Local craft and cacti meet in Laura Siegel’s NYFW Spring/Summer 2013 collection.

After months voyaging through Peru, Bolivia and India, Canadian designer Laura Siegel uncovered the indigenous crafts of remote villages and local artisans. She also discovered cacti—the succulents that caught her eye and inspired an entire Spring/Summer 2013 collection.

“It was amazing to me how something so bright and colorful as the cacti flowers could grow in such dry, muted deserts,” Siegel tells EcoSalon. From South America to Asia she explored life in the desert and the beauty that exists within it—like the re-purposed black tea waste in Kerala, India used to dye pieces within her collection, or the hand block printing renowned in this region. Farther north, in Delhi, she partnered with a leather smith to stitch her bags into finished pieces. In Peru, she partnered with a group of natural dyers called Eco Tintes, who softly colored the organic cotton and tencel fibers used to crochet pants (below) and knit shirts and sweaters.

From cacti to indigenous crafts, in her third season, Siegel shows range as a designer—fashioning jewelry, designing handbags and creating a complete collection omitting only shoes from her repertoire—a “future dream,” she tells us. With the free flowing nature of Siegel’s compilation, we’d be happy to tromp barefoot through the desert and all. And that’s how she wants you to feel when you wear her designs. “Happy,” she says. “Just happy.”

Designer Laura Siegel modeling her epynomous collection.

More looks we love:

Shoes by Love is Mighty

Images: Jennifer Barckley

The post NYFW: Running Through The Desert With Laura Siegel appeared first on EcoSalon.

See you tonight!

Join EcoSalon and the Textile Arts Center in Manhattan, tonight from 6:30-9:30, to kick off New York Fashion Week. Talk and shop with over a dozen designers over a Conway Family Winery chardonnay, The Naked Grape Harvest Red and Cabernet Sauvignon, FAIR vodka cocktail or Zhena’s Gypsy Tea and learn about what sustainable fashion means in the midst of a fast fashion crazed society.

Elizabeth Cline, author of Overdressed, The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion will also be on hand to sign copies of her new book. All purchases the night of the event come with an eco-beauty gift from La Bella Figura, Kahina Giving Beauty, Olie Biologique and Stark Skincare (while supplies last!).

Francisca Pineda will also be on hand to promote her ethical fashion abroad program working with indigenous artisans from the Talamanca region near Puerto Viejo.

Shopping, organic cocktails, a little fashion education and a healthy dose of some of your favorite EcoSalon writers? You’d be crazy not to come and join us!

Current designers available to shop tonight include:

EkoLab
Afia
Carrie Parry
Ambika
Erin Considine
Laura Seigel
Adrienne Antonson
Ilana Kohn
A.D.O
VOZ
Kyler Jewelry
Jess Rizzuti Handbags
Pick-Up Stitch
Soham Dave
NYC Fair Trade Coalition

We look forward to seeing you!

The post Join EcoSalon Tonight in NYC For a Fashion Week Kick-Off Party! appeared first on EcoSalon.

Not just a fashion party, a sustainable fashion party.

Join EcoSalon and the Textile Arts Center in Manhattan, on September 6th from 6:30-9:30, to kick off New York Fashion Week. Talk and shop with over a dozen designers over a Conway Family Winery chardonnay, The Naked Grape Harvest Red and Cabernet Sauvignon, FAIR vodka cocktail or Zhena’s Gypsy Tea and learn about what sustainable fashion means in the midst of a fast fashion crazed society.

Elizabeth Cline, author of Overdressed, The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion will also be on hand to sign copies of her new book. All purchases the night of the event come with an eco-beauty gift from La Bella Figura, Kahina Giving Beauty, Olie Biologique and Stark Skincare (while supplies last!).

Francisca Pineda will also be on hand to promote her ethical fashion abroad program working with indigenous artisans from the Talamanca region near Puerto Viejo.

Shopping, organic cocktails, a little fashion education and a healthy dose of some of your favorite EcoSalon writers? You’d be crazy not to come and join us!

Current designers available to shop the night of the event include:

EkoLab
Afia
Carrie Parry
Ambika
Erin Considine
Laura Seigel
Adrienne Antonson
Ilana Kohn
A.D.O
VOZ
Kyler Jewelry
Jess Rizzuti Handbags
Pick-Up Stitch
Soham Dave
NYC Fair Trade Coalition

We look forward to seeing you!

The post Come to EcoSalon’s NYC Party and Help Kick Off Fashion Week! appeared first on EcoSalon.