Six Seasonless Ecofashion Must-Haves

With these new women's styles, look and feel your best. Also see sexy green lingerie.

May 6, 2009 at 10:29AM by Starre Vartan | comment

I tried to keep my shopping to a minimum the past six months, but these super-wearable items were the ones I chose to spend a bit of cash on. Each of them is highly versatile, on-trend and most importantly, sustainable. They are also pretty seasonless, I've been wearing them in all kinds of temps, and they all travel particularly beautifully.

Starre Vartan and Arina Vikdorchik at Kaight on the LES

NEVER have I worn a single piece of clothing so much. My organic cotton Prairie Underground Sweatshirt Dress works as a dress (as seen here, my friend Arina has one too!), as a coat over a dress, over jeans, or (admittedly) as ultracozy nightwear. Kate MacGregor at Kaight (where I bought this great piece) says it's the line's best seller, and they keep making them in different colors. The hood is huge and makes me feel like I'm going to romp in an enchanted wood.

Um, that's not my butt, but that is the style of my jeans!

Aristocrat Jeans are marketed as "Pure Luxury Denim" and they really nip and tuck in all the right places due to their excellent cuts and lines, which are designed to slimmify. They don't stretch out in between washings, which always annoys me about denim and means I also need to wash them less (how eco!). They are made with a super eco-friendly dying process and have stayed nice and black. I got these at Kaight.

So delicious.

Melissa makes the cutest vegan shoes in all sorts of shapes, from flats (which they are famous for) to heels. Friends Jill Fehrenbacher at Inhabitat and Gloria Dawson at The Daily Green both love their ballet slippers in silver, but I'm a heels devotee, so I chose the Vivienne Westwood Mary Janes, and they are comfortable to wear for walking around NYC and feel very Frenchy-chic with black tights.

Melissa's ARE made of (usually-avoided in my life) plastic, which is great for vegans, and the factory where they're made has tight controls on water use (making sure that any effluent is super-clean) and any chemicals used in production of the shoes are not ending up in any kind of waste stream, so I consider them quite sustainable, since the company is so attentive to possible pollution. They are high quality and long-lasting (and waterproof!).

At Greenwich, CT beach in November

I get insane compliments on my Virginia Johnson graphic print shawl, made with eco-friendly dyes. It's got duckies on it! Johnson is known for the quirky, modern and fun prints on her shawl-size neck warmers.

At Mammoth Mountain, Cali in March and the thermal baths in Weisbaden, Germany in December

And when I looked through pix, maybe I actually wear it more than my Prairie Underground sweatshirt dress. It is a huge, soft scarf, perfect for travelling, and she has a number of cotton scarves on offer for summer in her fab prints (you can also just buy her fabrics, and she makes cute clothes too).

Starre Vartan at left in the Fin dress, model in a dress from the Ryann collection by Raina Bleyer (at right).

My Fin Bamboo Little Black Dress is almost too wearable. Though it doesn't seem to be still on sale anywhere (I found at Ekovaruhuset); there are a few similar styles at Equita.

My Romp tunic-length t-shirt -- and look closely -- I'm wearing the Melissa pumps!

Romp (based in the UK, but they have a super-sexy store in Los Angeles) makes some serious ecofriendly leather goods (their story is fascinating), and lucky for me really fabulous organic cotton t-shirts. This one has a dirty French limeric on the front, and an unusual length and cut. Love the longer-still-short-sleeves.

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