Desyn: Avita Co-Op Celebrated Earth Day and Birthday

By photojournalist Veronica Viljoen

On a warm, California evening round six o’clock in the evening on April 22, 2008, invited guests started to arrive at Avita Co-Op in celebration of an exciting evening filled with music, fashion, people and creative inspiration. According to Avita founder and designer, Amanda Shi, “I have decided to have our event this evening because I wanted to celebrate Avita’s first year in business and bring added attention to Earth Day”.

With Shi’s partner, Mark Werts, CEO, American Rag, by her side during her interview time, Shi radiated a confidence and zest for life that made me curious about the rest of the evening. Shi and Werts did not disappoint my intuition as the in-store merchandise selection together with store design made for an interesting observation while the eco-inspired fashion show later that evening displayed playful, sensual selections suited for day to evening.
Avita Co-Op Founder/Designer, Amanda Shi (R) & guest

The fashion show highlighted the design talent from Mandala Eco de Luxe (Germany), a casual/collection that stands in perfect harmony with nature; Unnur (Iceland), fabulous bags using sea leather; BYOB (Canada) handy, reusable bags; Skunk Funk (Spain), alluring yet affordable dresses and separates; Threads for Thought (New York) trendy T’s of organic cotton with a portion of sales donated to the NRDC and the IRC; Raw Earth Wild Sky (Los Angeles), ultra feminine line made from organic cotton; ecoSkin (Los Angeles), a fashion forward collection of sexy tops and dresses; Mo Hop (Chicago), an exciting new line of footwear that has interchangeable straps and Urban Fox (St. Louis and Chicago), a lingerie line using organic materials.

During the evening, I was able to spot a few members of the press at Avita-Co-Op. Andrew Asch, Retail Editor, California Apparel News; Katherine Iniba, Traffic Manager, LA 18; Tasha Adams, Editor, Racked LA; Susan Thompson, Reporter, White Apricot and Brooke Adams, Fashion Editor, LA Splash Magazine were some of the attending press who gave the Avita event fashion editorial reviews.

(L) Katherine Iniba, LA 18 & (R) Susan Thompson, White Apricot

Event atmosphere - Avita Co-Op Celebration

The Avita Co-Op on 8212 West Third Street, Los Angeles, CA. 90048 was opened last year to bring a heightened awareness to climate issues while forwarding the message that eco-friendly fashion can be socially conscious and fabulous.

The invitation only Avita Earth Day Birthday event was sponsored by Frey Wines organic wines, Sake2Me organic sake, Eco Nation with Makeup provided by Moonstar. I left the event with a refreshed, look at eco-inspired designs. I'm looking forward to my next embrace of "eco-friendly" designs to my life. It’s a wrap, till my next post – V.
Photographer, press pit