30th Apr 2008
Eco-Fashion Just not For You
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
Posted by Eva @ 6:24 am
May 2nd, 2008 at 11:02 am
[...] ruining fashion? My Fashion Life explores spring hair trends, like top knots. Papierblog ponders if eco-fashion is truly for the masses. Second City Style dishes what your spring wardrobe says about you. Shrimpton Couture shares fugs, [...]
May 2nd, 2008 at 4:45 pm
[...] Eco-Fashion Just not For You The idea behind sustainable fashion is creating environmentally friendly, “green” fashion collections, that is both practical and yes… fashionable (tags: fashion ecology recycling environment green) Posted by Andrea Filed in Uncategorized [...]
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:53 pm
[...] Papierblog looks at whether eco-fashion is truly for the masses [...]
May 4th, 2008 at 11:26 am
[...] Papierblog looks at whether eco-fashion is truly for the masses [...]
May 4th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
I totally agrees with you. It’s hightime someone should tell Stella Maccartney that she is simply ridiculous for charging the kind of price tag she is charging for her so-called leather free bags & eco-friendly clothes.
May 5th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I think there will always be haute couture and fashion that is more about form than function. There’s plenty of affordable eco-fashion for people who want it.
I think it is just about time that high fashion started to think intelligently about the manufacturing process and sustainability. I don’t think there’s anything especially exclusionary about “green” designers that are on the high end.
You’re not going to totally get rid of the world of high fashion which is, by it’s very nature, elitist. As long as their not raping the earth for their elitism, then go for it.
While I don’t wear much haute couture, I surely appreciate the art and design aspects of it and I’d be sad to see it go away.
Also, please visit my blog: http://www.evolvedfashion.com. I write about sustainable fashion.
ADQ