Eco-Chick · The modern girl's guide to living green & fabulous.

Lara Miller: Eco Fashion’s Quick Change Artist

Eco Fashion designer Lara Miller is an Eco Chick fave; her supermodern, often convertible, sensuously romantic, yet travel-friendly designs are deceptively simple but always on point.

Lara says she didn’t plan her designs for the travelling types (though they suit us so well), but that her ideas come from a playful, fun place that happens to result in highly variable separates (think dresses that can be worn three ways, or trousers that have adjustable hems):

I graduated from a very conceptual design program at the School of the Art Institute where I researched Eadweard Muybridge images and architectual theory by Gregg Lynn. I was fascinated with the idea of animation and gestures in every day life, especially when getting dressed. I wanted to give the wearer a relationship to their pieces and allow them to be more individual. As my line and I have grown up, the functionality has really become key.

The Fern Flip wrap in recycled cotton
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Lexus Teams Up with Eco Fashion Trailblazer Linda Loudermilk

The Luxury Eco driving glove by Linda Loudermilk is hand crafted in the USA to superior standards. The glove is constructed from recycled water bottles, reclaimed leather, and Mud Dyed Cotton.

Eco-luxe designer Linda Loudermilk, a Lexus Dark Ride partner, designed the beautiful Luxury Eco driving glove (above) especially for the company. The glove will eventually be available to all shoppers but it is now part of a limited edition run and being offered to Lexus Dark Ride cardholders at 20% off.

What is Dark Ride? Well, first it’s an interactive short film where you sit shotgun next to indie bad boy Norman Reedus (it’s actually really fun, like an updated Choose Your Own Adventure). But then it’s an affinity card, The Lexus Dark Ride Card, for which they lined up some cool hotels, nightclubs and fashion partners that offer anything from “off-menu” cocktails and major discounts to limited-edition items, inspired by the company’s latest hybrid, the CT 200h.

If you’d like to get your hands on a pair of these gloves (haha!), you can try your shot at procuring the Dark Ride card. Available while supplies last by emailing info (at) lexusdarkride (dot) com.

Fairtrade Della Bags Connects Online Shoppers with the Women of HoeHoe, Ghana

Della Bags are a perfect compliment to this Summer and Autumn’s mad-plaid pattern-on-pattern trends. Well executed, with colorful, African-inspired motifs, they are quick and inexpensive anecdote to The Boring Tote, but crafted with a simple shape and strap so all the busyness is self-contained in a basic package, which is the key to working with extravagant colors and patterns.

Each bag is signed on the inside of the strap by one of the women-artisans of HoeHoe, Ghana who made it. This direct trade project enables the women who sew the bags to “gain financial independence by providing jobs, education, and skill training.” All the hobo bags (pictured here, and see more colors and patterns on the Della site) are made with vegan, sustainable, West African textiles.

Win Two Tickets to See The Flaming Lips from the American Express Zync Card

I’m loving my new American Express Zync card, not only cause it looks supersleek, but because it’s a charge card, NOT a credit card, which means that I HAVE to pay the bill every month (which is a good way to keep out of debt! Or at least not get any deeper, right?). I’m also a fan because I get to choose my own bennies, like discounts on green merchants (see below) and exclusive access to music events. And all cards come with American Express’ protections like replacement of lost or stolen items that are bought with the card, and automatic travel insurance.

The deal with the Zync card is that you get to put together your very own personalized card, choosing from the packs available and adding those you want (I chose the Eco pack, the Style pack and the Go pack for travel) and ignoring the ones you don’t (there’s also a Restaurant pack, a Connect pack, and more). Some of the packs are free (like the Eco one, and the Give Back that helps you hook up your favorite charities), and some of them have a fee attached, with the idea being that if you use the benefits, you will more than earn what you pay in rewards back.

This year marks SPIN’s 25th anniversary, and to celebrate, the magazine has teamed up with ZYNC from American Express to put on a series of five concerts over five nights in New York City, July 26-30. The shows will feature some of rock’s most exciting performers, including the Flaming Lips, Smashing Pumpkins, the National, Spiritualized, and the Black Keys. Additional tickets are on sale now by visiting Facebook.com/ZYNC and are going quickly!

To win 2 tickets to see The Flaming Lips at Terminal 5 in NYC on July 27th, leave a comment below telling us which AmEx Zync pack you would choose if you got the card and why. When you fill in the comment field, it will ask for you email address. This is the address I will use to contact the winner, so use a real email. Tickets will be provided courtesy of ZYNC from American Express.

Deets and Promises: Eco Chick does not sell, lease or lend any email addresses we collect. Contest ends midnight EST, Wednesday, July 21st, 2010. Good luck!

Disclaimer: I’m consulting with American Express on this card, but I only agreed to do so because I believe in its benefits and promises, and because it’s a charge card and not a credit card.

Rock the Reactors Event at Hiro Ballroom, July 14th

Model/green makeup artist May Lindstrom holding Philips’s new EnduraLED 60 bulb for McGraw-Hill’s Green Lighting book in their Green Guru Guide series. copyright: McGraw-Hill
Photographer: Courtney Dailey

Meet Seth Leitman and Brian Howard, the authors of Green Lighting, McGraw-Hill’s new book in their Green Guru Guide series during the Rock The Reactors benefit at the Hiro Ballroom in New York City on July 14, Bastille Day, 88th 9th Av. starting promptly at 8pm.

Rock The Reactors, an anti-nuclear group dedicated to the shut down of the Indian Point nuclear power plant 30 miles North of Manhattan, which includes many ex-Indian Point workers working green jobs in the solar and LED industry, is inviting the anti-coal and anti-nuclear leadership to meet trend setters in the green fashion and design community, creating a strong coalition in support of the work done by dozens of IPSEC member organizations to prevent another catastrophic accident.

Anyone and everyone with something to say, something to sing, will have three minutes on stage. Commoners and celebrities alike. Poets, musicians, activists, dreamers, salesmen, dancers… three minutes to express your dismay, desire or involvement in shutting down Indian Point! (or BP)

Bastille Day at the Hiro Ballroom is sponsored by the Project Green Search modeling competition, in partnership with Greendrinks, GreenMUA and Global Green USA. Sonic soundscapes provided by Martin Ear. Performance by C.B. Heinemann.

For all the information on the event, sponsors, participants, visit the Rock The Reactors website and the Greenloop blog.

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