Last Friday, the green community of Los Angeles gathered for the Project Green Search Wrap Party. The PGS Top 10 finalists were all gorgeous, well educated, and talented women. From extremely diverse backgrounds, the PGS Top 10 consisted of:

• Jessica Williamson, Host of Zaproot
• Leilani Munter, Racecar Driver
• Ariel Clay, Global Exchange
• Rachel Joy, Host of Ecopop TV
• Juliana Tran, Eco Student Activist
• Rachel Avalon, Holistic Nutrition Expert
• Erika Schmidt, Model & Environmentalist
• Zion Francis, Model/Actress & Civil Engineer
• Karen Pannocchia, Environmental Science Teacher
• Vanessa Meier, Water Quality Task Force Director for Surfrider Foundation

As the contestants mingled around the room in sustainable fashions by Deborah Lindquist, Charmone, and Stewart+Brown amongst others, the judges got to experience the women on a social level. Co-Creators of Project Green Search, Remy Chevalier and Aysia Wright, got to enjoy the culmination of many months of hard work. For Remy C., child of the haute couture world and longtime environmental advocate, creating Project Green Search was a natural step for the Sustainability Movement. After several attempts at founding a green division at an established modeling agency, Remy decided to go at it from a different angle.  “I brought the idea of a green modeling competition to Aysia, who immediately saw what I saw…and here we are three months later, with 10 finalists and a winner. We’ve been strengthening our relationship with Global Green USA and hopefully next year, we’ll be back for round 2.”

***To find out who the Project Green Search winner is, check out the video above.

The Battalion at Los Angeles Fashion Week was truly worth the hour and a half of rush hour traffic it took to get down to Geffen Contemporary at MOCA for a 5pm show. Linda and Chrys Wong, the sisters behind The Battalion, presented an impressive collection for Spring 2010, L’Atelier De Danse.

Tulle-clad models from Ford and Q did their egret-like walks down the runway in the most gorgeous eco collection yet. Not only that, in classic Linda Wong style, “they are clothes you could run away in,” meaning you could eat, sleep, party, or get chased in…or perhaps all of the above.

Linda’s attention to detail was what made The Battalion’s Spring 2010 such a stand out. It seemed she took the extra mile on each garment in the collection. The “Pete” faux denim vest of grey bamboo seemed simple until you got a good look at the tuxedo lapel and the classic jean jacket V applique on the back shoulders. The comfy white tee got asymmetrical sleeves. Oh, and the fringe! Linda created an uber glamorous effect with super fine razor fringe draping provocatively down the front of an otherwise casual top or slinking down just one side of a black evening dress. (One of my favorite examples of this was the Luxe vest which looked a bit like angel wings.)

L’Atelier De Danse remained true to a Kirov Ballet rehearsal palette: black, white, amaranth pink, heather grey, and some renegade navy. Unusually subtle for spring, but refreshing in its unpredictability.

The Wong sisters describe their season with impeccable self-awareness. “Spring 2010 is about fluidity, transparency, and movement. We imagine dancers in a naturally lit atelier, dressed up in various costumes that are made of tulle, fringe, and paper thin jersey. If women are going back to basics in the coming seasons, we want their clothes to be simple but sincere. We want their wardrobe staples to be wearable, but dreamy. We want them to dance, dream, and fall in love like the dancers who have inspired this collection.”

Well, this dancer simply can’t wait to dance, dream, and fall in love…in her new Battalion threads.

Mayor Villaraigosa has one major thing on his mind for this LA Fashion Week this year, and that’s green.  A far cry from last year’s eco-fashion preview on the lawn of the mayoral mansion, the “green” Villaraigosa pontificates about these days is more the cold, hard kind.

“Fashion is a $28 million industry, and it’s the fourth largest basic industry in the region. More than 200,000 people are employed in work which involves designing, producing and selling,” stated Mayor Villaraigosa at yesterday’s press conference at the California Market Center.

The Mayor’s singular focus was also illustrated in his only tweet regarding the press conference,”Kicking off LA Fashion Week – great to have creative talent, 53k buyers and sellers, and $50 million coming to LA!“

Though the press conference this year focused on the positive economic impact of supporting the LA fashion industry, there is actually a positive ecological impact as well. As one of the few thriving centers of manufacturing left in the USA, Los Angeles not only designs, but produces many of the country’s garments right in the middle of Downtown. Stimulating the LA economy through encouraging the local fashion scene results in significant reductions in carbon-heavy shipping on foreign imports. It turns out both shades of green will be in fashion for LAFW 09 after all.

If you’ll be in town October 12-20 or the 28-31, be sure to reserve your spot at one of the many events of LA Fashion Week.

***The most exciting runway show for us at LAFW 09 is of course, the eco rockstars of the LA fashion world, The Battalion. Sisters Linda and Chrys Wong will be showing their Spring 10 line on Thursday, October 15 at 5pm at MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art).

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure  in the world of fashion these days. Due to the growing awareness of the planet’s limited resources and the encroaching recession, Americans are reusing clothing more than ever. From high end fashion designers incorporating fine antique fabrics into their frocks or frugal shoppers searching out affordable well made clothing (when was the last time you saw those four words in a row), vintage is becoming de rigeur once again.

As droves of designers become hip to their significant impact on the environment, they are on the lookout for vintage, surplus, and reclaimed fabrics. One of the most polished couturiers using vintage fabrics today is LA-based Deborah Lindquist. She is able to recycle cashmere sweaters into runway-ready creations, fit with iconic handcut appliqúes, original antique beadwork, and bohemian chic for days. Deborah’s Fall ’09 collection is dubbed Goth Girl Goes To The Country, and she weaves everything from vintage kimonos to scarves to wool skirts into stunning wedding gowns, corsets, and prêt-è-porter separates.

Aside from Deborah Lindquist, there’s a handful of vintage vixens throughout LA, but most of them are owners of infamous vintage shops like Wasteland and Resurrection. Alas though, when it comes to vintage shopping, barring the celebrity clientele thrifting on Melrose and Hollywood Boulevard, LA simply can’t compare to her northerly neighbor of Portland, Oregon. There are more thrift shops per capita here than any other place in the US. And the woman you need to show you the best spots in town? Lulu.

Lulu, aka Anne Weiland, keeps thrifty shoppers in the loop with her comprehensive guide ShopVintagePortland.com. She recently explained to Eva Wiseman of The Guardian UK, “Vintage fashion is huge in Portland,” Lulu says, “because there are so many creative people who move here for the music and arts scene, lots of artists, and designers and fanzine makers, lots of people who have transplanted from New York to find a more mellow pace of life. Plus the eco thing is so important here. People want to reduce, reuse and recycle, and by buying vintage they are doing their part for the environment.”

Can I get a “hallelujah, finally”?!

In the world of mainstream environmentalism, 2007 was “The Year of the Lightbulb.” In 2009, we may be evolving from this sort of consumer-style activism with “The Year of the Light Switch.” On March 28th, people from all over the world will be uniting together in a simple action that doesn’t cost money or energy, and actually saves us plenty of both- turning out the lights for a single hour.

World Wildlife Fund has painstakingly organized citizens, businesses, and communities around the world to turn off their lights at 8:30pm local time for Earth Hour. Earth Hour began two years ago in Australia, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. Last year, along with 50 million individuals, major landmarks all over the planet helped to make this statement of conservation, including the Golden Gate Bridge, the Roman Colosseum, Sydney Opera House, and one of the longest running digital billboards in Times Square.

For 2009, Earth Hour is being taken to the next level, with the goal of 1 billion people switching off their lights as part of a global vote for government action on climate change.