receive fair-trade wages for this textile production work, enabling them to support their families and educate their children. Mohop also donates 100 percent of the price for the saree ties towards the construction, maintenance, and training required at the computer lab for girls and women at Jhoole’s new facility in Maheshwar, India.”

Pará Rubber Tree Wood

“Our sandals are composed of wood from Pará rubber trees. Our trees spend the years prior to their pre-footwear life cleaning the atmosphere of CO2. Pará trees are grown on plantations in tropical regions. The trees are tapped just like maple trees for their latex, which is used for rubber production. After twenty-five years or so, the trees can no longer produce latex, so the wood is reused for a secondary purpose: shoes.

Pará rubber tree plantations are an income-generating crop for families in tropical regions, discouraging locals from clear-cutting forestland for livestock or other less-sustainable crops. Rubber wood plantations mimic indigenous tropical forests and provide a natural habitat for plants and animals, some of which are severely threatened or endangered.

The rubber wood undergoes very minimal processing to be carved into footwear, and all scraps and even sawdust is re-used. Our shoe wood is colored with water-based dyes and will eventually decompose naturally (after its life as well-loved shoes). Additionally, most of our other footwear materials and packaging contains recycled content.”  –  Annie Mohaupt

The complex and textured story behind sustainable design is an increasingly important part of the environmentally friendly and conscious fashion equation. In order to reach beyond a checklist of materials and mission guidelines, it seems essential that designers also engage their followers in the process of what it takes to get dressed or accessorized.

Mohop Shoes takes this one step further by making sustainable fashion interactive and even playful in an effort to bring us back to the source of what “well heeled” really means. A display of true wealth comes from both stylish decision-making and ethical fashion awareness. It’s all tied up, no matter how you choose to look at it.

Images: courtesy of Mohop; designer portrait via Archinect

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