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

Bon Iver’s Brand-new Video for “Towers”

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by Starre Vartan · 02/27/12

Incredible video; very post-apocalyptic imagery. I watched it twice and think there’s an environmental theme going on here. What do you think it means?

Bon Iver, Music, music video, post apocalyptic, Towers, video

Video: Olivia Zaleski Covers the Clinton Global Initiative

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by Starre Vartan · 10/04/10

Olivia interviews the CEO of Avon, Andrea Jung at the Clinton Global Inititiative

The Clinton Global Initiative was begun in 2005 by former President Bill Clinton in order to “…help turn good intentions into real actions and results.” Focusing on finding solutions to the world’s most pressing problems, the nonpartisan organization holds a yearly conference to discuss, highlight and take steps to solve the top issues of the day. Naturally, as the conference has grown, so have acknowledgement and inclusion of environmental issues.

Olivia speaks with Jeff Swartz, CEO of Timberland

Oliva says of the experience:

“Attending CGI is a great highlight in my career thus far. I feel incredibly inspired. Up next, attending not just as a member of the press, but as a commitment maker, contributing to an innovative solution to a great global need . . . someday!”

Former Eco Chick contributor and CNN/Fortune Green Business correspondent Olivia Zaleski was on hand to check out the CGI and fills us in on what went down.

Olivia Zaleski reports from inside the Clinton Global Initiative, where global leaders are gathered to create practical solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues through the development of specific and measurable commitments to action.

In their second video report from the Clinton Global Initiative, correspondent Olivia Zaleski and filmmaker Gabriel London show us how public and private power is being applied, in the form of specific and measurable commitments, to help solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.
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climate change, Green Business, video

Eco Chic Exhibit Now On at Scandinavia House, NYC

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by Starre Vartan · 06/02/10

Righteous Fashion

Leave it to the Swedes to put together an exhibit concerning eco fashion that’s both beautiful and seriously thought-provoking. Eco Chic: Towards Sustainable Swedish Fashion, which runs through August 21st, is a multimedia endeavor that showcases the whys, the hows and the hows of sustainable design.

Video by Eco Chick Contributor Alicia Lubowski-Jahn

First up, I checked out the short film about Dem Collective, a grown-to-sewn operation in Sri Lanka which both pays workers twice the typical wage and still makes a profit (as well as utilizing low-impact fabrics in production). The film asks the right-now question, “Is there such a thing as sustainable globalization?”

Dem Collective tunic shirts

Striking to me was the exchange wherein the narrator of the film asks a local Sri Lankan worker (not employed by Dem Collective, but instead works for a typical garment manufacturer) who is agitating for local labor rights, “Should we be ashamed that we don’t pay you more for your work?” The seamstress answers, after a moment of thought, “Yes.”
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eco, exhibition, Fashion, film, men, mom, ny, NYC, sustainable, video

Brooklyn Designs 2010: Frameicarium’s Ant Farm Art

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by Starre Vartan · 05/28/10

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.

art, decor, eco friendly, video

United Nations Celebrates Fibers and Biodiversity with Eco Chic Fashion Show in Geneva

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by Starre Vartan · 02/27/10

I just ran across this video from the eco fashion show that was held a few weeks ago at the Palais de Nations, the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. (See if you can spot eco models Summer Rayne Oakes and Kate Dillon among the grey-coiffed walkers.)

EcoChic Fashion Geneva brought 2009, the UN’s Year of the Natural Fiber to a close and ushered in 2010 as the Year of Biodiversity, with the show shown above, as well as other events. The clothes above were created by couturiers Thakoon, Diane von Furstenberg, Noir and others, from ecomaterials or local fabrics in a palette of black, cream, and red. Ready to wear collections by Edun, Nixxi, The Battalion, and more were also shown.

But the event wasn’t just about admiring the clothes. Panels on a variety of subjects informed attendees of the various aspects of fashion’s impact on people and the planet. According to Abigail Doan at Ecouterre, the panels explored “..the dearth of affordable environmentally friendly textiles, the absence of government support for students and young designers in developing nations, and the lack of consistency in sustainability standards (or even a shared vocabulary) worldwide.

For more images and info, see Ecouterre.

designer, eco fashion, Europe, Fashion, video