Eco Fashion Flipside: Lower East Side Gets Green

The Fashion Flipside show on Sunday on the Lower East Side of Manhattan was a blast- hundreds turned out to check out a fashion show that featured LES stores, many of which are eco-friendly.

Hairy Mary’s showed a bouquet of reconstructed dresses, and Kaight brought out the pretty, grown-up girl frocks. Lael, a new boutique that carries some ecofashions, showed us a string of reminders of why we love summer clothes (even when we don’t love summer). Daha Vintage, The Dressing Room and David Owens Vintage convinced me to renew my love for the hunt for preloved clothes – every one that survives is an original.

Photo by James Nova
Proving that this isn’t the first summer we’ve seen maxi dresses; this gorgeously patterned find is from the 70′s. (Daha Vintage) And yes, that’s me in the sunglasses seated at the left.

Photo by James Nova
Owner/designer Sharon (Hairy Mary’s) does a full-length and shorter version of this strapless lovely called in a variety of reused polyester fabrics.

Photo by Remy C.
Watercolor on a half a tab of LSD = the perfect summer dress print. (Lael)

Photo by James Nova
Porcelain-grey, pintucked bodice, full sleeves, short skirt? Victorian verisimilitude! (Kaight)

Photo by Remy C.
Striking architectural shoulders and sleeves prove organic cotton is supermod. (Kaight)

Photo by Remy C.
Dancing seems is an imperative while wearing this diaphanous dress. (Daha Vintage)

Photo by Remy C.
Fabulous sportswear-inspired bodysuit from The Dressing Room, a bar/shop where you can trade your old clothes for drinks– genius idea! (And note the homeless guy in the camo shirt on the left; he danced throughout the show and I give props to event organizers for letting him stay, proving that it still is NYC and it’s def. the LES!)

Photo by James Nova
Another pretty-pretty vintage lady reconstructed dress. (Hairy Mary’s).

Photo by James Nova
Neo-Grecian organic cotton dress that will show off your legs. (Kaight)

Photo by Remy C.
Sexy LBD (Kaight).

For more photos of the event (including the non-eco fashions AND fetishwear that walked the runway), check out RemyC’s page and James Nova’s Flickr stream.

ecofashion, Events, Fashion, New York City

Starre Vartan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick and author of The Eco-Chick Guide to Life (St. Martin's Press). A problogger and oft-quoted green living expert who has been featured in the NYTimes, Elle, Glamour and Whole Living, she is a contributor to The Huffington Post, Inhabitat, and Hearst's The Daily Green, and is currently editor-at-large for Coco Eco Magazine. An active ecofashionista, she has style edited for Plenty magazine and coordinated runway shows. She splits her time between Connecticut and NYC and calls Sydney, Australia her second home, even though it was her first (as that's where she was born and most of her family resides). When not writing, blogging, or researching her next book, she is trailrunning, trying to cook, or snowboarding.

3 Comments on “Eco Fashion Flipside: Lower East Side Gets Green”

kat
nice!! thanks for posting
08/20/08 » 11:09 am »
marguerite manteau-rao
Good, because frankly, I can’t escape fashion’s fatal attraction . . . It might as well be as green as can be:
http://lamarguerite.wordpress......t-culture/
I do wish however, that the so called eco-clothes had more style. So far, none have made me want to splurge. Unlike Target Converse shoes and dresses!
08/20/08 » 12:07 pm »
» Susie Castillo, Miss USA 2003, in Eco-Friendly Fashion Show tommorrow
[...] cools off, it’s time again for New York Fashion Week… for the Spring collections. As green fashion continues to grow in popularity and influence, we are happy to report that sustainability will get [...]
09/03/08 » 12:24 am »