As prominent celebrities and politicians speak out about protecting the environment, fashion designers quickly follow suit. More and more, high fashion has incorporated eco-conscious trends-and surprisingly, we love what we're seeing.
This year on Jan. 31, Earth Pledge staged its first "FutureFashion" show. The show featured designs by prominent designers from New York, Milan and Paris, including Yves St. Laurent, Narcisco Rodriguez and Versace. The showcased designs were far from what one would normally expect of eco-conscious clothing, including cocktail dresses, tuxedos and ball gowns made from sasawashi and piña fiber (both rare and eco-friendly plant-based materials).
Although this was the first well-recognized attempt at eco-friendly couture fashion, ecologically conscious clothing has made its way into the fashion world for quite some time. Moderately priced casual fashion stores like Urban Outfitters and American Apparel feature stylish and eco-friendly clothing. American Apparel, for example, has an "organics" section, which includes lingerie, tanks and tees.
However, of all the brands offering ecologically friendly clothing, Lululemon trumps them all. Lululemon offers yoga pants and exercise clothing that are a step beyond ecologically friendly. The company also promotes connecting one's body with nature. A select few of its items advertise that they release all-natural products into your skin as you sweat, providing a rejuvenating exercise experience. But Lululemon pants and sweatshirts are not only for exercise. They look like a slightly more fashionable version of Hard Tail pants, so they can easily be worn around the dorms and to class without looking sloppy.
So, what are the benefits of wearing ecologically friendly clothing? It does without dangerous chemicals that would otherwise be used from the very start of the clothes-making process. For example, the pesticides used in the growing process of conventional cotton are increasingly more threatening to wildlife, the environment and people.
Conventional cotton also requires many toxic herbicides, fungicides and defoliants. During processing, it is subjected to chlorine bleach, heavy metal dyes and formaldehyde resins (the hidden hazard of "easy care treatments"). The bleach is almost worse than pesticides, causing myriad health problems and vast environmental damage.
In contrast, the eco-friendly processing of organic cotton has many benefits to workers, the environment and the wildlife. Eco-friendly processing does not compromise workers' health and helps reduce water and electric use and toxic runoff. Strict testing ensures the absence of contaminants like nickel, lead, formaldehyde, amines, pesticides and heavy metals.
Next time you decide to pass over the ecologically friendly clothing simply because they tend to be less fashion forward, think again. Being ecologically conscious is becoming increasingly more important, and fashion is learning to accommodate for it.
Stay Stylish, Lara and Virginia
