Poppomomo

Hells bells. Stop eating that Halloween candy, girl!

Like an epiphany, it dawned on me today that spring is just five months away, and I chucked my Heath Bar into the compost. True, we’re scarcely into winter, but the spring fashion alert is already on: Cutouts are everywhere and will be forcing us to bare regions more sacred than Area 51 (that’s the nether land just under your armpit, by the way).

Pieces like the one above, by Poppomomo, which I love, invite us to engage personal trainers to target Area 51 proper.

And this little ditty from Reif screams I’m pretty from the front, but what about my back? Is it tight enough? Moles all in a row?

Lara Miller isn’t remiss, either, with her floor-length goddess dress. I want to wear high ponytails just like her model. It says, Hey, I left the gym and just happened to throw this on.

Isn’t there any rest for the wicked who love pies, hearty soups and fresh-baked cookies?

Apparently not. So pay heed, oh darling bundled one, in your over-sized organic cotton number, in your Peruvian Highland wool and stretchy skinny jeans: Five months from now, you will be asked to bare.

Will you be ready for this warmer weather trend?

Modaspia’s Fiji Dress is something of an icon in the eco-fashion world when it comes to “go-to” dresses, which is why designer Ursula Dean produces the style seasonally.

This organic cotton and hemp indigo denim number is perfect for year-round wear, worn alone in the warmer months and for cooler days as follows:

1. Worn with a tight-fitting long sleeved tee and cardigan

2. Paired with patterned tights and boots

3. Layered with a crisp white collared blouse

4. Layered with a colorful tank, for a shot of color

5. Worn with leggings and flats

6. Draped with layered gold necklaces and sexy heels

How will you wear it? Make a comment below and register to win this very one and become a Fiji master.

It’s Saturday and you know what that means!

We’ve given you a best-selling wrap dress from Mountains of the Moon and a statement necklace by muichic crafted from tagua nuts and braided hemp. Today we’re bringing you a grab at something sweet and perfect for lounging from the designer Meadow.

Made from bamboo and organic cotton with cotton twill tape as trim on the boy shorts, you can tie the top’s shoulder straps and throw a cardigan over it in colder weather or wear as a stand alone top in warmer months.

The set is perfect as sleep wear, too, and the boy shorts can be worn as comfy undies.

A multi-tasking lounge act? You got it baby, but in this venue, you get to be sustainably sound and cozy at home rather than stuck listening to bad Barry Manilow covers in a smoke-filled room.

The set comes in black and cream for those of you feeling more copa than cabana.

For more styles and information on Meadow designs go to her site: meadow-designs, or see the Etsy page.

Here’s an article to stop you in your tracks.

Ecotextile News reports on the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, India -an area troubled by its farmer suicide problem – and the tribal area of Adilabad, Andhra Pradesh. For those of you not aware that watchdogs are necessary, you need only read on.

According to Coral Rose, founder of Eco-Innovations, companies like Designs LLC, (doing business as Jonäno), CSE, Inc. (d/b/a Mad Mod) and Pure Bamboo, LLC are guilty of deceptively labeling and advertising their products as made of bamboo fiber when in fact they’re made of rayon. Welcome to the Wild West of sustainable consumer goods.

The companies have been charged with making false and unsubstantiated “green” claims, stating that their finished products retain the natural antimicrobial properties of the original bamboo plant. Litigation continues against the fourth company The M Group, Inc., d/b/a Bamboosa, and its principals.

Susan Donaldson, senior buyer for eco retailer VivaTerra (full disclosure: VivaTerra is an EcoSalon sponsor), says the takeaway from this controversy is that our current system for labeling a product leaves a lot to be desired.

“Whether a material is called ‘bamboo’ or ‘rayon from bamboo’, neither one tells us much about the lifecycle of the product,” says Donaldson. “What kind of energy is used making this item and how much? What kind of dyes? What are the workers treated like? What happens when you dispose of it?”

Still, Donaldson is optimistic about the bamboo controversy.

“I believe there still is a great opportunity with bamboo, and just as we are seeing such progress in the organic cotton industry, I hope that manufacturers of rayon made from bamboo can also transition to more sustainable processing.”

