Usually, the best ideas are the simple ones. This is the case with Blake Mycoskie’s brand, TOMS Shoes. Just buy a pair of his classic Argentinian-style shoes (which are quite affordable), and a child in South America gets a free pair. These are not your mom’s Keds, mind you – TOMS are stylish, versatile, and most of all, comfortable. Already featured in Vogue Magazine, LA Times, Daily Candy, and Women’s Wear Daily, the shoes are also adored by celebrities like Sienna Miller.
Affordable, delightful, makes a difference, and G – the best of all worlds!
Not Just A Label, isn’t really a Brand, it’s more of a marketplace for Avant-Garde up incoming fashion designers in need of a place to sell their latest creations. To that end, Not Just A Label has been racking up the launches of new “G” organic collections. The latest is by Fashion talent Patrick Mohr, Aoi Kotsuhiroi and Spon Diogo, who make up Aoi Kotshuhiroi. Wow, interesting names, right? The collection consist of long semi-tranparent wife beater Tees with, you guessed it, cows floating across the fabric. Yes wife beaters, but wait a minute, these are made from some very nice organic cotton. Yes, the price point is a little high for the average Joe Blow, trailer rocking, beer slamming, practicing wife beater, ( £ 55 ) the normal target for this look. But since this is a Brit thing, maybe they have in mind the Euro youth culture, the concert hopping oh so gay-not-gay semen and their lady friends. If that is the case, as it appears to be in the ads, these cows may just be leaving the barn and never coming home.
Edun, the for profit / charity African Fashion house started by Bono and his wife Ali Hewson, has become Fashion Brand Africa. What do I mean by that. I have no idea. Maybe it just that the company not only manufactures the clothing line in Africa and gives money to African causes, it also has made a major effort to bring Africa / Africans into the advertising campaigns. So even if you never buy a single Edun garment, You will have a kinder outlook towards Africa and the plight of a majority of its inhabitants. It’s like the Movie Out of Africa, they’ve created a romance story about this wild land, it’s people and our duty to give back to where human life began.
Edun continues this romance in their upcoming Pre-Fall lines advertising campaign images. Have a look for yourself. Seamless integration and romance all in the same campaign. I am impressed.
Written by Sunny Subramanian | Since I recently vlogged about how to stylishly rock vegan clothes and accessories, I figured it only made sense to post a video showing y’all how to veganize the inside of your handbag, too. It’s as easy as can be and there’s no excuse not to do it!
Get rid of those nasty leather wallets, those icky, cruel, animal-tested cosmetics, and pack your purse with all kinds of fun and useful vegan goodies.
About Sunny: I’m an über-girlie, compassionate beauty junkie. Cupcakes are my favorite fruit; I even wrote a song about them. I have a mating call that snagged me a husband. I speak Kittese … almost fluently. I love writing and blogging, and I’m beyond stoked to be a part of peta2′s blog posse.
If you didn’t make it to NYC Fashion week back in February, here is what you missed when it came to the Green Shows. 2010 was the first year green “G” designers came together to present their collections during the biggest week in the fashion industry, The NYC Fashion Week.
I have to admit, I didn’t make it over to see the shows either. But the videos are still inspiring and give me hope the “G” fashion world is just beginning to burst into the main stream. Everyone should go out and support these designers. Buy something, show it off and hook up your friends. I know I will. Continue Reading / See Additional Photos
So, I am out trying to expand my horizons today. No, not in the real world, but online, I did a spin around the other green sites, which I haven’t done in a long while. I have to tell you, I am pretty burned out on the standard green re-hash news headline sites. You know what I mean. Protest this, be upset about that.. so on. I lived that, believe me. I am over it. Now I just want to do things. Hands on, get down and start living. But yes, I am going off track, as usual. Like I was saying, I was out looking around online just to see what the usual suspects are posting about now, when I came across something new. A site by Alicia Silverstone. A newish site called The Kind Life with Alicia Silverstone. I don’t know how long the site has been around, but I have to tell you, I was surprised to see it. The site is a bit like a vegan spin off of GOOP, by Gwyneth Paltrow. Not as polished but you can feel the same vibe going on.
She gets into all of her own “G” lifestyle things. Everything from her vegan dogs, to her new vegan recipe book, eco home decor and on and on. Yes, she is trying to sell you something, her book, but I think the site is about more than that. She seems to be pretty cool, down to Earth and definitely living an amazing “G” life. About the recipe book, I haven’t seen it yet, but I did watch the behind the scene video from the photo shoot and that looked pretty good. I will have to put her book on my list. She even took the time to make the video I have posted above. In the video she takes us all along for a spin around the hottest vegan food spots in New York City. Some of the places she goes too, I never even heard of. It’s been that long since I have been back to NYC.
(after the jump, video of Alicia explaining what the site is all about)
It’s pretty rare here on the west coast to see an out spoken style driven “G” guy. I would say most of the guys on the west coast who lean green, tend to take their style cues from actor Charlton Heston, in the Planet of The Ape movies and not so much so from Brad Pitt. I don’t know what it is about living in L.A. compared to New York City, but style just doesn’t seem to be important. This is why when I came across Joshua Katcher and his site The Discerning Brute, I secretly thought to myself, there maybe hope yet for the vegan / G man. Come on, how in the world, are we ever going to have a “G” James Bond, if we don’t have any out spoken men pointing the way to green fashion alternatives.
