About eight months ago, three young women met over lunch with the idea of planning an environmentally conscious fashion show. One of the three, Beth Stewart, had met some of the organizers of EGB – NY Chapter’s Annual Project Earth Day and was inspired to bring the concept to Raleigh. After the first meeting, all realized that they shared the same vision for what the show would be. Planning began that day.

image credit: John Morris

The Redress Raleigh event was part of the Hillsborough Street Renaissance Festival, an arts & music gathering that was created to highlight and celebrate the change to a more pedestrian and vehicle friendly thoroughfare, beginning this summer. The show was initially scheduled to be outdoors, but was forced inside (to Aurora Nightclub) by rain. Despite the miserable weather, attendees waited in a long line in the cold to see local designers and models showcasing cutting edge and eco-friendly fashion. Not long before the show began, the top floor club was filled to capacity.

image credit: Sid Fowler

This was the first fashion show of any type that I’ve ever attended. I’m not exactly someone who can hold an intelligent conversation on the topic, but nonetheless I was thoroughly entertained throughout the duration of the event. There was something really fascinating about seeing local designers showcasing some very interesting designs with a green focus.

image credit: Sid Fowler

The designers utilized a number of different materials and processes for the eco-friendly theme:

• discarded fabric from industrial and other sources
• vintage costume jewelry
• natural dyes
• items obtained from thrift stores
• tee shirts, ties, and other items pilfered from friends and relatives

image credit: John Morris

The three organizers of the event (from left to right) were Jamie Powell, Mor Aframian, and Beth Stewart. Beth is Co-chair of the Triangle Emerging Green Builders, a committee of the U.S. Green Building Council that focuses on becoming future green building leaders through educational and networking events for students and young professionals. Jamie runs a vintage wholesale company, American Vintage, as well as designing a clothing line under the name Revamp (which was a part of the show). Mor founded MorLove, a non-profit student organization that repurposes and sells donated textile materials into items ranging from clothing to housewares with proceeds going to help support the Amani Baby Cottage in Jinja, Uganda.

image credit: John Morris

There was a lot of love involved in this show. It was an intense, consuming process to plan Redress Raleigh but it seemed that everyone who helped out really cared about making the end result something to be proud of – something they wanted to tell everyone about.

–Beth, one of the organizers

image credit: Sid Fowler

With the exception of Jamie’s line, all of the designers were students. They included:

• Camilla Hinton
• Hanna Goff
• Amy Gray
• Allison Szatek
• Allison Cross
• Tatum Rees and Morgane Klareich
• Claire Stanhope and Jessica Marmor
• Grace McFarland
• Candace Farrish
• Amy Mathys
• Ashley Tucker
• Kelly Sambrick and Kristen Martinez
• Morgan Meredith
• Natalie Drennon
• Jenny Le
• Naomi White
• Jessica Fulks
• Jamie Powell

image credit: Sid Fowler

This was the first event, and certainly not the last. Redress Raleigh will be an annual show, with the next one to take place in the spring of 2010.

Because weather forced the event indoors and there were many people unable to attend because of the venue reaching capacity, there’s a possibility that a second event could be held this year–but this hasn’t been officially planned.

image credit: Sid Fowler

This event certainly created interest in local (eco-friendly) fashion for me, so by that measure I’d certainly call it a success! You can keep tabs on future plans for this show as well as get information on the designers by visiting the official web site: redressraleigh.com.

image credit: John Morris

image credit: Sid Fowler

image credit: e. bree

image credit: Christopher Greene

image credit: John Morris

image credit: Christopher Greene

image credit: John Morris

image credit: e. bree

image credit: Christopher Greene

image credit: Sid Fowler

image credit: John Morris

image credit: John Morris

image credit: Christopher Greene

image credit: e. bree

image credit: John Morris

image credit: John Morris

image credit: John Morris

image credit: John Morris

image credit: e. bree

image credit: John Morris

image credit: Christopher Greene

image credit: Sid Fowler