CANNES, France — Chopard has joined forces with Green Carpet Challenge cofounder Livia Firth to launch its first high jewelry pieces made from sustainably sourced gold. The Geneva-based jewelry and watch firm unveiled the first two items from its Green Carpet Collection at the Cannes film festival, and a mystery celebrity is to wear the items on the red carpet tonight. (via Chopard Joins Green Carpet Challenge - Jewelry - Accessories - WWD.com)

Urban Outfitters will welcome Della, an LA-based sustainable fashion line, come May 1. To Della, sustainable means a few things: it’s products are 100% vegan, for one, and they employ women from a community Hohoe, Ghana to create handcrafted wares, and the proceeds from the collaboration with UO will go back to the Ghanaian community. (via Urban Outfitters Gets In on the Vegan Game With Della - Collab-Happy - Racked National)

For the entire Russian EFW, the Manege will turn into a fantastic city of the future – 5,000 square metres will be given over to eco-houses, eco-offices, eco-shops, eco-petrol stations, eco-cars riding along eco-roads with eco-traffic lights, eco-bicycle parking areas, eco-playgrounds, and even eco-boulevards with works of art. Naturally, eco-clothed guests will be provided with eco-food a wide variety of eco-lifestyle activities. EFW aims to create a platform for young and established Russian designers to formulate a concept of eco-clothes and eco-fashion, promote new eco-friendly brands of clothing and establish a community of eco-fashion designers. (via Eco Fashion Week at the Manege | Russia Beyond The Headlines)

Two emerging creative enterprises – fashion label Ampersander and fine art consultancy Lineaist – have teamed up to create Silver Linings, a pop-up shop in Darlinghurst, Sydney, showcasing new collections of ethical fashion and textiles for this week’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia. (via Ethical Fashion at Sydney Fashion Week | Live Eco)

Westwood says she sought to create a “futuristic look” that captured the glamour and style for which the Virgin Atlantic cabin crew are renowned. For the women, she played around with bust pleats, a nipped-in waist, and a pencil skirt with a curved hip line and a double pleat in the back to enhance the feminine silhouette. For the men, the designer produced a Savile Row-inspired three-piece suit in rich burgundy wool and “shadow details” in gray wool under the lapels and pockets. The overall effect, she says, is a “very traditional British look” made contemporary. (via Vivienne Westwood Gives Virgin Atlantic Crew an Eco-Friendly Makeover Vivienne Westwood for Virgin Atlantic – Ecouterre)

British actress Emily Blunt became the “Green Carpet Challenge’s” latest recruit when she graced the Metropolitan of Art Costume Institute Gala on Monday in a Carolina Herrera sheath made with a vintage-certified blend of 1960s Italian wool and 1940s black chiffon. Her husband, The Office star John Krasinkski, accompanied her in a bespoke Tom Ford tuxedo produced for the celebrity-driven initiative using Oeko-Tex-certified wool. (via Emily Blunt Joins Green Carpet Challenge With Eco-Friendly Met Ball Gown | Ecouterre)

Author John-Paul Flintoff says of the designer “What I found inspiring when I first met Orsola de Castro was hearing how she takes a problem and turns it into a solution – specifically, turning the massive amount of waste generated in the fashion industry (essentially, off-cuts) and using that ‘pre-industrial’ material to create something extraordinary,” he says referring to her dress made out of Speedo swimwear which made him “laugh out loud with pleasure.” (via Fashion “World Changer” Orsola De Castro Speaks Out On Textile Waste | Ecouterre)

PALM LEATHER \pä(l)m ˈleT͟Hər\ n 1 a: A sturdy textile created by Studio Tjeerd Veenhoven in the Netherlands using the leaves of the Areca palm (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens). b: Made by soaking the plant matter in a special biological solution that leaves it supple and pliable. c: A biodegradable, 100 percent vegan material with some of the properties of animal leather and rubber. 2: Natural variations in color provide plenty of design potential. 3 a: Suitable for a wide range of products, including bags, footwear, and journal covers. b: Opens opportunities for artisans in South India, where the leaves and the skills to manipulate them are common. (via Palm Leather: A Vegan Textile With the Same Properties as Animal Hide | Ecouterre)

