Titania Inglis, winner of this year’s Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award in Sustainable Design, gets street cred with her first New York Fashion Week show.
The show started early for Titania Inglis. Bedecked in black – lots of stylized black – guests waited upbeat, mingling behind black curtains. It was Inglis’ inaugural New York Fashion Week show, made possible by her recently announced 2012 win of the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award in Sustainable Design. It was clear that something award winning was about to take place. And, it felt as if we were part of Inglis’ cheerfully somber production. So, like good cast members we waited in the entryway of the Eyebeam Art & Technology Center, a non-profit enterprise and one of the country’s leading media art centers.
The stage was set for Inglis’ own shade of black, uplifted and far from bleak – a seamless blend of preppy plaid and gothic darkness. It was as if two, vastly separate, high school cliques instantly merged into one, very cool and non-cliquey band of fashion mavens. So, it came as no surprise when I overhead Inglis characterize her collection as “My So Called Life all grown up.”
Street-tough models bedecked in vegetable tanned leather from a farm in France, (where they guarantee the entire cow has been used, from food to fashion), in herringbone, recycled cotton plaids, asymmetrical skirts and soft fabrics like raw Japanese silk and Cupro glided by effortlessly.
For the complete article and snapshots from the show, please visit my post on Ecosalon…
(Photos by Jennifer Barckley of Organic Girly.)
A Fall day basking in Spring
Fall in New York City has been covered with plenty a bare leg, open toe and the breezeful ballet flat. It almost feels like (gasp) spring! Which is why it wasn’t so out of seasonal place this year when the Spring / Summer 2012 previews came along. Afterall, as we don our winter boots, what better time to dream of sun basking, well-pedicured days?
So on a crisp November evening, I walked into seasons unvisited with Coclico—the New York based house of shoes that is fittingly named after the French word for Poppy. The beauty with Coclico is, as Sandra Canselier the founder and creative director says, “It’s a timeless thing. We create things that are simple with beautiful lines.” Like pretty art for feet.
The other beautiful thing about Coclico is that it’s striving to do better as a fashion brand and global citizen. While far from perfect and admittedly so, the company produces its shoes in Majorca, Spain—a classic home of cobbler craftsmanship. At the brand’s main production house in Majorca, the owners produce olive oil so “the olive oil pits”, says Canselier, “are used as fuel.
And, the brand encourages the use of vegetable tanning, although not all of its factories are there yet and across the industry, Canselier explains, “Suede is always tanned with Chrome [also known as chromium salt, the most widely used and chemical-based tanning method], there’s just no other way right now.” As if to make up the difference, solid cork or SGS certified pinewood is used for many of the heels, and organic linen is showcased, as in my favorite look (above, top).
It’s refreshing to see brands like this one go further—from style to sustainably we can reinvent the norm. For this Organic Girly, consciousness is the first ingredient for a healthier and more glamorous future—fancy feet and all.
Coclico’s Spring / Summer collection will be available beginning February 2012. And since there’s no time like the present, you can shop their 2011 SALE now for boots that climb from high to low, with summery peep toes thrown in for good measure.
(All photos compliments of Organic Girly.)
This round-up is gratis of the lovely textile artist and writer Abigail Doan of Ecco*Eco, with a few love notes of my own.
My favorite pick & one of Abigail’s to boot: Coclico Venezuala Bootie (Fall/Winter 2011)
{From Organic Girly}
One of my first forays into the world of eco-fashion, before it’d been given such an official name, was with Coclico. Meaning poppy, in French, I literally felt like a bright, blossoming flower when I stumbled upon their sweet shop and eponymous shoe collection one crisp fall day in New York City. Since then, I’ve owned up to a pair or two. Their subtle twists on classic styles and commitment to craftsmanship keeps me coming back. When I first considered taking my vegan lifestyle from food to fashion I literally said, “But what about Coclico?”, as if saying goodbye to a dear, old friend. For now I’m hovering between the two worlds—carefully considering my approach to leather and still appreciating the beauty of a Coclico bootie.
{From Ecco*Eco}
One of Abigail’s faves & I can’t help but agree: Coclico Kita Hazelnut Bootie
Coclico is committed to ethical manufacturing. On its website, the brand discusses its take on leather: “We are using more vegetable tanned leathers. These leathers have a beautiful, hand-finished patina from tanning agents derived from bark, fruit, and seeds. We know that sustainability is not as simple as using veg-tanned leather. It’s about our tanneries maintaining environmentally responsible practices. We like to reward tanneries who can prove certified standards with our business. This includes water quality maintenance, efficiency practices, and chemical sequestration. It is also desirable to use local sources close to the shoe factory whenever possible.”
