Welcome, visitors to TheFind.com. You’ve come to search and find something very particular, no doubt – and you’ve stumbled across me!
Every week, as a fashion journalist, I’m going to share my own notable finds with you, as it’s my job to find what’s new, inspiring and world-changing in the fast-spinning world of fashion, and translate it into a language we can all decipher and get a handle on.
As the spring 08 collections have just concluded in New York, London, Milan, Paris – and now Los Angeles – I can tell you that biggest among the spring trends of billowy soft dresses long and short, pleating, and the ruffled one shoulder cocktail dress is COLOR. We saw peppermint pinks, sun yellows, corn yellows, pop purples, shocking blue – and often, in wild combos of each, in a season that announces the return of PRINTS: floral and fine art-inspired. But by far and away, the biggest color trend for spring is, very simply, GREEN.
Fashion is inspired by everything on earth. Designers have fertile minds that soak up the zeitgeist of all kinds of ideas and thoughts vibrating out there in the ether. Right now, the earth is what’s on everybody’s mind, from Al Gore to Leo DiCaprio to Adrian Grenier. The Environmental Media Awards will honor Sting and Trudie Styler on October 24 at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in L.A., and pay tribute to the organic food and light bulb and household item brands that are eco-friendly. (You can find all these items on TheFindGreen.com).
But fashion’s going green, too. L.A. based designer Linda Loudermilk, who showed her spring 08 collection at a BP gas 
station outdoors in L.A. during Mercedes Benz Fashion week, was the first notable designer to use all organic fabrics. And she’ll open an enormous eco-friendly L.A. emporium this February on Melrose Avenue, with her spring 08 collection of evening dresses as well as day clothes, and new spa products in conjunction with Origins.
Mercedes, the major sponsor of L.A. Fashion Week, decided this season to present new-to-the-market “green” designers, and chose the spring 08 collection of Evidence of Evolution for this runway honor.
Evidence of Evolution? The name evokes things like fossils, skeletons and memories of Darwin. But the modern Evidence of Evolution is individuals who care about the future of our planet - and photographer Ali Alborzi and former Dolce + Gabbana, Prada and Gucci design consultant Andrew McCarthy are two such individuals. Together, they've found ways to specially dye organic eco-friendly fabrics so that they have rich pigments (electric blue, chartreuse, yellow, red) and satin shiny finishes.
At their runway show last week at the Smashbox Studios in Culver City, they showed mini-dresses and long voile poet dresses for the ladies, and colorful slim deconstructed suits for eco-conscious gents. And the audience and runway were filled with both; Adrian Grenier sat in the front row with famed fashion stylist Maryam Malakpour, who served as a consultant to the line and who dressed the Rolling Stones for years. Also in attendance was environmental advocate and actress Q’Orianka Kilcher.
Walking
in the show were indie actor Vincent Gallo, famed LA club promoter Brent Bolthouse, and model Josie Maran, who donned Evidence of Evolution's "bridal" look: a long ecru romantic poet gown. Maran's new green line of cosmetics – Josie Maran Cosmetics - was used on the models and tucked into the gift bags - which only makes sense, since she is Ali Alborzi's girlfriend. She took a lovely turn down the runway between the two designers for the show's big finish.
Barneys New York has commissioned the Evidence of Evolution collection so look for it soon at a website near you! Green isn't about envy anymore - nor is it necessarily about big bucks. It's about consciousness and caring - and that never goes out of fashion. MG
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