Analogue Chic

Posts Tagged ‘eco fashion’

Head on over to Danbury’s indie news magazine, The Mercurial, for my reporting on the Mother Earth Fashion Show that took place in Bethel, CT on April 12.

As a local designer and fashion blogger, I looked forward to an injection of style and conscience into the closets of my fellow Danbury-metro dwellers.  I dressed for the evening in my usual mix of high and low style, new and vintage, mass market and indie designer.  My hair was newly trimmed by Tiffany of Tease Salon at Martin’s in Danbury, and colored, incidentally, by Jackie at A New Beginning.  My eyelids were enshrouded in brown shadow by Ecco Bella plant based cosmetics, available at Chamomile on Newtown Road.  I layered a black tuxedo jacket over my pink wrap sweater by Grace Napoleon, a featured designer for the event, and dark jeans.  Gray spectator-mary jane-hybrid oxfords finished the look.

This tree-hugging fashionista went the extra eco mile and rode the number 2 HART bus from Main Street, Danbury to the front door of the Stony Hill Inn, with time to spare.

Read my review, over here!

Hooray!  Grace Napoleon, whom I profiled a while ago on this blog, will be showing her upcycled apparel in a runway show to benefit Clean Ocean Action, sponsored by A New Beginning Salon in Bethel, CT on Monday, April 12.  Tickets are still available!

I will also be reporting on the event for The Mercurial, Danbury’s online news magazine.

A New Beginning Salon & Spa is an Aveda Wellness spa. Every year the Aveda company encourages their spas throughout the country to participate in fundraising efforts to benefit an earth-friendly organization. For the second year, Clean Ocean Action will receive 100% of the net proceeds of this event.

There is also an opportunity for tickets to be purchased and donated to The Women’s Center of Greater Danbury. All ticket donations will be distributed to clients of the Center.

[...]

According to Clean Ocean Action’s advocacy team, as a result of years of ocean dumping, a legacy of pollution remains in the ocean off the Atlantic coast from New Jersey to New York and Connecticut’s shores of Long Island Sound.

[...]

Clean Ocean Action leads informed campaigns against these sources of pollution and advocates for environmentally sound solutions.

The organization was recently instrumental in lending its voice to help defeat the installation of an LP gas pumping platform off the Branford coast that would have measured three football fields in length, and compromised recreational and commercial boating throughout much of Connecticut’s coastal waterway.

Quotes via The Newtown Bee.

Lovin’ my peeps at Cosa Verde.

My Mr. Bing Foldover Clutch has been featured on their homepage today!  Click over and peruse all the sustainable handmade goodness over there!

Click the link in my previous post about this bag to learn more about the name and the inspiration.

Good morning! The darlings at Cosa Verde have featured me on their nautical-theme Today’s Picks.
Take a look before the next crop of eco-goodies moves in.

Fair Indigo has sourced the most eco-sustainable t-shirts ever created.

They had everything we stood for under one roof. Organic cotton, fairly made products (in a USA factory to boot), a design aesthetic that was modern but not edgy, fabrics like butter, eco-friendly dyes, prints done at a facility powered by wind and solar?!

Take that, American Apparel:

1. organic cotton
2. fair trade
3. non-toxic dyes
4. wind and solar powered production.

You can peruse the shirts (men’s and women’s) here.

I do actually have one problem with these.

I would not wear a single one of these in public.  For yoga, walking, or other exercise– sure.  But for shopping, going to a museum, or dinner out with my husband– No Way.

Philosophically, I consider myself a hippie.  And I’m coming to terms with re-incorporating some ‘bohemian/hippie’ style elements back into my grown-up wardrobe (I rocked the head-to-toe thrift shop hippie look throughout high school and the first couple years of college, and then got over it).  But, I also have learned to present myself the way I wish to be perceived, and to dress appropriately to the occasion– I look professional for business occasions, I look sexy and stylish for social events.  And I always give my own creative spin, because as a budding creative career woman, I want to be prepared to meet anyone and give them a visual representation of my personality.

So yes, it’s a question of personal taste– I’m not into the graphic t-shirt trend (now at least 5 years old, about as played out as Uggs…).  And while I wear jeans most days, I don’t consider myself well-dressed in jeans and a tee.  But it’s definitely a question of Style (capitol S intended) as well.  These "Eastern"-influenced graphics with pithy sayings about "sustainability" and "bliss" and "balance" are not versatile enough for a modern woman to incorporate into her day wardrobe. A t-shirt should be able to work under a cardigan for breakfast or lunch with friends, under a blazer for work, and maybe with some killer slacks and heels for cocktails or dinner.  It should not look like you just got out of the gym.

Proclaimeth the fashion dictator.

The problem I have with most apparel that is technically environmentally sustainable, is that it is usually not marketable to hipsters and people who actually give a darn about sartorial aesthetics– the people who buy a lot of clothe$.  It usually looks like: 1) something yoga-specific, 2) an activist slogan shirt, or 3) the love child of abstract textile art and a burlap sack.  Even clothing sewn by hand by a self-employed designer, constructed from reclaimed/repurposed materials (like an Etsy shopowner I know…) tends to look too arts-and-craftsy to ever pass muster on Project Runway.  Which gives a bad rap to sustainability in the realm of style, which keeps demand low for sustainable manufacturing, which creates low profitability for designers and producers to work sustainably, which means tons of waste and toxicity continue to flow out of the fashion industry.

There are indie designers doing beautiful, chic things with organic cotton, and some do work wonders with repurposed fabrics.  And bigger fashion corporations are starting to incorporate some sustainable elements into their lines.  But I fear the complete package just won’t catch on if the most sustainable producers are only putting graphic t-shirts on the market.

My hairdresser is awesome.

Michelle, at Synergy Salon, is putting together a holiday shopping event, featuring a group of her creative clients– including me!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

6:00 to 8:00pm

at Synergy Salon

53 East Avenue

New Canaan, CT

203-966-5655

Besides me, I know there will be an amazing jewelry artisan, and perhaps another bagmaker like myself.  I will have my original handbags, small zipper pouches, flower brooches, and perhaps some reconstructed clothing.

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