While everybody was busy debating Palin or Obama, I went to a fashion show, but not any fashion show, one hosted by Angela Lindvall, who has dedicated her life to sustainable design issues, and now stars with Adrian Grenier on the flip side of his Entourage, in a wonderful new TV show called AlterEco. All her cast mates from Planet Green made the trek from LA to support her. The event was held under the life size blue whale hanging inside the American Museum of Natural History’s Millstein Hall of Ocean Life.

On September 4th, at the height of New York Fashion Week, Angela’s agency IMG helped sponsor this benefit for the Sierra Club to launch Be EcoChic, a convergence of many different people, companies and organizations who share the same environmental concerns about the fashion industry, and who are all working together to instill practical sustainability solutions in both their personal lives and their profession.

You couldn’t have hoped for a better turnout or a hipper crowd. Lauren Hutton, who recently launched her own makeup line, is a hero of mine. Always an adventurer and an explorer, I suspect her picking giant live flying bugs from the air and sucking their insides out, around the light of a camp fire while spending time with an African tribe, was an inspiration for Survivor! Few years ago she got herself into a terrible motocycle accident. It was wonderful to see her goofing around at rehearsal, back on the runway wearing a beautifully green and romantic steampunk long coat from Maggie Norris, who four months ago invited Riverkeeper lawyer Philip Musegaas to walk her runway.

Angela and Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope shared the stage in a comedy skit with her Planet Green bandmates, eco-contractor Darren Moore & Boise Thomas who is building an eco-oasis in Kansas. Darren came out wearing Angela’s blue dress. All the designers used recycled, organic, or vintage fabrics. For blow by blow details, this is a really informative post by PJ Gach. In his defense, Chevy Chase was very cordial to me, graciously posed for pictures, but the images never recorded, my old FUJI failed to fire! I did get a great shot of Chevy cheering on his wife, Center For Environmental Education founder Jayni Chase in a Laura Bennett gown. You can see more of my images from the evening here.

Be EcoChic is a hot mix of film, fashion and television celebrities with a wide variety of cross pollinating agendas, from food to fuel to fashion, who now all fall under the same heading. I was invited as a guest of the Sierra Club to represent the Indian Point issue. Rock The Reactors made up big bright red pins with “Shut Down Indian Point Vote Obama/Liden” which two dozen people proudly wore. One of Angela’s latest project is an organic farm just a few miles from Indian Point called Camp Hill, which is hosting a benefit this Friday, September 12th, at the Threefold Auditorium in Chestnut Ridge, NY. Below is Angela (on the right) with Positively Green publisher Kelly Magill.

The makeup for the show was provided by Neutrogena Cosmetics’s science expert Matin Maulawizada, a native of Afghanistan with a master’s degree in molecular biology. I point out here that Neutrogena seems to have been very careful in their press release to qualify Matin’s work for BeEcoChic as a “look”, rather than the introduction of an all organic makeup line, focusing instead on the company’s use of solar systems and reduction in packaging materials. Angela has criticised the use of nano-particles in some cosmetic lines with a spot produced by the NRDC posted on GreenMUA.

The Be EcoChic national awareness campaign is supported by Johnson & Johnson and its brand Aveeno. Robyn Moreno on Plenty magazine’s blog quoted Sierra Club press secretary, Josh Dorner saying he saw Angela reading Johnson & Johnson’s sustainability report during rehearsal. Project Greenhouse and Aveeno showcased sustainable furniture from ABC Home on the Sierra Club VIP balcony. I saved the best for last… Greenloop Aysia Wright’s own kin, beautiful Alexandra Squire was a producer on the show!