Citywide venues exploring the field of design dreams

DesignPhiladelphia 2009, described as the largest national show of its kind, is focusing its fifth annual show on issues such as environmental sustainability, urban development, and social responsibility - hot topics this year.

The annual citywide celebration, which continues through Tuesday, presents exhibits, workshops, studio tours, lectures, and runway shows showcasing all aspects of design, ranging from architecture, product, and interior design to fashion, textile, and graphic design.

More than 125 events and 500 designers are spread throughout the city at venues including boutiques, galleries, design studios, cultural institutions, universities, warehouses, and city streets.

One of these events, the "Socially Responsible Fashion Show (So Re Fa)" will offer recycled, repurposed, and fair-trade garments on Sunday. It will feature environmentally conscious, high-fashion clothing, as well as more conceptual pieces such as a ball gown made of Target plastic bags that appeared in 2008.

Event founder Ashley Gehman, Anthropologie store designer and a part-time professor at the Academy of the Arts, began the fashion show to give a voice to local designers creating eco-friendly fashion.

"It's not tie-dye, hemp, and hippie wear," says Gehman. "People can make choices that are smarter for themselves as well as thinking in the realm of a green lifestyle and eco-manufacturing."

The "So Re Fa" is scheduled for 4 p.m. Sunday at North Bowl bowling alley, 909 N. Second St. in Northern Liberties.

Another environmentally sound exhibit is "Gimme Shelter," a collection of six sustainable woodland centers at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. The exhibit exploring human effects on the ecosystem is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the center, 8480 Hagy's Mill Rd.

DesignPhiladelphia also focuses on the role of the city of Philadelphia in the urban-design scene.

For instance, Moore College of Art and Design's exhibit, "Bicycle: People + Ideas in Motion," studies the history of Philadelphia's relationship with the bicycle.More than 50 models appear, from big-wheeled models of the first World Fair to today's hip "fixed-gear" messenger bikes. Other current bike trends cover urban sustainability, commuting, and self-expression.

"I really saw that there was a story here," says Lorie Mertes, director and chief curator of the galleries at Moore College. "You can't walk out any door in Philadelphia without seeing a bicycle pass you by."