Green is the New Black: Updated for 2011 Shows: Clothing Swaps, Recycle Fashion Shows

Have you attended a Recycle(d) Fashion Show lately? Has there been one at your kids' school? The magical combination of Tax Day and Earth Day merge and it seems we're seeing more and more Recycle/Trashion Fashion Shows out there. It's all good. Maybe you'd like to attend one, donate to the cause or hold your own. Looks like it's a trend with schools and social groups. It would be nice if it were more than a trend.

Let us know of any more that we can add to the list. Recycle fashion means different things to different people which can make for an interesting variety, but it all comes down to the same ethic of saving our resources and changing our habits. Etsy considers 20-year-old items to be vintage, and that includes our clothes. Let's celebrate this and wear 'em if you got 'em.

April 28th: San Francisco, CA's annual Discarded to Divine. The upcoming 2011 Haute Trash Fashion Shows at the New York Fashion Academy in Seattle, WA.

April 23rd: 3rd Annual Kohala Trash Bash Fashion Show at the Kohala Coffee Mill in Hawi, HI.

April 22nd: Largo, Florida's Trashy Fashion 2011.

Stanford University has its Sustainable Fashion Show, CA.

May 13th is the deadline to enter a piece in Brisbane, AU's Art of Recycling Textile Competition. Open to Australian residents only. "Get great ideas from the display of Recycle Reuse Textile Art Competition held in conjunction with the Australian Textile and Surface Design Association. You will see entries ranging from knitted wearables to wall art - made using recycled materials." The Textile Art Festival is held June 11-13, 2011.

This isn't just a seasonal endeavor. New Mexico's Recycle Santa Fe Art Festival has a fashion show is coming in November.

April 26th Cambridge, UK's FACE Fashion Show, Fashion Amnesty, Corporation Ethics, includes The Clothes Exchange.

May 9-10th: Wearable Art Awards Port Moody, BC

Consider the growing trend of renting, borrowing and swapping clothing, particularly one-offs such as gowns and outfits for parties.

This is reminiscent of the Clothing Swaps which have been getting more and more popular recently, both public and private. I'm hearing about friends who are getting together and doing this in small groups. Set it up however you like. Choose one person's house. Everyone brings over 'gently worn' items. Things are organized and displayed as well as possible in the space and with time considerations. Everyone meets maybe for a pot luck meal and then you all decide on any rules. Leftover clothes may be donated.

Some of the fashion I've seen reminds me of discussions I've had about wearable art jewelry. Should an artist/designer always create with the thought of who will wear it, where and when it will be worn?

Don't let those clothes we'll never fit into again, and maybe worse, the ones we're scared we WILL fit into again, sit in our closets, leering at us from the back. Move 'em out and let someone who can use them have them.

Please add any other Recycled / Trashion Fashion Shows to the list with a comment. Thanks