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Women's

Edun Brings Ethical Fashion and Glamorous Friends to L.A.

A clothing collection devoted to new beginnings is having one of its own. Edun, the contemporary men’s and women’s clothing collection co-founded in 2005 by Ali Hewson and her husband, U2‘s Bono, is virtually a regenerated company.

Created to help developing African nations help themselves — to give them “trade not aid” — Edun was a leader in the ethical fashion movement. A 2009 partnership with luxury goods conglomerate Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton (LVMH) gave the company what Hewson says it needed most — expertise and global muscle.

“We really needed the right engine to drive the brand,” said Hewson, who discussed Edun’s evolution during a stop at Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills.

The collection of vibrantly printed dresses, open-weave cardigans and blouses laser cut to resemble fish scales is hard to miss on the store’s third floor. It’s framed by an immense living wall of succulent plants surrounding a monitor that plays Edun’s debut advertising campaign — a butterfly-filled fantasy shot by Ryan McGinley.

“We really feel this is the time to get behind the brand,” said Hewson in a private salon at the Beverly Hills store. “We’ve been seven years training and studying and lifting weights to get here. We were really right to wait to launch it with a campaign until we knew we had all the pieces of the clock working perfectly.”

The LVMH partnership ushered in Paris-based designer Sharon Wauchob as creative director. The move underscores what Hewson says was mandatory for the brand’s success — beauty.

“The number one issue is design,” says Hewson. “Unless it’s desirable, we don’t have a sustainable business, so the clothes have to be beautiful.”

Wauchob has cleverly embedded traditional African patterns and themes into modern prints and textures, a theme well suited to spring fashion’s tribal and ethnic trends. An indigo cotton jacket coordinates with a tribal-print mesh cotton cardigan, or a pieced print dress made in a factory that also manufactures uniforms for peacekeeping troops.

To give a select group of Neiman’s shoppers an in-depth view of the collection’s new breadth, the Beverly Hills store staged its first rooftop fashion show, with Hewson, Bono, Akon, Quincy Jones and Colin Farrell looking on.

On the runway, it was easy to see the clothes’ versatility — jeans, shorts and leggings mix with tunics, dresses and cardigans in a look that says easy, urban, and yes, beautiful.

Edun is available at Neiman Marcus Beverly Hills.