Trash Fashion Bash at Seattle Art Museum

I attended the International Sustainability Institute's Trash Fashion Bash tonight and must say that I was totally blown away by the amount and quality of the designs. Many of the designs were from the fabulous design divas at Haute Trash but there were many local designers that wowed the crowd too, from a tofu packaging wedding gown by Chaco to women's business suit made from circuit boards. And then there were the models! Several SSF favorites including Lynne Baker (pictured at left) part of the City of Seattle's green building team (and frequent SSF OSSA Award judge), Diane Sugimura, Director of Planning & Development for the City of Seattle, Joanie Parsons of Parsons Public Relations, Kaye Smith-Blum of Butch Blum who was one of the evenings MCs. There were many other architects, urban planners, and even several budding high schoolers striking a pose for sustainability as well. Any why did the models look so fabulous you ask, well, because SSF Co-founder and Senior Stylist Rebecca Luke was on the scene in wearing her les Egoistes hat training all those high-profile sustainability celebs how to strike a pose on the runway of course. All in all, another great example of how we all can look fabulous, live well, and do good.

An evening with Nigella Lawson

I'm a big fan of British cooking celeb Nigella Lawson (find previous blogs >here and here). Her London studio kitchen is green powered, she promotes organics left and right, and - as we all know by watching the last segment of her show - she's all about making the most of left overs. Last night I had the honor and pleasure of meeting Nigella at a book signing here in Seattle. I must say, she was even more beautiful and charming in person. Nigella's latest book, Nigella Express is Nigella's take on 'fast' food. It may be quick and easy to make, but the recipes are far from the stereotype. Consider it more the Slow Food Movement for busy people. Given her take on things expect to see more of Ms. Lawson on SSF.

Cheers for Chaya

Another successful SSF Cocktails for a Cause event tonight. This evening the partner nonprofit was Chaya, established in 1996 to serve South Asian women in times of crisis and need, and to raise awareness of domestic violence issues. The venue was Amanda Rosenthal's La Rousse near 4th and Virginia in Seattle. The event also featured organic wines provided by a new natural wine club here in Seattle called Way of the Vine and Del Forte Denim jeans by designer Tierra Del Forte. Tierra actually attended the event so it was really great to get to chat with her for a bit. A great night all around.

Mark Madness

Just ran across Herbivore Magazine yesterday at the Madison Market while picking up some organic flowers for our board president, Mark Rosen, who was hosting an SSF 'summer get together'. Wow...great style and even better content.

Speaking of the summer get together/board meeting...Mark can really put on a spread. A fancy cosmo, some great BBQ and the best icecream cake I've ever had.

Doing DNC

I ate my breakfast this morning watching Russell Simons, founder of Def Jam Records speaking on MSNBC about the Boston Hip Hop Summit being held at the Democratic National Convention. Really cool stuff that will hopefully get a lot of young folks out to vote. We've listed them on our voting style guide too.

Speaking of the DNC, my friend Jessamyn is doing a blog from the there on library.net. Good stories. There are actually lots of blogs on the DNC site if you're interested.

Sean's splurge

Confessions time...I splurged yesterday and bought that Ermenegildo Zegna bamboo/cashmere sportcoat I've been wanting for about six months now. The good news is I saved $800 since it was on sale at Marios here in Seattle. Luckily, Sandy Orsillo, my favorite salesperson going way back to Nordstrom had been keeping an eye on it and let me know about the sale. The bad news is of course how much it still cost, but I still think it was worth it as Zegna is one of my favorite designers AND it's made from bamboo, a sustainable resource. I'll be able to model it around a lot.

In other news, I'm off to San Antonio, TX this weekend to watch pentathlon nationals. It's an Olympic year so it should be a great event. Still deciding if I want to go to Athens or not. Stay tuned on that one. It was through pentathlon endeavors that I met Emily deRiel, the Sydney Modern Pentathlon silver medalist who is now on our SSF International Advisory Board.

Spreading the sustainable word

Busy weekend. I gave a presentation at the Northwest Environmental Education Council's NW Sustainability Conference. I was really surprised by the size of the group and how engaged they were, especially as it was the mid-afternoon session. As usual, my hemp Armani jeans and the Moscardino spork were big hits.

Monday, I went to a really great event organized by my friend Chris Olson, a kick off for No Vote Left Behind which will bring the creative talent and energy of the Seattle music and entertainment to inspire people to vote in the 2004 election. It was at the Crocodile Cafe...need I say more. I'm looking forward to getting more involved.

Today I gave a presentation at the UW Industrial Design program. A little about SSF and then the professor, Louise St. Pierre, asked me to comment on the students new projects. REALLY COOL STUFF! It's so exciting and inspiring to know that the next generation of designers is really into sustainability and that they are proving you don't have to compromise creative aspects in order to integrate sustainability. I look forward to seeing the final projects.

