pssst… today.. April 30, 2008, is the last day to enter the Smashing Darling shopping spree giveaway. Unless you’ve been living under a glacier in Antarctica, you know that Smashing Darling is quickly becoming the home of top Indie designers. They’ve teamed up with Papierdoll and Second City Style for this $500 shopping spree giveaway. Consider yourself silly if you don’t enter. You could possibly get what you see above in addition to all the other great items at Smashing Darling. Rock on.

Found this one at Aloha Rag. It’s from Thomas Wylde and will set you apart from everyone else in oh so many ways. If you’re getting images of Dale Evans or Shane or anything western-related then stop right now. Those not sure what to make of a bag with frills are simply uninitiated in the ways of getting creative. It looks like nothing else out there, it has intricate stitching throughout and goes great with anything black..or almost anything black. Interested? Take a look at it over here.

According to Showstudio, Jenny Haniver is actually not the same of a person but a sort of hybridization of words to describe “practice of carving dead cuttlefish into angels and devils”. This 3 minute or so political fashion video editorial is definitely the future of fashion. You’re watching this story unfold with wardrobe from the collections of Acne Jeans, Charles Anastase, Fade, Kenzo by Antonio Mauras, Lacoste, Paul & Joe, Roberto Cavalli.

So many ooh and ahh moments and the end result in thinking is…”I need that… now.”

Definitely should not be missed. The video is after the jump.

If you were wondering when this eco-aware fashion stuff will end and the industry will get back to the raping and pillaging of earth’s natural resources and animals don’t hold your breath. Everyone is on the environmentally conscious fashion train with little to no end in sight. The New York Times a couple of days ago featured an article on Future Fashion (the initiative spearheaded by EarthPledge and Barneys New York).

Julie Gilhart, fashion director at Barneys posits, ” Design and creativity don’t have to be sacrificed to make garments that are less harmful to the earth. In fact, developing something sustainable can be a much more creative process.”

Here’s the small counterpoint from your’s truly: the idea behind sustainable fashion is creating environmentally friendly, “green” fashion collections, that is both practical and yes… fashionable. From a purely economical standpoint the masses will never see the benefit’s of the designer’s works and their green raison d’etre when only the elite can purchase their clothing. While there will surely be a market at the lower end of the spectrum for “green” collections. Creating eco-fashion for the few who can afford it mutes the purpose of going in that direction in the first place. And while the intent is already stated as bringing it to a well-heeled audience as the article infers, the point of being environmentally conscious is that everyone takes part, not just the few or those who are able to do so. The end result is this sort of self-defeating initiative that goes nowhere…fast.

Let’s try this one again.

(addendum: for those who can afford it, these eco-fashions are trouncing their high-carbon footprint brethren, the idea works, when it can be brought to the masses) above Doo.Ri’s cocktail dress made of Abaca

By now the news of 15 year old Miley Cyrus going topless in Vanity Fair has reached a fever pitch. Noticeably silent has been publisher Graydon Carter and Annie Leibovitz. Leibovitz responded yesterday by saying “sheeeeiiiitt… this teen is crazy damn insane and the conservatives in America need to have a warm cup of shut the eff up.” We kid. Leibovitz released a statement saying

“I’m sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted, Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful”

While rationalizing a 15 year old wearing nothing more than a sheet in the Conservative States of America is next to impossible (can’t wait for President McCain to be sworn in), Cyrus and her handlers are not blameless. At a photoshoot the subject is more than aware of the photos being taken, because… they. are. posing. for. photos. Ignorance as to what the final work will look like is disingenuous at best and stupidity at worse. At anytime during the shoot when she was in the midst of taking her bra off, did anyone say…”hey, this is being released in George W. Bush’s America, it might not go over well, let’s put these clothes back on and find some Hannah Montana pajamas.”

No? Oh Ok.