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

Six Seasonless Eco Fashion Must-Haves: I've Worn Them!

I tried to keep my shopping to a minimum the past six months, but these super-wearable items were the ones I chose to spend a bit of cash on. Each of them is highly versatile, on-trend and most importantly, sustainable. They are also pretty seasonless, and I’ve been wearing them in all kinds of temps, and they all travel particularly beautifully.

Starre Vartan and Arina Vikdorchik at Kaight on the LES

NEVER have I worn a single piece of clothing so much. My organic cotton Prairie Underground Sweatshirt Dress works as a dress (as seen here, my friend Arina has one too!), as a coat over a dress, over jeans, or (admittedly) as ultracozy nightwear. Kate MacGregor at Kaight (where I bought this great piece) says it’s the line’s best seller and they keep making them in different colors. The hood is huge and makes me feel like I’m going to romp in an enchanted wood.

Um, that’s not my butt, but that is the style of my jeans!

Aristocrat Jeans are marketed as “Pure Luxury Denim” and they really nip and tuck in all the right places due to their excellent cuts and lines, which are designed to slimmify. They don’t stretch out in between washings, which always annoys me about denim and means I also need to wash them less (how eco!). They are made with a super eco-friendly dying process and have stayed nice and black. I got these at Kaight and they are still in stock there.

So delicious.

Melissa makes the cutest vegan shoes in all sorts of shapes, from flats (which they are famous for) to heels. Friends Jill Fehrenbacher at Inhabitat and Gloria Dawson at The Daily Green both love their ballet slippers in silver, but I’m a heels devotee, so I chose the Vivienne Westwood Mary Janes and they are comfortable to wear for walking around NYC and feel very Frenchy-chic with black tights.

Melissa’s ARE made of (usually-avoided in my life) plastic which is great for vegans and the factory where they’re made has tight controls on water use (making sure that any effluent is super-clean) and any chemicals used in production of the shoes are not ending up in any kind of waste stream, so I consider them quite sustainable, since the company is so attentive to possible pollution and they are high quality and long-lasting (and waterproof!).

At Greenwich, CT beach in November

I get insane compliments on my Virginia Johnson graphic print shawl made with eco-friendly dyes. It’s got duckies on it! Johnson is known for the quirky, modern and fun prints on her shawl-size neck warmers.

At Mammoth Mountain, Cali in March and the thermal baths in Weisbaden, Germany in December

And when I looked through pix, maybe I actually wear it more than my Prairie Underground sweatshirt dress. It is a huge, soft scarf, perfect for travelling, and she has a number of cotton scarves on offer for summer in her fab prints (you can also just buy her fabrics, and she makes cute clothes too).

Starre Vartan at left in the Fin dress, model in a dress from the Ryann collection by Raina Bleyer (at right).

My Fin Bamboo Little Black Dress is almost too wearable. Though it doesn’t seem to be still on sale anywhere (I found my at Ekovaruhuset), there are a few similar styles at Equita.

My Romp tunic-length t-shirt- and look closely- I’m wearing the Melissa pumps!

Romp (based in the UK, but they have a super-sexy store in Los Angeles) makes some serious ecofriendly leather goods (their story is fascinating), and lucky for me really fabulous organic cotton t-shirts too. This one has a dirty French limeric on the front, and an unusual length and cut. Love the longer-still-short-sleeves.

Eco Chick Third Birthday and Book Party: Fun for All (Species)!!

Eco Chick is three years old! To celebrate her growing up (there are over 900 posts!) as well as the launch of my book, based on the blog, The Eco Chick Guide to Life: How to Be Fabulously Green, called for a kid’s themed party of course!

Eco Chick Founder and Editor, Starre Vartan, with Eco Chick Writer Kim Jordan Allen

I didn’t know how I was going to pull it together, but in just two days, the fabulous Kate McGregor, owner of Kaight, my favorite ecoboutique, and Arina Vikdorchik (AKA Arina Greenaholic for her eco party-planning fabulousness) offered me a venue, and some extra time and hands to help, and I HAD to go for it!

