Jumper! Haaa-yah!

Courtney saw this BCBG Max Azaria pantsuit at Crossroads long before rompers came back in style. She couldn’t immediately figure out how to put it on, which she felt was a good sign. After some time wrangling in the dressing room, she decided to bring it home and figure it out.

Smart move, because it’s become Courtney’s version of the little black dress. That little diamond of exposed tummy skin is spot on. Courtney is smart about finding sexy clothes that don’t make her look too willing, if you know what I mean. She now thinks the jumper was an early sample, because she saw one at Nordstrom recently. She appears to be correct, because here it is. Did you pay $380 for yours, Skott? Yeah, I didn’t think so. High five.

The leafy earrings are Eliza Page, an Austin-based jeweler owned by a friend of Courtney’s. Lots of great stuff there, by the way.

Metallic sandals are Kenneth Cole Reaction.

And so Courtney Skott’s Mighty Closet comes to a close. Does anyone else feel like they could use a cigarette?

Over the next four weeks, I’m doing a campaign for Gap that features profiles of other design bloggers. The interviews are an extension of Gap’s Born To… Campaign, which is about pursuing your passion. As you may have noticed, I’m into that. Find out more about the campaign on the Facebook page here. For completists, the whole set of interviews will live over here.

I’m kicking off the Born To… Series with Jill Fehrenbacher, founder of Inhabitat and a LEED-AP green designer. Her passion is building a better future, as indicated by her trusty hammer and power drill:

How fierce is that bob? You may remember Jill from my trip to New York, where I first met her in the spray of Dara Torres’s warm-up routine:

Jill and I have friends in common, so we chatted about how one maintains a perfect bob (Japanese straight perm, genetics), and the business of blogging. Later I found out that Jill grew up here in California, though she’s currently based in New York. Over the years, she’s also made homes in Bali and Kathmandu.

Dig a little deeper, and it turns out that Jill is a traveling, karate-practicing, mini-mogul, vegan designer and parent who still makes time for Japanese straight perms. New York moves at a different pace than the rest of the world, my friends.

In 2005, Jill was enjoying her life as a designer and consultant and decided to start Inhabitat as a way to engage with the design community and draw more attention to environmentally conscious design. At the time, mainstream media was mostly mum on the subject of green design, and Jill wanted to fill that silence. As interest in greener design has grown — dramatically — so has Inhabitat’s online presence and staff. Today, Jill relies on a team of writers to help her maintain five sites:

• Inhabitat Dedicated to sustainable design.
• Inhabitots Green design for kids, launched in 2008 when Jill was pregnant with her baby boy.
• Inhabitatshop A curated online marketplace of favorite green goods.
• Greener Gadgets A conference and design competition site.
• Re-burbia A suburban design competition, which recently announced finalists.

I know you’ll be interested to hear that there’s also a fashion site in the works. Keep an eye out for Sustainastyle in the coming months.

Jill’s interest in design started early. A neighbor gave her an easel when she was three years old, and she’d spend hours drawing. “I studied art in high school and college, and that eventually lead me to the world of design, when I realized how much more impactful and relevant applied design was than the world of fine art (sorry fine art people, but it’s true).”

In the beginning, Jill juggled her design and consulting work while maintaining Inhabitat. Soon, the site that was supposed to support Jill’s career became a career in itself. A few years later, she started publishing full time, and replaced her alarm clock with a looming toddler named Petey. She takes him along for a quick jog in the mornings before settling into her role as a publisher.

“I typically stand in my kitchen or office all day in front of my laptop — writing blog posts, fielding inquiries from people, with an occasional pop out to the cafe for a meeting with a designer or advertiser.”

In the evenings, Jill studies karate, and returns home for dinner with her family, all of whom are vegan, including little Petey. Jill has been a vegetarian since high school, but over the last few years her husband’s eating habits have nudged her toward a vegan diet, the occasional chocolate chip cookie aside.

“He gradually converted me off dairy and eggs,” Jill says. “It isn’t tough to maintain at all — especially in NYC where there are tons of vegan restaurants and healthy food shops.”

There’s more blogging to do after Petey goes to bed. “Every day features a lot of time in front of the laptop, but every day is unique,” she says.

She hopes the work she’s doing now will make an easier life for her kids, “[I hope] we’ll be able to solve climate change, and that my children and grandchildren will inherit a decent, peaceful, and not-too-hot future.”

Us too, Jill. Thanks for the chat.

What’s Inspiring Jill Right Now

Fiberoptic Sunlight Transport Lamps
“They direct sunlight into a house, through walls and ceilings, so you don’t need electricity.”

Human Powered Gyms, Dance Clubs, and Subway Stations

“Yeah human power!”

Shipping Container Housing

Homes made from shipping containers.

Eco Modern Treehouses

Designers Who Give Jill Hope For the Future

William Kamkwamba

“A kid from Malawi who — with no formal education or training — figured out how to build a windmill to power his whole village.”

Tesla Motors

“The Tesla Roadster — proving once and for all that eco-friendly can be sexy.”

Philippe Starck

The Starck Democratic Ecology Windmill

“Star industrial designer Philippe Starck isn’t exactly known for his humanitarian, earth-friendly designs, (he’s better known for decorative plastic chairs and fancy lemon juicers). He’s even said, ‘Everything I designed was unnecessary… and I am ashamed of this fact.’

Now, [he] has turned his eye towards renewable energy and other ‘green’ pursuits, and this gives me a lot of hope for the future, because I believe that he’ll influence a lot of consumers and designers to move in the right direction.”

This is Courtney just home from a long day of wit and wallpaper samples at Sugarbaker Designs. If you listen closely, you can just make out the opening strains of “Georgia on My Mind.” The red cuff is from Banana Republic.

The dress is Joanie Char Silk San Francisco, a score from the Goodwill. The details on this piece are lovely, including the line of shell buttons down the left hip.

Also? Epaulets with contrast piping. Thaaaat’s what I’m talking about.

The pumps are vintage Charles Jourdan. I’m pretty sure you can play basketball in those.

Tomorrow we conclude our presentation with a jumper that out-awesomes all the other jumpers. See you then.

When Courtney was in Spain, she visited this Desigual coat obsessively before finally splurging. Courtney has always been budget minded. We agreed during the shoot that spending $100 on something is a whole deal. If I’m spending more than $25 on an item, I tend to think it over. Thrift shopping makes you a crazy person that way. Lately I’ve begun to realize that it’s better to come home with one perfect investment piece rather than a garbage bag full of not-quite-there second hand stuff, so I’m trying to be better about looking for clothes that are bargains, but maybe not steals.

Courtney says the coat splurge was worth it, because people stop her on the street to compliment her whenever she wears it. I love that, because the whole point of going shopping while you travel is having the “Where’d you get that? conversation afterward. “This? Oh! I picked it up in Barcelona.”

These Cartonnier herringbone trousers from Anthropoligie are technically supposed to be “ankle length.” No hemming for the petite girl, hooray! This is a pretty typical work outfit for Courtney.

The Dolman-sleeved sweater is from Crossroads, a second-hand resale chain that has so far featured prominently in the Mighty Closet posts. I dig the proportions of this outfit. Easy, but not baggy, with a well-defined waist.

The necklace is from Crossroads too. Clearly we all need to spend more time at Crossroads.

Staid lace-up oxfords by Biviel from Gimme Shoes. So sexy librarian.

Tomorrow, Courtney channels Dixie Carter circa Designing Women. Stay tuned.

I’ve decided to do more guides on Mighty Goods, because I just enjoy putting them together. Here are some ideas for interesting bridesmaid gifts. Feel free to leave your suggestions in comments.