Georgina Skalidi recycles fashion

For the week between tomorrow, March 18th and Saturday, March 26th, accessories designer Georgina Skalidi is hosting a second-hand bazaar at her new space in Kolonaki. 'Let's Recycle Fashion!' is the brief shout out that came along with the announcement. Whether 'eco' translates to ecological or economical to you, this event applies to both.

Benetton goes green

Benetton is ditching plastic hangers for 100% biodegradable and recyclable eco-hangers. Switching to liquid wood hangers is expected to result in 600 tons less plastic waste. Its eco-sustainable business plan also involves eco-friendly paper shopping bags and organic cotton fabrics, showing some love to mother nature. Nice move.

Here's the campaign as illustrated by Philip Bone (Fabrica) and photographed by Gustavo Millon (Fabrica), followed by a video on liquid hangers:

En Vit Ekorre - music, fashion & ecology

En Vit Ekorre is apparently a stage designer as well as a costume & accessories designer. She's the one responsible for most performance outfits of Film featuring Etten gigs (including last night's at Gagarin, see below). As there aren't many local live shows of such costume attention, thought it's worth dropping a line about it.
En Vit Ekorre features 'Athens - Stockholm' with a brief about note saying the brand stands for recycling vintage fabrics, clothes, as well as all kinds of materials spotted at flea markets in Athens, Stockholm and Berlin. It's all about mixing fashion and ecology, and looks like the outcome goes down well on stage.

I thought her item presentations are quite special too, so here's a peep before you click on to check her out.

4FashionShake II - Schmidttakahashi

Berlin based duo Schmidt/Takahashi presented their latest project 'Reanimation' which I'm sure you'll find damn interesting. Their collection is made out of previously used textiles, based on the idea of recycling.

And it gets better: since the whole point is that garments are affected by their former users, S/T enable us to access information on their history through a restored RFID chip and via a special reader. Dig this: this way, the user can access all data regarding the former life of any garment, giving all materials a unique identity.

Gives a whole new meaning to 'I remember wearing this the day we met', doesn't it?
In their own words:
“It’s a curious and fascinating experience to slip into the external “skin” of another person. Even if the clothes are mass produced for an unknown number of consumers, each piece is affected by the individual as soon as it ends up in a the hands of that particular person. It is no longer an anonymous object. It stores aesthetic information unique to it’s owner including things like body shape, smell, posture, attitude and lifestyle. (...)“Reanimation / Wiederbelebungsmassnahmen”. [source]

Interesting presentation at the event too, with a robotic voice narration of pattern codes and fabric details substituting music. I had to show you:
(Minute 01:29)

All photos in this post by photographer/dj Ino Mei.

Recycled cotton

Dress out of recycled cotton.
Err... can't remember what this techique is called.
Perfect match. Tastes like cough syrup.
One of a kind (or so I was told) handmade necklace given to me for my birthday. About a decade ago.

This Sunday, Swap Not Shop

The 4th Swap Not Shop party is the plan for tomorrow. Clemmie & Melroy suggest 10 good reasons why be there and Life in Athens gives you an idea of what will take place, along with some useful links.

This time SnS goes ethical, introducing the 'U-Re-Use', 'They-Re-Use' and 'Micro-ethical-micro-buys' concepts. This means you can dyi your (swapped) stuff on the spot, have them customized by the Chic & Ethic Lab team and have the opportunity to purchase recycled creations by Afgan and Algerian immigrants at symbolic prices.

Got clothes, shoes or accessories you no longer wear? Give them the chance to a second life, bring them to 6 D.O.G.S. tomorrow.

Marithé + François Girbaud at AXDW

(above: Marithé + François Girbaud posing for the lense of Karl Lagerfeld)

Names and show dates are slowly coming in and next one up for Athens Xclusive Designers Week is Marithé + François Girbaud.

