Throughout the course of this year, various cultural and social movements have become increasingly influential in the fashion industry, causing major shifts in the field toward awareness, diversity and sustainability. In fact, one of the most prominent inspirational factors for many avant-garde luxury designers today is the practice of environmental and social responsibility.

Although environmentally-friendly fashion is a relatively new branch of the industry, some of the most knowledgeable fashion gurus are quickly adopting the fundamentals of sustainability and applying them to their creations. The Fashion Institute of Technology’s professor–and Resident Director of the overseas program in Florence–Sass Brown, is releasing her new book, Eco Fashion, in September. Brown specializes in ethical design practices in the fashion industry and has worked with women’s cooperatives, such as COOPA-ROCA in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She has a strong background in apparel design and has created several collections for manufacturers, including her...

OK, so I’ve already ranted about the oil spill but something else has caught my attention that really ticks me off. According to an editorial from the  Huffington Post written by Paul Rieckhoff, executive director and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans of America, our very own National Guard is stuck cleaning up BP’s mess. Yep, that’s right. The men and women who serve in our military are the very people doing Tony Hayward’s dirty work.

To date, 1500 National Guardsmen have been sent to the tidy up the Gulf. Considering that 40 percent of the U.S. force in Iraq and Afghanistan are National Guardsmen, this means the same people fighting overseas return home only to be deployed again to fix a  conniving oil corporation’s problem.

As Rieckhoff put it, can you “imagine coming  coming back from your second or third tour to Iraq...

I just got back from the most amazing two week vacay from sunny Santa Barbara, California, and I gotta say, I agree with Katy Perry in her cheesy new single, that indeed, “nothing comes close to the golden coast.” In SB not only are the boys hotter (and girls too, gentlemen),but the weather is also better and well, the scenery is to die for. I mean, how often do you see rolling mountainsides and endless ocean views on your drive to the grocery store?

Don’t get me wrong though. I love the ATL too (represent) and it feels good to be back in A town where (shocker) the drivers are actually a bit more sane.  Still, one thing’s for sure; my palate hasn’t been completely satisfied since tasting the delicious delectables from the west. What’s the difference? Two words: locally grown.

In California, “green” was in way before it was...

What can I say, I’m a fan of acoustic crooners. David Gray, Ray LaMontagne, Ingrid Michaelson and of course, Damien Rice are on the top of my fav artists list. I can’t pinpoint what attracts me to their heartrending melodies.  Maybe it’s the poetic lyrics, or the authenticity in their voices that keeps me coming back for more.

If you’re like me, and dying for new tracks besides “Cannonball” and “Babylon” to holler to on your morning commute, I highly suggest, The Swell Season from the contemporary musical, “ONCE.”

For musical junkies, “ONCE” is the quintessential boy meets girl, boy sings with girl, boy falls in love with girl tale. The main characters in the film, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, meet by coincidence and end up partnering together to make an album.

The film, set in Dublin, Ireland, produced top tracks like “When Your...

Alright, so this whole recent oil spill crisis thing has really done a number on my stress level. As if the Global Warming epidemic and the dwindling water supply isn’t enough to fret about, a gigantic off-shore drilling catastrophe? Great. The world really needed that.

But no matter your point of view pre-spill, “drill, baby, drill” or anti-offshore plundering,  I think we can all agree on one thing; oil and water do not mix. No one wants the oil threatening our precious eco-system, draining our tax dollars (although BP says they got it covered, we’ll see about that), or putting thousands of our fellow citizens out of work.

BP has failed several times trying to cap the spill all the while using toxic dispersants to clean up the mess. The government doesn’t know what to do either, and has started seeking outside help from rural farmers...