The GreenShows Eco Fashion Week Fall 2010
by Jamar Graham
I was sent by Fashion Funhouse Emporium to cover 2nd bi-annual The GreenShows Eco Fashion Week, February 14-17( the same week as the official New York Fashion Week)
Covering the Green Show’s was an interesting feat. I was coming into this project with a open mind to see if ethical and ecological fashion design can change my feelings towards actually purchasing it. My editor wanted to know if it was "going to be more of the burlap-looking shit and organic cotton tees with "peace" scribbled on them?"
My idea of eco-fashion is shopping thrift. For me, that’s saving the planet.
As with any “Fashion Week,” there is good and bad and that’s no exception for The Green Shows. Boxed in a small venue in the East Village, the purpose of this show is to promote the design and consumption of fashion made from organically grown fabric, and that it did.
The organization pledged to locally recycle all materials used in production,locally compost all possible foods, products, and compostable materials, donate all reusable goods to charities and organizations after use, work with local vendors for production to limit the carbon footprint, and use alternative energy sources whenever possible.
This started with the air-conditioning. There was none. It was my only complaint about The Green Shows.
Opening night started with designer Gary Harvey, proponent of using secondhand clothing and thrift as the fabrications for his one-of-a-kind couture-esqe dresses. Highlight of his shows included a denim dress made from forty-one pairs of Levi’s 501’s, fourteen gray hooded sweatshirts transformed into a skirt and top, twenty organic cotton slogan t-shirts donated by Katherine Hamnett fabricates a dress, and his perhaps his most statement look was a dress made form 30 copies of the "Financial Times" newspaper.
Photos courtesy of Statepr.com. Click here to see full collection
Vaute Couture (awful name, no?) offered a more fun colorful alternative to eco-fashion showcasing outwear made from a new alternative fiber Primaloft ECO. The brand also introduced knits in the form of tanks, scarfs, and off--the-shoulder tunics. Cute and fun was the aesthetic of this collection.
Photos courtesy of Statepr.com. Click to view full collection.
Sonja den Elzen, designer for Thieves showed a very “on trend” collection inspired by the urban nomad. The collection featured black on black, combinations of texture; including recycled leather, hemp, and bamboo, finely draped jackets, ruched mini dresses, leather detailing, and and great hand in tailoring and construction. Rugged and tough is what Thieves had to offer.
Photos courtesy of Statepr.com. Click to view full collection.
Deux fm showed what seemed to be the classical and feminine side of eco-fashion. Clean, simple, and lots of red lipstick; great dresses draped and wrapped around the bodies of the models, as well as structured little jackets to compliment the simpleness of the jersey wrap dresses. Cute touches were added by cinching the looks with bow-tie belts that could possibly be worn as headbands. Comfortable and clean was the statement here.
Photos courtesy of Statepr.com. Click to view full collection
About the Author: Jamar Graham studied fashion at Parsons School for Design and Davis College. He worked as a visual merchandiser, designer, trend forecaster and stylist assistant. He makes things out of other things like these hippie designers. He likes cats and eats Lucky Charms. He uses semicolons where they don't belong. His blog is better than mine. To read more of Jamar's real work head over to The Summer After Parsons and TrendLand.
