Green green green green greener greener greener greenest greenest greenest. Never was a color hotter. Fifteen years ago merchandisers told us, designers, that green did not sell. no way in hell would they get behind a green turtleneck, a green dress, a green jean, a green T-shirt, blouse, sweater, skirt, legging, hat, bag or mitten. As design director at Calvin Klein i tried calling green anything from tundra, moss, chartreuse, grass, olive, celadon to sprout, fir, loden but no matter what organic name it wore, green did not sell. Ha! Where are you now, you no-green-mantra-maidens? Eating sprouts, moss or celadon? Its the 21st century and  the new mantra is: if it aint green it wont sell. Everywhere i see oxymorons from green fashion to green kids, green cars, green skyscrapers, green vacations, green luxury brands, even a green earth beauty pageant.  I could go on but no doubt you were already thinking along the same lines and do you, like me, go from green with envy (those perfect eco celebrities seem to have it down) to green with guilt? I dont have green kids, i dont live in a green condo, i hardly drive a green car. i dont even dress in green. In fact i’m sick of green. I’m sick of hearing about green enterprises like the Hermes yacht, called WHY (indeed), which any green billionaire warrior can call his own for a mere $100 million. It’s ohso green. they say, and sustainable, but can’t they do mankind a favor and invest that $100 million in micro-finance projects around the third world?

Then there is another oxymoron: de Rothchild and green. Or maybe not. The tall and handsome trust fund adventurer,  David de Rothchild, is soon sailing his PLASTIKI, a 60-foot catamaran, inspired by Thor Heyerdahl, and created out of plastic recycled bottles, from the Golden Gate 11,000 miles across the Pacific to Sydney Harbor. His young crew, which includes Josian Heyerdahl (yes granddaughter of that Thor) and blonde skipper Jo Royle, appears to have been picked for their sexy good looks (did you see the size of Plastiki’s deck?) and the pr for the adventure reads like Swept Away meets March of the Penguins.

Is de Rothchild the Calvin Klein of eco?  And does he figure that a green label may sell stuff which is hardly eco-friendly, but only sex will sell green technology?

David de Rothchild and hull

Josian Heyerdahl

skipper Jo Royle and floatables