Tag Archives: Brooklyn

I was 100% Sustainable in my 100%NY dress this weekend

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Daniel Silverstein, the brilliant creative director of 100%NY, agreed to lend me one of his gorgeous creations for a wedding I attended over the weekend.  Being about to launch Modavanti, I obviously like to take every possible opportunity to show off just how great sustainable fashion can look, and what better way to do so than with this dress from 100%’s upcoming Resort collection?I was 100% Sustainable in my 100%NY dress this weekend

(I’m the one on the right)

The dress is just about as sustainable as you can get. Made from eco-friendly modal, the pattern is cut to be zero waste, meaning that every scrap of fabric is incorporated into the garment.  (For more about 100% NY’s zero waste method, check out our earlier brand profile).  The dress is also sewn by Daniel on an electric, energy-saving sewing machine in his studio in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

So to recap Continue reading →

I’m invincible with my Baggu bag!

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Baggu:
1. The Japanese word for “bag”
2. An awesome company located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn that makes sustainable reusable bags in many shapes and colors.

Im invincible with my Baggu bag! I visited the Baggu headquarters a few weeks ago, and just last week purchased my very first Baggu bag: the backpack in coral.

Im invincible with my Baggu bag! Continue reading →

Petra Hanson, Professional Fixxologist

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Petra Hanson is not just any fixer.  She’s a fixxologist.  She takes your old clothes, metamorphosizes them, and turns them into beautiful butterflies…so to speak.  When I visited her in Brooklyn in January, she showed me a beloved old Hermès scarf that she’d attached a ribbed neck and sleeves to and voila: beautiful poncho!

Petra Hanson, Professional Fixxologist

A native New Yorker and a graduate of both FIT and Cornell, Petra is a knitwear designer by trade.  She’s designed for Oscar de la Renta and Julien MacDonald, among others, and recently did a bit of freelancing for Coldwater Creek and eco brand Under the Canopy before striking out on her own.   Continue reading →

Sustainable Fashion on the NYC Runway: Study-NY by Tara St. James

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Sustainable Fashion on the NYC Runway: Study NY by Tara St. JamesHappy Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, everyone!  I was excited to hear that The Green Shows is making a reprisal at this year’s fashion week and that one of the designers I met in New York last month, Tara St. James, will be part of it. On Friday from 10:30 – 11:30 in “The Box” at Lincoln Center, Tara and seven other sustainable designers will be previewing their Fall 2012 collections.

Montreal native and former high-school math nerd Tara St. James moved to New York City in 2004.  She has a degree in menswear, and worked in NY as the designer for a Montreal-based men’s and women’s streetwear brand called Covet.  While working for Covet, Tara had what she refers to as an “awakening,” began researching sustainable materials, and became one of the pioneers of sustainable fashion in New York. Sustainable Fashion on the NYC Runway: Study NY by Tara St. James

Back in 2004, there was very little Continue reading →

Kristen Lombardi’s Manimal Moccasins & More

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During her “post-college breakdown,” Massachusetts native Kristen Lombardi took a trip Kristen Lombardis Manimal Moccasins & Moreto an Arizona Apache reservation.  While there, she wanted to buy a pair of authentic handmade moccasins.  No such luck: the people on the reservation wouldn’t sell them to her.  All she found were the mass-produced Minnetonkas in the tourist shops.

Having studied fashion design at the Massachusetts College of Art (which, incidentally, is the nation’s only state art school), Kristen was undeterred.  When she got back from her trip, she took out a book on moccasins from the library and figured out how to make her own.  Now, years later, she is the owner and designer of Manimal, a line of locally-produced moccasins and accessories inspired by the American Southwest.  I met Kristen in her Brooklyn studio last week.

Kristen Lombardis Manimal Moccasins & More

What’s in a Moccasin?

Rather than using a specific, traditional tribal design, Kristen has drawn on different styles from different tribes to create something that is all her own.  Inspired by the natural world, the  line is produced thoughtfully and with low-impact.  Everything is handmade in New York, by Kristen in her  studio and two women that take home piecework.

The Great Leather Debate Continue reading →