Paris For Peace And Yoga

Modeled after the NYC Day of Yoga, free and open to willing participants, Paris organizers of the event admitted they’d had 6,500 people sign up on the website to attend this morning’s hour-long practice in the 7th Arrondissement, en plein air. They had organized for and expected 2000 participants.

The practice was led in both English and French and an elegant Cellist played on stage, accompanying the entire session with live sitar-like music. Practitioners were from all ages, mature to the young, and attendees included mothers with infants, families with children, young couples, men, women and even a few of our furry friends.

Sponsors of the event which included BeYoga, Go Sport, SportForUs.com, Soy Joy, Lole, VaiVai and the Mairie de Paris, passed out complimentary yoga mats, t-shirts, energy bars, coconut water and tea and re-usable tote bags.

On this gorgeous October Sunday morning of Paris Fashion Week, a yoga respite en plein air was a welcomed and stimulating detox! Namaste!!

All photos by Paige Donner c. 2011  http://greeningparis.blogspot.com

Africa Rising

By Paige Donner

The new mood in Africa is positive,” – Bono

Africa Rising is the contemporary African Art exhibit that opened in Paris on October 6th, the last day of Paris Fashion week.  It is the love-child of Ali Hewson and husband Bono who have directed the world’s focus towards the living conditions of the peoples of Africa for decades. This time, they want the focus to be on all the positive things happening on the continent.

L to R: Antoine Arnault, Ali Hewson, Angelique Kidjo, Bono, Yves Carcelle

Joining Ali and Bono in their efforts this year is the French Luxury Brand LVMH. Louis Vuitton, a company recognized for its support of the arts and its Core Values program, collaborated with designer Ali Hewson to manufacture a signature bag, the Edun bag, named after her line of designer clothing. It is the first time LV  has manufactured anything 100% in Africa, in this instance, Kenya.

Founder of Edun, Ali Hewson stated that it’s great to be partnered with a luxury worldwide recognized brand such as Louis Vuitton, because “you are stronger as a team.”

Artwork on display at Africa Rising Exhibit 1, rue Pont Neuf, Paris

That a contemporary art exhibit dominated the social scene of Paris Fashion Week is both fitting and triumphant. It probably helped the cause just a little bit that rockstars such as Angelique Kidjo and – of course – Bono, took the stage to perform for the select crowd in support of the cause.

Alexandra Richards, daughter of Keith, provided DJ tunes. But the real stars of the show were the contemporary artists and their artwork on display.

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Dita Von Teese “Closet Environmentalist” Ignites Paris Fashion Week

Dita Von Teese, Tuileries, Paris Fashion Week, Elie Saab SS11 show.

By Paige Donner

Dita Wowed during Paris Fashion Week, stealing the show confessed designers and paparazzi alike.  She’s a self-described “closet environmentalist,” often preferring vintage over new.  Maybe that’s why she sat front row at Elie Saab’s collection shown in the Tuileries on Wednesday?  Ahh…that nostalgia for 70’s ultra-feminine fashion…

Pictured Below: Dita Von Teese front-row at Elie Saab SS11, October 6, Paris Fashion Week.

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Elie Saab’s Delight In The 70’s

Elie Saab’s Paris Spring Summer ’11 collection shown today in the Jardin des Tuileries is what the designer is calling his “70’s Delight.” The line of soft neutrals is a color palette the designer was inspired to draw on from his boyhood memories of glamorous women from the 70s. “I remember women wearing these colors. They are colors more refined, light, powdery.” Nude, sable, salmon, silver, stone gray, slate – this is the palette of Saab’s Spring Summer collection this year.

 

Saab’s Spring Summer show today floated you onto a boat moored in St. Tropez Bay where nude-backed women glide along yacht decks delicately draped and exposed in flowing, wispy trains of long salmon-colored georgette dresses and whispering silver chiffon tunics.

