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

Emma Watson’s Sustainable Style Collection for People Tree

The newest installment of Harry Potter (Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1) came out this past weekend and the world could not wait to see their favorite actors battle with the evil wizards that aim to take down the good (for good!). If you are a fan of the series, you’ve seen Emma Watson’s Hermoine mature from a timid, supersmart wizard-in-training to one of the most powerful Muggles on-screen.

Actress Emma Watson, who plays Hermoine, has also grown up, from cute girl to fashion icon, with her latest modelling contract for Burberry. But Watson’s more than just a poster girl, she’s an ethical fashionista too, having recently collaborated with the UK’s super-sustainable line People Tree.

Emma’s line is called “Love from Emma” and though it’s technically for girls, there are some really cute pieces ladies of any age could rock. To ensure the sustainable characteristics are met, People Tree works with 50 Fair Trade groups in 15 countries. That means more work for more artisans. In other words more work means better conditions which leads to the alleviation of poverty (now that is cool.)
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Artful Undergarments: Rio Wrenn’s R.A.W. Eco Lingerie Collection

Portland, Oregon based textile designer Rio Wrenn has a unique vision for lingerie, combining modern eco friendly materials and dying techniques, antique constructions and ethical manufacturing to create her line, R.A.W. “I started R.A.W. in 2007, which is inspired by vintage undergarments ranging from the 1800′s to the 1950′s to modern day,” says Rio. Her collection of corsets, bras and undies has a special look, and with the Summer and Autumn 2010 trend of exposed undergarments, she’s right on target with perfect base layers for style mavens and lingerie fans alike.

And not only is Rio a conscious creator of unique pieces, she’s an advocate for women’s bodies and all the curves that go with them, and explained that her corsets aren’t meant to be restrictive or to reshape a body (she’s a fan of hips especially). “Corsets are actually very therapeutic, they make you stand up straight! I think people have a bad vision of corsets, but I don’t make them to be oppressive, they should be comfortable and supportive,” she says.

Each piece in R.A.W.’s collection is also a work of art and are handmade in Portland. Rio is a visual artist, but found that fine art was often out of reach to many people; fashion is a way to take a creative project and make it more accessible, wearable and affordable, she says.
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Getting Eairth-y: Fabulous Phillipino Eco Fashion

I picked up some great Fall pieces at some of my fave Eco-boutiques in NYC last week, discovered some new lines (which I’ll be sharing soon in an upcoming post) and tried on A LOT of different stuff. I was really excited to try Eairth’s dresses, which I first saw at the Fashion Flipside event on the LES at the end of the summer. Kaight was carrying several styles, and I especially loved the dress above, which, paired with my over-the-knee black faux suede buckle boots made me feel like an eco pirate lass!

Besides all organic, natural (and super-soft) fabrics, incredibly low-impact dyes (you can see slight variations in color when you get really close to the dress above), the Eairth dresses both seemed very architectural, with boning in the bodice of the one at the top, with another layer of fabric over that, and many zillions of gathers below the waist of the second. I find that this attention to detail is pretty uncommon and I thought it lent an air or old-world style to both pieces.

For a great interview with Eairth’s designer, check out paolosavi.

A quick (and Fascinating!) excerpt:

….the anchor was truely when i was exposed to the mangyan tribe in mindoro during a hike through the jungle. stumbling into their little village.. I saw one of the mangyan girls wearing a thrashed, weathered ACDC rock tee shirt with a primitive woven frill skirt.. she had a machete(knife) roped around her waist … i was so inspired by this that i had to do it… the sun drenched colors all faded out… greys and this sort of chalky coral and stained whites….so we went on that trip to south africa to look for natural pigment sources… having a difficult time figuring out how to manage the importation of mud, claya and tea…. decided to look for resources here in the philippines. We found it…
realized that we were able to extract endless colors from leaves, fallen wood/bark….

For images of the dresses from the Fashion Flipside event, see pix 4 and 9 from my coverage of the day.

Toggery Collection by Kate D'Arcy

Kate D’Arcy with some of her Fall designs

Designer Kate D’Arcy, 26, is a new up and coming ecofashion designer, and I was lucky enough to get to check out her line in person last week. Kate’s debut line for her label Toggery, is made up of basics with flair, and as you can see from the pictures, tons of color too! All fabrics are super-soft, and for autumn I particularly loved the organic cotton fleece cropped jacket (not shown below) and the soft and comfy cowl-necked dresses. Her designs look great and are flattering to the female figure, yet all the pieces I checked out seemed versatile enough so that I could see wearing them to work and for hanging out on the weekend.

Kate says that she wants to make clothes for people who are from all walks of life, including but not limited to treehuggers and environmentalists. She says that by creating a line of fashions that are both fun, affordable and gorgeous, even non-eco chicks will want to pick up her stuff, just because it looks great. It’s that kind of attitude that is bringing ecofashion out of the ‘green’ corner, and will get lots of people into organic cotton whether they do it on purpose or not!

Kate uses organic cotton and sustainable dyes, and all her fabric is made, dyed and sewn in her home state of Pennsylvania, which I think is super-impressive since fewer resources are used to ship fabric around (reducing Toggery’s carbon footprint). Also, by having her designs sewn in the U.S. D’Arcy is supporting American seastresses, who are paid a fair wage.

Check this page for info on where to buy Toggery near you!

Blake is the New Pink

You’ve gotta love a company with a moniker like Blake Hamster. Besides the cute-as-a-tiny-rodent name, the company is actually a group art project, not just another fashion label:

Blake Hamster is a collaborative effort by a loose network of designers, artists, marketeers, journalists, authors and musicians from all over the world. It is their aim to experiment with different products, production processes and distribution models while upholding a set of aesthetic and ethic ground rules.

A Blake Hamster release may take on many forms. This time it is a range of shirts, next time it could be anything from sweaters to a collection of household wares with a stylish twist, to a magazine or an art-show.

Check out their limited edition 80′s rocker-inspired shirts, which are sweatshop-free, made from 100% organic cotton and printed with non-toxic water-based dyes.