Forging a new fashion trail with Suzanne Rae’s Fall/Winter 2012 collection.

There’s a new frontier in fashion – a glamorous harkening back to the simply beautiful and designer Suzanne Rae is the perfect pioneer. She’s personable, a true philosophizer, a family girl and constantly evolving toward what she calls a “higher consciousness.”

It’s this clear consciousness that came through her Fall/Winter 2012 collection showcased at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in collaboration with the W Hotels Fashion Next Showcase. In her fourth season showing here, she’s no stranger to hard and high fashion.  And, it shows.

The impeccable detail to pieces like her fur print bias gown with “Suzanimal,” as Rae affectionately calls it, (see below), is silk screened to look like real animal fur yet she assures, it’s entirely fur free.  The “Suzanimal,” a wolf pelt stole, follows the same silk screened printing process and is then layered on a bed of wool – all sketched out pre-production by biologist-turned-artist Sam Dakota.

For Rae it’s each little element that makes a piece, which is why we couldn’t stop staring at her cowl backs, fringe backs and cotton tails, nearly more riveting than their front-facing counterparts.

Inspired by the Internal Revolution stirred by Jim Morrison and William Blake, Rae’s collection was a melodic merging of poetry and rock-n-roll. Elegance with an edge. As Rae tells EcoSalon, “The internal revolution is really how you feel inside and how you take that out into the world and act. It begins with you – your progress, your personal responsibility. And everything begins with awareness.”

As for Rae’s responsibility, she gets that fashion can be designed and produced more consciously. Currently, she’s at the crossroads of incorporating more sustainable textiles into her collections although, these fabrics don’t pop-up too much in this collection. Still, Rae does produce everything in the New York Garment Center and creates all samples in her Brooklyn, New York studio.

“It’s incredibly important to me to support local fashion production,” Rae emphasizes. “If the garment center gets smaller and goes away, then independent designers like me wont’ be able to produce. And then, American fashion will go away.”

With The Door’s lyrics encouraging the audience to “break on through to the other side,” it seems clear that Rae’s message is all about helping to lead the new awakened fashion paradigm. And as if to enforce what we already know about her, Rae quotes Blake: “the road to excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” When we ask Rae if she’s ever lived in excess, she laughs and says, “Sometimes you just get so caught up in it all. Now, I’m growing with those experiences – through the ups and downs, the light and the dark.”

With this collection, the light prevailed. Post-show, with glistening eyes and a beaming face, Rae’s mother told us, “It just warms my heart.”  (see Rae’s post-show family photo, below)

See more of our favorite Suzanne Rae looks below:

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The GreenShows snag a coveted spot at Lincoln Center.

Too often, sustainable fashion is relegated to the sidelines of events like Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. This season, however, that changed with the addition of The GreenShows to the official line-up at Lincoln Center.

Held Friday morning at Lincoln Center’s The Box, the presentation featured carefully curated ensembles from eight sustainable brands, assembled by star stylist Julie Ragolia. In selecting the participating designers, TGS considered a number of ethical manufacturing criteria, including use of organic/bio-based textiles and materials, recycled/upcycled fabrics, low-impact dyes, zero waste/fabric waste reduction, local production, craft/artisan production, and fair/ethical trade.

The Box was packed shoulder-to-shoulder for the event, which GreenShows director Lou Sagar called a “milestone” in the sustainable fashion movement.

Sustainable fashion is now a global movement, it’s no longer a trend. (The GreenShows) are a demonstration that fashion always has to be beautiful and appealing, but it doesn’t have to be at the compromise of using sustainable materials and ethical practices. I think the fashion industry is demonstrating a desire to embrace that more and more. We don’t have to feel that we’re alternative because social change is mainstream.

Here, scenes from the show and more information on the featured designers.

The entrance to The GreenShows.

The Lincoln Center lobby, hub of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

Venezuelan designer Luis Valenzuela collaborated with Lulan Artisans on this gorgeous hourglass dress, made from raw Cambodian silk, hand-woven and hand-dyed by women artisans. Eve Blossom, founder of Lulan Artisans, told EcoSalon, “By working with these artisans, we prevent them from falling into human trafficking, because we give them job security and options, which prevents them from getting into desperate situations. And these artisans are very proud and incredible masters. All you need to do is help them, highlight them, and create partnerships, and it makes all the difference in the world.”