“I wanted to work with a different style of woman for this collection; A woman who works at home, a woman who vacations on a yacht, a woman who attends evening soirees. I didn’t want to use too many muses this time,” confided Saab after the show.

 

Accessories made a big debut on the Elie Saab Paris fashion runway today. Navel-reaching gold chains dangling heavy pendants decorated the occasional plunging neckline. Gold cuffs worn on both wrists provided just the accent for the sable, salmon and smoky white one-piece jumpsuits, shorts suits and floor-length gowns.

 

“Accessories are a big development for the house,” commented Saab. “We emphasized our accessories this year in the line for that reason.” Salmon-suede clutch trimmed with metal and a jewel of a bag covered in crystals, also textured with tone-on-tone stone gray leather interlacing could be seen being coveted by the catwalking and stunning models with free-flowing coiffed hair.

 

When asked which celebrities would wear his creations best this year, he responded, “Any who like the line.” Dita Von Teese, a self-described “closet environmentalist” sat in the front row. The line for this season is ultra-feminine and looks like it would feel delightful to wear and to walk in. The ultra-petite and feminine Von Teese could easily strap on a pair of the chunky-heeled suede matching sandals and sway down the length of a yacht and into an all-night soiree.

 

The collection’s colors evoke the exuberance of Bahia. The designs evoke the Rockstar era of 70s St. Tropez Jagger excess.  Music for the show was by Michel Gaubert who played Rolling Stone’s “Emotional Rescue” and such 70s era classics. Hair by Orlando Pita and team; Makeup by Tom Pecheux and team using MAC Pro.

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Eco Bags Are BIG! – Previews From Paris Fashion Week

By Paige Donner

Louis Vuitton, Lancel, Stella McCartney…These are some of the biggest names in the fashion industry worldwide.

Each of them have debuted IT bags this year, and those bags happen to be Eco-friendly and/or Ethically oriented.

See More Photos of Ali and Bono wearing Edun and sporting LV on LouisVuittonJourneys.com. Photo by Annie Leibovitz.

Louis Vuitton Keepall 45 “Edun”

Louis Vuitton has partnered with Edun to design the limited edition Louis Vuitton monogrammed Keepall 45. The Every Journey Began In Africa joint ad campaign which features Edun designer Ali and her husband Bono wearing Edun ethical fashions and carrying the Keepall 45 LV tote as they step out of a small plane onto the sweeping grass plains of Africa can be found at LouisVuittionJourneys.com. Photographed by Annie Liebovitz, it is one of those ad campaigns that are the stuff of legends.

Louis Vuitton limited edition Keepall 45 "Edun" bag.

Edun is the fashion brand started in 2005 by Ali Hewson, Bono’s wife, that is ethical, organic, and, since last year, 49% owned by LVMH luxury brands, the parent company of Louis Vuitton.

During Paris Fashion Week, Edun and Louis Vuitton will unveil a temporary Art Exhibit, Africa Rising, an exhibition of contemporary African Art, alongwith Edun’s Spring collection and a showcase for the campaign.

The Louis Vuitton Keepall 45 Edun’s signature charm on the bag (also sold separately) was handcrafted in Kenya by the fair-trade jewellery label MADE. It is the French firm’s first made-in-Africa product.

All proceeds from sale of the LV Keepall 45 Edun bag, as well as the photo fees earned by Bono and Ali, will be donated to Technoserve and the Cotton Initiative. Pictures of some of the 800 organic cotton farmers who make up the Cotton Initiative are on the LVJourneys site along with Ali speaking about the underpinnings of the (organic) Cotton Initiative and how EDUN is a fashion line she created to support this.

Its presence in a Vuitton campaign gives Edun  — and its mission to eradicate poverty through sustainable enterprise in Africa — international exposure, said LV’s director of communications, Antoine Arnault.

Stella McCartney's Falabella Chain Strap It Bag. Always Eco-Friendly. Always kind to animals. Always Fashion Forward. Photo courtesy Stella McCartney.