VivaTerra sources their bamboo textiles from a fair trade company that maintains a closed-loop, carbon-neutral manufacturing process and factory – one of many bamboo companies making real efforts to improve both transparency and eco-credibility.

In researching the issue further, I read this story about Zameen Organic, a farmer-owned, organic cotton trading and marketing company. Zameen grows and promotes Fairtrade, organic and pesticide-free cotton and works with farming communities in rural India through GOTS certification. The funds amassed from the venture will be used to strengthen sales teams across the US, Europe and India with the aim of building up a presence at retail level and in particular in high-street stores.

Ecotextile New says, “Now numbering more than 4,000, the farmers, who invest their own capital into Zameen, hold the most shares in the company and play a big part in shaping the policies as well as benefiting from shareholder dividends.”

For every ton of raw cotton Zameen buys from farmers, they set aside an organization development expense of 1,100 rupees (approximately US$24) to invest in Zameen. Last season, Zameen harvested around 374 tons of organic cotton.

Though not a total solution for the region, Zameen Organic has helped substantially with a decrease in suicide farmers whose crops have yielded nothing and land sharks still bilk them for 60% interest. Many men, seeing no hope in sight, go out into the fields that are supposed to support them, drink the farming pesticide and die.

Though the bamboo textile industry in many cases needs improvement, I believe that the more sustainable options these farmers have at their disposal, the better.

Image from the collection of the International Rice Research Institute

Anna Korte of AK Vintage, me and Gretchen Jones of Mothlove meeting face to face for the first time during NYC Market Week

I just got back from selling at D&A during New York City’s Market Week and am tired. Like, I can’t get out of bed, don’t want to talk to another designer or buyer dry-heaving in the toilet tired.

It wasn’t because I spent the past week enclosed in a 10×10 space presenting clothing lines to legions of stuffy buyers or entertaining press and new friends over cocktails, it was because sometimes eco-fashion sucks the ever-living life out of me.

So much is there to consider all the time but Market Week, oh man.

From the designer’s manufacturing, amazing new ideas and business plans desperately being shoved down my throat over dinner to the buyers wondering how the heck they can sell this “organic crap” that scares their customers, I get to see and hear it from all sides.

Take note, we all choose our paths but sometimes the weight of it all is crippling when you compare it to how much easier non-eco designers have it (you know, not having to consider the planet and all). And I had to stare at many of them for four days.

I love designers – even have a t-shirt that says it – and true, there’s always the inherent design process that takes skill and a muse, but not designing sustainably has its perks (cheaper to source, easier to sell price point wise, not freaking out customers). Yet I still can’t believe all designers aren’t trying to do something sustainable.

Blah, blah, blah.

In a perfect world, I would wave a magic wand over the designer’s head and whisper three times “Your business now thrives,” and they’d gaily skip away clad in U.S. grown organic cotton and hemp silks to Dylan’s “The Times they Are A’Changin”.

Buyers would just know that educating their customers about what they put on their bodies was par for the course. Shoppers would consider their purchases and be more invested in the person who designed for them and know that by buying a simple coat this fall, they are also doing such virtuous deeds like helping an organic farmer through another season, putting food on the table of a local seamstress, allowing a designer to sleep peacefully through a night and enabling a boutique that does care the ability to buy consciously for another season.

Still, it’s hard to create progress.

After all, Marshall’s is having a fall incentive sale! So, another time we’ll do it, but not today.

But maybe, just maybe, we will begin to consider something else next time there’s a craving for boots or a pretty cardigan or even a new wireless bra. Maybe we’ll step outside the box to consider more than that purchase; prioritizing the dedication (or lack of it) involved in the process.

Me? I’m bound by it.

Mountans of the Moon Audrey Wrap Dress in Black

There’s nothing better than getting a piece of beautiful clothing for free. Unfortunately, how often does that happen?

When Melissa Baswell, founder and designer for the eco-clothing line Mountains of the Moon said she’d give us an Audrey Wrap Dress for our giveaway, well, we were quick to jump on it.

Who wouldn’t?

