365 new dresses for $365 in 365 days. That’s the happiness goal of sorts Marisa Lynch set for herself when, just months before her 30th birthday, she got laid off. Losing a job means hitting the streets with a resume to some, wallowing in grief for others. But for Marisa, it meant getting the sewing machine out and upcycling thrifted fashions. Every day.

“I was just in this not-feeling-good, crummy kind of mood, and I didn’t know how to kick it,” says Marisa. That’s when Marisa saw Julie & Julia. “[Julie] was finding something to do every day that made her feel great. I was jealous. I thought, I want to find that.”

Thus, New Dress A Day entered the blogosphere. The task: To make a new fashion piece a day — on a budget of a dollar a day — for an entire year.

Think the uber-frugal budget and tight turnaround requirements can only mean shoddy, unfashionable duds? Not for Marisa. All you have to do is see take a quick glance at New Dress A Day to see that while this West Hollywood resident may be short on money and time, she’s never short on style.

She’s also got an imaginative fashion sense, serious sewing skills, and some awe-inspiring powers of transformation. In each of her daily posts, Marisa shares the story — and impressively fugly before photo — of an old vintage dress found at a thrift shop or garage sale. Then comes the chic and cute after photo — along with details of where she wore the new-again outfit and how it was received. Earlier this month, for example, Marisa took a somewhat frightening-looking blue gown reminiscent of a Disney magician’s suit, and transformed it into a cool blue shirt perfect for her outing to a Dodger game!

Always a fan of thrift stores, Marisa says she loves the “romanticism of wearing clothes from earlier time.” Marisa grew up seeing her mom — a home economics major in college — sewing things around the home, then learned to sew herself in a home economics class in 7th grade. Though she didn’t sew often, she did carry a DIY purse to her prom, made for just $4 using directions from a Sassy magazine.

Now, Marisa sews every day, under a deadline. The time commitment’s quite considerable. Marisa usually goes thrifting and garage sale hopping on the weekends — Jet Rag‘s $1 Sunday sales and the Melrose Trading Post are among her favorite stops — picking up dresses to overhaul during the next week or so. Once home, each trash-to-treasure transformation takes anywhere between 25 minutes to a couple hours, depending on the condition of the original garment and the desired design.

While she sometime gets an immediate idea about what to do with a piece when she first sees it, most designs take more time to evolve. “I’m picking stuff because of the fabrics and because of the patterns — and maybe because of the great hardware or the buttons on the sleeve,” Marisa says.

Marisa’s first post’s dated Nov. 27, 2009, but her birthday is actually in mid-October. That day’s when she upcycled her first dress for the project — but New Dress a Day didn’t officially launch until about a month later, when Marisa got the mechanics of blogging figured out. Starting Nov. 28 though, the outfit in the post is the outfit Marisa wore that day.

Marisa’s now 194 days into the project, working to juggle thrifting, designing, sewing, and blogging alongside her job at a music company and her social life. What happens once the 365 days are up? At the moment, she’s thinking about partnering up with a charity or other organization, perhaps auctioning off the 365 creations and donating the proceeds.

But those and other loose ideas have yet to be stitched together into a stylish plan. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she says. “But I’m not gonna stop.” Expect Marisa to keep on sewing and blogging at New Dress A Day until Nov. 26, 2010 — and beyond.

Photos courtesy of Marisa Lynch

If you love TOMS’ comfy shoes — but feel short wearing those flats — here’s good eco-fashion news for you. TOMS just debuted a new style that lets you stand tall: TOMS Wedges.

How tall? 3 1/4 inches taller than you actually are. TOMS Wedges make use of some green materials like jute, and as with all shoes made by this socially-conscious shoe company, gives a pair of shoes to a child in need per pair sold.

I’m actually not quite sure how I feel about this canvas-jute combo look. Among other issues, the idea of high-heeled TOMS kind of remind me of flipflops with kitten heels, which to me sort of defeat the casual and comfy purpose of flipflops.

But I’m willing to expand my idea of eco-chic…. What do you think — Are TOMS Wedges your style? If so, you can own a pair of your own for $69.

Earlier:
>> TOMS Shoes pop-up store in Venice
>> Casual, everyday shoes for environmentalists

Photo via TOMS

Except — DIYing isn’t so empowering if you suck at it.