The collection of the French duo will be presented for the first time in Greece, exactly as scheduled to appear during the Parisian Fashion Week and François Girbaud himself will be here to take the bow. The Athens show will take place on Monday, March 22nd at 20:30, co-organized by their exclusive local distributor, Tsantilis.

I found rather interesting the WattWash, a new high-tech method the two developed to produce various effects on fabric, saving 97,5% on water by using light instead. The intro video on their website at the moment is very enlightening as well as hopeful. Stonewash without wash? Let's see if we can tell the difference on the 22nd.

MWAPD s/s 10 preview

I'm excited. This is a preview of Mary Wants A Purple Dress s/s 10 collection, making it's first ever public appearance through this blog. Dimitris Kaidantzis, the designer who is MWAPD, is already a personal favourite for his toned down avant-garde shapes and immaculate fits.

Apart from the two exclusive shots from his look-book, I have another reason to be impatient for his collection. It's called "Milkofil". It's the white fabric pictured above, consisting of milk proteins (!). The designer chose this high-tech, new age material as the basis of his collection.

I was told it feels like powder upon touch, it's friendly for the skin as well as the environment and has undergone no chemical processing, thus the pure white colour it only comes in. Can't wait to touch it!

Saying that, latest addition to MWAPD selling points:
21 The Fashion Market in Kifisia, Athens.

Prêt-à-Porter, the trends bag by Lovisa Burfitt

This season's Prêt-à-Porter salon was themed "Les Parisiennes 2.0" and it's creative direction was trusted in the hands of Philippe Blondez. He explains what he went for in this video.

Blondez chose to involve Lovisa Burfitt yet for another season, and this time it was much more than illustrating a smart car. The Swedish illustrator who lives in France, unleashed her amazing design skills across the exhibition space, illustrated the cover of the PAPP press release and went on to creating the lovely print for the Prêt-à-Porter "trends bag". (see last season's trends bag here). In case you haven't already done so, go a few lines up and click on her name. You are gonna love her portfolio of colourful illustrations and girly style.

The limited edition "trends bag" was manufactured once again by Kolam, a young brand strongly focused on eco-fashion. Thumbs up.

33 days to Christmas

The xmas countdown is down to 33 days. That's about perfect to start the festive decorations (which I always leave last minute and end up keeping till February 'cause I like them so much).

Christmas of course doesn't mean the same to all of us. To some it's a religious celebration, to others it's time for presents and days off. To me, it's a bit of both as well as the time of the year I can go wild(er) about decorating the house and get away with it.

A few years ago, I had used a vintage mannequin my grandad used for his fittings in the '80s to put lights on instead of a Christmas tree. When I decided to bring in a Christmas tree, I went for a fake one by choice (as fake as it gets, a pink one). Real trees are dead trees and I saw no joy in having a dead part of the forest flashing in my livingroom.

True, real ones make the house smell nice but that was nothing a couple of aromatic candles couldn't fix. Last year, I decorated it with candy (it was fun to watch my guests eat the "ornaments" on Christmas Eve) complete with a cookie nativity stall.

This year... haven't got a clue yet, I am open to suggestions!
Any fun decs you've tried yourself?

FF Thought #5

No, fur doesn't grow on a tree.

*no bunny was harmed in this post. It lives happily behind the curtains of a friend's flat & my hand-warmer is pure synthetic fur.

FeelingVintage, today

FeelingVintage is a brand all about vintage fashion and second hand clothes. Since their store is an eshop currently under construction, they are wondering around Athens and this weekend is a good chance to get to know them. They will be at the "Eco" edition of The Meet Market, taking place at Pure Bliss, Romvis 24 in Athens.




I've been informed they are packed with dresses from the 70’s and a great selection of 80’s and 90’s stuff. Some clothing is not even ever worn, some are second-hand and everything is retro. From sportswear to one-of-a-kind evening gowns, clothes are in great condition, very well preserved and in affordable prices. Look out for surprises from the past lying around as every item is unique!

