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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What's Wrong With This Picture?

In a country with a population of 1 billion and the average individual income less than $500 USD per year, it might seem sort of perverse to parade around a group of impoverished people holding expensive designer accessories and then photograph them for a fashion magazine layout. In fact, that is exactly what Vogue India did for their August 2008 issue.

Over half of India’s population lives on less than $2.00 per day. Yet, here in the glossy pages of this so-called “fashion” magazine, are images of a toothless old woman in traditional Indian dress holding an infant in a $100 Fendi bib, and an old man with holes in his dirty shirt holding a $200 Burberry umbrella.

The editor of Vogue India, one Ms. Priya “let-them-eat-gulab-jamin” Tanna was quoted in a New York Times interview saying, “You have to remember with fashion, you can’t take it that seriously. We weren’t trying to make a political statement or save the world.”

Ms. Tanna, I respectfully disagree. Welcome to the new world of Sustainable Fashion. This is precisely the kind of exploitation that has managed to rile so many fashionable people and launch a movement toward fair labor practices, ethical manufacturing, fair trade, and ecologically sound products.

Not to put the blame entirely on Vogue India, however; it seems that luxury brands are clamoring to get at the top 1/10 of Indian households which hold the majority of the country’s wealth. While millions of people sleep in filth with no access to running water, billboards and magazines full of Western status symbols taunt them, and at the same time, entice the Indian elite to own all the right logos.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a socialist. I don’t think everyone on earth should have the same amount of money or property or Gucci. I’m saying that, if by chance, you have been lucky enough to receive more than your fair share of this world’s luxuries, try not to humiliate and exploit the less fortunate just for the sake of “fashion”. As they say in India, that’s just bad karma.

Help Fight Chocolate Extinction!

First the honeybees (and duh, the honey) and now chocolate is on the decline? Say it ain’t so!!

According to this CNN article on the subject of chocolate extinction, “Yields are declining all across the cocoa plantations of West Africa, where two thirds of the world’s supply is grown, as soils are degraded and the area able to support the crop retreats>”

But wait, there’s a solution!

I only eat fair-trade chocolate made from organic cocoa beans- and you should too! Not only does it taste soooooo much better, it prevents the very situation that’s degrading the land where cocoa beans are grown. The deal is that to make money (and cheap chocolate), farmers in Ghana and other chocolate-growing countries have to take down the rainforest and plant cocoa bean plants in unnatural ways. And what happens when you mess with Mother Nature?

The problem is that cocoa is naturally a rainforest plant that grows in shady conditions surrounded by a high biodiversity, but recently hybrid varieties have been grown on cleared land as mono-cultures and in full sun.

While this will give higher short term yields, the soil quickly becomes degraded and the lifespan of plants can be cut from 75 or 100 years, to 30 or less. When the trees die and the land is exhausted the farmers must move on and clear more rainforest to plant cocoa.

No chocolate (horrors!) AND no rainforest (probably worse-no, I admit, definitely worse).

Three of my favorites are pictured above (and don’t forget, dark chocolate is healthier than milk and because it’s vegan, it has a lower carbon footprint), so stick to organic, fair trade dark chocolates, which support healthy growing conditions for cocoa plants- and for the people that farm them.

TRY: Divine Chocolate (from an awesome worker-owned cooperative, this stuff is AMAZING!)
Green and Black’s (crazy yummy flavors like Ginger)
Trader Joe’s house brand (my fave is with pecans and raisins)

Yes, they are more expensive- chocolate is a treat and should be labor-intensive to grow if done properly. So eat less of it, and enjoy it more! Commercial chocolate tastes like wax flavored with old cocoa beans swept off the floor of a Dickensian factory (probably I’m not far off). Hey, if we don’t save the chocolate, think about what’s left!! CAROB. ‘Nuf said.

Eco-Fashion Makes Local Farmers Happy

The organics industry is expected to boom faster than ever in the next few years. And I’m stoked.

It seems like everywhere I look, someone else is going organic. Just the other day I was perusing my favorite store, H&M and came across and entire organic section, that I had somehow missed the other times I was in there. We’re seeing them pop up all over – The Gap, American Apparel and prAna. It’s cool to be granola, and the farmers are loving it. As with the new craving for locally grown foods, the local farmers are starting to feel the love sustainably harvested homegrown threads.

Both American Apparel and prAna are not only continuing their lengthy organic roots, but will be doing so from Southern California to offset the carbon burned while transporting the goods! Woo!

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