Barbara Walters Goes Green

So today "the View" went green to celebrate St. Patti's day and Mother Earth. They did a little fashion segment, which was lackluster to say the least. They had a "green fashion guru" on who did not know her shit. She butchered Bahar Shahpar's name (sounded something like Shar Bar) and was raving about how awesome bamboo is (aren't we trying to move past bamboo now?! or at least try to make the chemically-laden process by which it is broken down and turned into fabric- this is rayon folks, call it bamboo or whatever you like- a little less toxic) and chose a less than stellar collection of stuff to show, considering what is out there now, in terms of badass eco-fashion.
Note to all of you people out there who are planning to do an eco-episode or issue or whatever: if you are gonna do it, do it right. Don't ask your stylist to educate her(him?)self about eco-fashion for a couple of days and expect them to be able to do a good job. Those of us who do know what is going on, we think you look stupid. We think you don't know your shit. Why don't you want an expert doing your research for you? I can't figure it out.
So what should this expert know? It is key, duh, to know the eco-fabrics that are out there. You need to know what shade of green something is. There is seldom a perfectly eco-friendly fabric out there, but you can get pretty close. How the fiber is grown (or collected- let's say, if it is recycled) how it is treated when turning it from raw fiber into fabric (often a very chemically laden process!!!) and how it is dyed are a few key questions to ask. What are the conditions in the factory like, where the fabric is woven. How far is the raw material from the fabric factory, does it have to travel a lot (travel takes fuel!) Then you want to know how the garment is produced. Does the fabric travel far to the factory. Does the factory have ethical labor practices. Do they create as little waste as possible in the manufacturing process (this is often up to the designer to design pieces that use the fabric efficiently) and do the goods have a long way to travel from the factory to your door?
Ok, then, and this is really important, is it badass? Because if it's not, who really cares about it. Good design is the best PR for any movement. Don't bother giving props to the same old boring shit. Don't bother making the same old shit. Believe me, there are enough people doing it. A well made, stylish, well fitting product is greener than a crappily-made ill-fitting piece, no matter what it is made of, because at least it has a purpose.
Ok, now that I got that off my chest, I just want to say that Barbara was wearing a shirt-dress from gominyc on todays show. It was a crazy striped neon green number from Turk & Taylor and she looked Badass. And on her toes were shoes made from veggie tanned leather (I will save that leather topic for another angry rant) which were also from gominyc. I am guessing that Babs has it going on and it is just her producers who need to do a little more homework.