Kate McGregor and friend, and party guests!

I will, of course, be FOREVER indebted to Kate McGregegor of Kaight, for not only helping me dress fabulously, as well as GREENly but giving me such an amazing space to have my party. Thank you, thank you, thank you Kate! You are an honorary Eco Chick!

Singer/songwriter LiliAna Rose and art director for The Daily Green, Gloria Dawson

Soon, 360 vodka and Wolaver’s organic beer (both of which I buy, drink at home and serve when I entertain!) hopped on board as sponsors, which made me very happy since I consider them ‘my’ fave brands. Natura organic wines joined in with a delicious Sauvignon Blanc donation, and though I’d hadn’t heard of them yet, I was so glad they came to my party (with their wine!).

Ama the Bartender, and one of the many pooch attendees

Thanks soooo much to 360, Wolaver’s and Natura! A party without booze is no party at all (unless it’s a tea party, but this wasn’t).

Starre Vartan and Seth Leitman, author of Build Your Own Electric Vehicle, and Tiffany, Tatiana Gelfand and friend.

I am SO proud to say that all my food sponsors come from AMAZING women-owned businesses! Babycakes, which couldn’t be MORE local (it is about 3/4 of a block around the corner from Kaight) made up pretty purple and green vegan cupcakes, vegan and gluten-free banana bread, and brownie bites. They were so amazingly tasty I walked around with the box at one point but was just mostly eating them myself, hee hee. (I am NOT the kind of girl to skip eating awesome treats at my own party!) Babycakes was founded by the retro-cool Erin McKenna- thanks to Erin and her nice-as-could-be staff!

Brian Clark Howard, editor at The Daily Green, AKA DJ SocialPyramid

One of my favorite snacks, Laura’s Wholesome Junkfood, also supplied sweet vegan treats (their oatmeal raisin bitelettes are my fave low-guilt dessert when I’m at home of an evening). Laura’s is such a cool company, started by a doctor (named Laura!) who started her own good-for-you food biz. Thanks Dr. Laura!

Bonnie Hulkower and Emma Grady of Treehugger, and Boho Magazine‘s assistant editor Ashley Kittelsen and Boho fashion editor Margo Helliwell

SweetRiot, whose founder, Sarah Endline, I met years ago at NYC GreenDrinks holiday party, gave us lots of their directly-sourced, fair-trade, dark chocolate covered cocoa nibs in lovely martini glasses (I was so afraid there wouldn’t be enough chocolate!). And they were even nice enough to give me extras to take home after the party in their cute (recyclable, and original art-covered) tins. Thanks Sarah!

Guest, Elizabeth Harrington of Greenopia, and freelance writer Beatrice Aranow

Continuing with the women’s-owned theme, publisher and ecofabulista Gina LaMorte gave us a stack of Boho Magazines for our goody bags (My book is reviewed in the current issue-yay!!); the bags themselves were donated by Whole Foods (where I shop so much I feel like I practically earned those free bags, haha!). The bags are the cool new reusable Sheryl Crowe shoppers and so pretty! John Masters Organics, who makes my fave new haircare products, offered up samples for the goody bags (thanks!)

Arina Vikdorchik and Starre Vartan

I couldn’t have done this without the dogged persistence and unflagging energy of Arina Vikdorchik, who pulled all the nonsense together and made it make sense. Some unvarnished PR- use Arina next time you want to plan a party, green or not!!!

From left to right, Glenn Michael Gordon, Brook Wilensky-Lanford, Christina Rumpf and Rachel Carter, all of Columbia University’s MFA writing program.

