A Too Precious to Wear fan in the Lela Rose S/S 2010
goody bags at New York Fashion Week
Thanks to PETA’s in-your-face tactics, sometimes we forget about the how fashion can impact on the environment, but the likes of Nicole Miller, Yigal Azrouel and Hayden-Harnett haven’t. Along with a growing group of fashion designers, they have signed the Fashion and Design Industry Pledge to Save Coral as part of the Too Precious to Wear campaign.
“Corals have been used for centuries in jewelry and decorative objects. These much-loved animals are some of nature’s most inspiring creations. But corals can never be replicated,” said Dawn Martin, president of SeaWeb, founder of the Too Precious to Wear campaign.
“Their use as adornment, in addition to the threats brought on by climate change and ocean acidification, are driving these living jewels of the sea to a perilous place. But thanks to the efforts of the committed designers taking part in New York’s Fashion Week, we are experiencing a sea-change in the fashion industry as they are declaring that corals are indeed too precious to wear.”
SeaWeb have been working to encourage the U.S. Congress to reauthorize the Coral Reef Conservation Act and ask international governments to list red and pink coral under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species. Goodness knows it would be brilliant if Australia got behind it too, with the Great Barrier Reef known as one of the world’s most beautiful tourist attracts, we should save it from deteriorating to the point where future generations can’t enjoy it.
So support designers like Nicole Miller, Yigal Azrouel, Lela Rose, Amy Smilovic of Tibi, Norma Kamali, Maria Cornejo, Toni Hacker & Ben Harnett of Hayden-Harnett, Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai of Vena Cava, Maria Grachvogel, Minnie Mortimer and Nak Armstrong of Anthony Nak who are trying to save some of the world’s most natural and beautiful sights.
Hopefully more international designers take part in this campaign to increase its exposure – don’t forget to add your signature on TPTW’s Coral Pledge.