The model in the background wears a silver, organic cotton jersey gown made from metallic thread.

United Bamboo is a fashion collective from collaborators Miho Aoki and Thuy Pham, focused on the reinvention of tradition and committed to local production. For The GreenShows, they used a traditional plaid on dresses, skirts, and bomber jackets.

Bamboo By United Bamboo is a line of organic “room wear” inspired by the birth of Aoki’s first child. In the foreground, the model wears a black organic wool hooded sweater and white organic cotton romper; just behind there’s a black linen pinafore dress layered over an organic cotton fitted shirt; and in the back there’s a cropped jacket, striped organic knit sweater, and cropped pant.

For STUDY NY‘s fall line, designer Tara St. James‘ focus was on convertability. “Everything can be personalized and is meant to be worn your own way. I think that’s an important part of sustainability. Fast fashion is so recognizable on the street, and you don’t want to be wearing what everyone else is. Even if you’re wearing the same piece it can look very different.”

This olive tweed, 100 percent wool convertible jacket is layered over an olive tweed skirt.

Ajna, from designer Beryl Man, embraces beauty and simplicity while exclusively utilizing organic and sustainable textiles. The knits in the show were fabulously cozy and perfectly paired with the models’ rosy cheeks and fifties-style coiffes. Here, a multicolor organic wool hand-knit turtleneck over a sage organic wool draped skirt.

Using primarily upcycled materials, Brooklyn-based Artists & Revolutionaries put together a stunning collection of pieces using repurposed leather, cashmere, and organic cotton. From left to right: a camel washed wool jacket with repurposed leather sleeve and trim, with black washed wool pant; a white/black spliced repurposed washed wool sweater with black repurposed leather short; and a floral organic dip-dyed ruffle top with check washed wool flip skirt.

Ensembles from The Battalion were sleek, slim, and simple, incorporating materials like bamboo, organic cotton, faux fur, and peace silk. I loved this black modal, spandex zip jacket, paired with a black organic bamboo legging.

The distinctive textiles present in H. Fredriksson pieces are inspired by designer Helena Fredriksson’s own drawings and photographs. The model in the front is wearing an olive 100 percent reclaimed wool batwing coat over a printed silk crepe Stina dress, while the model in the back sports a blue 100 percent silk Milos dress.

Images: Jessica Marati and Jennifer Barckley

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Crazy for chrysanthemums and other vibrant prints at Costello Tagliapietra’s Fall/Winter 2012 runway show.

One day last spring, fashion designer Robert Tagliapietra came home to find a workroom filled with chrysanthemum sketches drawn by his design partner and now husband, Jeffrey Costello.

“For some reason I was painting chrysanthemums all spring,” Jeffrey told EcoSalon just after their Fall/Winter 2012 show on Thursday.

“He was obsessed with them,” Robert added.

Designers Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra

The duo behind fashion label Costello Tagliapietra took the sketches, played with them in Photoshop, and used AirDye technology to digitally print the resulting patterns onto vibrant dresses and separates for their Fall/Winter 2012 collection. These looks, with others, paraded down the runway at Milk Studios on Thursday afternoon to a packed house, which included Susan Sarandon, Padma Lakshmi, Miss J. Alexander, and the Misshapes’ Leigh Lezark in the front row.

“New York Fashion Week is an important stage to showcase your work and we feel blessed to have had the opportunity and the audience for as long as we have been in business,” the duo told EcoSalon just before the show. “It would be a sad day when, as a designer, we would do all of this hard work and put in all of these hours of work and not get to showcase it!”

The audience certainly appreciated the parade of gorgeously draped gowns, cocktail dresses, and separates. But while the solid colored pieces were masterful, the printed ones seemed imbued with an entirely different energy.

“We love the prints this season,” Jeffrey told EcoSalon. “We love what they do to the clothes. They have movement to begin with so they give the pieces so much more movement.”

One reason for the vibrancy of the prints is the aforementioned AirDye technology, which Costello Tagliapietra has been utilizing consistently for six seasons and which appears on nearly every piece in the line. AirDye is a sustainable way to apply color to textiles without the use of water, which makes it environmentally preferable to traditional dye methods. The technology also allows for more precise color placement.

Below we’ve posted a selection of our favorite printed pieces from the show, with the chrysanthemum pattern up at the top. See what we mean about energy?

Images: Jessica Marati

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