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