Contrary to popular belief, food does not come exclusively from boxes, cans or bottles. Somewhere in its life before you inhaled it, there was a field, water and dirt. Food—even the stuff barely able to lay claim to the term—is part of nature. Whether sprouted from a seed or a fertilized egg, there are quite a few steps along the way. And quite a few helpers, too. Just exactly which animals and insects are involved in growing your food? The answers may surprise you. (via The Pollinators: 7 Important Insects and Animals for our Food Supply)

Sneakers are super trendy right now — something we should all be very excited about. Looking fashionable while speedwalking down the street? Oh yes. High fashion labels like Lanvin, Celine, Chanel and Balenciaga have all made versions of the humble sneaker. However, there are better options out there for us conscious fashionistas, made without sneaky materials or production methods. Here are seven of our favorite sustainable sneakers. (via On Trend: 7 Sustainable (Not Sneaky) Sneakers | EcoSalon | Conscious Culture and Fashion)

So what’s a girl to do? Start with what you use the most and search hard for a healthier option made by a responsible company. Scratch that one off the list and move on the next item. Not sure what to try or where to look? After all, there are a boatload (aircraft carrier size) of so called “natural products” on the market. Not to fret, we’re here to help with our first annual Earth Day round up of EcoSalon ‘Eco Beauty Approved’ beauty and personal care products to help you make the switch. (via EcoSalon’s 2013 Eco-Beauty Approved Guide Part 1: Bath & Body | EcoSalon | Conscious Culture and Fashion)

The brainchild of Rob Cotter, a refugee from the automotive industry, Organic Transit’s inaugural offering is the tear-shaped ELF: a tricycle built with a 45 percent recycled aluminum frame and equipped with a weatherproof 80 percent recycled composite shell, an electric-assist drivetrain, a solar panel for charging the battery, LED headlights, tail lights, turn signals, and even an impressively loud horn to warn people you are coming. (Yeah, I had to try it out.) There’s even a smart phone/tablet app in development that will provide data on battery use, calories burned, route optimization and allow owners to connect with other ELF users in their area. (via Are these ‘the most efficient vehicles on the planet’? | MNN - Mother Nature Network)

The Colours of Nature produces 100% eco-friendly natural dyed textiles using ancient traditional methods from India – specialising in an age-old indigo dyeing fermentation technique and another technique called Turkish red that uses mordent dyes with alum. Extracts from the flowers, fruits and leaves of plants and trees are used in the dyeing process, and the bleaching process is done using only sunlight. These dyes are non-harmful to human beings, and many of them are found in ayurvedic medicine recipes. (via The Colours of Nature: A natural indigo dye house in India | The Ethical Fashion Source)

Years of research led Aus to create the “Upcycled Collection,” a line of mens- and womenswear that defies convention by being the first to be mass-produced from production leftovers. Made in collaboration with Beximco, one of the largest textile and clothing manufacturers in Bangladesh, the collection requires 70 percent less water and 64 percent less energy than its conventional counterparts. It also creates at least 40 percent less overall production waste, according to Aus. (via Trash to Trend Debuts First Mass-Produced Upcycled-Clothing Collection Trash to Trend – Ecouterre)

The Council of Fashion Designers of America has tapped Loomstate’s Scott Mackinlay Hahn and jewelry designer Melissa Joy Manning as the co-chairs of its first-ever “sustainability committee.” The group, which will include a steering committee of CFDA members such as Maria Cornejo, Victoria Bartlett, Pamela Love, and Tina Lutz, will “foster and support sustainability measures in the fashion industry through mentorship, education and collaboration,” the not-for-profit trade association announced on Monday—aptly, Earth Day. These industry experts are not only committed to socially and environmentally restorative business practices, according to a press release, but they’ll also “lead the charge, with the aim of inspiring and empowering designers to take practical and prosperous steps toward sustainable design.” (via Council of Fashion Designers of America Forms “Sustainability Committee” | Ecouterre)