People Tree + Zandra Rhodes: How I Wear Eco Fashion
I’m a longtime fan of People Tree (check out my great striped dress from a few seasons ago!), the UK’s biggest and most well-known (not to mention affordable) eco fashion brand. So I was beyond excited when I heard that legendary designer Zandra Rhodes was teaming up with the brand. I took my organic cotton Wave Print tunic, designed by Rhodes, out for a spin in the sun!
Having recently relocated to California, I’ve been checking out the neighborhoods, and last weekend, headed out to Oakland, which is experiencing a cultural revival of late. Simon (my partner) and I took the bus from Berkeley (we are car-free for the first time in our lives!) and walked all over the place, from the famous Walden Pond Books, down to Lake Merritt—above. The happy-fun Rhodes print on my dress matched the day perfectly.
There’s lots of great old architecture in Oakland, including this gorgeous theatre. Opened in 1928, it was originally called The Baghdad. Music was provided by the 20-piece Herbie King Band plus an organ player pounding away at a Wurlitzer Opus. It stopped showing first-run films in the 60s, was a soft core porn theatre, then closed in 1970. It was to be a mall, then a parking lot, then was saved and restored. Now it is a live music venue and owned by the Oakland School of the Arts (the school uses it too).
We ended our walking tour at Awaken Cafe—above before heading back home on the BART. My People Tree tunic was the perfect choice (paired with a made-in-Canada hat by Andre, Pons Avarcas shoes from Spain, and a vintage suede backpack) for an end-of-summer’s day out and about and will be the perfect layering piece come fall.
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Starre Vartan
Starre Vartan is founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick.com and the author of the Eco-Chick Guide to Life. She's also a freelance science and environment writer who has published in National Geographic, CNN, Scientific American, Mental Floss, Pacific Standard, the NRDC, and many more. She lives on an island in Puget Sound with her partner and black cat. She was a geologist in her first career, and still picks up rocks wherever she goes.