One need only browse through Regretsy — the website and now book that features the fugliest of craft site Etsy — to know that green projects can go wrong, way wrong. A big chunk of Regretsy’s fodder comes from would-be upcyclers — who apparently have a lot more eco-awareness than ability. From a “crapeau” made from wrappers (right) to a clock made from a rusty cheese grater, trash from the landfill is often turned not into treasure, but uglier trash.

The same, sadly, goes for other eco-DIY projects. Take composting, for example. Ideally, composting lets you prevent veggie scraps from going to the landfill while creating free, rich, organic fertilizer for your backyard garden. Unfortunately, for Lisa of Condo Blues, composting created Dog Vomit Slime Mold. Yep — That is in fact the name for the “yellow spongy, foamy and phallic looking blob” growing on Lisa’s composter in Columbus, Ohio.

Boy did it ever stink! Bad…. Oh and just you [sic] gross you out a little further, when I emptied the bin I found a nice big family of maggots in my compost.

Yummy.

Then there’s the case of eco-adventurer Leslie Richard, author of The Oko Box blog, who got a composting toilet. Now ideally, a composting toilet turns human waste into rich fertilizer while keeping things clean and odor-free — no indoor plumbing required! In real life, environmentalists make human errors — like waiting too long to empty the urine container:

When I finally at a glance saw that it looked ‘almost’ full I went ahead to dump it out…….

NOT realizing it was more then full & had just hit it’s capacity at the top, filling up into the draining part of the toilet – when i took the toilet apart to open the lid and casually pull out the little urine holder the URINE EXPLODED, SPiLLeD out like a waterfall into the bucket that holds the container!!!!! THEN onto the floor! and on my hands!!

BLECh blech bleCh……

If the smell and experience wasn’t bad enough…. When i started undoing the bolts to take the secondary container out to for washing off, the freaking bolts would fall off RIGHT into the overspill puddle of urine!! Gawd and Babee Jezuz!!!!

Then there are the eco-kitchen snafus. Cooking or baking yourself makes it easier to opt for local and organic ingredients, to avoid weird chemicals and processed crap, and to reduce unnecessary food packaging. And fellow Blogher contributor Beth Terry, a.k.a. Fake Plastic Fish, especially wanted to reduce one-use plastic packaging — which is why she decided to bake her own pita bread.

Alas, her baking inexperience meant that after misreading 1 and 1/4 cups of water as just 1/4 cup, Beth just kept following the recipe — no matter that her “dough” did not feel like doughy, much less rise:

I put them in the oven to see what would happen. And what happened are these little bread stepping stones. The outside is hard. The inside is heavy and doughy. And the pocket… um… let’s just forget that they were supposed to be pockets….

Oh, and by the way, in my attempt to bake my own pitas in order to save plastic, I bought a plastic packet of yeast and didn’t even think about it until tonight!

Does this mean you shouldn’t attempt eco-DIY projects? Of course not. Lisa got some composting advice and realized her pile was just too moist; she’s since drilled more drainage holes into her compost bin and plans to pay more attention to the mixture. Leslie’s still uses her composting toilet, heeding the big lesson she’s learned: “MAKE SuRe the urine level doesn’t overflow!!!” And as for Beth, well, she ate those stepping stones anyway. “They taste okay,” was her verdict.

As for me — Perhaps my biggest green failures have happened in my balcony garden, on which I tried to grow tomatoes for years. Number of tomato plants murdered: A couple dozen. Number of tomato plants that survived a surprisingly long time by growing into a twisted, mutated plant: One. Number of tomatoes produced: Zero.

Now, I grow chard.

Photos top to bottom: thrafthappy/Etsy via Regretsy, Lisa / Condo Blues, Beth Terry / Fake Plastic Fish

[crossposted on Blogher]

The shoe may be called Green Silence, but Brooks’ new eco-friendly kickers don’t come quietly onto the green market — thanks to their dazzling yellow hue. As my fellow MNN blogger Shea Gunther says, these shoes should be renamed Yellow Scream!

While environmentalists may ponder why Brooks chose to make its greenest footwear look like a subliminal advertisement for McDonald’s, most will likely agree that Green Silence are about the greenest running shoes out there today. For one, the obnoxious yellow hue’s actually produced using non-toxic dyes and colorants!

