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

Polli’s Peter Pan Collar Necklaces

Polli is an Australian-based ethical jewelry company (run by women!) which uses recycled materials like stainless steel, sustainable plantation pine, and 100% recycled card. Their peter pan collars are, as you can see, beyond gorgeous; I would wear them over a blouse, as an added decorative touch, or with a scoop neck blouse. They have lots of beautiful filigree-type necklaces too, with mini-scenes on them (this one of a boat on high seas). So sweet!

NYC’s Little Cupcake Bakery: Eco Friendly Cupcakes with a Humanitarian Twist for FEED Japan

Cupcakes!

The Little Cupcake Bakery, located both on Prince Street in Manhattan’s SoHo and on Third Avenue in Brooklyn, has opened a “shop in shop” to benefit Japan. Recently I visited with Starre Vartan, Eco Chick’s editor, to try some cupcakes (delicious!) and support the bakery and it’s projects.

Take a cup of coffee like Eco Chick editor, Starre Vartan, while munching on some delicious cupcakes at the Little Cupcake Bakery.

An horrific earthquake hit Japan on Friday, March 11, 2011, reaching 8.9 on the Richter scale. It resulted in one of the largest tsunamis to date, both ruining and taking lives and wrecking homes. The FEED Japan bag was created to raise funds and bring support to the relief in Japan at such a crucial time.

The frosting must go on at The Little Cupcake Bakery.

But what does this all have to do with cupcakes, which seem totally removed from such a tragedy? Simply, it’s that the sweetest things in life should both be enjoyed, and do some good too.
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Amanda Seyfried Loves the Eco Casual Sanuks!

Amanda Seyfried is a Red Carpet-walkin’ actress. In the last few years she has captivated Hollywood in such beautiful films as Mama Mia and Letters to Juliet, not to mentions playing the defiant eldest daughter on HBO’s show about polygamy-with-a-heart, Big Love. She doesn’t let the intensity of public scrutiny get to her. She’s been seen running about doing errands in these low-key Sanuks for the last few weeks.
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Comfy Elegance: Bodkin’s Eviana Hartman’s New Collection for Hessnatur

Ecofashion designer Eviana Hartman was generous enough to take me through her capsule collection for Hessnatur, now available online.

Whether you want to call it classic, travel-ready, or just plain fiscally responsible, choosing clothes that will last you for years is the smart (and ecofriendly) way to dress. German label Hessnatur specializes in basics made with high quality fabrics, all of which are sustainably grown and/or produced by people who are paid a fair wage.

They relaunched the brand a couple years back when they brought reknowned designer Miguel Adrover on as lead designer, and now they’ve gotten Eviana Hartman, who designs her own line, Bodkin , to create a collection-within-a-collection for them for Autumn, 2010 (and moving into the future). Check out the video above for a close look at the collection, shown by Eviana.

The very versatile silk/cotton/cashmere long sweater is supersoft and can be wrapped and layered every which way from Autumn through late Spring.

The organic cotton patch leggings lend a bit of structure and style to this basic that we all never knew we couldn’t live without. These would look fantastic with a classic brown riding boot.

The cashmere slouch hat, which was featured in the September issue of Vogue. She told the magazine, “When you wear something November to March, it has to add a touch of cool to every outfit.” Indeed.

Check out NY Magazine’s profile for more about Eviana Hartman and her style.

You can shop Eviana’s collection here.

Brooklyn Designs 2010: Frameicarium’s Ant Farm Art

FRAMEicariums are the brainchild of designers Katie Vitale and Hugh Hayden, and they are seriously one of the coolest pieces of affordable art I have ever seen. They are ant farms reimagined as wall art, literally living sculptures made by the hard work of the ants enclosed in them. Using repurposed frames (some with and some without paintings behind them), these framed ant farms are reusable over time – just add more ants!

Check out the video below made at Brooklyn Designs, where designer Katie Vitale explains how the ant farm art works and where she and her co-designer got this crazy-creative idea from.