Elegant and super-flattering, this multi-use black or natural colored dress (your choice), features a soft 55% hemp, 45% organic cotton jersey that is perfect for all seasons. Setting itself apart from traditional wrap dresses, the Audrey is designed with a unique (and much more comfortable) pull-over mock wrap top, 3/4-length sleeves, side ties, and a chic, uneven hem that gives your legs the vavoom they need.

Yup. I wrote vavoom. Even if you think you don’t have it.

Made sweatshop-free in the USA and maybe free for you when you comment for the giveaway so start typing!

I love that designers are creating new road rules.

WWD recently printed a study saying a Mintel survey of 2,500 adults found that 54 percent said they would buy more green products. The report concluded that even in a period of reduced consumer spending, competitively priced green merchandise may do well because it stands out. Still, sustainably-focused designers realize they’re not exempt from the recession. And in an eco-pool so full of talent and expertise, is there really room for everyone to survive?

A handful of designers have some amazing takes on making their lines not only stand out but thrive.

We’ve written recently about Sustainability Across America and their cross-country drive to inspire and be inspired by the green community. Other new collaborations in the sustainable design world keep popping up, as well, like the NOW Showcase this September 20-21 in New York City as well as Content 09 October 18th in Portland, Oregon.

The NOW Showcase will feature 20 eco-designers in thelab, an integrated production studio and sustainable space powered by wind energy from upstate New York. The Now venue will feature a well-appointed collective of womens’ and menswear, accessories, organic body care and lingerie for wholesale viewings.

These men and women are opting for more transparent marketing targeting loyal buyers and lovers of their lines, reacquainting them on a more personal level.

For its inaugural CONTENT 09 event, 31 of Portland’s finest independent clothing and accessory designers will inhabit 28 rooms in the city’s Ace Hotel. Attendees will explore at their leisure while enjoying live music, libations, art installations and more. Founding group How We Develop intends on expanding CONTENT annually, with hopes to include the best national independents under one roof. Both venues will provide to buyers the ability for more personalized, one-on-one time with the designers and their Spring/Summer 2010 lines.

The natives are getting restless with the same old, same old. They have aggressive ideas that go beyond finding safety in three-season color palettes and cuts.

And we can be inspired to see egos put aside as designers embrace the reality that a powerful sustainable design market requires more than an organic cotton or bamboo tag.

From organic cotton garb to reusable serving ware, they have raised the bar in San Francisco this week as more than 1,500 Jewish teen athletes from 40 U.S. cities and four international countries (Mexico, Guatemala, Israel and Canada) compete in the Maccabi Games 2009.

This year, for the first time, organizers introduced a Green Team – a committee chaired by Miriam Gordon, an environmental activist, and games director, Jackie Lewis. Their game plan: a zero-waste event that completely circumvents the dreaded landfill.

Instead of the usual bottled water and other plastic beverage containers supplied to thirsty players, the participants have been issued reusable stainless steel water bottles to be refilled throughout the week of competition.

Garbage cans at every venue, from the polo fields in Golden Gate Park for soccer matches to the ritzy Meadow Club for golf – will be called eco-stations with recycling and composting labels for dispensing with waste.

“It’s a whole new way of doing the event,” Gordon told the Jewish News Weekly, adding that in addition to the reusable bottles, the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco (the event sponsor) will serve athletes kosher meals on reusable/compostable plates with reusable utensils.

Apparently, this will also cut down on a huge litter problem on fields and event sites witnessed at past games held throughout the country.

Lewis says it’s not unusual to see water bottles scattered on the ground or thrown in the garbage because the kids are so preoccupied with matches, they aren’t thinking about what they are doing (ahh, yes, those clueless days!).

But greening the event reinforces the message that the kids must learn to be the stewards of the planet and do their part to conserve resources and consume wisely. In other words, be keen green teens!

Other gold medal eco moves:

The transportation company hired to drive the teens uses buses that run on biofuels, posters have been printed on reclaimed cardboard, volunteer tees were made from organic cotton and the food served to athletes will be mostly organic and locally-produced. The organizers also made an effort to produce fewer paper programs and notices, and whatever they did print was double-sided and on post-consumer, recycled products.

