Green goes NY Fashion Week

New York Fashion Week is the place to spot new trends and, if this season’s event is any indication, going green is in style.

Sponsor Mercedes-Benz aimed for the semi-annual event to be carbon neutral for the first time, and several of the designers unveiling fall and winter 2010 collections emphasised organic materials and sustainable designs. Mercedes-Benz said it bought enough carbon offsets to have net zero carbon emissions at the huge tents erected in Manhattan’s Bryant Park, where many of the shows are staged and require power and heat.

Socially conscious fashion
Green chic was evident on the runways, where designers showcased sustainable design from the recycled metal jewelry of Native American Maria Samora to C. Marchuska’s ecologically and socially conscious clothing line. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection partnered with Aveda, maker of skin and hair products, to help reduce consumption of bottled water by setting up tap water stations for Fashion Week attendees.

Rum, cookies, shampoo
Others suggested designers send invitations via email, rather than paper, and noted many of the goodies given free to attendees probably end up as trash. This season, the Mercedes-Benz goodie bag contained a keychain, tiny bottles of rum, cookies, dry shampoo, an iron, a suitbag, earbuds, a bottle of nasal sanitiser and a stain remover kit, among other things. “I don’t pick them up because it goes waste,” said Erica Allen, an assistant at BCBG.