The Stella McCartney Falabella

Stella McCartney, a life-long vegetarian, has always maintained that she will not use leather, animal skins, or fur in her designs.  This is the season, once again, of leather and fur but Stella’s faux-leather Falabella Bag, the season’s IT bag as far as celebrities such as Rihanna, J. Lo, and Kate Hudson are concerned, has that bred-in Rocker Chic without sacrificing one gram of Eco Ethics.

Rihanna heads to the Studio with her Falabella bag by Stella McCartney. Photo courtesy Handbagdujour.

With winter’s muted shades of camels and greys, the chain strap Stella McCartney Falabella Bag in snakeskin print goes with everything…and easily…from night to day.  McCartney has long been the leader in Eco Fashion, though she has never led with her green foot. Rather, her Fashion Forward sense has simply propelled her towards making superb calls on the world stage of  design and fashion that are aligned with her personal convictions. On her site, StellaMcCartney.com,  when you click on Green Me you will find quotes such as:

“The best thing you can do to help animals is to not eat or wear them. Let others know about the abuse that animals endure and ask them to say no to meat and leather too.” – Stella McCartney

Lancel'S BB Bag, inspired and co-designed by Brigitte Bardot. Bardot, a life-long animal rights defender, chose to use Eco-friendly and animal-friendly materials for her BB Bag by Lancel.

Lancel And Brigitte Bardot

Which brings us to LANCEL.  A revered leather goods and fashion icon brand in France and known the world over, their BB bag seduced not just the shores of St. Tropez this summer, but quickly became the must-have IT bag of fashionable, well-dressed women across the continents.

The Lancel BB bag was designed by (namesake) Brigitte Bardot who added personal touches to the bag such as the wide shoulder strap inspired by the guitar strap from when she strummed her strings on the famous Tropezienne shores between takes from the And God Created Woman film set back in the 50’s.

Using a different approach, luxury leather goods company, Lancel, did not do an all-out campaign promoting the Eco-ethics of its bag. But anyone who knows anything about Brigitte Bardot would quickly realize that a bag designed by one of the most vocal animal rights activists on the planet would necessarily be leather-free.

To simulate leather/ suede the bag’s rich dark chocolate incarnation is made from Alcantara, which looks every bit like suede and is soft and supple to the touch. In addition to the world of fashion, Alcantara is used in interior design features of yachts, and for interiors of the Maserati and Lamborghini.

Brigitte Bardot used her guitar strap as an inspiration for her BB Bag design. The Lancel BB Bag is Eco-Friendly and Cruelty Free.

The BB bag was designed to capture the feminine allure that Brigitte exuded as a film Goddess. The shape of the bag itself is reminiscent of a woman’s hourglass figure.  No animals were harmed in the creation of the bag, it is entirely cruelty-free.  A fact that hasn’t harmed the bag’s wildly popular success. Indeed, on a recent jaunt along the Champs Elysées, in Lancel’s flagship shop, the BB Bag in Beige is to be had only by special order!

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Let Them Recycle!

Fighting Global Warming One Dress at a Time.

[Excerpted from Designed By Hollywood]… Hollywood Costume Designer Kresta Lins, has taken the discussion a little farther, and started a public campaign.

Her mission: To Green Hollywood One Costume At a Time.

Kresta’s green crusade started when she was writing green articles for the Costume Designers Guild newsletter. Her research for an article about recyclable materials in the costume department made her realize how much waste was never recycled due to the lack of information and proper systems for disposal.   But she didn’t stop there, Kresta took her mission to the next level, and created a dress “The Costume Department” dress, that would start a campaign that aims to educate and inspire the members of the entertainment industry to use less, recycle more and make Hollywood a greener industry.

Meet Kresta Lins, a costume designer with a mission to help Hollywood become greener by telling a story of recycling and sustainability through the art of costume design.

