Those of you out there, toiling away at the coalface of ethical style, designing, producing, selling it and buying it, we salute you and support you. If we can see a way back to you, we’ll be there. And if you disagree wildly with our decision to take a break, do let me know either in the comments section here or via email at sarah@greenmystyle.com. That includes any generous benefactors who would care to dig into their pockets to keep us going. 

Thanks go to Greenmystyle.com’s contributors, especially Jen Marsden, Clare Saxon, Maria Kaski and Yanar Alkayat, who believed in the cause and donated extraordinary amounts of time and hard work to produce great content, right from the start of this project. I can’t praise them highly enough.

In the meantime, Delightful Media, publisher of Greenmystyle.com, has joined forces with another media agency, led by Katie Lee, to form one new agency, Jones & Jones Media. We will be focusing on QueensOfVintage.com, and its incredible vintage social network, and Katie’s site DorkAdore, a magazine site for geek chic.    

I’d prefer to imagine that we, Greenmystyle.com and you are simply having some time apart. I’d love to think that when the time is right, we’ll reignite the spark between us, and continue our mission to help women with a heart to shop wisely and stylishly.

My final note is to say thank you to you, our readers. It’s your desire for ethical style that kept us going, and provides the incentive for stores, designers and beauty companies to keep investing in it. Thank you.

[Image: Doucette Duvall. Two years on and still my favourite.]

Fashion designers aren’t the only ones eyeing up your jeans as hot property for upcycling. Car designers are too. Now, your favourite denims could end up in a state-of-the art electric car. Jimmy Edwards made a trip to Detroit to find out more.

Jimmy writes: The automotive industry is one of the arch villains of environmentalists and understandably so.

But whereas digital companies are only just starting to fess up to their carbon guzzling ways (see How to Green your Site), car manufacturers are falling over themselves to green up their business.

So when Ford invited Greenmystyle.com to Detroit for the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), with the promise of wall-to-wall green cars, we took them up on their offer.

I was expecting a green element to NAIAS, but it seems that the automotive industry has gone through a major cultural shift: every single manufacturer was putting major emphasis on its hybrid or electric models.

More than half of the Ford stand was devoted to alternatives to the straightforward internal combustion engine, although the F150 pick-up truck was similar in size to my one-bed flat and housed a 6.2l V8 just in case you thought things had gone too far in the right direction.

So, what were the green highlights?

The new Ford Focus Electric launches 2012

The Ecoboost power plant ranges will apparently increase fuel efficiency by 15 per cent and reduce CO2 emissions by 20 per cent . Meanwhile, a new electric line-up was announced, with the Transit Connect and Focus Electric — Ford’s first ever emission-free passenger car — due out in Europe in 2012.

What will this mean for the UK market? Well, good things indeed. Our current range of electric vehicles is limited and nearly all represent a compromise. The G-Wiz, for example, has poor safety standards and  lacks the practicality of a regular family car.

The Ford Focus has a proven track record with millions of dollars spent on research and development. The electric model will be affordable and running costs should be significantly cheaper than a standard Focus.

How green is a green car?

There are still compromises, as with all electric vehicles. The Focus has a range of 100 miles after a charging time of three to four hours – though it’s fair to say these are suited to urban use where trips are invariably shorter – and the boot is considerably smaller than its petrol counterpart as the lithium batteries have to be stored there. 

If we look at electric power and the lifecycle analysis of batteries, too, there are still issues, such as the human rights impact on the mining of Lithium and the difficult disposal of the batteries in an environmentally-sound way.

The sustainable drive led by Ford is not just about how you make the wheels turn, it is also rolling out green initiatives on a range of materials used in the manufacturing of all products, from soya-based foam for seating, wheat straw reinforced polypropylene, and engineered woods.

In fact, the 2012 Focus will use recycled denim with roughly two pairs of jeans used in the roof lining. Finally, we get to the bit about jeans. Sorry fashion fans.

A tour of the Ford Rouge plant in Detroit showed other initiatives such as the worlds largest “living” roof, a 10-acre sedum roof. This provides better insulation, a natural habitat for wildlife and offsets some of the CO2 produced by the factory. The surrounding area has been landscaped to provide improved water run-off and cleansing as well as natural habitats around the site.

Things are changing in the automotive industry. The revolution is not as dramatic as Henry Ford creating the production line in 1913, but Ford is making itself part of the solution for meeting the transport needs of today without compromising the future.

Disclosure: Ford paid for Greenmystyle.com’s trip to Detroit

[Image: Rajiv Ashravi]

Ecoluxe showroom. Copyright Helena Maratheftis

Sam Cam may have been enlisted to advise the British Fashion Council for the next London Fashion Week but in light of her ‘maternity leave’ during this season’s LFW, Miriam González Durántez managed to steal the spotlight with her own fashionable cause. Eleni Sardi reports from Ecoluxe.

The wife of Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg launched a new ethical fashion initiative last weekend lending her support to British and international designers who work in the field of sustainable fashion.

