With a colorful, eclectic collection made entirely in Los Angeles, Clover Canyon injects New York Fashion Week with a breath of fresh California air.

New York Fashion Week was very black and white and monochrome this time around. This is practical but, let’s face it, we need some color on our lives. This made Clover Canyon‘s presentation at Lincoln Center’s The Box feel even more like a breath of fresh California air. The label’s Spring/Summer 2013 collection was an explostion of bright colors and crazy prints, featuring geometric shapes and paisley mixed with California pop culture icons like muscle cars, soda bottle tops, steering wheels, surfers, highways, mountains, prairie homes and a certain kind of medicinal plant, with a sprinkling of sequins thrown in for good measure.

Launched only last year, Clover Canyon received instant appreciation from fashion editors and buyers and can now be found at major retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Net-a-Porter and Shopbop. Creative Director Rozae Nichols, who had her own eponymous line for 15 years, has lived her whole life on the west coast. She decided to make local production an important part of the label’s DNA, stating: “Clover Canyon is made in California, and always will be.”

From the label’s atelier, Clover Canyon’s design team works collaboratively on designing the original prints, and hand-engineering them to frame and enhance the body. All garments are designed, patterned, cut and sewn in-house, using an innovative mix of new technology mixed with old world craftsmanship. “I have a wonderful team, a glorious design team,” Nichols tells Harper’s BAZAAR. She goes on to say that the label is able to maintain an accessible price point by “creating an in-house science and precision that we’ve mastered with no waste or excessive burden. The fabrics are humble, they’re not insanely expensive. We make Clover Canyon look expensive because of the artistry.”

Nichols has been focused on prints for a long time, and with Clover Canyon she completely surrenders to them, making it the focus of all the label’s collections so far. “We approached Clover Canyon with a new attitude for print and made a commitment to making it about saturated color,” she says. “Part of the magic is the research we do to make the images very opposite and juxtaposed.”

There’s no doubt that prints are having a fashion moment right now, but Clover Canyon still stands out from the crowd. One is not drawn to these fantastical garments because they happen to be what’s trendy right now, the precise mix of tailoring and placement of the patterns gives this collection a timeless appeal that will surely make it stand the test of time. That, along with the outspoken commitment to local production, is what we really love about them and welcome with open arms.

All photos by Johanna Björk

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The Fair Fashion runway show, held during New York Fashion Week, shows us that fashion can look good and do good.

When attending fashion week, it’s easy to become overwhelmed (and slightly disturbed) about the sheer amount of clothing that designers put out every season, much of it produced less than ethically. A nice counterpoint to this was the NYC Fair Runway Show, held on Thursday at co-working space Wix Lounge in NYC.

The runway show was organized by the NYC Fair Trade Coalition, an all-volunteer grassroots organization dedicated to educating consumers about the value and importance of fair trade and promoting fair trade businesses in NYC.

Kibonen|NY (also top)

Featured designers included Kibonen|NY by Cameroonian designer Kibonen Nfi, inspired by traditional Cameroonian garments, REBORN by Soham Dave, which fuses the old and new with contemporary leisure clothing, filling a niche for authentic pieced and hand crafted from natural materials, and mccoll&clan, a New Jersey-based SEE (sustainable, eco, ethical) label committed to a design and business ethos that supports more sensible ways of innovating fashion.

REBORN by Soham Dave

The models wore vegan shoes by Monisha Raja of Love is Mighty, a brand dedicated to preserving indigenous arts, tribal culture and craftsmanship in India. Makeup artist Lacey Elliot used products from Josie Maran’s vegan, eco-friendly line.

mccoll&clan

After the show, guests were treated to samples from fair trade makers of tea, root tea, chocolate and quinoa vodka. There was also a marketplace, featuring pieces from the runway show.

Fair trade may not yet be a buzz word in the fashion world at large, but maybe this fashion week runway show could be the start of a greater discussion of the topic? We certainly hope so.

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Using patented no-waste technology, knitwear brand Kotoba makes pieces that are as conscious as they are covetable.

At New York Fashion Week, knitwear seemed to make an appearance in some form on just about every runway. On Thursday, collective knitwear brand Kotoba celebrated the launch of their Spring/Summer 2013 collection with a fun, low-key presentation at The Maritime Hotel in the Meatpacking District.

