Ecouterre

Designer Bruno Pieters and fashion journalist Kristopher Arden-Houser have teamed up to create the “From1000 Transparency Prize”. The award is inspired by Piter’s Honest By label and Arden-Houser’s work in the world of academic couture. The Prize will recognize the importance of open, public supply chains that allow buyers to trace the origins of their clothing. Pieters and Arden-Houser will work with nine Nordic fashion schools to find a winner who will receive a mentorship as well as having their product sold through specialty stores via www.honestby.com.

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Photos by Amanda Coen for Ecouterre

Samantha Pleet may have taken a break from formally presenting her FW2013 collection, but the young designer has by no means been standing idle. Celebrating the opening of her new Manhattan showroom, the designer took the opportunity to invite friends and loyal clients to preview her latest collection as well as new shoe and boot designs from her ongoing collaboration with Wolverine for the 1000 Mile Collection by Samantha Pleet. With a focus on form and signature silhouettes, the collection features a painterly color palette and several playful prints with ethically-sourced fabrics ranging from silk to wool to velvet. Ecouterre was in attendance to learn more about the Expressionist and Post-Impressionist artwork that inspired the former painting student’s latest designs.

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It was a battle of the spell-casting femme fatales at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Sunday night. No magical jibes were actually traded, of course, but you had to admit that Harry Potter actress Helen McCrory and Merlin’s Emilia Fox were equally dressed to kill. Livia Firth’s Green Carpet Challenge worked with WilliamVintage to outfit McCrory, who played Narcissa Malfoy, and Fox, who tackled the role of Morgause, in vintage Givenchy haute-couture gowns. “Last night’s BAFTAs was a charming affair,” wrote Firth, who co-founded the initiative to boost sustainable fashion’s profile on the red carpet, on her blog. “It had the right amount of elegance, glitter and soul, especially when it came to the vintage gowns which in our (highly biased!) opinion stole the show.”

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Photos by Jill Fehrenbacher for Ecouterre

It’s virtually impossible to tease EDUN apart from its rock-star provenance. Such is the star power of U2 frontman Bono, who founded the socially conscious label with his wife, Ali Hewson, in 2005. And indeed, the mood at its Fall/Winter 2013 presentation—an “exploration of youth culture,” according to show notes—at New York Fashion Week on Thursday was equally charged. Models, both male and female, paced frenetically on the circular runway wearing black leather, black skinny jeans, black lamé, and a studied insouciance. (Full review to follow.)

+ EDUN

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Photo by Shutterstock

Don’t celebrate the European Union ban on cosmetics testing on animals just yet, says Mark Bittman. There are still many questionable ingredients in cosmetic and personal-care products, many of which have not been tested by any means at all. (New York Times

A hundred years after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and the garment industry is still “racing backward” in terms of human and labor rights. (WWD)

St. Louis filmmaker Tom Kavanaugh wants to tell the story of the clothes we wear and the people who make them. (Kickstarter)

The New York Garment District isn’t the most scenic of locales, but the resources available for big-name and independent designers alike are invaluable. (NPR)

Meet Modavanti, a new online retailer that specializes in sustainable and ethical fashion. (Modavanti)

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Fallen in love with the jewelry Kimberly Ovitz feted at New York Fashion Week on Thursday? You don’t have to be a fashion insider to snag them straight off the runway. The Manhattan-based designer used three-dimensional printing to create the accessories, which she made available for purchase immediately after the show. A collaboration with rapid-prototyping marketplace Shapeways, the pieces include a necklace, a bracelet, and two styles of earring in either nylon or stainless steel. All of the pieces are designed to cleave to the wearer’s body like armornor a second skin. “The future of fashion is now,” says Ovitz of the print-on-demand baubles, which cost between $35 and $495. How’s that for fast fashion?

+ Kimberly Ovitz at Shapeways

+ Kimberly Ovitz

 

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Photos by Amanda Coen for Ecouterre

Suzanne Rae FW2013 is all about self-confidence and feeling comfortable with your inner self. Drawing inspiration from a unique sector of the service industry, Suzanne Rae Pelaez turned to the complex yet modest clothing of missionary monks, priests and nuns- a sector that promotes love and goodness by offering aid to those in need. Pelaez told Ecouterre, “I wanted to make thought-provoking clothing that encouraged women to have the kind of confidence that offers goodness and love and really positive, loving vibes.” Pelaez has created a minimalist line of elegantly cut designs dominated by sleek silhouettes and linear geometry that create a clean look. Her garments were accompanied by zero-waste knit pieces designed in collaboration with local knitwear designer Lindsay Degen, adding a lush, tactile element to the collection.

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Greenpeace has thrown down the gauntlet. In November, the environmental nonprofit presented 15 Italian and French fashion houses, including Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, and Prada, with 25 “uncomfortable” questions about their supply chains. Its goal? To determine where the luxury sector stands in terms of toxic water pollution and deforestation. The results, released on Thursday on a new “Fashion Duel” website, was a mixed bag. Valentino topped the ranking for its “ambitious and binding commitment” to eliminate all hazardous chemicals from its supply chain and products, while brands like Salvatore Ferragamo and Louis Vuitton received a poor to unsatisfactory grade for their “partial commitments” and “real lack of ambition,” says Greenpeace.

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