By Cybele Negris

For those of you who are interested in fashion, great entertainment or how our city is doing its part to make make Vancouver the "Greenest City" this is for you!

I met Myriam Laroche who is President of Vancouver Eco-Fashion Week and her vision is to make Vancouver the Eco-Fashion capital of the world. "Eco-Fashion is essentially fashion that is not damaging to the planet with a low carbon footprint," Myriam tells me.  Her group promotes the use of organic fabric, vegan dyes, recyling of clothes, use of vintage fashion, as well as sustainable and fair trade practices in the fashion industry. Did you know that a staggering 68 pounds of clothes/textiles is thrown out by an average American each year? The statistic for Canadians is probably similar and clearly there is a lot of education and awareness needed.

Myriam brings with her over 15 years of fashion, art direction and marketing experience besides being highly ambitious and persisent. She tells me the story of how she got Vancouver councillor Andrea Reimer and Mayor Gregor Robertson to take notice by sending them each a fabric envelope she sewed containing a vintage scarf and vintage Givenchy tie. Now that's creativity! Between her and a very strong Green Advisory Board, this woman is definitely going to reach her ambitious goal of making Eco-Fashion Week an international success.

To raise awareness for Eco-Fashion Week which will take place in April, Myriam will be hosting an event at the Vancouver Public Library during the Olympics. The fundraiser is called Eco-Fashion Forward Fundraising Night featuring a live fashion show of designs from six Eco Fashion Designers and great musical entertainment. “Hosting Eco Fashion Forward during the Olympics will secure our city’s status as a leader in the green fashion movement, says Myriam.” Details of the event are:

 Cybele Negris is Co-Founder of Webnames.ca, Canada’s Original Domain Registrar. She is on the Boards of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, Small Business BC, Government of BC Small Business Roundtable and the Vancouver Economic Development Commission. More information is available at cybele.tel or webnames.tel. Follow on Twitter @cybelenegris and @webnames