Not to miss a beat, even the pins (above) that the San Francisco delegation was issued to trade with other athletes were forged of recycled PVC-plastic.

There’s also an online component that allows spectators and participants to calculate their carbon footprint during the week of games. They can offset the pounds of carbon produced by making a contribution to the Jewish National Fund or the Carbon Fund.

Images: Luanne Bradley

If you’ve spent even a minute clicking through EcoSalon’s plethora of fashion posts, you’re sure to have laid your eyes on plenty of Prairie Underground. So I’ll get to the point.

This Flutter Skirt feels like your favorite old tee or worn-in pair of sweats, but it looks more like a million bucks. Made of 100% organic cotton, it’s stretchy and form-fitting in just the right places.

The two symmetrical ruffles running down the front add a generous amount of girly to the comfortable Flutter Skirt. Simple and versatile, it’s the type of skirt that will stay stylish for seasons to come.

I’d wear it with heels to the office or ankle boots out on the town. Available in grey, black and chocolate brown in sizes XS to L, find it at tobi for $143.

Perhaps the most compelling argument you can make to your teenage daughter about wearing a school uniform is that the pleated skirt looks totally amazing with Uggs. “Your legs look sooo long, honey!” Tell your son girls have always had a weakness for the classics. Google Gregory Peck.

Naturally, there’s a more substantive argument new generations will surely learn soon enough. Doing one’s part in the collaborative effort to reduce consumption outweighs the fleeting thrill of showing up looking ravishing in something new.

From a mom who can’t seem to pry her two fashion beauties away from the bathroom mirror in the morning, those navy blue uniforms associated with prep academies and no-nonsense parochial schools would be a godsend! I repeat, a godsend! I’m as much a fan of fashion as anyone (perhaps even more as a stylist), but it is not the end-all of self-expression. And don’t forget, there’s always the weekend.

While simplicity is my main motivation, public school systems across the country are instituting school uniforms for other reasons. In 1987, Cherry Hill Elementary in Baltimore, MD, was the first public school to institute a uniform policy. In 1994, the Long Beach Unified School District in California followed sailor suit, the first urban district to do so. The driving force was getting kids to concentrate on lessons, not labels.

In 1996, when state laws were being passed to give public schools the latitude to insist upon blazers, khakis and those adorable jumpers, President Bill Clinton applauded the notion in a speech, saying: “If it means that the school rooms will be more orderly and more disciplined, and that our young people will learn to evaluate themselves by what they are on the inside, instead of what they’re wearing on the outside, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear uniforms.”

Three years later, the New York City district, the largest school district in the U.S, adopted school uniforms for its half-million elementary-school students. In a PBS report, the president of the NYC school board was quoted saying the policy is “important to diminish peer pressure and promote school pride.” You go, school board guy. I like the way you think.

Perhaps more U.S. schools need a uniform mentality like the one they have in Japan, where many public schools have boys clad in black pants and gold-button jackets and girls in skirts with sailor tops and matching vests. Sure, those Harjuku teens tweak the ensembles by hiking up the skirts or choosing the baggiest black pants. They go nutty with the shoes and Edward Scissorhands haircuts and knee socks. Meantime, nothing gets lost in translation. At the end of the day, you’re still in a low-maintenance uniform.

Here in America, going green is a new arsenal in the school uniform debate. So what if it crimps your style, dude. It’s like good for the planet. Almost all schools, public and private, encourage the recycling of uniforms, passing on used garments like other hand-me-downs children outgrow. Considering most students own several sets of uniforms, they often fall into the gently-used category, which is especially great for the K-6 population.

Beyond the reuse and recycle angle, there’s a burgeoning organic and fair trade school uniform market. Tesco makes organic uniforms of cotton shirts, trousers, pinafores and polo shirts (above) that schools can opt for and help school children in Kenya at the same time – children who otherwise wouldn’t be able to go to school because they can’t afford a uniform. For each pair of Tesco Save the Children Trousers sold, the company will give a Kenyan child either a school skirt, shirt or pair of trousers.

There, doesn’t that feel better than a rack of new Juicy Couture dresses and Abercrombie jeans? Sure it does. Now turn off Gossip Girl and do your homework!