Beth Shea

Beth is a chameleon of a writer who found her true color in the "green" niche. After she earned her B.A. in creative writing from the University of Arizona, Beth spent several years exploring the world and reporting for multiple publications as a travel and spa writer. Once her daughter was born, Beth wholeheartedly joined the eco-movement and founded Petite Planet, a blog which educates families on simple ways to adopt an eco-friendly lifestyle. Beth is also the managing editor of Inhabitots, where she unearths the latest sustainable design news and products for the next generation. Having previously split her time between New York City and Los Angeles, Beth moved to Portland, OR, the "greenest city in America," where she’s constantly on the lookout for up and coming eco-fashion designers and groundbreaking green trends.

Follow Beth on Twitter @PetitePlanet.

Eco-Fashion for Locavores: Anna Cohen’s Imperial Collection Heads From Ranch to Runway

You’ve probably heard of farm to table, but ranch to runway? Oregonian designer Anna Cohen, who offered a sneak peek at her Fall/Winter 2010 collection at Portland Fashion Week 2009, has hit upon a novel concept designed to reinvigorate local farms. Touted as “ranch to runway” wear, Cohen’s Imperial Collection is the result of a partnership with Central Oregon’s historic—and ecologically responsible—Imperial Stock Ranch and is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Portland Fashion Week Showcases Green, Sustainable Designers

Dubbed by its organizers as the world’s only “comprehensively eco-sustainable” fashion week, Portland Fashion Week 2009 stands out among the slew of runway events for its use of LED lighting, all-natural beauty products, organic food and wine, and the pièce de résistance, a bamboo runway—a fitting catwalk for models donning green apparel from the Spring/Summer 2010 collections of A Fortes Design, Mountains of the Moon, Jonano, and Ethos Paris. (We were also treated to a Fall 2010 preview of the Imperial Collection by Anna Cohen.) Ecouterre was poised at the end of the runway, in the country’s most sustainable city, to capture the eco-fashion highlights.

Bela Borsodi Shapes Clothes into Faces and Animals, Origami-Style

Whether or not you subscribe to the theory that fashion is art, you can’t deny that Bela Borsodi’s textile origami takes the Japanese art of folding to an entirely new level. Using various fashion accessories, Borsodi created a frog, a swan, and other creatures for a spread (entitled “Wild Life”) in Italian Vogue. The Vienna-born, New York-based photographer is also no stranger to finessing button-down shirts and denim jeans into animated faces that look like they’re on the verge of telling you if they make your butt look big.

Bio-Accessories Breathe New Life into Wardrobes

“Bio-Accessories”, a series of wearable couture pieces that were on display at the Melbourne City Library, offer green fashionistas a chance to wear their hearts on their sleeves—or in this case, a plant filled contraption on their face. Conceptualized and executed by Australian industrial designers Ben Landau and Brittany Veitch, each Bio-Accessory includes a living organism that not only creates a mobile natural environment, but also fosters a symbiotic relationship. Wearers tend to the animal or plant they don, and in return, they reap the benefits of fresh air, light, greenery, privacy, or birdsong.