Sustainable Fashion for Spring 2010

Neutrals, textures and cutouts ruled the runway at the New York Fashion Week GreenShows in September. Now, those styles are hitting the streets.
Also see a The Newspaper Dress and 17 More Utterly Unique Styles from this Spring's New York Fashion Week.

By Gloria Dawson

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Fashion Week in New York City is "kind of a big deal." So when I got the invite for The GreenShows last September, I was excited to see that sustainable designers had a big presence on the scene. The GreenShows Eco-Fashion Week event is a collaboration between fashion houses Bodkin, Izzy Lane, Bahar Shahpar, House of Oganic, Lara Miller, Mr. Larkin and STUDY by Tara St. James. The Spring/Summer 2010 fashions on display at King of Greene Street in Manhattan featured neutral colors, cutout designs and unique textures. Here are some highlights from The GreenShows event.

Lara Miller

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Lara Miller's collection included draped pieces with pops of muted coral, purple and blue. Miller uses organic cotton (new and recycled), hemp, vegan silk, soy fibers and other natural materials in her pieces.

House of Organic

house of organic, eco-fashion, the greenshows house of orgnaic

House of Organic represents a group of designers with the understanding that "fashion cannot be luxurious, stylish, or sexy if it is not sustainable, environmentally sensitive and socially responsible." This season their runway show's vibe was hippy chic with a splash of Pocahontas: free-flowing pieces paired with lace-up moccasins and feathers.

STUDY by Tara St. James

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Tara St. James, formerly of Covet, debuted her first collection this season. The sustainable line is a study of squares. Each piece is "transformable; [an] aspect of sustainability that hasn't been touched on as much," said St. James. She noted that the look shown here was actually being worn upside down.

Izzy Lane

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Izzy Lane by Isobel Davies is a leader in ethical luxury brands and animal welfare. The wool and knitwear in this collection is made with wool from 600 rare-breed sheep that have been rescued from slaughter.

Bodkin

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Bodkin's Spring/Summer collection was full of neutral separates with draped and ruffled details. All of Bodkin's pieces are manufactured in the U.S. using materials such as recycled polyester and organic wool and cotton.

Don't Bag Indonesia

rainforest action network, olivia zeleski, summer rayne oakes don t bag indonesia Opening night was celebrated with a Rainforest Action Network event, "Don't Bag Indonesia's Rainforest," which raised awareness about the country’s endangered forests, threatened by harvesting for paper shopping bags. The event highlighted the Rainforest Action Network's campaign to ask 100 fashion and luxury production companies to stop using virgin trees from the endangered tropical rain forests in Indonesia. Host committee members included former TDG staffer Olivia Zaleski and Summer Rayne Oakes. Zaleski, shown here with designer Bahar Shahpar, is wearing a bamboo fabric wrap and jewelry by Monique Pean. Eco-model and Heart of Green award winner, Summer Rayne Oakes is wearing House of Organic. Michael Kilowaski, CEO of Tiffany & Co was also in attendance. His company is switching its iconic blue shopping bags to environmentally preferable paper. He discussed the process at the event and called for more companies to switch to sustainable paper.