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Beth Fiteni

Portland Fashion Week!

October 12, 2010 by Beth Fiteni

Portland Fashion Week was October 6-10 and I flew out for the last 3 shows. It was held at an industrial shipyard, which was an interesting backdrop as women strutted in and out in high heels. The fashions on the runway were an eclectic mix of styles, ranging from practical business & casual styles, to funky Columbian colors, to futuristic almost Lady Ga-Ga-esque pieces by Project Runway winner Seth Aaron. Mostly all had an eco-theme, though some non-eco fabrics were used. The best part: the runway made of solar panels. The idea of Portland Fashion Week, as relayed to me by the shows’ organizers Tito Chowdhury and Chris Cone, is to create an upscale “real” forum for small, talented, sustainability-oriented designers –who might not be able to afford to be in the shows in New York– to show their collections.

All photos by Beth Fiteni

Oct 8th:

La Vie by Michelle DeCourcy

Stephanie D Couture

Isaac Hers

Suzabelle

Amai Unmei

Oct 9th:

Goga

Jay Nicolas Sario

Jonathan Joseph peters

Seth Aaron

 

Beth Fiteni and PFW organizer Tito Chowdhury

 

Oct 10th:

Amelia Toro

Ethos Paris

Lenzanita

Pendleton

Souchi

Beth on the Solar Runway!

 

Filed Under: Ecofashion

Feminism, “The Social Network,” and A-holes

October 5, 2010 by Beth Fiteni

The current movie about the creation of Facebook paints its founder Mark Zuckerberg to be an a-hole. After an obsessive rant about how badly he wants to get into the top fraternity at Harvard (though he’s a computer geek), and a competitive argument about future success, his first girlfriend leaves him saying that though he may fear girls won’t like him because he’s a nerd, it will really be because he’s an a-hole. He runs back to his dorm, and in addition to calling her a bitch on his blog, he out of bitterness hacks into a college Face Mash website and pairs the faces of female students next to each other asking, “Which One’s Hotter?” It explodes overnight, and the men on campus have fun with it, but it draws the ire of women on campus, as well as the school, due to privacy invasion.

His brilliance with computer programming and singular focus, however, lead to the development of Facebook by him and his friends, with many bumps along the way, such as getting sued for intellectual property theft since it was originally someone else’s idea, and then also sued by his business partner.

But what I noticed throughout the film was the portrayal of women. The main characters were men (boys) and women were objects to be obtained. The main object of almost any activity was to “get girls.” The first girls we meet, Christy and Alice, end up having sex with Mark and his friend Eduardo in a bathroom stall, and there are numerous scenes of women partying and drinking, and even doing cocaine off the bare belly of another woman. An intern working for the newly formed Facebook was told she was doing a good job, but then Mark and his friend check her out as she walks away.

In one scene, the character Mark sees his ex-girlfriend and she blows him off, so he goes back to his dorm room with a renewed urgency to expand the company and make it more successful. (Her approval seems to be the driving thread of his motivation.) He stands giving orders to his friends on next steps, and when Christy asks what she and Alice can do (both are presumably also Harvard students) he says “nothing.” Later in the film we see Christy as the “stalking” girlfriend of Eduardo who goes crazy and sets his trash on fire on his bed.

Throughout the whole film there was only one circumstance when women were portrayed as intelligent. This was in the interrogation scenes where Mark and those suing him were offering depositions, and there were two female lawyers in the room. Towards the end of the film, one of them ties up the story saying, “You’re not an a-hole, Mark, but you’re trying so hard to be.”

The final scene though, showed his vulnerability. He goes on Facebook (which is now worth millions), finds his ex-girlfriend, and makes a “friend” request. It was poignant and ironic. It’s possible it was his way of reaching out when at that point he was roundly abandoned, and he still wanted her acceptance. It seemed to show again that his motivation for all of his troubles was to prove to her (or himself?) that he would be a success. But another interpretation was that it was a way to rub in her face that he created a hugely successful and lucrative business, that she was now a part of without even knowing all the angst that went on to create it.

Though some of this could be fictional and Hollywood-ized, it was pretty sad to watch all this. For such an intelligent film, I wonder if anyone else picked up on the misogyny. The film was cleverly made to put all these incidents together to paint the picture of the men involved as fiercely struggling with egos, loyalty, business ethics, and 20 year old hormones. The characters lacked both the skill in dealing with women as full equal people, and in any inclination to see deeper than skin. I suppose this is typical college guy behavior? If so, it’s pretty scary. Ironic that the founder of a social network left much social acumen to be desired. I hope the real life Mark knows better.

