Coda
 
Oct 3, 2008

Pop-Up, Pop In


White mod tent dress made of organic cotton and undyed natural silk by Kaelyn Garcia, a student at Columbia College Chicago

You have only until Sunday to experience the single most interesting thing I've stumbled upon during Chicago's fashion week. It's called MoSS, which stands for the Museum of Sustainable Style; it's a pop-up "museum" in the West Loop that showcases the best of earth-friendly clothing designers, furniture craftsmen, and industrial designers. It doesn't cost anything to get in, and it only takes a few minutes to walk through, but boy, is it a good introduction to some of the most creative thinking happening in our city.

There's an ash and steel table, for example, that's crafted out of a fallen tree and nose cones from armaments bound for Iraq (designer Terrence Karpowicz), and a bubble stool made out of bamboo ply and reclaimed walnut (designer Celia Greiner). Plus there are fashions from local favorites Lara Miller, Abigail Glaum-Lathbury, and the new designer I singled out from Fashion Focus, Annie Novotny, of Frei Designs.

(ova) lounge chair, made of Baltic birch from a maintained forest, produced in Mundelein. The designer is Sean J. Scott.

MoSS (1109 W. Fulton Market; mosschicago.org) is the brainchild of Jessa Brinkmeyer, the owner of Pivot, the eco-clothing boutique around the corner. She told me yesterday that she borrowed the space from Brickermade furniture designer Joshua Height, solicited local designers for contributions, and put it all together without any outside funding. Everything—down to the L.E.D. lighting—was carefully considered, and, lucky for visitors, she explains the provenance and the design philosophy of each item in a cool accompanying brochure. Trust me: I've been to my share of sustainable fashion shows, green design events, and the like, and even I discovered one or two designers whose names I didn't know.

MoSS is only open through 6 p.m. on Sunday. Brinkmeyer is hosting a panel with HGTV's Sara Snow on Saturday from 2 to 3 p.m.

Posted at 05:34 PM in Coda | Permalink

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