Here's a shocker: taking fashion lessons from Lady Gaga might be good for your health. A new Gaga-esque dress, equipped with a built-in air purification system, might be the perfect solution to car exhaust, ozone, toxic chemicals and other pollution dirtying our air.
Alright, maybe you're not looking to deck yourself in Lady Gaga's bubble dress, but clean air and breathing are actually the latest fashion trends grabbing headlines. Recently, I wrote about t-shirts created by two NYU students that change color to alert you to high levels of air pollution. Now, a new clean air dress is making waves in New York. Designed by Hana Marie Newman, the dress comes with an oxygen tank that continuously pumps purified air to the wearer's lucky lungs, blocking out the soot-filled city air.
(Photo courtesy of Hana Marie Newman. Photographer: Rick Wray. Model: Yasmin Bilbeisi)
So what's with this chic air revolution in fashion apparel?
Maybe it has to do with the fact that roughly half of the people in the United States live in counties that have dangerous levels of either ozone (smog) or particulate air pollution (soot). According to the American Lung Association, almost 154.5 million Americans are continuously exposed to air pollution that can trigger asthma attacks, increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and force exorbitant healthcare costs on already vulnerable populations.
Despite the urgent need to strengthen our air pollution standards and get our counties into compliance, some Congress members and their Big Polluter backers are trying every trick in the book to make our clean air laws even weaker.
Representative Ed Whitfield (R-WY) recently confirmed that Republicans plan to delay mercury and air toxics standards that would save up to 26,000 lives every year. Dirty air proposals like this would allow power plants and industrial facilities to spew more mercury, acid gases and arsenic into our air.
How many lives are they willing to sacrifice to weaken clean air safeguards?
While the oxygen bubble dress isn't very practical (you can breathe clean air, but not sit comfortably) it's fantastic that high-end New York fashion is drawing attention to this crucial issue. Maybe we'll see Lady Gaga speaking up for clean air, just like Jessica Alba is standing up to protect children from toxic chemicals.
But the reality is that most of us can't afford personal air purifiers. That's exactly why we need to continue to strengthen our clean air standards, putting the health of our families before the billion dollar profits of big polluters.
An insider's view of the photo shoot for the “8” dress:
Learn more about big polluter attacks on the Clean Air Act. And take action to protect your lungs from dirty air.