Tara St James, the New York-based eco fashion designer, is branching out on her own and is gearing up to launch Study NY, the creative collective which she heads. Formerly the creative director of Covet, Tara will be producing a small collection of sustainable clothing within the collective, which will also be producing jewelry, graphic design, photography, music, video and fine art, all with the ethos of sustainable production. They aim to use recycled and organic materials as much as possible, while leaving as little a carbon footprint as is manageable.

‘The Square Project’, the first clothing line from the collective, will launch at New York Fashion Week in September as part of The Green Shows, the only premiere fashion event exclusively committed to eco-friendly, ethically sound, fair trade fashion in NYC.

The Square Project is a study of shapes in relation to the human form – starting with the square.

The collection will comprise of 9 styles, (a square number of course), offered in two seperate colours. Each style will be made from a different number of squares.

Style 1 uses 1 single square

Style 2 uses 2 squares and so on.

“The goal is to create a sustainably developed collection that can be worn in several different ways, using the most basic shape possible.

The use of pliable structures, rather than traditionally shaped garments, to clothe the flexible framework of the body is what appeals to me.

Imposing 2-dimensional structures on a 3-dimensional body challenges the traditional fashion precepts of fit & proportion.

Simple shapes off the body are transformed when worn, making the wearer a necessary part of the transformation”. Tara

You can track the progress of the project on www.4equalsides.com, as it moves towards it’s big launch, or get more frequent updates on twitter at http://twitter.com/StudyNY.

Study Clothing can be found at 5 in 1, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

For press inquiries, please contact Tara at tarastjames@gmail.com