Organic Clothing?

As an individual interested in both fashion and an eco- friendly environment, I decided to continue my investigation on organic and natural- fiber clothing. To my surprise, an endless list of go green clothing items are available to the general public. Brands including, Beaumont Organic, Ciel, and Sternlein, just to name a select few are retailing natural articles attire. From Ciel designing clothing made from organic hemp silks, bamboo, and cotton card, to Beaumont Organic creating beautiful attire using organic materials, to Sternlein, creating fashionable tights in organic cotton, bamboo, and other natural fibers, eco- friendly clothing is becoming increasingly more popular. Even jeans can be can be found using natural based ingredients. Among these jeans include the trendy Californian organic denim skinny jeans designed by “Del Forte.”

More interestingly enough, well-known brands including “Levi’s” can be found using organic materials. Levi's "Eco" denim “Capital E” line employs elements made of 100 percent organic cotton with an expensive price tag.

Because consumers have become more aware of the environment, organic practices have become a preferred choice. Furthermore, such eco-friendly preferences are expanding into other areas of concern including, cleaners, foods, furnishings, beauty products, and well, clothing. interestingly, clothing items.

Eco- Friendly Green Craze

In recent years green- style living has become a major hit among popular culture. In fact, our popular culture class is a green course in which we participate, prepare assignments, and interact electronically which saves paper, and thus, protects the environment. Therefore, I decided to take a glance at other various eco- friendly trends including tree huger fashion and beauty items becoming popular among today’s society.

Ever hear of handmade shopping bag wallets? Owner and Designer Blain Kennedy, "Blank Entity," developed a way to reuse plastic bags without the additive of extra toxic materials.

I also came across Not Any Dye Applied (NADA) jackets created by Trail space and Merrell. According to http://www.treehugger.com/fashion_beauty/ NADA “uses 59 percent less carbon dioxide, 86 percent less water, 63 percent fewer chemicals, and 59 percent less energy compared to a conventionally-dyed jacket.”

Furthermore, customers shopping in food stores have reverted to employing reusable carriers for their groceries. Such salvaged bags are employed right here in Baltimore, Maryland at the local Mount Washington “Whole Foods Market” and Towson’s specialty grocery store, “Trader Joes.” Similarly, one bag I came across on the green website was the “Green Eyed Monster" reusable bags with audience-generated art decorating the outsides, are larger than typical canvas bags (15" X 18" X 4") and are made from 100% recycled materials.”

Reality TV Hype

What makes reality TV so enticing? After revisiting the notion of popular culture and the affect reality TV has on society is that reality television has the ability to grab hold of the audience’s attention. According to one of the very first articles read for our class entitled, “What is Pop Culture,” ideology plays an important role in popular culture through which a systematic body of ideas are created by a group of particular people. Therefore, the display of numerous reality shows aired on TV is the outcome of the types of topics and events well liked by society.

So what draws the audience to reality TV? Why do people enjoy watching reality TV shows including, “the Hills” and “Real World?” Perhaps it is a guilty pleasure phenomenon through which one can engross themselves into an extreme situation of what we as human beings encounter throughout our daily lives; money, sex, drugs, drama, ideal body images, etc. No matter the degree to which we as individuals can relate to the topics presented by reality programs, every person is able to relate to these events to some degree.

Today, the American people have become infatuated with the thought of personal wealth and prosperity. Words like “money,” “bigger,” better,” and “instant gratification” contribute to a world of pop culture surrounded by materialism. Often reality TV shows are saturated with materialistic items and instant gratification which mainstream society feeds off of. After all, we as a society are in part, responsible for the types of reality shows aired on TV, right? Such presentations are representational of our state of mind and the frames through which we view the world. Does anyone think reality TV is problematical and perhaps, hazardous to future generations? If society is this indulgent now, what will media be reflective of in 10, 20, 30 years from now?