Does Sustainable Fashion Need A Conspiracy?

People Tree

AvantegardeGreen by Olcay Krafft Fashion

People Tree

"We cannot assume that the world will simply make a turn for the better. Just as we cannot count on the grey majority of the population to develop ethical and ecological awareness overnight.

We appeal to your bravery and your willingness to stand for the good things, to overthrow politics, and assume responsibility as a member of a global, sustainable, and rational consumer group.

To achieve this we must join forces and organize a conspiracy and spread the good in a Trojan horse of beauty."

The above quote is from THE KEY.TO's mission statement for the upcoming gathering this week during Berlin Fashion Week. I will be traveling to Berlin tomorrow to visit THE KEY as well as numerous fashion events and designer shows. As we look ahead to new and improved definitions for sustainable fashion and design during 2011, a 'conspiracy' might be just what we need, or at least some lasting goodness disguised as beauty. This is what I am searching for. Join me.

FNO: Fiber, Textile, and Slow Fashion Rules

Titania Inglis F/W 2010

There is no doubt that Fashion’s Night Out (FNO) is an occasion to celebrate fashion as we know, love, and covet it – up close and from afar. With a globe-spanning agenda aimed at rattling the timbers of gilt fashion houses and retail venues, FNO is also great way of celebrating the very fiber of what inspires us as unique style makers and shoppers. 

Whether you are in NYC, LA, Rio, or Reno, there is something for everyone this Friday, September 10. Given my passion for all things fiber, textile, and eco-related, here are a few of my picks for FNO happenings in NYC’s environs and beyond.

KRELWear 2 Go and Trunkshow at Kaight NYC (Sept 9 -10)

A two-day event at Kaight NYC where visitors can custom design their own ‘quickie couture creations’ with KRELWear’s talented knit designer, Karelle Levy. KRELwear’s philosophy is based in the simplicity and beauty of "toobular" knit design. Their stunning collections include sweaters, dresses, skirts and tanks, as well as colorful hats, scarves, leg warmers and cuffs. This will be a totally unique way to fashion a one-of-a-kind FNO couture creation, suitable for fashion week parties and fall fêtes to come.

Clothing Map (2007) by Daria Dorosh

Fashion Lab in Process (FliP™) at the American Folk Art Museum


Do not miss the launch of Fashion Lab in Process (FliP™), a one-of-a-kind fashion house created by designer and Project Director Daria Dorosh, PhD, with a social, economic and environmental agenda to carve a new sustainable niche in the fashion industry and support local young designers. FliP™ will show its first collection of garments and accessories in a 'fashion theater' installation at the American Folk Art Museum, 2 Columbus Avenue, between 65th and 66th Streets on Friday September 10th, from 5 – 7pm.

Daria Dorosh's recycled textile 'Wrist Loops'

Current participants include: Dorosh’s line of ‘Wrist Loops’ (jeweled textile accessories for both women and men) and fashions by eco-conscious designers, among them Meiling Chen of Fearless Dreamer, Phaedra Elizabeth, Laura Bond, and the local sustainable design collective Eko-Lab by Melissa Kirgan and Xing-Zhen Chung-Hilyard. A special fashion performance by artist Meghann Snow will be ongoing in the AFAM window.

'Slow Fashion' at The Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn

Titania Inglis F/W 2010

Come celebrate the official kick off of the fall season at the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn with an evening of slow fashion and design discussion, hands-on workshops, and local sustainable designers presentations. 

Recycled rubber band necklaces by Margarita Mileva of M2 Jewelry

6 – 7 pm 'Hack Sustainable Fashion' workshop with Giana Gonzalez
7 – 8:30pm Ecouterre eco-fashion panel and Q&A moderated by Jill Fehrenbacher of Inhabitat and Ecouterre. Invited panelists include Greta Eagan (FashionMeGreen), Caroline Priebe (Uluru), Sarah Scaturro (Fashion Projects/Cooper-Hewitt Museum), Titania Inglis, Shabd Simon-Alexander, and Laura “London” Shirreff (Waste Not Want Not)
8:30 – 11pm Shopping hours with local designers (reMade USA, Wiksten, Shabd, Titania Inglis, and M2 Jewelry), free DIY workshops, food, drinks, live DJ 


Visit The Textile Arts Center's website for more details

Ikou Tschuss Store Opening at 8 Centre Market Place, New York City

Ikou Tschuss unique knitwear designs are all hand-crafted and "the process of doing the work is vital to the form the design takes. Their production is staffed exclusively by grandmothers, who retain the old crafts-womanly approach to handwork—skills that owners Guya Marini and Carmen D'Apollonio feel are disappearing today."


You can weave together your own rockin' itinerary for the evening of September 10 via Fashion's Night Out.

Fashion in the Forest on the Fifteenth

Otto von Busch//Fashion Hactivist

There will be a sylvan fashion show to accompany CCANW's Fashion Footprints: Sustainable Approaches exhibition in Haldon Forest Park, Exeter, this Sunday 15 August from 3 to 5pm. The 'Eco Fashion Experience' incorporates a contemporary dance and music performance, a curated sustainable fashion show staged within the local forests, a special presentation by Fashion-Hacktivist, Otto von Busch, and a unique Black Fashion Bureau's 'Old is the New Black' garment recycling and dyeing workshop - bring your old garments for revamping (see image below).

'Old is the New Black' fashion recycling project

Admission fee of £12 (£10 conc.) includes a refreshing glass of wine and a slow fashion goodie bag. All details can be found on the CCANW website.  A brilliant way to spend a Sunday in the park.

Beyond Green, Good Design

Winde Rienstra's collection, 'The Mirror of Reason'


Beyond Green, Good Design
Monday, 9 November 2009
from 10:00am to 5:00pm

Hosted by AMFI – Amsterdam Fashion In­stitute and ArtEZ Institute at the World Fashion Centre in Amster­dam.

Besides an inspiring speakers programme with a variety of guests I&A - Ingrid Horsselenberg & Annouk Post, are organizing the Be­yond Green Gallery for the second time. Read more in Hiphonest during the week to come.

via Hiphonest