Eco fashion designer Bahar Shahpar has collaborated with vegan shoe maker Cri de Coeur, and the result is a blast of color infused sustainable footwear to wear all summer long. Although the collection was debuted last September at New York Fashion Week´s GreenShows, the response was so positive that Gina Ferraraccio and Bahar Shahpar decided to distribute the edgy designs to the masses.
The shoes are created with Toray Ultra-suede, post-industrial polyester recycled into microfiber. The vegan material was exactly in line with Shahpar´s ethics, as all of her designs are fully committed to sustainability.
“I work with both leather and vegan footwear designers, but I´ve always struggles with the lack of eco-options. Vegan is certainly a step in the right direction, but because sustainable textiles are a big part of my collection, I felt that the current synthetic options wouldn´t be authentic to what I was doing,” the Manhattan-based designer commented on her work with the new 100 percent recycled synthetic that was used in the Cri de Coeur collaboration.
The shoes are made in three different styles, Lorena, Hannah and Scout. The summer-y ankle boots are perfect for the office, for a night on the town, or anywhere where colour is embraced (available in Wine ´N Roses and Sunshine). The eco stilettos also complement Shahpar´s spring/summer 2010 line, “Warrior Princess,” which made its first appearance at the GreenShows, and was the shoe collection´s original source of inspiration.
The 2010 collection brought an edge that any eco princess would die for – complete with an organic trench coat, a pair of Tencel crepe jersey leggings made of ruffles, a 100 percent eco silk jumper, hippy- chic colorful sundresses and a “warrior version” of tie-dyed cotton snakeskin high-waisted shorts.
“Warrior Princess” was a surprising change from Shahpar´s previous collections, which were more whimsical, vintage and baby doll in nature. The eco designer was first introduced in 2007 when she launched her first women´s wear line, and her modern collection gained her publicity in magazines such as Vogue, WWD, The Wall Street Journal, Lucky, NYLON and ELLE.
She is also the creator behind eco fashion showroom, The Four Hundred, which focuses on fashion-forward sustainable designs. Shahpar is currently the creative director for green lifestyle projects, helping to produce events for environment-focused organizations such as The Ki, EcoChic, Teens Turning Green, and the US Green Building Council. Considered one of the top sustainable fashion designers, Bahar is a stylist for MTV, Planet Green and the Sundance Channel.
What´s next for this eco chic designer? Shahpar will be competing in the fall 2010 Do-Gooder´s Design Challenge against four other high-end sustainable designers to benefit green charities and is sure to bring a warrior edge to eco fashion once again.
Source: justmeans.com
The liveeco team
