Eco Chic: Towards Sustainable Swedish Fashion opens in West Coast Premiere
with Daniel McCormick: Iterations of Ecological Art and Design
February 19 – May 15 at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art
www.svma.org
12 January 2011 – Sonoma, CA: Grön mode is how they say it in Sweden – green fashion. And Eco Chic is how they say it at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art (www.svma.org) where green meets grön and art meets sustainability in the US West Coast premiere of Eco Chic: Towards Sustainable Swedish Fashion, February 19 – May 15. A special members preview will be held on Friday, February 18, 6 pm – 8pm. Eco Chic is produced by the Swedish Institute in collaboration with the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art and the Consulate General of Sweden San Francisco.
“Eco Chic is chic,” said Kate Eilertsen, the Museum’s Artistic Director. “These Swedish fashion designers take an environmentally friendly and ethical approach to their work, without sacrificing one ounce of fashion.”
Eilertsen admits that “fashion forward” has not always equated with “eco forward.” The premise of Eco Chic is that the fashion industry has too often concealed a number of uncomfortable truths.
“The fashion industry has not always been very eco friendly,” Eilertsen explains. She notes that in the past, fashion related businesses have been accused of destroying natural habitats, using more water than any other apart from agriculture, spreading toxic chemicals and producing carbon dioxide emissions. In addition to environmental damage common to the industry in the past, far too many people in the industry still work under inhumane conditions.
“The Eco Chic exhibition says there’s a different, better way,” says Eilersten. “I hope people will walk out of this exhibit it with different ideas about what they can do to help with these significant challenges. Working closely with the Swedish Consul General's office we are able to present Swedish fashion designers who take an environmentally friendly approach to their work, while making inspired, beautiful and ‘ethical’ clothing.”
Eco Chic and its related public programs are made possible by Museum members, friends and the Calvin R. Vander Woude Lively Arts Series. Before its opening in California, Eco Chic premiered in Belgrade in the winter of 2008, and has visited major international cities including Minsk, Kiev, Riga, Istanbul, and most recently Berlin and the Scandinavia House in New York.
Eco Chic: Towards Sustainable Swedish Fashion plus Daniel McCormick: Iterations of Ecological Art and Design will be on view at the Museum, 551 Broadway in Sonoma, February 19 through May 15. Running in conjunction with Eco Chic is the exhibit Daniel McCormick: Iterations of Ecological Art and Design. Museum members are invited to an opening reception on Friday, February 18, 6 p.m.–8 p.m. Museum hours are Wednesdays through Sundays 11 a.m– 5 p.m. More information about the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art is available at www.svma.org or by calling (707) 939-7862.
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