Ecoluxe is the brainchild of two of them, Stamo and Elena Garcia, who are hoping this will become a bi-annual event to attract the attention of shoppers (and buyers) to a number of exciting new brands. Both have showcased in estethica in previous years and considered starting a new project for luxury ethical brands that is going to be running in parallel with each year’s Fashion Week extravaganza.

The lineup for SS ’11 featured 13 designers and it looks like it’s going to have to be set in a bigger venue come February as the mezzanine of One Aldwych Hotel was pretty packed as it was. Despite the limited space, the showroom was very well put together with a diverse mix of clothes, accessories and beauty products. And it wasn’t the ethical ware that you might imagine with some really stunning eveningwear creations and some equally impressive casual outfits.

Only time will tell how successful this new endeavour in sustainable fashion is going to be. But this was certainly a very solid first step.

The following items are the ones that really stood out:

The press release reads:

The British Fashion Council (BFC) today announced that it will host the first Sustainable fashion show on the official LFW catwalk schedule to showcase key looks from established and emerging designers working sustainably. The show will be held in partnership with START, an initiative by The Prince’s Charities Foundation to promote and celebrate sustainable living. The partnership reinforces the BFC’s commitment to sustainable fashion through its Estethica initiative. A significant number of designers from Estethica will be showcasing their S/S 2011 collection as part of the first Sustainable catwalk show on theLondon calendar.
The show will be held in Friary Court, in St. James’s Palace on Friday September 17th, the first day of London Fashion Week, to celebrate START’S ‘A Garden Party to Make a Difference’. This pioneering festival will see the gardens of Clarence House, Marlborough House and Lancaster House opened to the public from 8th-19th September to learn from the experts about living a greener life and to raise awareness of sustainability through music,
comedy, fashion.
Attendees to the sustainable show will include over 400 journalists, celebrities, designers, retailers and models to celebrate and support London’s position as leaders in designing and promoting eco-sustainable fashion. Featured designers will include Dame Vivienne Westwood’s World’s End Collection, Stella McCartney, From Somewhere, People Tree, Junky Styling, Henrietta Ludgate and Christopher Raeburn, to name but a few. Members of the public attending the Garden Party on Friday 17th may have the opportunity to see the show as limited places will be available.

The British Fashion Council would like to thank the sponsors Ecover and Lavazza, as well as London Fashion Week sponsors M·A·C and Toni&Guy whose teams will be providing the hair and make-up for the show and yoox.com supporting the initiative as Estethica’s online retail partner.

My Beautiful City are the appointed production company for the show and will ensure that it will be as eco-friendly and sustainable as possible, incorporating specialist show production and experts to off-set its carbon footprint. They will address all components required for a
catwalk show including power, lighting and staging.

The BFC has appointed stylist and Creative Consultant Chloe Kerman, Fashion Editor of TANK magazine, to style the project. Chloe Kerman, said “I am really looking forward to being involved with this exciting new project. Sustainable fashion is very much in a transition. As people begin to consider their social responsibility as consumers, designers are really starting to consider to this philosophy as part of their process. The range of creative talent showcased here just goes to show how stunning ethical clothing can be, in the end it has to be about great design and beautiful clothing.”
Supermodel Erin O’Connor, who will be walking in the show, said “Merging style and conscience has never been so important and valued at London Fashion Week. I’m proud to walk the catwalk for designers who have crafted their talent and considered the true ethical values in the creative design process”.

Ends
Image: From Somewhere A/W2010

EKO Sense is a luxurious range of stylish, versatile and so easy-to-wear women’s clothing. From yoga to lounging, beach to bar, EKO Sense’s casual signature style made from luxurious eco-friendly fabrics results in a supremely wearable new womenswear label.

EKO Sense reflects the laid-back beauty that Cornwall is famous for, by producing casual essentials in the kindest of fabrics. The collection is made entirely from sustainable fabrics, selected from the latest technology in eco-fibres such as combining cashmere and soft jersey with beautiful organic cottons, bamboo fibre and tactile soyabean protein fibre. The proof really is in the wearing as they handle beautifully and feel incredibly soft, resulting in a collection as kind to the environment as the garments are to you.

EKO Sense’s range of bamboo towels complement the main collection. Fluffy and soft, these bamboo towels are anti-bacterial, super absorbent and sustainable.

To win a set of luxury bamboo towels*, leave a comment in the comment section at the bottom of this EKO Sense competition article on jorgandolif.com, telling us briefly what you do to relax. Your answer can be as long or as short as you like, but it must be clean! All comments will be moderated before being published.

Make sure you leave your email address when you add your comment. Don’t worry, unless you also put it in the comment box, it won’t display publically.

Ten winners will be chosen at random at midday on September 26.

* The prize will be one set worth £39, in Mulberry. One set equals one hand towel and one bath towel.

Flo has teamed up with Talenthouse and Luckymag.com to give budding fashion designers out there the chance to see their work adorning the shoulders of Florence Welch herself.

The winning designer will receive travel, two night’s accommodation at Soho House NY and $500 spending money so they can head to New York, see their creation in action and meet Florence and the band backstage.

I can absolutely see Florence opting for ethical fashion. Her approach to style is unique, cutting edge and inspirational.

