#EcoFriendlyFashionDesign | Valentina Expressions

Summer Fashion Findings | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

Last month, I was in Europe trotting on the Côte d’Azur, soaking the fizzy air, the weather was not too hot, pleasantly ventilated and the crowd of tourists was limited. My goal was not to spend time at the beach, I have done that, only walking on cobblestones of small villages, talking to people, discovering things, curiosities and food.

In a hole in the wall, as a figure of speech, I found a small artisanal shop of sustainable fashion products. Everything in there was hand-made or ecologically made, natural dyes, natural fibers and no animal products, such as leather or furs.

These items in various shades of orange attracted my attention. I happened to have an orange pair of mirrored glasses on me, the rest was easy.

Hand embroidered and hand painted tunic, with a salmon orange hat and a papaya bag. It looks so fantastic when I wear it all together.

This barrel, multicolored bag really got my attention. I was asking myself what is it? Is it a bucket, a tube, or a beach thing? Well… I got it because it is hard to tell and I wanted to puzzle people.

Often, it doesn’t take much money to build a nice wardrobe. It’s important to understand the function of each piece, if shapes and colors look good with your complexion and if the new items can be paired with everything already existing in the closet.

Elegant people, stores and yachts fill the Rivera. I could have come away with a handsome yacht owner, instead I came away with a pair of blue velvet Karl Lagerfeld pantoufles, call them sneakers if you would, but not on the Riviera. Two huge rhinestone buckles look as if they could illuminate an entire city. In addition they were discounted 50%, a real snip, if it happens on the French Riviera!
Never use the word “cheap”.

Have you found anything special this Summer?
If you want to rethink your personal image, I am here, prompt and ready to assist you. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, born in Italy in a family of artists. Style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. She is passionate about colors and encourages her clients to express their individual style in their homes and with the clothes they wear. To better help people all over the world she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books.
Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Oranges Landed In High Fashion | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

Did you ever think that oranges could be made into clothing? We live in amazing time for technology and how it can help us simplify our lives and sustain our environment. Here it is my Friday Fashion discovery of this week and I could not be happier. Playing with food seems to make people happier and this idea of Orange Fiber is even practical.

About the inventors and how Orange Fiber came about: “Our adventure started 2 years ago in Milan when we were finishing our studies and sharing a flat. We met every night for dinner to share our dreams: Adriana wanted to become a fashion designer with an innovative and sustainable product and I wanted to work in sustainable development and social entrepreneurship. There we were, 2 Sicilian girls living in Milan dreaming to change the world starting from their homeland…and all of a sudden Orange Fiber came to our mind: what if we could use citrus products to create a textile? Sicily is rich in citrus products but every year more than 700.000 tons of industrial waste is produced in Italy from citrus transformation. We wanted to re-use this byproduct to catch the ongoing revolution in the fashion industry: sustainable fashion.

(In the photo: Two businesswomen “Orange fiber”: Adriana Santonocito and Enrica Arena on Lucifer Vocifero Magazine)

Adriana started to study how to create a textile from organic biomass and specifically from citrus for her dissertation. She tested her hypotheses in the lab of Politecnico in Milano and patented the innovation. We developed a process to enrich the sustainable textile with natural oils releasing vitamins on the skin of everyone wearing the textile”.♢ (from Orange Fiber website).

Using nanotechnologies to fix essential oils in the textile, the inventors made a product consisting of functional clothing that can contribute to the consumers’ well-being, integrating the daily vitamins requirements just by wearing the clothes, as the textiles made by extracting cellulose from citrus fruits release active principles directly on the skin. So far they have developed and tested a prototype using citrus essential oils with high values of vitamin C. However the product can release vitamins A, C, and E upon contact with skin, all from the natural citrus oils that are embedded in the fabric.

(photo from: www.today.it)

Hats off to the entrepreneurs Adriana Santanocito 35 and Enrica Arena 27 for their vision, which led to the invention of Orange Fiber. This is a true revelation, a new material that combines innovation and responsibility toward the environment. Their fashion project focuses on the creation of innovative sustainable fabrics and clothes blending two Italian excellences: textile industry and citrus cultivation.

I shall be waiting for their sustainable orange fabrics to reach the interior decorating as well, scented fabrics that we can use in beautiful modern spaces and that will bring their sunny Sicily in every home. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, working in the USA and Europe. Born in Italy in a family of artists, style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. To better help people in the world, she offers consultations online. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/qNxXrB
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w