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• May 28, 2008
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Green Day

The new Brooklyn line Bodkin gives eco-chic a sharp new voice. By Kat Clements

Many burgeoning labels these days claim to have evolved organically. But for the new Brooklyn-based collection Bodkin, it rings especially true. As it happens, the collection—co-conceived and created by designer Samantha Pleet and writer Eviana Hartman—is as organic as the friendship that's grown between them. What began as an introduction through mutual friends soon gave way to discovering a myriad of shared interests and what Hartman describes as "eerily similar senses of style and aesthetic references...and we borrow each others' clothes all the time," she says. When both were in need of a studio, deciding to share a workspace seemed like a natural fit, and it wasn't long after setting up shop that they were brainstorming a line of clothes that all of us would soon want to borrow ourselves.

"I've always been fascinated by the interconnected realities of what things are made of, where they come from, and why we want them," says Hartman, whose experience has ranged from working as the fashion features editor at Nylon to heading a column about sustainability for the Washington Post. Complicated as those connections may be, they've inspired a straightforward and sleek collection of sustainably sourced clothes. Ms. Pleet, patron saint of capricious urban chic, often supplements her sophisticated shapes with an adventuresome, fairytale edge. But in this collection her looks are crisp and cool with a good dose of consciousness. Bodkin is "sexy with a sense of humor," she notes, characteristics that are "absent from most eco-friendly lines."

Despite being politically motivated, both Pleet and Hartman have avoided using their label as a platform, choosing to focus their collective energy more on mode than on a message. The result is a line with principles that are as modern as the pieces (expertly-tailored tank tops and zippered T-shirt rompers) that comprise it. And with collar-waisted skirts, funnel-neck mini-dresses, and a stunningly structured bustier as staples of their first collection, Bodkin just might be your new best-friend, too.

Bodkin will be available this fall at Bird, 220 Smith Street (at Butler Street), Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.

Photographs courtesy of Tom Hines.

The new Brooklyn line Bodkin gives eco-chic a sharp new voice.