Don’t let the stores (or the start of the school season) fool you! We’ve got a few weeks of summer still left! One of my fave products that I’ve been test-driving the last month or so is Bath Petal’s Green Honey Mint Body Wash. Usually I’m a bar soap kinda girl, but this sweet and refreshing body wash is ideal for sticky summer and early Fall weather. And after a hard run or cycling session….it’s a bit of bliss!

It’s got that just-perfect combination of minty freshness and sweet honey, and an all-natural pretty bright green color and ideal consistency (I hate it when liquid soaps are too concentrated or not concentrated enough).

Check out it’s all-natural cred below. No need for fake-stinky bath products from mall stores with yummy deliciousness like this around (and all the products in this line are now 20% off on the Bath Petals site – plus free samples with every order)!

Ingredients: purified water (aqua), vegetable glycerin (kosher), *coconut oil (sodium cocoate) saponified,
*olive oil (sodium olivate) saponified, oleic acid, spearmint (mentha spicata) essential oil, peppermint
(mentha piperita) essential oil & chlorophyll (morus alba L.).
*Certified Organic by Quality Assurance International.

100% All-Natural / 70% Organic
Paraben free, contains all natural preservatives
100% Natural with Organic ingredients
Cruelty-free, not tested on animals
Made with only natural fragrances
EU Cosmetics Directive compliant
pH balanced
Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate Free
Recyclable packaging
Made in USA
100% Natural
Our products are not tested on animals.
Made in USA

Check out the September, 2011 issue of Whole Living magazine (on newsstands now!), wherein I’ve put together a few great destinations that combine yoga and fun adventures like horseback riding, rock climbing and surfing. I researched a number of cool retreats and getaways that combine some of our fave adventure activities with yoga programs specifically designed to accompany them. And check out that fantastic picture of the woman on the horse!

Here are the images from last Sunday’s workshop and meal, A Dinner to Dye For organised by Katelyn Toth-Fejel, Emma Rigby and Permacouture Institute. This events was developed by Permacouture to encourage creative thinking about the sources of our textiles just as the farm to table movement has done with how we think about food.  Participants l … Read More

via HERE TODAY HERE TOMORROW

There are some really great competitors, and in Round 2 (which you can vote on until August 24th) they explain all about how they are going to reduce waste in the fashion industry. I’ve voted! The videos are so interesting and also quite FUN! Check them out here (there are six to choose from). And check out the awesome judges, including model and ecoista Angela Lindvall, Scott Mackinlay Hahn and Rogan Gregory of Loomstate (one of Eco Chick’s fave eco fashion brands) and Geren Ford.

I helped Yoxi out a bit with my expertise prior to the competition’s start and they were kind enough to feature me on the page for Trim the Waste of Fashion:

Q&A with Starre Vartan | Yoxi via kwout

From the Trim the Waste of Fashion site:

In the nearly $1 trillion clothing industry, waste abounds from the estimated 15-20% of fabric trashed on the cutting room floor, unsustainable material sourcing, massive carbon emissions when transporting products from manufacturing centers, gallons upon gallons of wasted and polluted water during washing and dyeing, as well as wildly excessive packaging, tagging, and storage. Fashion choices matter to everybody, not just models, magazine and style mavens.

She Sells Seashells from Sophia Rogge on Vimeo.

I feel like it happens every summer; I have a laundry list of novels to dig in to, places to visit, & friends to see, but before I can blink we’re already in the first week of August, gearing up for what will be a very busy-busy year! So, it’s appropriate to say I’m on the cusp of serious summer blues. However, always the savior in these instances, fashion comes to the rescue. But this time rather than set my eyes on the wool knits seen in all the fall collections, I feasted upon something so delicious and delicate it made me almost sniffle: Sophia Rogge’s sarongs (which can be worn every which way, from beachy skirt to long scarf to a light wrap).