From left to right, a friend, Josh Garrett-Davis, and Rob Verger, Columbia nonfiction MFAers

Thanks too, to all of you who came, including the incredibly supportive and loving cast of characters (I mean colleagues!) from Columbia’s University’s School of the Arts nonfiction (and fiction too!) writing program, my agent, Mary Ann Naples (didn’t get a snap of her, darn!!) of The Creative Culture, my publicity team, Emily Fry and Stephen Lee of St. Martin’s (who do a lot with very little!), Brian Clark Howard, my friend, DJ, proofreader for the book, and URTH Guy, my amazing girlfriend Cara Joy, who started off her day at her farm in Vermont gathering eggs and ended up at a book and blog party in the LES, and was indispensible the day-of, helping everything get done, and of course, Danelle Marqui Brown and Kim Jordan Allen, long-time Eco Chick writers, supporters, and fabulous, amazing, inspiring women all-around.

Shane McQuade, CEO of Voltaic systems and Margaret Lydecker, founder of NYC Greendrinks, and Meiling Chen, ecofashion designer

A big shout-out to my friends and colleagues at Greenopia, who are mostly on the West Coast, and whose NYC guidebook (and online listings) are indespensible for navigating this growing green world.

Arina Vikdorchik and Danelle Marqui Brown, Eco Chick writer

Starre Vartan, Michelle Legro, producer and host of Storyville and nonfiction MFA student at Columbia U. and James Yeh, fiction MFA student at Columbia.

Two people who could not attend but to whom I owe debts of gratitude are Dan “Mobius” Sieradski, Eco Chick’s webmaster, who’s single-handedly kept the site running all these years, and my Dad, who has supported the site since its inception, given me great ideas on how to promote it, and encouraged me to keep going with my ideas and aspirations.

Emily Fry and Stephen Lee of St. Martin’s, and Michael Schwarz, writer and animal advocate

Party Guests and a Pooch, and Starre Vartan and ecofashion designer Christine Marchuska in one of her own designs

Party Guests!

Fab Green Thanksgiving Weekend Sales

OK, so I totally forgot and just bought used books despite the fact that I was trying to partake in Buy Nothing Day. If you’re also doing a little shopping this weekend (trying to get a head-start on holiday gifts, of course!), then check out one of these eco-friendly boutiques:

Kaight is having a store-wide sale at the boutique in the East Village, or if you prefer shopping from home, enter “Thanksgiving” in the coupon code box at the checkout to get 15% off everything through Sunday.

Modify (a new online ecofashion store) is offering 25% off everything except vintage and pre-sale stuff… this new online store carries some of my fave brands including Toggery, Moral Fervor and Loyale. Sale through Monday.

We LOVE Etsy (the online source for recycled and handmade clothes, accessories, home decor and more that you buy directly from the creators) and they are having a 20% off sale this Sunday, November 25, as well as next Sunday, December 2. Check out the Etsy Trashion page for details on which creators/artists are participating.

Project Earth Day Fashion Show

By guest-blogger Josh Wiese

A few weeks back, o2NYC teamed up with Kaight to host a reception in honor of Project Earth Day . It was a great event filled with compelling conversation, surrounded by beautiful clothes, and saturated in Trader Joe’s best three-dollar wine.

The Project Earth Day fashion show, scheduled for this Thursday night, is a “showcase of hot, emerging designers on the green scene, and the future of fashion. The runway show will feature a stunning display of the latest apparel and textile designs in eco-friendly recycled fibers and found materials.” A display anticipated to be so stunning, that every guest seat in the runway showroom is filled.

The lucky few with seats will see some of the latest recycled threads from AuH20 and SDN; vegan shoes from Charmone; sustainable design from Ekovaruhuset, Covet, Doie, accessories by AgainNYC and many more.

See Eco Chick’s coverage of some of Project Earth Day’s participators like AgainNYC, Doie and Terra Plana .

For those of you just hearing about the show now, you can still kick off your Earth Day celebration in style by coming to the after-party at Myst from 9pm-2am (free drinks from 9-10).

The event is organized by USGBC Emerging Green Builders NY

NY Times Covers Vegan Fashion

The NY Times has a nice highlight of vegan fashion at NYC’s Organic Avenue and Kaight boutiques. Check it out here.