According to Linda Loudermilk’s press release, the U.S. and Canada spent “$85 million for organic fashions last year”, with next year set to be even bigger. Which may explain why she is introducing a line called ‘Luxury-Eco’. Hand tailored in her Los Angeles studio, the Spring 2005 range includes “a new type of Pointelle Bamboo fiber” and “specially-formulated organic cotton”. Our favourite, however is the “avante-garde blend of Japanese paper, herbs, vitamins and amino acids”, which apparently provide both anti-allergen and anti-bacterial properties. This is, after all, Haute Couture Fashion. So you’d expect to read “you’ll see subtle organic influences, as fluid pants flow like blue streams”. While claiming that previously, “...the environmentally-aware woman was confined to wearing shapeless sacks of scratchy ill-woven fibers to be true to her cause,” might be a bit over-dramatic, it is pleasing to see that the well-heeled will be offered more environmentally benign materials in their apparel. (Of course, the other end of the socio-economic ladder have always been into the best eco-clothing - albeit out of sheer necessity - re-used hand-me-downs from charity shops.) ::Linda Loudermilk [by WM]