– Beth Fiteni

Filed Under: Film

“Sustain” – Bill McKibben in NYC

September 19, 2010 by Beth Fiteni

New York was blessed with a visit from Bill McKibben last night (9/18/10), climate activist and author of “The End of Nature” and his new “Eaarth.” Faith House and Greenfaith organized the Sustain event, which attracted over 100 people. McKibben offered a sobering overview of climate events just in the last 90 days, including the flood in Pakistan, a large piece of Greenland ice breaking off into the sea, and the Moscow heat wave that affected wheat crops. While discouraging, he relayed what gives him hope–the great response he’s gotten to his 350.org international grassroots campaigns.

The goal of 350.org is to have the public urge their governments to set policy targets to achieve a global carbon dioxide level of 350 ppm (parts per million); the level climate scientists say is needed to stabilize our climate. We are now over 380ppm. Last year’s campaign culminated on October 24th with events held in 181 countries. He shared a great story about receiving a call at his home in Vermont from an activist in Ethiopia profusely apologizing that they had to hold their protest a day early because their government refused to allow it on the 24th— she said “So sorry Mr. Bill, but we do have 15,000 people out in the street right now….”

McKibben’s talk was flanked by interfaith music performances and prayers. It was encouraging to see people of different faiths heeding the call to action and coming out to be inspired and informed on the subject of climate change. The next day of action is 10-10-10 where the 350.org campaign is urging people do an energy saving action, like put up a solar panel, and then to urge their governments to get to work as well…So let’s get to work.

Beth & Bill McKibben

Filed Under: Activism, Climate Change, Faith, New York

Boston EcoFest & EcoFashion Show August 2010

September 10, 2010 by Beth Fiteni

Hundreds of Bostonites came out for this year’s Ecofest on August 20-21, to view alternative fuel vehicles, see an ecclectic host of multi-culture performers, and meet local nonprofits and renewable energy vendors. Set in front of city hall and under sunny skies, it was also a great place to sample healthy food from Boston’s finest vegetarian restaurants.


The festival featured a full ecofashion tent, under which one could find organic cotton dresses from Nancy’s Gone Green, jute handbags at EarthFrendz, naturally dyed silk scarves by Rhonda Fazio (Ecofashion tent and show coordinator), and hemp shoes from the Hempest.com. Many of the vendors from the ecofashion tent displayed their wares during a main-stage ecofashion show. The show also included other designers including Ball and Buck, which caters to a more conservative, “preppy” style, and Banshii, which offers soft, feminine and earthy dresses.

It was interesting to walk around Boston’s downtown and see the numerous historical sites of such significance to American history, side by side with this Ecofest, highlighting the products, technologies, and ingenuity that will lead us to America’s future. Congratulations to Foundation for a Green Future for organizing this educational, and forward-thinking event.

Filed Under: Clean Energy, Ecofashion, Food

Venice, CA EcoFest and EcoFashion Show, July 10, 2010

September 10, 2010 by Beth Fiteni

Just southwest of downtown Los Angeles, there’s a somewhat seamy but much loved area called Venice Beach, reminiscent of Coney Island, NY. With the Pacific on one side, and a beautiful boardwalk winding past street vendors, skateboarders, tattoo shops, and medicinal ganja dispensaries, this colorful locale was a great backdrop to the Venice Ecofest. Many exhibitors displayed green products and services, including several eco-fashion vendors, as music playing on a solar-powered stage livened the atmosphere.

Aside from Ed Begley being there (!), the best part was the eco-fashion show, featuring over 30 fashions. It took place on a catwalk set right on the beach, and was run by Steve Galindo. It featured fashions by:

  • Livity Apparell (livity.org)
  • Chortie (http://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/luzllena/newa5d6a5e.html)
  • Enamore Bamboo Lingerie (pleasuregalaxie.com)
  • Sita (sitastyle.com)
  • Hemptress handbags (thehemptress.com)
  • Susan Nichole Vegan handbags (susannichole.com)

Livity was a hip new eco-brand made for skaters, and it was cool to see the young models skate on skateboards down the catwalk. My favorite fashions were by Sita– beautiful upscale organic cotton and Ingeo (corn fiber) dresses that I could definitely wear to work or for a night out.

Overall the Venice Ecofest was a really fun, high-spirited event produced by Steven Fiske, and was an experience that would make any Venice-ite proud to be a resident there.

Filed Under: Ecofashion

EcoFashion Exhibit at FIT Museum

September 7, 2010 by Beth Fiteni

The Fashion Institute of Technology Museum in NYC is having an Ecofashion exhibit from May through November 2010, and is offering tours with the curators.

I toured the exhibit 2 weeks ago. It features some modern eco-designers such as Edun and Stella McCartney, but also focuses on the history of fashion and its impact on the environment as new dyes and fabrics were developed over time. I like the idea that we may actually culminate in natural fabrics and dyes since, though it may be seen as a step backwards, it is actually a step forward to realize the impacts of our clothing choices on the environment.

See http://fitnyc.edu/3662.asp for tour dates & other details.

Filed Under: Ecofashion, New York

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