The women in the green movement have it made, relatively compared to us guys, because the start-up green fashion brands, such as Stewart+Brown, exclusively focus on women. I completely understand why, (green guys are cheap) but it just makes the transition for newby green guys very hard. For example, try buying a suit or some dress shoes. You will find out quickly you have about 2 options and non of them are in a store near you. You have to toss the dice and basically gamble by buying everything online. And to make things even worse, most of the cooler stuff you do find, comes from England, which means higher prices and major shipping issues.
This is where Joshua steps in. On his blog Discerning Brute, he does the hard part for us guys. He finds what is cool out there, who are the hot new designers and even breaks down how green this stuff really is. On top of that, he sits down with designers, fashion leaders and even does the occasional street interview in an effort to bring home a little fashion reality to his fellow New Yorkers. Continue Reading / See Additional Photos
Imagine if you will, ladies, that you’ve got a big night out on the town. You have to look your best. What better choice than a sexy bamboo number like the beau rome by Beau Soleil?
Beau Soleil was founded by New York entrepreneur Anne Salvatore Epstein and her husband. Having worked with companies like as Marc Jacobs and IISLI, Epstein realized she wanted to create a organization that offered organically made – yet fashionably tasteful – clothing. Taking what she’d learned from her previous experience in the fashion industry, Epstein wanted Beau Soleil to be kind to both the environment and those who worked for it.
Beau Soleil’s products are created using organic materials such as bamboo, vegetable- dyed organic cottons and other recycled materials. They’re sexy, affordable, if you have $275 in your pocket, which seems to be the favorite price point for almost everything and of course the most important part, everything is completely sustainable.
The world of green fashion designers is still a pretty small one. It’s almost shockingly small, after 30 years of pushing this green fashion rock up this hill. What went wrong? By now I would have thought there would be millions of little Paris Hiltons demanding closets full of organic fairtrade clothing. But, that fantasy world just hasn’t materialized yet. No, the world is still full of twiggy women with a lust for the old faithfuls. Dead this, dead that and oh yes, lots and lots of chemically grown cotton please.
If we have any chance of turning the beastly giant fashion vessel around, it truly lies in the hands of the designers we are featuring here on G Living. These brave designers, with big hearts, wild imaginations and un-ending courage. Designs such as Meiling Chen, who is our feature designer of the week.
Meiling Chen, calls herself the Fearless Dreamer. And one look at her fashion collection, you can understand why. Meiling caught the fashion bug from watching her father transform traditional suits and shirts into the latest contemporary styles. This re-imagining what already existed, must have had some impact on her own green fashion ideas. Her fashion creativity has gotten her noticed by some of the big names of mainstream fashion, such as Italian Vogue, Bazaar, and others.
We caught up with Meiling via email and she was nice enough to answer a few of our questions.
Julia: How did you choose to become a designer and how did you start your career? Why G/Fashion?
Meiling: I love to draw since I was little and had my heart set in the creative field since then. My schooling has always been in the fine arts, sculpture, visual communication design (graphic design) and fashion design. I walk into the path naturally. Also, my father used to be a tailor, I was growing up immersed in the surrounding. I live in a green lifestyle and I love nature.
In my quest for truly luxurious, fabulous & sustainable life, fashion plays an important role. I’ve long been a fan and a customer of Kayce Armstrong’s Art of Shade fashion label. I first came across Kayce and her amazing fashions as I was walking along Lincoln Road in Miami Beach one Sunday afternoon in 2003. Her clothes were gorgeous and like nothing I’d ever seen. You see, Kayce makes her dresses from totally recycled materials.
One dress I fell hopelessly in love with was made out of an antique electric blanket. You could see the tracks running across the fabric from where the cables used to be-and it was stunning. She makes wondrous creations from old tablecloths and stuffy old dresses and almost anything you can imagine.
G / Design It’s amazing how easy it is to now go completely leather free, with amazing leather like fabrics by Joseph Noble. They make a range of fabrics with feel better than leather and last longer
G / Food The Ultimate Sausage and Pepper Pizza – RAW It’s Rawfully Tempting!
G / Food Chocolate Fruit and Almond Bark – D E C A D E N T and H E A L T H Y! Sooo Rawfully Tempting!
G / Food The edible cups are made entirely out of agar agar (a gelatin substitute).
G / Design a solar-powered collapsible lamp lights up when unfolded.
G / Food The Ultimate Sausage & Pepper Pizza by Rawfully Tempting
G / Food Creamy Mocha Mousse Cake
G / Video A visual poem by Tanya Davis. How To Be Alone
G / Food Killer Chocolate Fudge Mousse & Banana Parfait.
This is one DECADENT dessert and not for the feint of heart.
G / Style Well, this o so stylish hat called Double Crown O’Thorns, is definitely a bold look, especially if you wear the entire black head to toe suggestive accompanying outfit.
Julia: How did you choose to become a designer and how did you start your career? Why G/Fashion?
Meiling: I love to draw since I was little and had my heart set in the creative field since then. My schooling has always been in the fine arts, sculpture, visual communication design (graphic design) and fashion design. I walk into the path naturally. Also, my father used to be a tailor, I was growing up immersed in the surrounding. I live in a green lifestyle and I love nature.
Photographer: Peggy Yee
