Hi,
Saturday Night and Valentine's Day amidst Fashion Week, could there be any more pressure? Therefore, I was absolutely delighted that my inbox was inundated with V-Day invitations. It is a know fact that red is not only le coulour d'amour; it is also my fave color. Yet the only red to be seen on the muted autum gold, burnt orange, sage and steel blue palettes of the runways, is at The Heart Truth Red Dress Collection on the 13th, and on the not so demure Bethenny Frankel at Alvin Valley. So I set out to find a new color- green.
Scanning through my e-vites, I discovered one from our eco-conscious friend Poull Brien, of Way Over Budget Productions, at Greenhouse. This may be an obvious choice to conquer my quest, but then I found myself pondering- can green go red? Not to worry, my globally perplexed friends, this night- The Vegan Queen of Green, is a Queen of Hearts indeed.
Entering the Valentine's Cocktail Reception at 160 Varick, it is visible that the complimentary beverages courtesy of X Rated Fusion, have been flowing- plentifully. The oxford and fitted jeans wearing men and their gussied up counter parts- minus the over indulgent sparkles gracing the front rows of the tents, were all revved up to observe the eco-luxury Vegan Queen goes Green handbag fashion show.
The bag line, dawned on the arms of models, clothed in white t-shirts and jeans, claim to create a "newvision of the masculine meets feminine approach. All materials are premium quality and developed to the highest ecological standards... and timeless silhouettes". I am not so sure about all of that; the bags were various geometrical shapes, with no prevalent color theme.
Yet, we all watched dutifully, and as soon as the red lights washed over the room, the crowd seemed relieved to resume cavorting and knocking 'em back. Although the veganista marriage of Vegan Queen and Greenhouse made perfect sense in theory, it appeared to be ineffectual. Perhaps I had missed something. I needed some clarification.
The statuesque, Blonde, rose-lipped, blue-eyed beauty CEO of Vegan Queen, Evelina Zdunczyk, is proud to boast that most of her models are, in fact, vegans. This is the first thing she tells me. Then in a dreamy tone, Evelina expresses her gratitude to be able to showcase her vegan bags in a cohesive idea of this particular space, with these particular models, on this particular day. "It is all about sharing love, is it not?" With this ideal notion still lingering in the air, Evelina is swept away by her assistant, and I am left wondering if her pin-straight Platinum strands were eco-processed...
As I share my thoughts with my organic wine at the VIP bar downstairs, I overhear a self-proclaimed, unapologetic Bush supporter, Joe, regale the evidently bored, deli coffee sipping, throaty female Bartender, with classic pick-up lines.
You can fall off a building,
you can fall off a tree,
But the best way to fall-
Is in love with me.
And there you have it: It's all about the love in any color, non-toxic or otherwise.
-Article by Britten Heft
*photo by:Hal Horowitz