Awards, environmental justice, and the Art Institute

Um, so yeah. I've not been doing such a great job keeping sslog up to date. I promise to do better :-)

So much to tell...we launched our OSSA Awards in LA on the 14th, as well as the LA chapter of SSF. It was a great time and I'm really psyched to start getting folks networked down in LA around SSF.

Recently attended the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice (CCEJ) 3rd Annual Community Based Solutions for Environmental Health & Justice Conference here in Seattle. Amazing speakers including Chrystos and Damu Smith, director of the Washington, DC based National Black Environmental Justice Network and founder of Black Voices for Peace. Wow! Really inspiring.

And finally, today I gave a quick lecture at the Art Institute of Seattle in their sustainable design course. Great group of students and especially great discussion.

I Buy Different

Busy day today. Started with the store surveys for the I Buy Different student scavenger hunt I'm working on with SSF and as a board member of Sustainable Seattle. One interesting find was the Eliot shoe by Macbeth, a full on, very cool, Vegan shoe at Zumiez. Zumies actually has a really cool promo on with Tina Basich, co-founder of Boarding for Breast Cancer (B4BC). Awesome!

Next it was off to drop flyers for Heidi Wills, a candidate for re-election for Seattle City Council Member. I've always been really impressed with her commitment to sustainability, even over some of the other council members that were expected to be the sustainability gurus. Go Heidi!

Last but not least I tried out Annie's Organic Mac & Cheese for dinner tonight. Yum-eee.

Ketchup and commercials

Whoa! Way too long since my last entry. Lots of stuff going on though. One great find...Heinz now has an organic ketchup!. Also just saw a quick tidpit on TV regarding a promotion KIA UK did last year in which they gave car buyers a free mountain bike to encourage alternative commuting. They also promoted walking buses for school children, if only we could get Americans to take it up. Oh, and I love this one. I guess Wash Right has been going in Europe for four years. Boy do we need this in the States. Check it out to 'optimize your washing habits'.

Went to a couple great events last week. The Fashion is Art show was incredible and SSF was very pleased to host an Afterglow post party to thank all the local designers. Also went to a benefit event produced by Minty Magazine, a "rebirth" party for PF Flyers for which Sharpshooter's Shane Hunt (aka DJ Sureshot) did a great job as auctioneer.

Finally, I went to a performance of the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center's (LHPAC) Soul of the Beauty and the Beast. WOW! Absolutely incredible performances by ALL high school and younger. Great acting, outstanding singing, incredible dancing. Who needs American Idol when you have the students at LHPAC. Forget the opera, forget Broadway...the only performance that I now HAVE to see every year is the show put on by the Center. Keep it on your radar.

Snaps all around

Snaps for Legally Blond 2. In fact, my Snap Cup runneth over in praise for the movie. I laughed (a lot...couldn't stop for about 5 minutes after one scene), I cried (several times) and totally dug the many causes...animal testing, gay rights, empowering women, system reform. Awesome!

Our LB2 Afterglow was fabulous as well. Three Elle look alikes, Aveda mesages and gift bags, raspberry cosmos as the featured 'cocktail with a cause'. Stay tuned...I'll post a page on the event soon.

Finally, thanks to everyone for continuing to send the links and other resources to add to the online source books. Keep them coming.

Cafes and catching air

Had lunch today at the Globe Cafe, the outstanding vegan restaurant near our office. Being a major biscuits and gravy fan I had to try their vegan version out. WHOA! That is some tasty stuff! I have to say that it ranks well within the top five and actually is neck and neck with another vegan B&G by the sadly long gone Black Cat Cafe in the U District. Now mind you, I'm not a vegan or even a vegetarian (though I do have some pretty strong values around the meat that I do choose to eat), so let that tell how REALLY good the Globes B&G is.

In other news...went out to practice my hoop with my swank bball I got at Value Village. I still suck, but I'm having a good time. Also picked up up the latest copy of Natural Home Magazine. Full of all kinds of good info so I'll hopefully have some time to update the online source books in the near future.

Finally, getting geared up for our first BIG Afterglow here in Seattle. We've had several small ones, but this one - in association with MGM's Legally Blond 2: Red White and Blond - is going to be a fun one. As you may know, the whole plot revolves around animal testing and animal rights issues. We'll be featuring a 'very pink cosmopolitan' as our 'double-cause cocktail' (one drink, two causes) and expect to have lots of doggies around too. Our two causes we're raising awareness for are: responsible pet ownership with PAWS and environmental links to breast cancer with information from the Breast Cancer Fund.