Paris Hilton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gwen Stefani ... You see all kinds of stars wearing Deborah Lindquist designs these days. Guess who else was spotted wearing the eco-designer's casual-chic duds all summer long?

Lindquist herself (right).  "I've been loving a lot of the skirts that I do," says the designer, whose recent wardrobe is a walking catalog of her own creations. "Lately, it's just been a constant parade of my skirts with T-shirts or tank tops."

Last season, you were really no one if you weren't photographed by paparazzi wearing one of Lindquist's recycled cashmere cardigan sweaters with whimsical skull-and-crossbones applique.

"Cashmere's such a yummy, soft, sensual fabric," says the designer, and she ought to know. A farmer's daughter, Lindquist plowed a path from rural Minnesota to the pages of Elle, InStyle, Maxim and Rolling Stone by reacquainting us with the style and luxury inherent in old-fashioned fabrics. She "repurposes" vintage sweaters, leather jackets and silk kimonos into playful, funky, feminine styles.

Raised on a farm surrounded by gardens, orchards and corn fields, Lindquist was 5 years old when her grandmother taught her to sew. "I draped my first pattern on one of my dolls at about that age," she says. "As a teenager, I made a lot of bathing suits, and my prom dresses." 

Life on the farm also sparked respect for the earth. After her father spilled weed spray on his foot, the resulting chemical burn almost cost him his leg. And Lindquist suspects that pesticides may have contributed to his Alzheimer's disease later in life.

She moved to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design in 1979. "It was amazing. I loved New York so much," she says, although the "lack of personal space" took this farm girl by surprise. "I looked at rental apartments where the front door hit the toilet."

She started her business in the city, designing her first belt using recycled leather from Manhattan's millinery district. After moving to California in 1989, she began making one-of-a-kind jackets out of vintage bark cloth and jacquard, Indian blankets and 1950s tropical prints. Today her line includes sustainable hemp and Tencel, organic cotton and peace silk. "I'm very conscious of the fabrics and manufacturing methods," she says. "The people who sew my clothes are under my own roof here in my studio."

She works one-on-one with clients, too. Her line of cashmere dog sweaters grew out of a customer's request to outfit a yorkie, and her new line of "green" wedding gowns — made from organic linen and vintage lace — was launched from a single design. "I put a wedding dress at the end of a fashion show in 2006 and it ended up in USA Today," she says. "Suddenly there were brides calling me wanting eco-wedding dresses. I made four last year, and just created seven new dresses."(http://www.deborahlindquist.com/us/index_us.html)

For her fall line, Lindquist drew inspiration from a clash of cultures. "What I've been doing in my look books is taking a girl from one place and sending her to another," she says. "For fall,I took an English punk girl and sent her to Tibet, where it's very cold. She starts out being kind of punk rock-looking and she gets very layered up and more and more colorful." Not surprisingly, the autumn line is full of previously-worn cashmere, which Lindquist finds at thrift stores or the Rose Bowl swap meet.

"I change the shape and make it fit in a different way," she says, adding that it's always a challenge to patch holes or cut around stains in the used fabric. But that's what she likes best about her work:"making something perfect out of something that's not."

Deborah Lindquist fashions can be found at her own Los Angeles boutique, as well as these stores.
(Can't afford your own Deborah Lindquist designs? You can pretend by dressing up "paper" dolls in her fun fashions online.)