NEW YORK, September 7, 2007 – Can eco-friendly fashion be truly luxurious? That's the question Behnaz Sarafpour attempted to address in her Spring show, which included a capsule collection of limited-edition green looks that made use of organic fabrics and natural dyeing techniques.

To her credit, she did her best to chase any granola-and-hemp clichés away from the waffle-weave cotton that she printed with tropical palms and cut into dresses and coats. But their unpolished look indicated that the answer to the above question is: "Maybe not this season." The high-end customer doesn't want to sacrifice elegance in order to literally wear her good deeds on her sleeve.

Even beyond the green wares, the collection maintained a fresh-scrubbed, holistic vibe with crispy white cottons; coarsely textured rattans embellished with wood, turquoise, and coral beads; and leaf-print matelassé. Sarafpour ran the gamut with her many dresses but seemed bogged down in vintage silhouettes like the shirtwaist.

More imaginative and modern were a pair of ombré pleated tank dresses. If Sarafpour wants to win converts to her cause, she might move more in that direction.

– Meenal Mistry