To find out how to submit your designs, just click here. The deadline for submissions is October 4.

Do you have any ideas for which ethical fashion designers / brands would suit Florence? Tell us here.

Available at Fashion-Conscience.com in dark grey suede or cream leather, a pair will lighten your purse by £110. That’s barely more than the average high street pair, only in this case you know that the people who made them have been paid fairly.

Where ankle boots, £110

London College of Fashion’s enterprising program for ethical designers The Centre for Sustainable Fashion occupied a central space at estethica this year with two of its participating designers exhibiting some of their pieces. Mandy Barder finds out what drives them and the affect the innovative program has had on them.

Michelle Lowe-Holder and Partimi are two of the impressive brands that have contributed to The Centre for Sustainable Fashion’s hybrid of business teachings and radical fashion design.

Michelle Lowe-Holder’s SS10 collection ‘Summer Smock’ looks back to the ‘labourers embroidery’ of the Middle Ages and is an appropriate follow-on from her AW09 collection ‘Smocking’ of a darker, more sensual nature.

The collection is modeled around the concept of ribbon work, which is an appliqué clothing technique, where different ribbons are traditionally layered on top of each other with pieces cut out to form a sort of optical appearance. “It’s taking old techniques and reconverting them and trying to modernize them. I use end-of-line ribbons and hand crochet and everything is super labour-intensive,” she says.

Michelle has taken this simple craft and given it her own modern and provocative twist, from fitted black dresses with central layering giving the overall LBD a sumptuous redesign, to floaty smock dresses with the Lowe-Holder ribbon print cascading down the oversized sleeves. A celebrity favourite are the leather chokers and cuffs, cut into exaggerated ribbon pleats. Eco enthusiast Livia Giuggioli wore some to the Elle Style Awards in February.

Print design is a big part of the brand, where the focus lies with stunningly intricate and feminine floral and ribbon designs, which are almost always delineated in a smoky black that hardens the delicacy of the patterns. Handicraft plays another important role in the designer’s process, where she deems craftsmanship to be more important than material.

As a designer, working with vintage and reusing materials has always been a very organic process for her and without putting a deliberate green label on it. “The seminars have been a really good match for me and it’s something that I don’t have to work too hard on because it is what I am. It’s not something I associate myself with particularly, its just stuff I do”.

As Michelle’s designs follow an unconscious green path, Partimi does the opposite. Eleanor Dorrien-Smith is a recent graduate from Central Saint Martins and since the summer of 2008, her label has been slowly revealing its sustainable identity, from raising awareness about over-fishing to constantly on the search for eco-friendly fabrics. As a new comer to the world of ethical fashion Eleanor has found the workshops hugely encouraging in helping her push Partimi into the limelight.

The AW10 collection is a preview for her main collection for SS11, giving her plenty of time to grow her workforce and concentrate on discovering new ways to express her ideas.

Art that has an interesting story attached to it is a hard abstraction to disengage from and fashion has often been accused of dismissing a deeper narrative. Partimi certainly doesn’t fall into this category. The collection pays homage to Eleanor’s grandmother who collected costumes from the Ballet Russes, an avant-garde Russian ballet group that ran from around 1909-1929. Some of the pieces have been sold to the V&A and are due to be showcased in an exhibition dedicated to the famous ballet troupe in September.

“What’s special about what I’m doing is I’ve grown up being able to look inside the garments, to handle them and to see all the mistakes that the public could not. I’m concentrating on all the repair methods, looking at the labels inside the garments with all the dancers names in, the sweat patches and areas that really show that the garments were actually worn and danced in and travelled in; the history” she says.

The Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes 1909–1929 is at the V&A and starts in September 2010 until January 2011.

The mini-series offered interesting facts and insights as it investigated the state of the British public’s skin. Channel 4 presenter Anna Richardson (of Supersize Vs Superskinny and My Big Fat Diet Show fame) did a great job along with her skin experts in showing the best – and the worst – skin routines a girl can have.

All five programmes are available on YouTube here.

To re-cap on the recommended DIY recipes.

For an avocado moisturiser click here

For a skin cleansing treatment with green tea click here

For berry beauty click here

For a chocalicious treatment click here

Remember, you are what you put on your skin, so the more quality the ingredients, the more luxuriant the body pack shall be. Here at Greenmystyle.com we recommend organic where possible.

These recipes were especially made by America’s best-selling bodycare range Jergens® Naturals® Skincare, loved by customers across the globe for over a century. Try its range of highly effective natural moisturisers, formulated from the finest plant-derived extracts, delivering effective body moisturisers for women of all ages, and for a variety of skin types. They’re 95% natural, highly effective and paraben free for beautiful skin.

Click here to find out more about Jergens® Naturals® or join them on Facebook

While there is much attention on sourcing ingredients ethically from overseas, many herbs are still being cultivated for British natural and organic beauty brands, offering convenient solutions for today’s time-pressed green beauty kings and queens.

This article first appeared on BigGreenSmile.com, who deliver a wide range of natural beauty products direct to your home. To view the full article on native British beauty, please click here.

Photo credit: Joss Smithson