Eco Road – A Day in the City (San Francisco)

Carrots, image courtesy of goop.com

A perfect storm of San Francisco fashion events occurred on Thursday, March 1^st. So what does this town have to offer in terms of eco-fashion? Well, I started out at Carrots, a light-filled boutique on the edge of North Beach in a neighborhood of small galleries and upscale antique store fronts for the well-heeled. Carrots was kicking off a weekend event showcasing a Canadian design group called a’bout.

image courtesy of a'bout

image courtesy of a'bout

image courtesy of a'bout

image courtesy of a'bout

Not exactly a local designer, still their entire line was designed and produced in their home town of Toronto. Their minimalist aesthetic appealed to me as first Dean Hutchinson, then Stephan, described to me in detail how they created their fabrics for the purpose of imbuing a wabi-sabi like dimension into several of the pieces, shown above. I was particularly captivated by the drape of several of their pieces.

The second event of the day was a Refinery 29 party at Bastille, a shop off Union Square. Katie Hintz-Zambranco was hosting a reception for a an installation of unique denim washes created by individual emerging artists out of Los Angeles using natural dyes on Orta Anadolu’s eco-friendly denim fabric. The finished products by Thvm were on display. I had a great time talking to Bastille manager, Thu, about the process that the owners of Thvm went through to curate this special selection of washes for their line.

At the Bastille party, image: Oceana Lott

Katie, in the background, collaborated on a fun event which included live music, vodka cocktails, and lots of fashionable people.

Conifer, image courtesy of goop.com

I wound up the evening at a shop I heard about recently over in the Cow Hollow district, called Conifer. The proprietor, Amy Mautz, stocks gorgeous pieces from such noted eco-designers as Organic by John Patrick and H. Fredriksson, to name a few. Amy and I shared a love of Helena’s designs especially and I almost walked out with this piece shown here.

H. Fredriksson Box Dress, image: Oceana Lott

I digress though. The scene at Conifer was about the Sasha Maks vintage accessory collection. Guests were invited to wear vintage pieces, which created lots of opportunity for discussion among the guests. All-in-all, it was a hugely satisfying day. I learned a lot about the eco-denim scene, I found a new shop to haunt, and made a couple of new friends.
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Oceana lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with the love of her life and their dear kitty, Jazzy. She enjoys writing about fashion for grown-up women who are not only comfortable with how long they’ve been around, but also care about the Earth. Oceana turned her focus to eco-fashion as a new area of exploration in her life on New Years Day 2012 and shares her journey here each Friday. You can also follow her blog bodyascanvas.tumblr.com.