Farm Girl Redux

image via Italian Vogue & Take Our Sweet Time

Off to the country this morning to check on the new baby lambs, attend my mother's spinning meeting this evening, and nap in the fresh green grass. Wishing you a beautiful weekend, on and off grid.

Proud Mary's Latest Textile Collection On View Tonight

(images courtesy of Proud Mary)

Proud Mary's latest Guatelmalan textile collection will be on view at the Beautiful Future: Sustainable Fashion Pop Up at Guilded on the Bowery this evening. Stay tuned for more photos from the event and the scoop on textile goodness of a fair trade variety.

Earth Day SF: Kirsten Muenster Jewelry Trunkshow

How gorgeous is this invite for Kirsten Muenster Jewelry's Trunkshow during Earth Day (weekend) at D&H Sustainable Jewelers in San Francisco? Kirsten's exquisite designs completely epitomize the perfect fusion between sustainable artistry and nature's most elemental offerings. You can read more about the designer's interests, process, and upcoming events on her blog.

11 Inspirational Sites For 2011

exquisite embroidery courtesy of Alabama Chanin

Alabama Chanin Journal

Art Cloth Text/Mackenzie Frere

Danyelle/Jill Danyelle

Jule Knuepfer photo courtesy of EcoFashionTalk

Eco Fashion Talk/Sass Brown

Goodlifer/Johanna Bjork

Hand/Eye online

photo courtesy of Marcella Echavarria

Marcella Echavarria

Past Fashion Future/Emma Grady

photo courtesy of the Permacouture Institute blog

Permacouture Institute

Social Alterations/Mary Hanlon

The Square Project/Tara St. James

Welcome to 2011 and the fresh white expanse of the unknown. I am sharing some of my favorite links to the art/fashion blogs and websites where I gain my daily inspiration and the fuel to press on during more difficult times.

Ecco*Eco is 'simply' a (non-commercial) space for creating community and shared ideas. I want to make sure that you know that I am working on your behalf so that you can keep doing the amazing work that you do. I want us all to succeed in making this world a more beautiful and sustainable place. 

Folks often ask me how I raise two toddlers, live in multiple cities, tend to aging family, write on a weekly basis, create art, and try to give back. It is all possible because I do not see any other way of living. Doing one makes the other possible. I want you to soak up this vast landscape as well as you cast your net out over 2011. 

Let's do it. I am itching to get started.

Paris Fashion Week: Issey Miyake S/S 2011

I hesitated posting these images of Issey Miyake's S/S 2011 collection from Paris Fashion Week, as the designer does not fit the usual bill for sustainable fashion design. Miyake's artistry and innovative talents surely catapult him far above mainstream, season-to-season offerings, and there is no doubt that the acquisition of one of his creations would be an investment that would far outweigh a truckload of cheaply made, trendier items from H &M. 

With Miyake's creative director, Dai Fujiwara, at the helm and current efforts by Miyake's Reality Lab to explore future sustainable collections, I think that it is important to support celebrated 'blue-chip' designers in the entire range of their efforts. The profits from one collection feed investment in another, no? This almost makes me want to seriously re-think how sustainable style is reported and shared with the public at large. Are we missing important (perception) links for how to make mainstream fashion more sustainable?

*photos by Marcus Tondo / GoRunway.com via Style.com

Stockholm FW: Camilla Norrback S/S 2011

Love the textures, layers, and garters of Camilla Norrback's S/S 2011 collection at Stockholm Fashion Week.

(Above photographs from the collection S/S 11 are property of Berns Salonger and copyright Kristian Löveborg).

Collina Strada Novella Rucksack

So until I am able to do my own log home chinking on a fixer-upper mountain cabin, I am considering donning this rustic and sleek Collina Novella Rucksack for both urban and rural outings. Crafted by hand in the USA, this organic cotton and vegetable-dyed leather shoulder bag is as versatile and chic as any eco-pioneer might require. (All printing is also done with chemical-free 'eco ink'). I love a rucksack that says get up off your derriere, woman, and do something for yourself and your gorgeous local environs.

*The Collina Strada Novella Rucksack (by Hillary Taymor) is available at Labelgazer

The Future of Fashion ala Julie Gilhart

Isabel Toledo, Julie Gilhart's pick for 'conscious' and 'locally-made' fashion that speaks to the fashionista of the future


Julie Gilhart of Barneys New York (photo by Roger Deckker) via NY Mag

Do not miss 'The Future Of Fashion, Part Five', an interview with Style.com’s editor in chief Dirk Standen, and Barneys New York's fashion director, Julie Gilhart."

"The Old Formula Is Not Working" is an honest look at why current retailing models and season-to-season cycles in the fashion industry are just not working any more. The search for conscious fashion is on and the inherent contradictions of retailing (fickle consumer needs) might finally force us to create new formulas for conscious design and honest style making.

via Style.com

7-7 Apron Dress by Popomomo

So enamored with this adorable 7-7 apron dress from LA-based eco fashion house Popomomo. Available at Green with Glamor, follow this link for a great GwG 'designer spotlight' interview with Popomomo's Lizz Wasserman.

(eco specs: beautiful screen-printing on luxe hemp & organic cotton in thyme & natural, made in Los Angeles - machine washable)


*via Green with Glamor

Bash Eco Events in the House

Very exciting news that Bash Eco Events has joined the bold and beautiful blogosphere. Follow founder Paige Anderson Appel on a daring journey as an 'event planner, earth keeper, fledgling interior designer, sociable chatterbox, doting housewife, melodramatic mama, folk remedy healer, expert daydreamer, art collector, sophisticated foodie, dance party instigator, spirit seeker and more.'

The woman has full throttle sustainable style, that's for sure!

* Bash Eco Events website
* Bash Eco Events blog

* illustration by MadebyJulene