Reflecting all that I love about summer, this beautiful fabric is the ideal cure for those awful impending blues. What I love most about the piece, (which comes in such colors as, kaleida, blush, and cobalt), is that ten percent of all sales goes to Corals for Conservation. Marine coral devastatingly faces fast extinction, somewhere around the time of 2030, and they need all the support they can get! This is the perfect way to donate to a good cause & look stylish while doing so.

Sophia answered some of my questions after I told her about how much I loved her scarves/sarongs! Read on for her favorite beach & five beach essentials!

Eco Chick: What are five essential items you must have with you at the beach at all times?
Sophia Rogge:
-A sketch book & pencils, I find so much inspiration for my designs from by the beach.
-SPF 30 sunscreen for my body & SPF 40 for my face.
-Polarized sunglasses, they are so 80s yet so now, and they’re the best protection for your eyes.
-A tiny weeny bikini. I don’t wear tiny bikinis by the pool but there is something more liberating about being by the sea.
-And of course, my one my larger sarongs. Probably the Amber one as it sets off one’s tan so beautifully.

EC: What is your favorite beach in the world?
SF: My favourite beach in the whole wide world… what a tough question. I love to look out at the blue horizon on any coastline but nothing beats British beaches in the summer. Perhaps somewhere on the North Norfolk coast: It’s a world away from anywhere else up there.

EC: Where do you get the inspiration for your collections?
SR: Every design in my project is inspired by corals, and then 10% of the profits then goes to Corals for Conservation which is an initiative in Fiji. They work with fishing communities globally to restore their reefs, therefore creating a better habitat for fish.

EC: Which is your favorite design?
SR: My favourite sarong design is the Kaleida, the multi coloured patterns perfectly represent the spectacular reefs underwater!

I had the pleasure of meeting Bess Wyrick, Founder and Creative Director of NYC-based green floral house Celadon & Celery several months back at a chic eco event put on by Ecover. We chatted it up for a bit but she was pulled away by dazzled guests who were mesmerized by her floral arrangements.

I didn’t begrudge them their intrigue. Bess and her creations added color and life to the very pretty but  white-washed penthouse we were in. Her bright, royal blue espadrilles aside, something about Bess demanded attention in the most sweet and humble way. There was something beyond the obvious “green angle” Celadon & Celery has going on that makes them very different. I had a sneaking suspicion that there was a heck of a whole lot more that sets Bess and her business apart from any other floral designer in Manhattan.

Studio set-up prior to students’ arrival.

Since I didn’t have enough time with Bess to put my finger on it at the time, I resorted to a follow up email the next day to schedule an interview. She agreed and invited me to partake in one of her floral design workshops afterwards. How fun!

Several weeks later, I walked into a sunny Chelsea studio filled with– suprise, flowers! And lots of them. Bess was on a client call writing notes on her wall which doubled as a chalkboard. Her team fluttered about prepping for a floral workshop less than an hour away. Ivie, Bess’ business partner offered me a seat and some sangria and I took in the beauty and warmth of the studio. What I would give to do my work in such a space every day, I thought.

Bess Wyrick on the blackboard during class.

Bess happily greeted me and we sat to talk. Her focus not on her forthcoming workshop, her employees or a client’s big event. She was very much in the present, seemingly glad to take a load off for a moment to chat.

As it turns out, event and floral design isn’t as glam as I initially thought. Bess shared that while she loves her business and wouldn’t give it up for anything in the world, it requires a lot of blood, sweat and tears. “We’re here at the studio every morning at 5am on the dot and we work 18 and 19 hour days often. People tend to think we just sit in this pretty studio placing beautiful flowers in vases all day long but it’s not that glamorous at all. We work really hard.” Bess and her team do all of the heavy lifting and dirty work that each job requires. Hauling heavy boxes and flowers around NYC and whatever they have to do to make their clients happy.

And happy their clients surely are.

Ivie teaching the floral workshop.

Since Bess launched Celadon & Celery back in ’09, she’s created floral arrangements for weddings, dinner parties, showers, corporate events and everything in between. She’s retained a client base that keeps on coming back for more and Bess continues to take the company to new heights. It seems like everybody else is in the world is impressed by her “green” floral house. But she’s not at all impressed with herself.

