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

Lara Miller: Eco Fashion’s Quick Change Artist

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by Starre Vartan · 07/27/10

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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2010, art, car, Chicago, clothing, cotton, design, dress, dresses, eco, fabric, fabrics, fall, fish, News, newspaper, north carolina, ny, paper, recycle, recycled, spa, t-shirt, t-shirts, Theory, travel

People Won't Change for the Environment (on my campus)

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by Katie Kish · 09/03/09

A recent article outlines a pretty simplistic poll conducted in London about people’s willingness to change their behaviour for the good of the planet.

A straw poll of 15 British men and 15 British women between the ages of 25-75 in central London, showed all were willing to make small changes for the environment, such as recycling, but few would commit to more fundamental changes to behavior.

The outcome was pretty surprising. People will “try” to drive less, and others take a shot at proper recycling. But no one is ready for a change in their lifestyle. This inspired me. I was sure I could find better numbers and results here in Toronto, Canada. We are supposed to be eco-friendly up here, right?

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bags, book, books, business, car, clothes, clothing, consumption, eating, Eco-Chick, electronics, Energy, Food, fur, Home, local, London, meat, News, plastic, plastic bags, plastics, Recycling, reduce, skin, style, Vote, women

Eco Chic Weekly 8/29/09

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by Amanda Quraishi · 08/29/09

Eco Chic Weekly compiles the best of the best in green fashion and beauty blogging each week. Please feel free to copy and use this post on your blog with a link back to Fashion, Evolved.

• Learn how to make ethical fashion choices and upcycle your existing wardrobe this week on Green Girls Global.
• Check out the Eco Fashion World interview with Maroussia Rebecq, founder of the Andrea Crews Collective.
• Eco-Chick has rounded up some Eco Fashion News from around the web!
• The Eco Diva goes local with Etsy.com!
• Learn about Bangladesh Garment Factories Going Fair Trade at Ethical Style!
• Check out Curatorial’s Limited Edition Collection featured on Feelgood Style.
• Green Grechen discusses the impacts of milk silk.
• Want to see some of the best organic fashion on sale today? Green Lashes and Fashion has a round up!
• 8 Ways to Get the Closest Eco Shave for Men and Women–on Greenopia!
• Inhabitat is featuring the very drool-worthy Noon Solar Bags.
• Modern Hippie Mag has a question about hair oil in their Ask the Beauty Chick column.
• Are You a Green Beauty? Take the Quiz on Planet Green!
• Upcycled bags are better the second time around…so says The Alternative Consumer!
• Join in the Vintage Jewelry Obsession this Fall at The Green Girls.
• The Thrifty Chicks are Standing Naked in a Thrift Store.
• Treehugger dishes on the 7 Common Cosmetics Ingredients You Need to Avoid!
• Fashion, Evolved interviews Jaszy McAllister creator of ethical, beautiful Jaszy’s Jewelry.

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Eco Fashion News of the Week: August 28, 2009

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by Starre Vartan · 08/28/09

Treehugger’s reporting that Hanes is going to start making their inexpensive undies from hemp? Awesome! But Why now? It’s ECOnomics at work:

Because Crailar (the hemp-derived fabric) shrinks far less during production than cotton, its final cost is closer to regular cotton than organic cotton, which is 60 percent more expensive than its conventional counterpart.

If Crailar could be commercialized, says Matt Hall, vice president of external communications at Hanes, it would mean being able to produce organic fibers for everyday products at competitive prices. And considering that hemp grows faster and requires less water than cotton, the plusses keep adding up.

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AuH2O, Hanes, News, Summer Rayne Oakes

Crude, the Film, Shows Real Price of America's Oil Addiction (Hint: It's Not Just the Environment)

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by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 08/10/09

Crude is the story of a community of 30,000 tribal members in the Amazonian jungle of Ecuador who hold a corporation to bear for its crimes against their land, their livelihood, and most importantly, their lives. The film follows the intricacies of what has been called the “Amazon Chernobyl.”

The indigenous population claims that Chevron, the parent company to the former Texaco, spent thirty years contaminating the air, land, and water of an area the size of Rhode Island which is now called the “death zone.” Cancer, leukemia, and birth defects are among some of the effects of Big Oil. The film was shot and edited over a period of three years, with Berlinger and the crew sacrificing their own safety by facing both environmental (toxic fumes, disease, searing equatorial heat) and man-made dangers (shooting near the Colombian border where drug runners and FARC rebels are very active) to capture a story they felt must be shared with the rest of the world.

Berlinger’s cinematic sensibility paints a picture that captures the lush vitality of the Amazon, the horrendous atrocities endured by the tribespeople, and the complicated path that social justice must traverse, all the while avoiding cliche and stereotypes. Amazon Watch and the Rainforest Foundation have both been instrumental in bringing the Ecuadorian devastation to the public eye.

Trudie Styler, Sting’s wife, and noted activist, appears in the film to lend celebrity to the cause. Repeatedly referring to the Amazon as “the lungs of the earth,” Styler and others point to the far more serious nature of the toxicity than mere dollars can assuage. If Ecuador is in trouble, we are ALL in trouble. If tribe members cannot fish or swim, that affects us directly. Transnationals can no longer act in a vacuum of backyard antics.

Vanity Fair featured an article in the 2007 Green Issue on the case in Ecuador, and attorney Pablo Fajardo, who passionately represents the plaintiffs. In one scene in the film, Fajardo notes that he is not intimidated by the high powered legal team because he has truth on his side, which makes his work that much easier. He doesn’t have to work diligently to create lies about what is happening.

Without sensationalizing the health effects of the toxic swamp left in the Ecuadorian jungle, Berlinger simply allows the water to tell the tale. The water, the rivers, the streams, and pools appear fresh from a distance as children play, women wash, and people drink. Once approached, the rainbow sheen of petrol catches the light and the scent of gasoline sends heads reeling. The ground is soft sludge as the pollutants work their way through the soil and into the Earth. One of the Texaco/Chevron representatives claims: “this is not contamination, this is industrial exploitation that your government permitted.” Amazing. This film must be seen.

In order for this film to have a chance of being seen by the rest of the country, it must nearly sell-out in NY, LA and SF, so tell your friends, blog about it, spread the word…go see this film. Because the film doesn’t have huge marketing dollars, it’s up to people like you and me to spread the word online.

Here are some important screening dates: for locations click here
-NYC: September 9-22
-L.A.: September 18-24
-S.F.: September 25-October 1
-D.C.: October 23-29

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