Get geared for 2014’s festival season with these 4 eco chic outfit ideas.

This year’s festival season has officially taken off with the likes of SXSW and Coachella already under our belts where edgy, casual cool and street style reign supreme. Take a cue from this year’s festival going trendsetters and gear up with some gorgeous jumpsuits, pretty prints, bright colors and sensible sandals from our favorite eco chic fashion designers, and get ready to party in style.

1. Chaotically Chic
Festivals are your opportunity to go bold and be noticed. To make a statement, choose bright colors and popping patterns that will turn heads. Keep yourself comfortable in a pair of SWASH leggings, perfect with a funky top like C of C’s Miriem Black Tank with its cute puffy details. Both items can be found at Beklina, an awesome online store featuring sustainable independent designers.

2. Girl Next Door
This super cute ensemble from Prairie Underground is perfect for a gal who loves comfortable, simple and carefree outfit that will take you through an entire festival weekend. The logomania dress and girdle capri from the Summer 2014 collection are great together, but also work well as separates with a simple tee or tank, making many outfits out of one look. Shop it at any store that carries Prairie Underground!

3. Cute & Cropped
We absolutely love this colorful, knit crop top from Kaight NYC. Made from hand loomed Indian raw silk and knit in NYC, we think it’s perfect for those mid summer festivals. Pair it with leggings or cute shorts like these high-waisted chambray shorts made by hand in Oakland, also available at Kaight NYC.

4. Jump it Up
Chic, unique and totally cool, the Maxwell jumper from NYC based designer Ilana Kohn is your ticket to the most awesome festival look of the year. Cinch it with a skinny belt, slip some wooden bangles on to your arms, some wedge sandals (or flats for longer days) on your feet and you’re set to go!

5. Nonchalant Vixen
This look is sleek, sexy and totally effortless – don a handmade Sea and Sky tunic by San Franciscan Sarah Hinz, with a pair of natural leather and recycled tire sandals from Avarcas. Top it all of with some big gold jewelry, and a pair of hot pants (for modesty) and you’ll fit right in at the next Bohemian event.

Related on EcoSalon

9 Sizzling Summer Sandals

On Trend: The Sustainable Summer White Dress 7 Ways

30 Photos of Music Festivals Worldwide

Images: Thomas Hawk, Avarcas, Sea and Sky, Prairie Underground, Beklina, KaightNYC

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Style spotting on the streets of New York.

What makes you current: red skinny jeans, brown leather satchels, Ray Bans, sailor shirts, cobalt suede pumps, gauzy scarves (still), gauzy blouses, neon watermelon anything. Nothing wrong with that.

What makes you stylish: a put-together je ne sais quois all your own.

While we were rushing from one show to another during New York Fashion Week, we stopped every stylish girl (and a few guys) we saw. Here are some of our favorites. We love their personality, their confidence, and their style.

Above; Sarah, Toronto, so chic!

Barbara and David, New York City, one very coordinated couple

Soren, Denmark, marching to his own drum

Camilla, Denmark – we like what she did with that scarf!

Flora, NYC, in a vintage blazer and Chanel bag, cuffed trousers and polka dot Paul Smith shirt

Check out those Rock and Republic shoes!

Patricia, Brazil, in a cut-out romper and suede-and-woven wedges – dig the hat!

Greta, New York City, in a vintage silk skirt and vegan Cri de Couer wedges

Becky, New York City, rocking plaid and a red Miu Miu satchel

Yes, we’re shoe lovers. Dries van Noten

Mary Lou, an 81-year-old Lincoln Center professor with more spring in her step than many twentysomethings, New Y0rk City – look at that Downtown bag!

Christina, New York City, decked in floaty feathers and pink hair tips

Christen, Minneapolis, in an impeccable skirt and patterned bow tie

Tara, (where else?) Los Angeles, casually rocker cool

Fashion bloggers Jena, Chicago and Amy, Chicago, dressed for cute comfort

Text by Sara Ost; images by Amy DuFault.

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Whether it’s the Maid Cafes in the nerds’ electronic hive of Akihabara, the Hysteric Glamour fashions around Harajuku, the leather jacketed Shibuya Gals, or the more couture looks coming from the likes of Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto,  Japanese fashion is pretty intense and diverse.

