Glamour Girl
It’s a new year, a new decade, and a new beginning. Well, at least that’s what we con ourselves into believing. So along with the new (insane) flying procedures (a future post will deal with the fashion implications) and the new resolutions to eat right, get fit, learn more, do better, blah blah blah, we can also enjoy some genuinely new forms of dressing and shopping.
That’s the lovely Anne Hathaway in a dress made of milk. Yes, you read that right. Milk. I know, I can’t believe it, either, but apparently it’s true. The designer is a woman named Casey Larkin, who sells the almost-eponymous line Mr. Larkin. She gives credit to a dairy-loving designer who came before her named Linda Loudermilk (yes, it’s all getting a bit much, isn’t it?), and before that to the Italians, who invented the process.
To be clear, it’s not entirely 100% milk. The filaments that form when moisture is drained from milk solids are bonded with other yarn (cotton, silk, cashmere, etc.) to form the new fabric. The milk protein fiber is called casein, and use of it goes back hundreds of years, mostly in paints. But it was also used as a wool substitute during the deprivations of WWII—those of you who are scientifically or historically minded can read all about the process here. And Larkin isn’t the only designer using it. As this article in the Korea Times points out, Lea Seong also has a line of clothes spun from casein. As for the metal paillettes on this dress, they’re salvaged from 1930s garb, adding a bit of vintage glam to the ultra-contemporary creation. Here’s another shot of it:
I learned about Casey Larkin from the ever-delightful EcoStiletto, which I first wrote about here. And you can watch this interview with Larkin by EcoStiletto editor Rachel Sarnoff:
The dress style is called Elsa and sells for an affordable (for an evening gown) $1,100. Larkin also makes less-fancy clothes, such as blouses, pants, tees, dresses, and skirts. Yum. Nanotechnology never tasted so good.
As for shopping, the notion of having a portion of your purchase price go to charity isn’t new, but the way a shop in Paris does it is. Merci is in the fun Marais district of the city, and according to the article in the New York Times, it donates ALL its profit to charity. Apparently it’s a blast to shop there, as well. Now that’s a New Year’s resolution of a different color.
(Photo of Anne Hathaway by Mario Sorrenti for the LATimes)
UPDATE: I’m not making any claims for the eco-consciousness or “greenness” of this fabric. I think compelling arguments can be made for the inefficient, wasteful, and at times even inhumane raising of dairy cows in some places. I don’t know where the milk for this fabric comes from, I don’t know how the cows are treated, I don’t know if the technology required for extracting the casein burns up a lot of energy. But then that’s the case for most of what we’re all wearing. Very few (if any) of us in the modern world are seeding, growing, cultivating, harvesting, sewing, and wearing our own flax/cotton/silk/you name it. Our beautiful clothing is often born out of some pretty horrible conditions, sweatshops included, but we still wear it. I think we should try to be responsible consumers, and to support local vendors, but I’m aware that I can’t address every injustice in the fashion world in this blog.
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