The "FeelingVintage" concept is all about creating eco-awareness in the way we dress, just like trying to ride a bike in the city, eating biological food, using planet friendly detergents and cosmetics, recycling, volunteering to environmental actions.

In their own simple words: Why does this inner necessity of constantly buying new stuff still remain? You could think of an alternative way of dressing up, mixing vintage or second hand clothes with new ones!

FeelingVintage will be @ The "ECO" Meet Market :: 19 & 20/09, Pure Bliss :: Romvis 24A & Kolokotroni :: 11:00 - 23:00

Fashion ethics, an example

It's not so much the beauty of this bag. It's the ethical and creative bond it embodies. The ethical as in eco-friendly part was a big issue at this Prêt-à-Porter. It had it's own area of brands and they were all putting a brave fight to make ethical fashion...fashionable. Kolam, the producer of the bag was there too.

Kolam is Lise Hoffman and Aurelien Dahan. "Why ethical fashion?" I asked. "We met while studying fashion. We both come from families that raised us in such mentalities, eating biological food etc. and as like-minded people we came together and decided to bring this philosophy to fashion", Lise explained.

"However our vision was to create trendy and affordable ethical fashion because we realised that up to now, all efforts were either too expensive or compimising fashion-wise" Aurelien added to this. "Now our brand is 3 years old, we only use organic cotton and even though we are a French brand, we produce everything in India".

"Why India?" was something I wanted to ask all along. "Because India is the leader in organic cotton production and also offers all the production levels so we do not have to fly designs and materials back and forth. Producing everything in one place is cost-savvy and eco-friendly" is my answer and I like it!

Their stand is according to their philosophy too, with the grass carpet being real grass instead of synthetic fibres. Could not think of a better company to produce the Prêt-à-Porter "trends bag"...

Next stop, the creator of the print.

The special bag

This is a special edition bag that was handed out to journalists only at the press lounge of the Prêt-à-Porter exhibition. I was informed only 1000 were made. It truly is special for a number of reasons:

a) the unique print. Based on the Less / Excess theme, Japanese illustrator & designer Ayumi Togashi created some excellent work, projecting her interpretation of "less" and "excess" on each side.

b) it is so clever & functional. Since it was created for members of the press, it was designed to fit tons of paperwork and brochures and has a convenient pocket for cards and badges. Everybody's favourite part though was the little USB stick pocket, complete with a free USB stick containing info on the project and people involved.

c) it is eco. The tag reads 100% organic cotton. It was produced by Kolam, a company very respectful of enviromental / production ethics.

The "Made in India" tag as well as the complicated design intrigued me so much, I went straight looking for the creators of this amazing bag. Luckily they were all at the spot. Their work, with this bag being a small sample, is deeply inspiring. Look out for posts to follow, you're going to like this!

H&M against AIDS

Speaking of t-shirts and causes these days...

Some of the biggest celebrities from the world of fashion, music and style will be joining H&M and Designers Against AIDS (DAA) for Fashion Against AIDS, to help fight the disease and raise youth awareness.

Dita Von Teese, Katy Perry, Róisín Murphy, Estelle, Cyndi Lauper, N.E.R.D, Robyn, Yoko Ono, Yelle, Moby, Katharine Hamnett, Dangerous Muse, Tokio Hotel are the artists who have collaborated with H&M on designs for T-shirts, T-shirt dresses, vests and bodies.

25% of the sales price will be donated to youth HIV/AIDS awareness projects. The collection, in 100% organic cotton, for both guys and girls will be on sale in H&M’s DIVIDED department from today June 4 (Stadiou str. 49, Athens - Ag. Sofias 11 Thessaloniki).

*According to the H&M report, in the UK alone an estimated 80,000 people were living with HIV by the end of 2007. Worryingly, it is estimated that 28% of those were unaware of their HIV positive status.

Spread awareness but don't forget the action. Be safe.
Katy Perry
Robyn
Dita Von Teese
Cindy Lauper
Roisin Murphy
Katharine Hamnett (clear and loud: USE ONE. It may save your life...)