By adopting a mixture of current and traditional trends, Japanese trendsetters are unabashedly ready to explore their personal fashion identities no matter what you might think of them.

While more couture looks boldly highlight a higher end identity, street style renegades mixing homemade with anime punk are at the front and center of a fast fashion trend moving as fast as any other part of the world.

Kate Black, founder of  eco-blog Magnifeco says the climate for disposable fashion there doesn’t differ from other developed nations in that “fast fashion” is just part of the fashion psyche. Black says long before H&M and Forever 21, the Japanese frugal-fashionistas had Uniqlo, ABC Shoe Mart and 109 which are filled to the brim with low-priced items.

“There is an annual fashion show called the Tokyo Girls Collection – which dictates fast fashion trends to women in their early 20s. It’s a huge sold-out event where 20,000+ girls attend a full stadium event, with runway shows from some of the top “fad” designers and brands and then what appears as a mainstream trend on the street stems from that,” says Black.

Cosplay Girls at Harajuku

Shantel Girtley, Sales Account Executive of L.A based Style Assembly, a showroom housing many sustainable designers gets to see forward dressing Japanese buyers at Market a couple times a year. She says there are usually two types of savvy Japanese buyers that emerge at markets to buy for their customers.

“Those that are American press driven and those that want ‘under the radar’ lines. They’re usually swarming the designers who are unusual in some way. You will also find them shopping for lines that are domestically made here in the U.S. at  Market locations in Vegas and New York,” says Girtley, who is particularly enamored with the looks coming out of Tokyo.

“I may be biased when it comes to Japanese fashion, specifically originating from Tokyo. I personally love the way they use clothing and accessories to transform on a day to day basis. I believe they are pushing the envelope in every way to carve out a path for most to follow. The fashion coming out of Tokyo is fearless, yet incredibly graceful. This ironically would be my personal definition of ‘fashion’. Whether its straight off the runway or straight out of the streets, Tokyo fashion infuses both to create a buzz that we just can’t stop talking about,” says Girtley.

From Tokyofashion.com

Tracey Forrest, founder of the True Collaborative Showroom out of Portland, Oregon – another sustainable designer’s showroom – says Japanese buyers are very professional buyers who know their budgets, know what their demanding customers will want, and make quick and calculated decisions.

“They plan a smart mix of heritage brands with strong brand equity and also place a few new innovative brands to keep the mix interesting and innovative for their customers,” says Forrest.

Not sure what you think about Japanese fashion or its interesting history? Currently two Japanese fashion exhibits are running that you can take in: One is “Japan Fashion Now” at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (MFIT) in New York City, and the second is “Future Beauty: 30 Years of Japanese Fashion” at the Barbican Art Gallery in London.

According to Sarah Scaturro, of the print journal Fashion Projects, “both focus on Japanese fashion designers and celebrate their contributions to the Western fashion system,” and both shows offer looks dating back to 30 years ago and pay attention to contemporary Japanese sub-cultures.

Image: The Sydney Morning Herald

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The streets of Paris exude that je ne sais quoi…  Everywhere you look there is a perfectly-styled ensemble worthy of Scott Schuman’s lens!

It’s an effortless chic that only French women can pull off, in which a thrifted t-shirt layered over another tee and under an oversized blazer achieves the perfect mix of fashion-forward street chic dressing while still firmly grasping the ethos of a classic French woman. The thing I love most about Paris is that there seems to be an invisible line between unspoken but strictly understood rules of dressing that all French women keep secured in the back of their mind. This is countered with a playful exuberance to stand out and style something different when putting together an outfit. The result is unabashed fashion genius! Hm, no wonder it is the fashion capital of the world.

So, here are my humble (et hem, American) observations of la mode a Paris for fall 2010.

– Layering is essential, especially long layers. Have a look at Lily Cole’s ethical line, The North Circular, for all the key pieces for bundling up in style.

– Hats are loved just as much by the French as their compatriots across the channel. You can still sport that fedora going into fall. Get a high grade organically produced one from Livity.

– Black never goes out of style. A classic blazer goes a long way and gets you extra style points in Paris. Scoop one up from Beaumont Organic.

– A beautiful bag makes the woman. The Sway is an new eco-leather line that uses leather scraps to produce lush bags in classic color ways that will last a lifetime.

No matter where you are in the world, a little French infusion is always good for the soul and may even prompt a coup de foudre!

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