Even ignoring the loud eco-color, Green Silence shoes do look decidedly different because it has half as many parts as a regular shoe, reducing the need for materials, energy, and glues. The shoe’s tongue, for example, is a continuous extension of the shoe’s outer side. What glued parts there are are kept together with water-based adhesives.

More impressively, 75% of the shoe’s made out of post-consumer recycled materials! Recycled CDs, for example, make up 50% of the shoe’s heel, while recycled rubber makes up 30% of the outsole. Most of the fabric part of the shoe’s made with a blend of recycled PET from used water bottles — with the laces, gillies (loops for shoelaces), and reinforced webbing being 100% recycled PET.

What’s not recycled is biodegradable — though obviously nowhere near as biodegradable as your average apple. According to Brooks, the midsole and insole break down “50 times faster than traditional midsoles in an enclosed, active landfill” — an interesting feat, although this does point out that the shoe will indeed end up in a landfill at the end of its life, as running shoes inevitably do. With that end in mind, Brooks has put together a helpful “Shoe Life Cycle” guide which shows people how to get the most out of their running shoes before sending them to the landfill.

I took the shoes out for a test run and liked the shoes’ light but cushioned feel! I was a little concerned that the semi tongue-less feature of the shoe might make them feel funny or unstable, but the shoes held firm. The permeable mesh uppers kept my feet cool too.

My main complaint: I had to stick to alleyways and unpopular streets so as not to blind anyone with my yellow feet — or unwittingly end up on a fashion faux-pas site, which is why the photo of the shoes above don’t have my feet in them. Seriously — The shoes look even more garish and bright in real life than in the photos!

Unfortunately, while the $100-a-pair Green Silence shoes will start shipping in their 100% post-consumer recycled box come February, they will not be offered in any other color combos. We’ll find out next month whether eco-conscious runners are willing to embrace looking like Ronald McDonald for the sake of the environment….

Earlier:
>> New Balance 070: Greener shoes for active eco-volunteers
>> Casual, everyday shoes for environmentalists

Top photo via Brooks; bottom photo by Siel

>> Jasmin at Ecouterre hearts these upcycled straw rings, but I have to say I find Jasmin’s colorful writing cuter than the rings themselves. Compare the photo to the right to Jasmin’s description — “Schailon’s cheery, candy-colored rings are topped off with anemone-like floral flourishes that invite you to drink in their quirky beauty” — and tell me which you think is prettier. Would you wear that ring?

>> Musical neckties made with recycled tape! A sonic fabric necktie could make a great eco-fashion statement at the next Green Drinks.

For the bargain price of $140, you can display your love of solar power by wearing an ugly Solar Vest. If any passerby happens not to notice the four chunky solar panels that take up a good quarter of the vest, the eco-wear’s clearly labeled “SOLAR VEST” in bold white letters to set them straight.

The Solar Vest boasts lots of pockets to carry all manner of gadgetry and keep them juiced up on sunny days. However, as Jaymi Heimbuch points out in Treehugger, “no geek who might wear this is going to be seen sitting in the sun for the hours it’ll take to charge the small handhelds.”

There’s a reason geeks are known to have pasty skin and it’s because they don’t walk around for hours in the sun. They might, however, devise a complicated pulley system that will haul this thing out their window into the sunlight, and back in when it finishes charging their gear.

Chinavasion’s making things even worse for lost eco-geeks by insisting that the vest’s perfect to wear to “go cruising for chicks,” who’ll be drawn to the vest “like moths to a light bulb.” Let’s hope that the green guys google for proof of chic-magnetism and find this post before donning the vest and stepping outside.

Not all solar clothing’s so blatantly ugly. The solar bikini, for example, actually looks like a futuristic, albeit uncomfortable, bikini, and makes better sense as a solar-power device since bikinis are meant to be worn on sunny beaches in the first place.

Know of any other solar-powered devices, whether eco-gorgeous or eco-fugly?

