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New York Fashion Week is the place to spot new trends - and,
if this season's event is any indication, going green is definitely
in style.
Sponsor Mercedes-Benz
aimed for the semi-annual event to be carbon neutral for the
first time and several of the designers unveiling autumn and
winter 2010 collections emphasised organic materials and sustainable
designs.
Mercedes-Benz said it bought enough carbon offsets to have
net zero carbon emissions at the huge tents erected in Manhattan's
Bryant Park, where many of the shows are staged and require
power and heat. "Fashion is using a lot of fuel and heat -
it's a win-win all around," said Fern Mallis, senior vice
president of IMG Fashion which organises the event.
Some observers noted a greener Fashion Week is a sign that
ecological consciousness is no longer a fringe interest. "This
whole issue of sustainability has become very mainstream now,"
said Patti Pao, founder of the New York City-based market
research firm Pao Principle.
"It's become something that is sort of chic and OK
to talk about - and so the fashion industry has embraced that
and has really taken that cause ... under their wing," she
said.
Green chic was evident on the runways, where designers
showcased sustainable design from the recycled metal jewelry
of Native American Maria Samora to c. marchuska's ecologically
and socially conscious clothing line.
The New York City Department of Environmental Protection
partnered with Aveda, maker of skin and hair products, to
help reduce consumption of bottled water by setting up tap
water stations for Fashion Week attendees.
The green effort was not without its critics. Dahlia Algunaim,
visiting Fashion Week from her home in California, said she
was puzzled by most of the tap water stations that were located
several blocks from the shows and posed a painful walk for
someone like her, clad in tall boots. "I wouldn't walk six
blocks to have tap water... not in these shoes," she said.
Others suggested designers send invitations via email
- rather than paper - and noted many of the goodies given
free to attendees probably end up as trash.
This season, the Mercedes-Benz goodie bag contained a keychain,
tiny bottles of rum, cookies, dry shampoo, an iron, a suitbag,
earbuds, a bottle of nasal sanitizer and a stain remover kit,
among other things. "I just don't pick them up because I just
know that it's going to go to waste," said Erica Allen, an
assistant at BCBG.
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