Kotoba is the Japanese word for language and the collection, designed by Melinda Danko and Lindsay Mann, featured timeless pieces in simple, versatile silhouettes enhanced by unexpected structural details and textures. Basics in black, taupe and ivory were complemented by pieces in bright and playful colors, particularly orange and mint green, two of the most on trend hues this fall and going into spring.

“We were inspired by multiple things, but it all came down to leisure activity,” says Melinda Danko. “We thought about the one thing that people forget to do, which is how to enjoy themselves – how to have fun doing sport activities, going to the beach, taking care of environment – things that are important in life.” This playful spirit was evident in the presentation, as the models were given props like footballs, skateboards and baseball bats.

“Lindsay and I developed the collection very organically,” says Danko. “We just burst out ideas and silhouettes and with the yarns we have it just came together. We started with one design and it all just fell into place after that”

All the pieces in the collection are produced using WHOLEGARMENT technology, a patented production technique derived from Shima Seiki, a Japanese knitwear machine manufacturer that has been around for fifty years, but has more recently, in the past five years, developed knitting machines for making clothing. It’s an innovative way of producing knitwear that is lightweight and stretchy and made virtually without any waste.

“We wanted to bring back crafts and trade and the sustainability aspect to the U.S. domestic market,” says Danko. “Everything we make is seamless, there’s no waste in the production, and the entire collection (except the yarns, which are from Italy) is made in America”

Kotoba’s spring collection is everything I love about sustainable fashion – it’s locally and ethically produced (in NYC’s Garment District), using innovative technology, but it’s also fun, sexy, wearable and timeless.

Danko says: “We make qaulity garments that, yes, you are going to spend more money on. But the lifetime and durability makes them pieces that you can have in your wardrobe and love for years.”

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At New York Fashion Week, Suzanne Rae presents a new, minimalistic take on feminine beauty.

Initially inspired by Francesca Woodman’s photography, Suzanne Rae‘s collection for spring/summer 2013 “explores a woman’s curious ability to be both delicate and strong.”

“Pairing this with minimalism, which often carries masculine overtones” the designer says, “the collection seeks a balance, reflecting a more progressive and less conventional expression of femininity.”

The collection, which premiered during New York Fashion Week yesterday, at the Philippine Center in Manhattan, seems to be a return to basics for Suzanne Rae. The color palette was restrained and featured low-key neutrals, like we’ve seen in the collections of many other designers this fashion week. Soft hues of light and dark gray, off-white and khaki were complemented with gorgeously nuanced shades of gold and blue. It all seemed to signal a return to beauty in fashion.

Materials ranging from soft silks and knits to stiff cotton and linen were mixed to create textural interest while maintaining a long and flowy silhouette. The show was styled by Lotte Sindahl, with bold accessories by WXYZ Jewelry (including amazing Egyptian inspired collar necklaces) and shows by Solestruck and Ma Petit Shoe.

In all, the collection represented a return to wearable basics in beautiful colors and materials.

We also took a peek backstage after the show:

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Beauty and brilliance meet in Allison Parris’ Spring/Summer 2013 collection.

When you meet Allison Parris and her Spring/Summer 2013 collection, you can’t help but smile. Words like charming, pretty, party and fun fill the air. Parris, in her eighth year of showing her own, eponymous line, seems at ease with it all. In her words, the collection is simply “light and happy.” But, below the fancy frill lies more than just the cheerful and feminine. It is femininity at its best—powerful, free and evocative.

“Right now, when you have so many strong, ambitious, stylish and successful women to look up to, that’s who girls should admire,” Parris tells EcoSalon. “Not Brittany Spears and Lindsay Lohan,” she adds. That’s why nearly each dress in the collection is inspired by (and named after) one of her closest friends who fit the bill of brilliant and beautiful.

With this upcoming season, Parris has stayed true to her roots, keeping her raw silk organza and recycled PET tutu-style dresses, while introducing other glitzy, body-hugging styles like the Arden dress (above) and the Greta (below), both lined with recycled PET from the U.S. The finished garments are also made in the U.S.—close to Parris’ home in the New York Garment District. “I need a little contrast in my life,” says Parris about her new sequin numbers.