Be sure to read the company’s ‘raison d’etre’ via its website for all of the steps taken by Coclico to craft stylish, high quality footwear as well as setting new standards in the leather industry. And, if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by their NYC boutique in Nolita at 275 Mott Street.
In just a few weeks, we’ll be peeking over winter into the poppy blossoms of spring. So, stay tuned for our Spring/Summer 2012 previews… coming soon!
First, there were pants. Then, a simple tank top appeared. And finally, magically, a handbag was born. (See the above video.) Such is the clever creation of Erin Templeton—leather accessory designer, vintage collector and free-spirited Canadian extraordinaire. Vegan as I may be, I can’t help but embrace Templeton’s recycled leather designs. While some of her pieces are made of new leather, her love for one-of-a-kind vintage finds is where her deep passion lies.
Earlier this year, I visited her shop able treasure-of-a-workshop and felt the sort of nostalgia that only designs with a storybook of incarnations can have. If my wardrobe is opening its doors to leather, I’m happy to know the many lives it’s lived and the crafter behind the craftsmanship.
If you’re in Vancouver B.C., stop in and visit Erin at 511 Carrall Street.
To get your hands on the ingenuity featured in the above video, you may have to wait until Spring 2012. In the meantime, there’s recycled bags to be had.
(Read on with conviction. The following is not for the weary… Trust me, it took deep breaths just to write this. )
Alexander McQueen. HE is what happened to me last week. (Read Part I to know where the journey began.) This legacy of a man has left me in awe, inspiration and hit-me-on-the-head awakening. You see, that’s the thing with McQueen—he makes you walk wide-eyed into a world beyond your immediate periphery. So, as I stood in the line that wrapped for blocks around the Metropolitan Mueseum (MET)—in honor of the final viewing of McQueen’s exhibit, Savage Beauty, the most viewed MET exhibit since the Mona Lisa visited in 1963—I knew we would experience the life’s work of an artist like none other. And Savage Beauty it was! Striking. Grotesque. Provocative. Sensual. McQueen paired paradoxes as if they were born for each other. Crocodile head-headpieces. Porcupine quill headdresses. Macaw feather fan earrings. Pony skin corsets. Duck feather dresses in black swan style. Offset by silk moire, lace, cotton muslin and tulle. Through his fashion expressionism, it’s as if man becomes animal and animal becomes man. And the deep reality is also there. Man (in McQueen’s case, the woman) is the survivor—the dominant hand sporting the forsaken life of another creature.
The artistry was exquisite. But at what expense? The ducks (not so lucky anymore), the crocodiles and the ponies all stared me down. It was in my face. I had no where to go. And McQueen’s words, “I oscillate between life and death, happiness and evil”, were all around me. This is what struck most: Is beauty really beauty if it involves suffering, death and the exploitation of animals? Is pain fashionable?
Pre-last week, I, like the other accessory-loving 90-percent of woman, picked my (mostly leather) shoes with pride and held my (leather) handbags close like friends. And I generally felt okay about it. Afterall, these companions are organic, vegetable-dyed and chrome-free or upcycled from mementos like old saddles or worn leather jackets. But my still blinking eyes started to see things a little bit differently.
As if I wasn’t in deep enough post-Savage Beauty and even post-reading “Eating Animals” by Johnathan Safran Foer (the most potent and powerful docu-book I braved over a year ago), I exhaled big and tried to mentally prepare myself for the next reality check: Earthlings, an unforgettable documentary about the undeniable connection between animals, nature and humankind—narrated by the superb Joaquin Phoenix. There are no words to describe what I saw and what I felt, so I won’t try. Simply, it awakens what could be called an animal instinct within you. Guttural. Raw. Heart-opening. A McQueen paradox.
So this week, I’m now forced to question the fashioning of animals. I don’t eat them. Why should I wear them? People, like the brilliant MET curators, say that all animal parts donned as fashion are byproducts of the food industry. I used to believe that—probably because I really wanted to. After seeing Earthlings, I’m not so convinced. Irrespective, if the animal suffers, does it really matter whether it’s for your dinner plate or your dinner attire?
If dogs are truly your best friends, if you’ve ever pet a horse with wonder or if back-flipping dolphins make you smile, watch Earthlings and consider how you fashion your life. That’s all I ask. We all have to open our eyes to see the beauty.
(Photos courtesy of Sølve Sundsbø, Metropolitan Museum of Art.)
