Emerald City: LA’s Best Eco-Fashion

Emerald City: LA’s Best Eco-Fashion

Guest post by Rachel Lincoln Sarnoff from Eco Stiletto. For more Eco Style & Fashion, check out

www.EcoStiletto.com

When it comes to eco-fashion, Los Angeles is ahead of the pack. There’s something about its laid-back vibe and look-at-me style that infuses our ecoistas with a certain je ne sais quoi. Or maybe it’s just the sunshine.

Anyway, the irony that this sprawling, gigantasaurus, carbon-spewer of a city should spawn such a deep well of sustainable talent is not  lost on us. But we digress. We criss-crossed the city to find the best eco--fashion in our favorite ‘hoods--plus $1,700 in exclusive giveaways!

SILVERLAKE

You can spot a Calleen Cordero creation from across the room. Thick brass studs accent supple, veggie-dyed leather (no chrome here) that mold to the foot in complicated patterns, while the heels of the hand-crafted wood soles strike the floor in a point. And those are just the shoes. With boots, bags, clogs, cuffs and even guitar straps under her belt—her design, of course—Calleen (pictured above, in a photo generously shared by Los Angeles magazine) is single-handedly bringing back the art of artisan accessory making, one sole at a time.

PASADENA

From fabulous heirloom jewelry to somebody’s grandmother’s prom dress, there’s really nothing you can’t find at the Rose Bowl. That’s  kind of how we felt when we discovered fashion editor and former Vogue staffer Brenna Egan’s new online vintage emporium, Chic & You Shall Find. Forget the mismatched photos of online vintage shopping of yore, C&YSF presents gorgeous, period pieces expertly styled—from sunglasses to shoes—and photographed. But be forewarned: Stock sells and swaps out daily, so those $185 Louboutin Espadrilles (yes, really) you’ve been eyeing today might not be there tomorrow.

HOLLYWOOD

We’re written about Deborah Lindquist before—she was upcycling before anybody’d even coined the term (maybe she did). But we couldn’t resist a shout-out ‘bout her newest collection, a rocker-meets-gypsy inspired smorgasbord of pieces, made from sustainable and upcycled materials like hemp, micromodal and recycled cotton, destined for Sunset Boulevard. The centerpiece of Deborah’s wearable eco-fantasy? A bustier made of a fabric crafted from recycled cassette tape and get this: It plays sound.

 

WESTWOOD

There was a time in Los Angeles when buying jewelry meant you went to Westwood. Not Downtown, not to Beverly Hills, but to the tiny little jewelry shops wedged into pizza-slice store fronts between a falafel place and a record store. Of course, in those days, no one knew from blood diamonds, and the fact that uber-polluting cyanide was used to mine the gold that composed the delicate little unicorn charm hanging between your collarbones was off-record. You wanted the unicorn. And you wanted a boyfriend to buy it for you. And when that didn’t happen, you stole quarters from your father’s stash until you’d saved up enough to buy it yourself. The little unicorn is long gone, but that fierce desire for a delicate trinket lives again when you witness the work of local jewelry designer Danielle Birrittella, whose line, EllaPoe, is crafted solely in recycled EcoGold and conflict-free stones, and donates a percentage of sales to Women for Women International. Now where did you put that quarter?

MALIBU

If you’re a ‘bu girl, you know the uniform: flip-flops, low-rider skirt, tight-in-all-the-right-places tee over an itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie. And since Pammy’s been in the ‘hood, Malibu has gotten a bit more conscientious with that last part—you’ll see as many organic cotton tees at John’s Garden as you will as the party heads south on PCH. What are these girls wearing? Why, organic cotton =liv+grn” title=“LIV GRN”]LIV GRN, of course; each LIV GRN shirt donates 10% to Global Green.

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