Open Your Mouth. It Pays.

I haven't stopped bitching about Barbara yet. It is too damn productive. The more I complain, the more people listen. I want people to listen to me. Come on, we all watch the world go by and bitch about how we could do this and that so much better. But we bitch in private. I propose we all start complaining more.
I had a woman approach me about getting involved in a prestigious, green, fund-raising event. Still reeling from Barbara Dis 2008, I started spouting off about how I did not want to be involved in any more green events or projects where I couldn't have more creative input. I gave her a long, passionate speech about how I am watching as the media misrepresents what I do and then criticizes me for mistakes that they make. I am sick of these uninformed people making definitions of what eco-friendly fashion is when they don't really know. I can't figure it out. So much research and technology goes into creating sustainable fabric, which is one of the key ingredients in green fashion. How is the layman to know what really makes something eco-friendly. Just because something is sold as eco-friendly, does not necessarily mean that it is. Come on. This is a huge trend. Obviously there are people trying to ride this trend wave and make a buck and don't care about the cause. Some of these people serendipitously end up doing something good. But this is such a new movement and the technology is developing as we speak. We find out that some things we thought were great are not good at all (bamboo fabric, corn fabric...) but those people who are not truly devoted sustainability are not asking the tough questions and are not keeping up with the latest developments. As the true eco-community moves past these mistakes, the wave riders keep on going 4 steps behind, 10 steps behind but are still calling what they do eco-friendly as they lessen the integrity of what I am trying to do. If this eco-fashion movement is to survive, if we are going to take this to the next level, we need to start talking louder and have our voices heard over the loud murmur of posers and wanna-bes and fakes.
So, this woman who was there to ask me to get involved in the prestigious, green event, she took in a whole earful from me and then she asked if I wouldn't like to be involved in this project in some other capacity, say as the keynote speaker. Wawawee wa. The last speech I gave was at my wedding and I was quite sauced. But it was a speech to remember (or so they tell me) and it was totally off the cuff. I have a bit of time to prepare for this sucker and I have tons to say. And my soapbox just got a lot bigger.