Project Green Runway

I'm not much of a television person, but I have a weakness for Project Runway (fashion designer who likes Project Runway - predictable, I know). I was especially excited for last night’s episode, which not only featured the oh-so-very-adorable eco-lovin' Natalie Portman, but also focused on a challenge based on eco-friendly fabrics.

The twist was that the models, not the designers, chose the fabrics, which in my mind, was sort of a metaphor to the real-life experience of eco-designers like myself. Eco-friendly fabrics, although more available today than in the past, are difficult to come by. Color choices are limited, prints are virtually non-existent, and with every designer and their eco-grandmother jumping on the green bandwagon these days, the relatively hard-to-get fabrics are snatched up so quickly that sometimes we must work with whatever we can get, even if it’s not our first choice.

I have to admit that I was rather disappointed by the designs. If we, as real-life eco-fashion designers, are able to come up with stylish designs even with limited fabric choices, why was it so difficult for the P.R. designers, many of whom hold degrees in design and have experience at large, well-known clothing lines, to create garments that looked even semi-wearable? I did dig Suede's winning design, which featured organic silk (see pic above). Despite the fact that the bodice strips didn’t allow for much movement and looked a little bulky at times, the silhouette was very eco-cool.

Carry on!