Julia Roebuck is a British designer who creates eye-catching London street-chic pieces by recycling used or discarded garments from various sources. Roebuck’s got her mind set on more than just a design label; she’s marching her way to the top of the fashion food chain to figure out how to make the industry less wasteful.
What better footwear to go with the DIY IKEA raincoat we featured last week than these upcycled rain boots? (They even come in the same shade of ultramarine—sartorial kismet!) Conceived by Waste for Life by Louie Rigano, a senior at the Rhode Island School of Design, the sturdy and surprisingly chic galoshes are fabricated from plastic bags collected by cartoneros, or impoverished Argentineans who make their living collecting trash in Buenos Aires.
Photo by Andy Holzman/Lapresse
At the ripe old age of 10, Cecilia Cassini might be the youngest fashion designer in America…and perhaps the world. Many of her pieces are even made with repurposed fabrics plundered from the closets of her mother and older sister. Let’s just hope she asked them first. (TreeHugger)
Made-By is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a line of limited-edition line of tees from EDUN. (Marie Claire)
The runways were awash in fur this season. But are designers being duped by clever marketing ploys, including the dubious-sounding “Fur is Green” campaign? (New York Times and The Discerning Brute)
A new fashion boutique in California doesn’t want shoppers—just swappers. (Mother Nature News)
Burn Notice actress Gabrielle Anwar admits that she’s a “vintage fashion freak” and hates chemicals on her face. But what do Wombles have to do with her new low-impact lifestyle? (EcoStiletto)
Who needs to keep their cubicle stocked with analog paraphernalia now that we’ve all moved to paperless offices? Well, if you’re Margarita Mileva, obsolete office supplies make the perfect components for vibrant jewelry, such as twisty necklaces made from multicolored rubber bands, chokers pieced together from wire binding, and pendants fashioned from circular paper clips.
Eager to spring-green your closet for 2010 but kinda short of the other kind of green? We’re teaming up with one of our favorite sustainable lines and the world’s oldest and largest organic fashion company, Hessnatur, to give away our biggest prize yet: a $2,010 shopping spree from their website so you can start the year right in sustainable style. Take your pick of the eco-friendly label’s versatile cardigans, flowy dresses, lighweight trenchcoats, and chic separates. Enter now for your chance to win!
1. SIGN UP FOR THE ECOUTERRE NEWSLETTER (This is important because we’ll be announcing our winner there.)
2. VISIT THE HESSNATUR WEBSITE and LEAVE A COMMENT below telling us which Hessnatur piece is your absolute fave and why. We’ll pick the response we like the best, so be as detailed and creative as possible!
If Lady Gaga has a passion for trashion, she’s managed to keep it on the down-low…until now, that is. The flamboyant chanteuse has “leaked” stills from her mucho anticipated “Telephone” video, which premieres Thursday and features the pipes of musical BFF Beyoncé. Tucked into her famous platinum-blonde locks: empty soda cans and the dismembered remains of a rotary phone. Think they’ll catch on?
Warm weather is soclose we can almost taste it! If you’ve been searching for the perfect Marilyn Monroe-sque ensemble (circa Some Like It Hot) for the imminent heat wave, we’d like to introduce you to Titania Inglis’s foxy little eco-jumper. Its sweetheart lines and organic fabrics, tailored to a T in New York City’s Garment District, have us longing for the sun. But it’s hardly the only piece in Inglis’s arsenal that’s frolic-friendly.
Photo by Wallpaper
A political statement about climate change was the last thing on Karl Lagerfeld’s mind when he trotted Chanel’s Fall/Winter 2010 collection in front of a giant, 265-ton glacier in Paris on Tuesday. (He counts the Ice Hotel in Sweden, not drowning polar bears, as his inspiration.) But can an iceberg be just an iceberg in these post-COP15 times? “Have you felt any warming this winter?” Lagerfeld asked reporters after the show. “Maybe that’s all nonsense, who knows.” Et tu, Karl?
G’day mate, is that a banana you’ve got down undah or are you just happy to see us? Cor blimey, maybe we should save our quips for the boys from Oz, specifically blokes who have traded their tightie-whities for AussieBum’s new range of eco-friendly briefs and boxers. (It just so happens that they’re made from that most well-endowed of tropical fruits.) Can we get a crikey?
For Montreal-based designer Valerie Lamontagne, the spark of creativity can come from the most unlikely of sources. In the case of her climate-reactive dresses, Lamontagne found inspiration in “Peau d’Âne,” a French fairy tale that begins with a king’s vow to remarry only when he finds a woman who equals his late queen’s beauty and virtue. Pressed to find a new wife, he concludes that his daughter alone qualifies. (Quel scandale!) The princess delays the wedding by demanding impossible prenuptial gifts, including three dresses made from moonbeams, sunlight, and the sky. Lamontagne recreates these fantastic gowns but with a high-tech twist: Each dress reacts—in real time—to changing weather conditions.
Photo by Richard Harbaugh/A.M.P.A.S.
As Hollywood’s biggest night unfolded, the only thing more anticipated than the parade of glittering gowns at the Kodak Theatre were the winners themselves. (And even that is debatable.) Here are three Oscar attendees who chose to wear their politics on their sleeves by going green on the red carpet at the 82nd Academy Awards.
Call a bandwagon a bandwagon if you must, but Naya isn’t just a fresh-off-the-presses line of eco-friendly wedges, heels, and flats. It’s also a ringing endorsement that the sustainability movement is doing something right. The first company-owned brand launched by the billion-dollar Brown Shoe Co. in 10 years, Naya joins established sibling brands like Dr. Scholls, Buster Brown, and Via Spiga, as well as the Famous Footwear chain of stores.
Jitske Lundgren, founder of Studio JUX, really know his clothes. The Dutch designer’s men’s and women’s collections, which comprise organic and all-natural fabrics, feature utterly wearable items that focus on classic silhouettes with an unexpected twist. But Lundgren also knows the people whose hands have toiled over every stitch. With fair-trade principles at the forefront of JUX’s brand identity, each piece is finely crafted by Nepali tailors under fair labor conditions, monitored by the Fair Wear Foundation.
Now that IKEA has abolished plastic shopping bags in favor of reusable ones, some folks might have amassed more than their share of big blue bags. If that sounds like you, here’s a fun tip from reader Paul Mattingly on how to upcycle four of the Swedish carryalls into a sporty and conversation-starting raincoat. “The IKEA …
That noise you hear? That’s the sound of our jaws crashing to the floor at the sight of the winning look from last night’s Project Runway. Who would have thought that this sizzling curve-hugging number was made entirely from—wait for it—garbage bags! The work of one Jay Nicolas Sario, the pleather-like ensemble drew its own share of praise from the peanut gallery. “We’ve seen many garbage bags on Project Runway, but never quite like this,” gushed Heidi Klum. Jay, you made it work. And how! Click below the fold for a video clip.
Photo by jemsweb
U.C. Berkeley researchers have developed energy-harvesting nanofibers that could be woven into clothing and used to power small electronics with a shake of your bon-bon. (GreenerDesign)
Is H&M trying to save face, literally? The beleaguered fast-fashion giant has just announced the launch of a line of certified-organic skincare products. (FocusOnStyle)
Get your vegan shoe on with this roundup of cruelty-free kicks, including some fetching foot adornments from Olsenhaus. …
As far as wearable technologies go, the Dandelion portable windmill is more than a load of hot air. Designed by Mary Huang and Jennifer Kay—and constructed using 99 percent reclaimed materials—this quirky structure is as practical as it is elegant: It creates its own energy while you’re walking or standing outside on a gusty day.