Designer, Allison Parris, models her new look, The Arden dress.

Other pieces are fresh takes on the full-bodied skirt style. The Julia (below), made from embroidered cotton, effortlessly takes the woman who wears her from day to evening—a place Parris calls “our sweet spot.” And if anyone knows about hitting the sweet spot head on, it’s Parris.

More looks we love:

Images: Jennifer Barckley

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Through subtle color and feminine silhouettes, Costello Tagliapietra evokes an air of sultry love.

Color is emotion. It evokes the dramatic and the subtle, from clarity, to confidence, to anger and love. As the forthcoming Costello Tagliapietra Spring/Summer 2013 season swooned down the runway this week, sensuality collided with intensity—passion—just the feeling Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra, the design duo behind the line, were channeling.

Dusty pinks, shades of coral, frosted blues and olive greens painted the palette—a softer take on their oft-vibrant splashes—spoke to the “sultry softness and sweetness,” they dreamed of, Tagliapietra tells EcoSalon.  “We were really taken by pre-Raphaelite paintings.  The brushstrokes of quartz roses…,” says Tagliapietra.  “And, then the bright shoots of colors at the end of the stroke,” adds Costello.

Costello Tagliapietra are known for their use of AirDye technology, a form of digital printing that uses no additional water during the actual dying process, and allows for simultaneous double-sided printing of a textile.  It’s one of the secrets, the pair agree, behind their multi-dimensional color palettes and the eye-play that happens when a women’s walk reveals the interior side of the fabric—often printed in a different design from the exterior.

“With this collection, we really played with the different colors to see how they would interact on the fabric and what emotions they would evoke,” Costello tells us. “We want to evoke the feeling of having fun, feeling alive and being in love,” the pair share, almost simultaneously.

Body skimming silhouettes peak just beyond the ordinary through gathering, ruching and draping. “Caressing,” says Tagliapietra, “the women who wears it.”  Many of the pieces are made from synthetics—primarily polyester—“the best textile when Air Dying textiles,” says Tagliapietra.  “But,” adds Costello, “it doesn’t look and feel synthetic.”

In their sixth runway season as a design team, marked by their winning the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award in 2005, and their eighteenth year together as a couple, it’s no wonder Costello Tagliapietra is feeling the love.

Backstage: Designers Jeffrey Costello (left) and Robert Tagliapietra (right).

More looks we love:

Images: Jennifer Barckley

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With Spring/Summer 2013, Samantha Pleet merges old with new to encapsulate the modern women.

In our rapid-paced, progressive world, there’s beauty to be had in traversing backwards in time and place. With Samantha Pleet’s Spring/Summer 2013 collection all made in New York City, the designer took us there with her “Sands of Time” presentation.

For Pleet, inspiration came from Babylon and Mesopotamia, an era she fell in love with while pouring over books.

“Instead of fashion books, I read about history,” Pleet tells us.

It’s this passion for exploration of other eras that you can see in Pleet’s personal favorite, the Ishtar silk and viscose dress (below), fashioned with a print extracted from Biblical mythology.  Other pieces like the Scout dress (below), from washed silk, are true to Pleet’s Brooklyn-aesthetic while still telling a bygone story.

Designer Samantha Pleet (left) models her favorite piece, the Ishta dress.

While the clothing is strong on its own, Pleet’s debut into the world of shoes adds an aesthetic street charm to her already hip “it girl” vibe. In partnership with Wolverine, a Michigan based, American boot company, Pleet created a colorful collection of vintage-inspired ankle boots and sandals (below).

One of Pleet’s greatest gifts comes through ever more clearly in this upcoming season—merging the old with the new, the vintage with the modern, for a look that’s at once relevant while remaining timeless. She gives her wearer a taste of something really raw and reminiscent of the beginning—the “roots of civilization,” as Pleet calls it.

While simple in silhouette and fabrics—employing handwashed silks and entirely handwoven khadi cotton (from Prakriti Aur Purush)—there’s nothing overly nostalgic about it. In fact, when we dig deeper to discover what really brought this collection to life, she laughs and declares, “Indiana Jones.” One part explorer, one part heroine, it just may be that Pleet really has captured the essence of the modern women.

More looks we love:

Images: Jennifer Barckley

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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

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