The green girls of Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA)

I had the great honor of MCing a fashion show for the 2008 Seattle ZTA Day last Saturday. It was a fun and educational event that I think really opened the minds of the ZTA girls (that ranged from age 20 to 70) to the opportunities they have to make more sustainable personal lifestyle choices. ZTAs and many sororities are well known for being very active in the community, so I was really impressed that they chose to focus on environmental issues and action for the 2008 event.

I was invited to MC by good friend Cynthia Lu Levine who recently started Echo Road, an innovative retail concept that gathers women together to shop and socialize at private events, small gatherings, or even personal appointments. By taking this approach, Cynthia enables her clients to focus on the garments that really speak to them rather than having to spend hours shopping. Cynthia did all the work for the actually fashion show and her choices were right on. The models, all ZTA girls of course, looked fabulous and you could tell they loved being in the clothes. My job was to not only highlight the garments but to tell the important stories about the many social and environmental connections to the fashion world, from organic cotton and overconsumption to repurposed items and textiles like Tencel. Cynthia put together a great script so my job was very easy. The show featured fashions from Seattle's own Prairie Underground, New York based Stewart + Brown, Loyale, Moral Fervor, Bahar Shahpar, LA based Undesigned by Carol Young, Virginia based Green Label Organic t-shirts, and shoulder bags from local Seattle company Alchemy Goods. Here we see Marsha on the left in a Bahar Shahpar Pleated Poppy Top, Lynsey in a white cloak hoodie by Prairie Underground and Liz in a long dark grey cloak hoodie also by Prarie Underground. Many thanks to Cynthia and Mardee Austin, the greenest ZTA girl of them all that organized the whole event.

What was I wearing you ask? I sported second hand Donald Pliner shoes, Giorgio Armani black hemp jeans, a Green Label Organic "Bummer" t-shirt, a second-hand Kenneth Cole dress shirt and a "Make it Right" paperboy hat.