She’s very passionate about the company’s eco business practices, but it’s so second nature to her that she doesn’t care to make a big deal out of the word “green.” When I asked her to describe how Celadon & Celery is sustainable, she smiled and said “it’s so engrained into our every day that sometimes I forget there’s this label to it!” Bess and team compost, source flowers from local growers and certified organic suppliers. They reuse and upcycle and Bess as well as the all-star team she’s composed live very ethical and organic lifestyles.

The final product, created by me!

Her business partner Ivie, for example, grew up on her family’s Macadamian nut farm in Hawaii. Ivie’s family ate what they grew, and she was raised close to the Earth caring for her family’s farm. Everything they grew was organic, and so when she came to the states, she was shocked and saddened by America’s mass-produced food. It seems perfectly fitting that in one of the biggest cities in the world, Bess would eventually discover Ivie.

Bess’ story is somewhat of an interesting on as well. She’s always had a deep appreciation for the environment and studied ecopsychology in college. In her post college/pre-Celadon & Celery days, she was an even younger entrepreneur in San Francisco designing her own clothing line and making wedding gowns. Her bridal clients began asking for additional services beyond gowns such as hand-sewn linens and floral arrangements. After just a couple weddings, she decided to stop designing dresses to focus on the flowers. She then trained under some of the best event designers and learned by carefully watching. Bess then moved to New York City, studied textile design and built Celadon & Celery on the side until she was finally able to sustain herself with it. The rest is history.

Even though Bess much prefers to design with flowers and not fabric these days, fashion still very much influences her day to day. Past and current fashion inspires her and her team’s creations. I asked Bess about what fashion trends we might see in some of her upcoming designs. She shared “A deep cobalt blue is going to be the shade for fall ’11, reminiscent of Yves Klein blue and post-World War II art.”

I think her answer sort of says it all. It’s artistic expression using flowers as paint, a vase and event as a canvas and mother earth and fashion as inspiration. Bess quite simply is an artist.

My Floral Creation.

Our conversation slowly came to an end as students excited for their floral workshop, (and maybe some sangria too!) began filling the studio. Twelve of us stood anxiously behind our stations, an empty vase and various tools before us. Bess took a back seat as her business partner Ivie led an incredibly entertaining and fun workshop. Ivie was funny, helpful and very patient. Bess would step in and help us floral arranging newbies as needed.

I learned useful floral arranging tips and tricks I’d never dreamed I’d ever learn. And I wound up creating a breathtakingly gorgeous arrangement. I stood above it for a moment shocked that I had actually creating such a thing of beauty.

My arrangement to take home in a reusable bag.

As I walked down 28th street, my vase in a re-usable Celadon & Celery bag, I finally figured out what it was about Bess that I couldn’t quite put my finger on at the event when we first met.

She and her company are real.

Bess is an eco-artist, not just a floral designer trying to put a green stamp on her work to gain more business and press. Everything about Celadon & Celery is authentic.You don’t just want Celadon & Celery to create and event for you or take a workshop with them, you want to hang out with them after it.

I highly suggest you try out one of their floral workshops for yourself! But if you don’t live close by to visit them at their NYC studio, you can rest assured Celadon & Celery will create arrangements and events across the country.

Streetsy from Etsy on Vimeo.

I’m loving this! “In a twist on the street fashion genre, Etsy asks New Yorkers who made their clothing — and more importantly, if they care.”

Who made the clothes you are wearing today? Would you like to know? What if all our new clothes had the names and faces of who made them on the hangtags – do you think that would encourage people to consider where their clothes come from?

Army green is an IT color right now (it has been for a couple seasons and continues to be, lucky for us!). It’s the perfect color for those of use who stick to a black, white, and gray wardrobe. It works well with most complexions and it’s easy to use as a base for some bold accessories.

For day twelve, I wore my little white dress open as a vest and modeled it over this army green dress. Good for the work place or out on the town, this is a super-versatile look!