Using beautiful animal illustrations and sustainable textiles, Mika Machida‘s eco-friendly fashions show that you don’t need to wear fur or skins to look wild. Each piece is an elegant, innovative take on the words “animal print” — celebrating the forms and patterns found in animals. Her elephant top, for example, features an elephant’s watchful eye on its front, and a carefully-located sleeve that drapes over the shoulder in such a way to mimic an elephant’s ear. And her innovative, ready-to-wear pieces, made of sustainably-sourced materials such as organic cotton, bamboo, and wool are now available for sale in the Inhabitat Shop!
Elephant Top – $158 at the Inhabitat Shop
Mika is a member of EKO-LAB in New York City, a collaboration of eco-designers affiliated with eco-boutique Ekovaruhuset. In September, Mika took part in Ekovaruhuset’s Spring 2009 fashion exhibition where she showed a dress entitled ‘A Horse Dress — Support Organic Farming’. With a black-and-white print of a horse’s head, the long, fitted dress made of organic linen made no secret as to its inspiration. The piece also included a “horse mane” made of hand-dyed Icelandic wool that gracefully swept from the front to the back, creating a stylish asymmetrical strap.
Butterfly Shirt – $198 at the Inhabitat Shop
Mika’s clothing was also featured at the Eco-Chic HK fashion show, hosted by EcoChic Fashions. Clips of the show can be seen in this video (also below). The show is bring brought to Shanghai in the next week– on January 12th — that will feature both international talent in ready-to-wear clothing and Chinese designers that will show eco-couture.
+ Mika Machida
+ Ekovaruhuset
+ EKO-LAB
+ EcoChic Fashions
+ Inhabitat Shop
