Warning Signs

(in cold water with no phosphate detergent and line dry)

i was at a local hospital picking up my father after surgery and had some time to kill. Went to the gift shop and started reading labels on the baby clothing and stuffed animals. Well as most of them were imported and not deemed eco sane or even safe; i suggested to the clerk that she tell people to wash items before putting them on the babies. She agreed to the idea.




Later i had a recycle conversation with the pharmacist (who asked for my card!) I then talked to a nurse on my dad's floor about my gift shop boldery. She said "doesn't veryone know to wash clothing first?" I replied, you would hope so, but it is easy to think new as clean. We then discussed the allergy uprise and how sad it is that asthma has been virtually normed. Who knows what else is induced by our toxic chemical dependencies?



So under the fashionRIP Project ethos; I am making up signs to take to local hospital gift shops and ask them to please hang them where customers can see them. I will also write up a little "why" card to help the clerks answer questions about this concern.



I am a zero population growth supporter which means that babies count. The numbers count and the babies then count more. Happy, healthy babies are good ...a matter of quality and not mass quantity.

Beautiful Soul Update

and an absolutely fabulous new collection!

I am so happy to see this designer gaining ground and voice. Her newest collection is beautiful, wearable and now includes a mens wear line. Nicola is a great talent; designing garments to wear now and to watch for in the future as each collection brings more delectable surprises.

"Inspired by the Grace Kelly exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the vintage wardrobe of Naomi Thompson, founder of Vintage Secret, the collection will focus on the feminine 1950's silhouette with a twist of the Orient........The collection gives vintage Japanese kimonos a 'new lease of life' as they are upcycled into entirely new designs."

Watch the video Believe-ss:11 featuring garments and illustrated gardens and see more of this lovely collection on the web site.

Vancouver Eco Fashion

Elena Garcia Spring 2010

Next week i will be in Vancouver, especially looking forward to seeing Elena Garcia's newest work. Elena and other sustainable designers will be showing on the 29th and i cannot wait to see her runway show. Join us!

Silk Buffalo

lightly fitted, lovely eco (buffalo) plaid shirt from Anna Herman.

Love it!!!

Anna and I are planning an eco fashion show in Seattle next year. This will be more than a runway ya- da-da. We promise fashion with a difference in many ways. Stay tuned.

American Dream is the Nightmare

Stranger News Box(?) in Ballard

Growth in economics without regard to resources, environment or social equity was what built the American Dream. This is surely now the nightmare.

"We thrive when the planet thrives." Juliet Schor professor of sociology at Boston U. and author of Plenitude: the New Economics of True Wealth...."while waiting for government, lets get going.

Now!!!! fashionRIP Project's move towards a co-op building buy with other eco sane entreprenuers can address this issue. Pooling money and resources will help real progress manifest and enable the growth we want, not the growth that will eat us alive.

fashionRIP Project wants to be the experiment, is willing to model the new paradigm, is able to be sustainable and I will prove it. Dare me! but i need help!!!!

Co-ops and triple bottom line corporations will create healthier economics if supported and seen as better investments than the old markets, based on the linear model. Sole proprietors are good (been there, done that) but are less able to bounce back. Local sustainable economics will create healthier communities.

Bio-diversity is good for eco systems, communities, human species and economics too! It's simply not having all the eggs in that one basket and that = smart.

Lady Slippers part 1

The Lusty Lady died last month. I won't go into the morality show or the "it's a living" diatribe. I will say that the place is attached to a good memory of mine.

The photo is of the sidewalk mourning installation, across from SAM. The Kurt Cobain show inside the museum was all served up proper-like for commercial collections. It is funny how time and death creates that "other cultural acceptance" that the live artists rarely see. Anyway across from SAM the art was displayed publicly and on concrete. (street pop up art)

As for the LL, the first big wedding I did as Zootsuit was for a couple with connections to the Lusty Lady. I did 8 or so bridesmaid dresses and some of those maids were Ladies.

Lady Slippers part 2

It was the late 80s (or early 90s)
The dresses were jewel toned, silk satin, 50s prom worthy swirls with floral jackets. I made the flower girl dresses as well, blue and pink Swiss Dot (organdy with flocked pin dots- so cute with little pinafore covers) and the priests robe was a multi color combo made from dress remnants. It was held at Kinnear Park on Queen Anne and it was lovely. My first big custom dress event!

Fashion Is

back with yoke detail

as fashion does.

This custom one of a kind skirt was made for and by Montana with remnants retrieved from Sew Up Seattle via Goods for the Planet in the grand "pass it on" style that recycouture and sustainable fashion endorses.

Passing on the goods and better yet the information, is what sustainability is all about. Reaching into many markets, changing patterns and beliefs is part of the evolving process that life encourages. Montana's skirt is a metaphor for how real, tangible, 3d things are accomplished when action is added.

Today a skirt, tomorrow the co-op; same principles.

VIP OD

hello people art from a child

State Farm (insurance) club 17

Starbucks Gold Members tent

& elitist schmack

Bumbershoot was palled by corporate presence. The elitist noise of the current economic model that is tanking the best of the planet has the temerity and the power to promote it's agenda. By the means of processed factory foods and worker bee buzz, the soon to be Dead Peasants they are giggly 'bout exploiting are the you and me of the the whole. Prompted to consume for economic health we are gobbling through resources like mad gremlins tossing back waste enough to bury us all

The all of us, the whole, that is the issue. Our species means of existence relies on the very things that are being destroyed...how does this not register?

Bumbershoot Arts

detail of Aerub's mural. When we glorify violence and crime for entertainment, what do we nurture? The hat tells the fashion story.

A masterpiece by Aerub. Street art with a message is what the RIP is all about. I am honored to show it.

The best day to see art is the day before the rest of Bumbershoot opens. Its' a free preview and vies for Flatstock as the best reason for the event. Ok the music is hit and miss worthy, but when good is so $$$$ or so crowded we are back to pushing elitism and tight money.

fashionRIP next

hemp skirt with vintage trim -
Anna Herman Design

on the RIP scene; talking it up with Anna Herman about collaborating for a multi discipline, collaborative, evocative, attention nabbing event, sometime in the next year. Forming alliances with other disciplines that enhance the righteous tag of the sustainable movement, along with other eco wise fashion designers, appears the best and fastest way to manifest change.

Feel free to contact either one of us if you want to take part in a fusion of fashion and dance, art,video, music....hey you know more than us about what might spice up an event. debbarnesusa@hotmail.com please put fashionRIP as subject so i don't junk ya!