By Kristen Seymour – September 16, 2008
For the fashion-forward crowd, New York Fashion Week is practically a holiday. It’s a good thing I don’t live in (or near) New York, because I think I’d have a hard time staying away from all the parties and shows and general craziness that goes along with that madhouse. However, there is a serious downer to this festival of fabric and style — it packs a wallop on the environment with all its waste.
While there are plenty of designers who use fur and couldn’t care less about the environmental impact of their shows and clothes, some big names are going green. As Sebastian mentioned, London Fashion Week has its own way of recognizing sustainable style, and in New York, Aveda joined with several major designers to help “green” Fashion Week — Rodarte, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Alexander Wang, and Preen.
This is just a kick-off, though, for Aveda’s new Aveda Caps Recycling Program, which has a giggle-inducing tagline: Kick the Cap Out of Oceans Plastic. As you are probably aware, plastic caps are generally accepted for recycling, so Aveda is accepting them so they can create all new caps from 100 percent recycled caps.
This wasn’t the only fashionably eco-friendly event in town during Fashion Week, though — the Be EcoChic Event was held at the American Museum of Natural History, in the Hall of Oceans, under the big blue whale. If you’ve been there, you definitely know the spot — now, just picture a runway there!
This event showcased eco-conscious clothing by Edun, Sue Stemp, Maggie Norris Couture and more worn by famous faces like Lauren Hutton, Law and Order‘s Tamara Tunie, Alek Wek, and Malin Ackerman. The clothing was environmentally-focused in a variety of ways — the fabric, the dyes, and sometimes, the outfits were simply recycled, which is possibly the best way to make sure your outfit doesn’t impact the planet!
Events like this give me hope, but there is still so much to do, starting with you and me! If you’re a fashionista and dying to get your hands on this season’s trends, stop for a second and think — do you have things in your closet already that can be transformed into what you need? Can you get away with just adding a belt, rather than getting a whole new dress? And if you’re buying something new, consider buying it from an eco-friendly company and/or buying it as a high-quality piece that will last for years to come!