Last week my wife and I had the pleasure of visiting the “Organic in the City” fashion show at the Discovery Gardens here in Dallas, Texas.

The event took place on Wednesday the 10th of March and we went along with Mom, Sharen, to see the wonderful line up of organic clothing from a range of excellent designers.

The Organic In The City Fashion Show - Dallas, Texas

After sampling some delicious appetizers courtesy of the Blue Mesa catering group we moved into a fabulous runway room and experienced a cutting edge sustainable and organic couture fashion show. This was the Texas Discovery Gardens’ second annual Organic in the City Fashion Show and Auction and it shows signs of growing into a huge event.

Organic Clothing Galore!

We enjoyed an evening of fashion and the event was opened by WFAA’s Gloria Campos, it was a treat to say hello to her in person at the pre-show appetizer mingle too! The shows iconic symbol is an elegant lady with butterfly wings and the show included the icon herself striking a pose almost identical to the logo, let’s just say the whole production had been very well rehearsed!

The Iconic Butterfly Model

The hour long show featured several organic designers which included the talented Ross Bennett with a new collection that made green fashion elegant and fun, and Lindsay Weatherread with a look at her exciting new collection described as “origami for the body.”

Ross Bennett - Featured Organic Designer

At the end of the show there was a really neat live auction where everyone was invited to bid on the clothes we had just seen on the runway. The proceeds benefited the Texas Discovery Gardens’ new hands-on educational initiative. Throughout 2010, the Texas Discover Gardens’ educational initiative will teach sustainability and organic principles in part by assisting area organizations to start their own butterfly gardens, and also by continuing to develop their 7.5 acres of gardens into educational butterfly gardens and native habitat examples.

Butterflies are beneficial insects and vital pollinators that indicate a healthy, holistic ecosystem and the show featured designs by the El Centro College’s Fashion Design students, their beautiful silk screen printed designs sold very quickly and for high dollar amounts, it was really exciting auction and the students were nearby to experience the thrill.

The Butterfly Designs Were Auctioned for Charity

Guest speaker Susanne Taylor (of Susanne Taylor & Associates) talked about the latest in organic clothing and how important it is to incorporate sustainable thinking in all aspects of our lives and we are looking forward to next years Organic In the City fashion show already!

You can read more about the wonderful event at the links below;

http://www.texasdiscoverygardens.org/fashion_show.html

Ross Bennett Facebook Page – Lots of Design Images

Lindsay Weatherread Facebook Page

I stumbled across a wonderfully intriguing image on Flickr.com and it turned out to be an eco friendly coat made from reused plastic shopping bags. The green fashionista responsible for the wonderful creation is UrbanWoodsWalker and her creations are truly inspiring.
This post will show you how to turn your used plastic bags into “plastic fabric” and make your own eco clothing. (Warning: The plastic fabric requires the use of an iron. Please be very careful whenever using a hot iron and ensure your work area is well ventilated)

1/ Collect a bunch of brightly colored plastic bags (The super thin ones work best such as the type newspapers are delivered in), most shoppers have eliminated plastic bags from their homes by using reusable totes but you can probably still find some plastic to use;

Step 1: Gather up Your Used Plastic Bags

2/ You will need the following, an iron, an ironing board, a pair of scissors, some paper (wax paper or parchment paper works best).
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On a recent vacation to see my family in Manchester, England, I was dragged to a local arts and crafts outlet by my very arty mom and sister! (My sister, Rachel, produces beautiful ceramic artwork which you can see in my previous post, Green Ceramic Artwork.)

The Manchester Craft and Design Center is in the heart of Manchester City Center. I was still slightly jet lagged and in all honesty ready to collapse in front of a television, but I persevered with our artistic adventure and was very happy with what I found…

Inside the old Manchester building were a huge collection of small stores owned and operated by local artists. I think we spent about 2 hours looking at all the amazing hand crafted “one of a kind” creations and artwork. My favorite store was easily the little organic, hand printed clothing store owned by Nell Smith.

Nell Smith hand prints all of her clothing and uses the softest organic cotton you have ever felt! My favorite creation was a bright white organic bib with a cool little giraffe and a simple statement;

“HELLO!”

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With the green revolution in full swing there are now many companies selling organic cotton clothing which is both comfortable and great for the environment.

Here are a few of our favorite t-shirt designs available from Cafepress.com;

I Like Vegetables - Organic Women's Fitted T-Shirt
Buy this product at CafePress

Organic Women's Fitted T-Shirt
Buy this product at CafePress

Organic Women's Fitted T-Shirt
Buy this product at CafePress

All of the above t-shirts are available in both Men’s and Women’s sizes, fitted and un-fitted, so what are you waiting for? Declare your love of all things green with a t-shirt that fits your green spirit!