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4. GET ON THE GOOD FOOT Flat shoes are back in fashion big time. So why not treat your feet and pick up on the summer season’s most comfortable trends? Flats needn’t be boring, as the Ivy Green ballerina pump by award-winning eco-friendly footwear manufacturer Po-Zu proves. The company’s mission is ‘to provide your feet with unique respite from the frantic pace of busy lives, and to halt the damage that modern footwear manufacturing often causes to people and planet’. All materials come from renewable sources and are responsibly harvested. No pesticides, bleaches or toxic dyes are used, and all leather is chromium-free. Launched in 2006 in the back room of a little house in Islington, London, Po-Zu has attracted a massive worldwide customer base. Plus you can feel good that three per cent of all sales income is donated to four environmental charities. £95, www.po-zu.com 5. THE NEW SUPERFOOD The latest superfood powerhouse set to take over from kale, quinoa and blueberries as the trendy new holy grail of healthy eating is seaweed. While most peoples’ only encounter with it is the dried stuff wrapped around sushi or floating around in miso soup, fresh seaweed is delicious and packed with vitamins, calcium, iodine and antioxidants, as well as 46 minerals, 16 amino acids and 11 micronutrients. There are three varieties of edible seaweed: brown, red and green. You can buy most varieties dried, fresh or fresh/frozen. The best destination for high quality produce (including seaweed) and hard-tofind ingredients is the amazing online food emporium, Fine Food Specialist – it’s a haven for daring and curious cooks. Pictured here are just three of the many seaweed products stocked. From top: laitue de mer, or sea lettuce (250g, £14.95); sea spaghetti (1kg, £18.95); and sea grapes (2x25g, £10.95). All are fabulously fresh, highly nutritious and beguilingly delicious. Oh! And by the way, sea grapes make a fantastic caviar substitute as a canapé topping. You’re welcome. www.finefoodspecialist.co.uk
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6. COOL CUT On the international fashion stage, Stella McCartney is the undisputed ‘queen of green’. Raised on an organic farm by her father Paul and her animal activist/ photographer mother, Linda, Stella was the first luxury designer to fashionably create and stick with a vegan agenda. Being a strict vegetarian, she never uses leather or fur in her collections. Her design sensibility has always been a visible reflection of her personal ethos. This gorgeous stretch rayon mix bias cut midi dress is discreetly figure hugging and has a gloriously swishy asymmetric skirt. The perfect frock to keep cool in during the (fingers crossed) long, hot summer. Style this mint-coloured piece with unfussy but bold accessories and simple Grecian-style sandals. £1,095, www.harveynichols.com
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