The Trench Coat Is Dead. Long Live the Trench Coat (Dress)!

For the second season of The GreenShows, models strutted down the runway showing off the best in sustainable, recycled and really awesome attire. This year the events were held at a new yet-to-be inhabited eco-friendly apartment building in New York City's East Village.

The GreenShows opened with a unique showcase of Gary Harvey's recycled couture. Newspapers and laundry bags rustled down the runway, along with old sweatshirts and baseball jackets repurposed into gowns.

The collection was designed to challenge people's perception of secondhand clothing. Gary, who was previously creative director of Levi Strauss and Dockers Europe, believes, "Too many garments end up in landfill sites. They are deemed aesthetically redundant and get discarded at the end of the season when there are often years of wear left." So, we say, long live the trench coat! Long live the baseball jacket! Long live whatever else Harvey uses to create his collections!

This garment was created using 30 copies of the Financial Times.

Who says print is dead? It's alive and well, living as eco-couture.

The Mac dress was created using 18 trench coats.

Trench coats are designed to last for decades, but this probably wasn't what the creators had in mind.

It took 21 laundry bags to create this dry-clean-only garment.

The Denim Kimono was created using recycled denim jackets and jeans.

Fourteen little black cocktail dresses from the 1980s were used to create this funeral dress.

The humble gray-hooded sweatshirt — 14 of them, to be exact — reconstructed to create a skirt and top.

The GreenShows was sponsored by natural beauty company Weleda, and its Skin Food lotion was honored in this creation.

It took 350 boxes of Skin Food to create this masterpiece.

Polka-dot dresses from the last century were reconstructed to create a new silhouette.

Are you seeing (recycled) spots in your fashion future?

One dress and one message, created by 20 organic cotton T-shirts donated by Katharine Hamnett.

Twelve British university wool scarves were reconstructed to create this spirited dress.

Eight floral print maxi dresses from the '70s were used to create this hot halter.

Rugby shirts scored a new life with this dress.

Ten rodeo shirts were wrangled to create this look.

Often the cheapest of garments (here, T-shirts) are given a moment to shine.

The crowd waits for the show to begin.