Photos courtesy of Chinavasion

>> FastCompany has a slideshow of the 29 best buildings in Los Angeles., many of which are sustainably designed and community-oriented. Vista Hermosa Park in downtown L.A., Pasadena Bike Transit Center and Treepeople Center for Community Forestry are among those featured — alongside a gas station and parking structure. The buildings were recognized at the 39th annual Los Angeles Architectural Awards. (thanks for the tip, Rodney)

>> Want your home to make that list? Try entering the competition for a big green home makeover, complete with everything from an energy audit to eco-insulation to energy-efficient appliances — to green furniture from Cisco Homes and home furnishings from VivaTerra.

Image via ritabotelho.com

Behold the Terracycle stockings and tree skirts, made with upcycled juice pouches and cookie wrappers diligently collected by Terracycle trash brigades!

Now in general, I consider both holiday stockings and tree pouches to be decorative items one saves and reuses year after year. Which makes me wonder — Even if I decided I was okay with cookie-wrapper stockings for one season, would I be able to stand looking at those things every year?

Then again, kids may actually really like this stuff (I’ve no firsthand experience and thus no clue — I’m totally guessing here) because the stockings may evoke warm memories of eating and drinking high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil. Yum!

Let me step back and say that I do love, in general, what Terracycle’s doing to eliminate the idea of trash. In fact, you only need to read TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky’s thoughts on the individual conundrums that non-recyclable, recyclable and biodegradable packagings all cause to know that Terracycle’s serious about its mission. About his own brigades, Tom writes: “these programs (almost 12,000 collection sites strong) are merely a drop in the ocean when compared to the many billions of used packages discarded every year.”

Other eco-conundrums posed by Terracycle’s upcycling ventures include: 1) People will come to think of nonrecyclable packaging as eco-okay since they can be upcycled — despite the fact that only a teensy amount of the stuff actually does get upcycled, and 2) The upcycled products themselves may serve as greenwashed advertisements for unhealthy, uneco products with non-recyclable packaging.

And yet, as far as stockings and tree skirts go, aren’t Terracycle’s products pretty far up on the eco-scale? Certainly since Terracycle’s goods are available via Home Depot at reasonable prices, one could make the argument that these products are the only eco-ones of their kind made accessible to the general public.

Would you buy a Terracycle stocking or tree skirt?

Images via homedepot.com

[crossposted on BlogHer]

Update, 12/8/08: Amenity makes a cuter — and more expensive — eco tree skirt.

If you like to wear your enviro-activism on your sleeve, a couple eco-bracelets are competing for your dollars — by promising to donate the funds to StopGlobalWarming.org, the virtual march against global climate change.

First up: A Stop Global Warming bracelet from Roots. Made from 100% recycled scrap leather in Canada, this bracelet’s available in five different colors and costs $5 — all of which is donated to StopGlobalWarming.org.

If you’re vegan — or simply want a slimmer bracelet — there’s the I’m Tired of Global Warming bracelet. Made from recycled tires and metals, this bracelet costs $10 — $5 of which goes to StopGlobalWarming.org.

No, I don’t think I’ll buy either bracelet — because I feel the same way about didactic messages on my wrist as I do about didactic messages on my chest. Also, the bracelets seem slightly eco-fugly and crunchy to me. But that’s just my opinion….

I did send $5 to StopGlobalWarming.org back in April though, when I bought special edition eco-friendly Simple Shoes….

Give to Get’s a holiday series about eco-friendly goodies you can buy — or get for free by donating to eco-motivated nonprofits. Earlier: Picking an eco-gift bag and A Surf-inspired eco T-shirt with benefits

Update: I spoke too soon! Just got another Obama email, this time asking for $35 in exchange for an Obama calendar.

Update, 12/15/08: Here’s a new Give to get post: A fancy necklace plus an eco-book that explains it

A London company called Above + Below‘s making “Limited Edition Tube Trainers” out of old subway and bus seat covers, recycled / repurposed leather, and recycled tire rubber. (via Grist) The resulting product’s pictured above.

The shoes do look a bit less jarring in photos taken from a distance — if the shoes are turned so you don’t see the seat cover sides too much….

Are these sturdy-looking kicks a smart use of existing resources that double as a subliminal ad for eco-friendly travel to boot? Or are the overly-colorful footwear perpetuating the frumpy hippie environmentalist stereotype?

Images via aboveandbelowlondon.com