When Rogan Gregory and Ali Hewson, the designers behind the fashion label Edun, took the stage at a cabaret-style nightclub Sunday night to present their fall collection, they said they didn't do things conventionally _ and they weren't kidding.
Instead of a runway with super-thin, super-tall models that has been the norm at the other New York Fashion Week previews, independent-film stars Rain Phoenix and Zooey Deschanel, along with former soap star Ian Buchanan, a trapeze artist, a few tap dancers and a pregnant ballerina, wore Edun's Nature at Night collection as they performed a half-dozen song-and-dance routines.
All this while U2's Bono, Hewson's husband, cheered from the balcony.
It was hard to see the details of the clothes, but they were generally dark, loose, made of cotton and a perfect fit for the hip East Village neighborhood where the show was staged. There were subtle prints on some garments that stemmed "from the eerie essence of night in the Garden of Good and Evil," according to Gregory and Hewson.
The overall message, however, was much clearer. One song was about global warming, another about a young man who made up every excuse in the book to avoid going into the military. A surprisingly catchy ditty about over-reliance on gasoline included the lyrics, "Everywhere you smell it," and "It rules the world."
Gregory said that Edun's socially conscious clothes, including the use of organic fabric when available and bringing sustainable manufacturing to Third World countries, was at the "forefront of a groundswell," noting that green clothes _ as in eco-friendly not the color _ are becoming a bona fide fashion trend.
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