How I Wear Eco Fashion: Green Machine Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff

Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff is a one-woman Green Machine! The Founder of EcoStiletto.com and MommyGreenest.com, which are both incredibly useful (and wonderfully FUN) eco resources, she’s also the Interim Executive Director of Healthy Child Healthy World, an hard-working group that works for the wellness of the world’s most vulnerable citizens.

Not only is Rachel brilliant at her three jobs, but she’s a mother of three and always manages to look fabulous, without looking like she’s trying too hard. I’m going to let Rachel speak for herself in describing her personal style for this round of “How I Wear Eco Fashion” since I just couldn’t bear to edit any of this out:

“Here’s why I love writing about eco-fashion: If it didn’t, I’d be broke. Maybe I just never grew up and I’m now my own doll, but I really love clothes, and what I now know about the environmental costs of manufacturing them helps me resist the urge to buy. Of course the fact that I have two jobs and three kids also cuts into the shopping habit–it’s pretty hard to waste a day at the mall when all you’ve got is 30 minutes between soccer games and you’re trailed by a posse of rugrats.

But back to the clothes. I scored the skirt at Give Plus Take, a swap shop here in Los Angeles where, before I took a full-time job at Healthy Child Healthy World, I could justify spending a few hours in the name of research for EcoStiletto. Swapping is the new thrifting: You get to reuse clothes and clean out your closet at the same time. The best thing about Give Plus Take–aside from the amazing clothes–is its’ visionary owner Dora, who is an incredible stylist, too. She encouraged me to try on the skirt, which is “vintage” J. Crew circa 1990. It has these awesome penny-like accents on the waistband and a pretty dramatic slit up the front. You can’t really see it in this picture but trust me, it’s racy.

The shirt is my guilty pleasure. When I found out that I’d be joining the Healthy Child team, I worried that after living in my home office rabbit hole for four years I wouldn’t have enough “work-appropriate” clothes to make it through the week. Had this transition come in April, stocking my closet with eco-fashion would have been a no-brainer: Everyone from H&M to Payless roll out their annual offerings of organic cotton and recycled poly for Earth Day.

But this was January. And I was panicked. So I did what any self-respecting fashionista without a Barney’s budget would do: I went to Anthropologie. Yes, the clothes are mostly made in China. Yes, I have concerns about their environmental footprint. But I fell in love with this silk shirt and I’ve worn it every week since then.

I’ve totally rocked the long recycled leather Fahmina shoulder-duster earrings to accent the ’70s vibe of this outfit, but because this was a work day, I added conservative vintage jewelry like my grandmother’s 1930s Hamilton watch–paired with my new favorite earrings from Christine Mighion. You can’t really see them in this picture, but they’re teeny-tiny hammered hearts made from recycled rose gold that make me smile each and every time I put them on. Like today.”