Who Are You Wearing?

Everyone talks about sustainability going mainstream. Well, it's also going classical.

We're talking about music; specifically, a recital by the eco-friendly Korean pianist, Soyeon Lee (even her name has a heart-healthy, syllabic ring to it). According to a report in The New York Times, Ms. Lee performed the second half of her show at Carnegie Hall wearing a dress made entirely of 6,000 recycled grape juice containers.

Take a look (and thanks to Dale Crowell at Honest Tea for sending this to us). I'm not one to deconstruct fashion, but it certainly makes a statement, considering the gown is made up of aseptic pouches popular with kids. In fact, it was during a tour of the Princeton University campus last summer, where a number of children's day camps were being held, that she noticed the similar juice pouches overflowing from waste receptacles.

According to the article, Ms. Lee contacted TerraCycle, a firm the creates organic products that are not only made from waste, but are also packaged entirely in waste; as well as Honest Tea, which uses recycled packaging for its beverages as well. Both companies commissioned a designer to make the dress, and co-sponsored the concert.

Ms. Lee carried the theme one stanza further, and included recycled concertos in her repertoire. It just goes to show you, yet again, how creative people can be in getting the message across to consumers and the general public.

Sure, the health of our nation and the environment is serious business. But who says we can't have fun trying to improve it?.... Encore!