MM –  Kresta, What motivated you to start on your mission?
KL – It all started with a link to the “LA City Department of Sanitation”, where I learned about the proper way to recycle and saw first hand how miss-informed I was about what can and can’t be recycled.  I’ve been working in the entertainment industry for over 12 years and the amount of paper and plastics we go through on a daily basis is shocking.  So much of what we use can be recycled but almost never gets disposed of correctly.

MM –  I know what you mean. As a Costume Designer myself, it bothers me the amount of trash we produce and although we try to recycle, sometimes I never know what to do with a lot of the waste. Why do you think Hollywood is not green enough?
KL – I think there is a disconnection between the people that organize the recycling systems and the actual execution of these systems.  Sometimes is as simple as not knowing where the recycle bins are, or not having the right information of what goes into which bin.  I think Hollywood wants to be greener, but there is a need for a department that coordinates the recycling program – green jobs so to speak, that helps the recycling process in the film industry with more PR and communication with the crew and employees.

MM – I can see that happening at some point.  So is that part of your mission, to green Hollywood?
KL – My main mission is to create awareness of what we could be doing to reduce waste and hopefully inspire folks to take action wherever they can.  That is why I created the first costume – The Costume Department dress.

MM –  I love the dress you created, how did you come up with the idea?

KL – A little after I wrote an article about recyclable materials in the costume department, as I was watching The Duchess for the 15th time, I realized that panniers look a lot like laundry baskets… “That’s it!” – The rest hit me like a bolt of lightning. My mind raced as I realized that my two greatest passions—costume design and recycling—could come together to make a difference.

So I started with what I know best, Costume Design, and the materials that we use in the costume department such as old scripts, shopping bags, and created the first dress after an 18th century, Marie Antoinette -style gown, entitled

“Let them Recycle!”

All the items used for the construction of the gown are recyclable materials.I used shopping bags, scripts, fashion magazines, hangers, laundry baskets, ink cartridges and dry cleaning bags.

Each item was used to mimic the extravagance of the era, including a wig made of dry cleaning bags.

Old script pages of

different colors are used as decoration as well as rosettes of recycled paper packaging and manila tags. The undergarments are also designed true to the period and incorporate a recycled denim corset and laundry basket panniers.

Once finished it was photographed and used for the cover of The Costume Designer magazine.

MM – I heard the dress has been getting a lot of attention. What happened next?
KL – Since then, I teamed up with Lauren Selman, the founder of Reel Green Media, an environmental consulting company for the entertainment industry, and together we put together “The Sustainable Sirens” campaign project.

The project is designed around 6 costumes, each of them inspired by a different department in the film industry.  The first one is The Costume Department Dress – “Let them Recycle!” which has been in display in several boutiques and events around Los Angeles, and will soon be available as a poster.  My hope is that the poster will serve as an inspiration to use less and recycle more.

MM – So from concept to creation, what is your approach when you design one of these costumes?  How do you get inspired?
KL – I start by interviewing each department and asking them “What kind of waste do you produce in your department?”  Each department has different needs and therefore they consume different products.
For example the second dress of the campaign started by interviewing the Casting Department.  When I asked what kind of waste they produced, the answer was quite interesting; it was all about information disposal.  For example, CD’s, DVD’s head shot pictures, tons of scripts.  There were actually 3 towers of DVD’s that they were going to throw off.   So the concept emerged for the second costume entitled “Cast a Change”. The concept is a mermaid and the subject is e-waste and information disposal.   I won’t go into details now, because it’s not ready yet.  The “Cast a Change” costume will be done by the end of 2009, and you will be able to see it here at Designed by Hollywood.

MM – It seems that each dress has a story behind it doesn’t it?
KL – Yes, each dress has a story to tell about what choices we can make that are better for the environment.
When I became aware of what I could recycle, I reduced my trash to 50%, and I took those best practices to a show I just finished.  Yes it’s work, but it pays off at the end.Read Entire Article and Interview HERE

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