The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Recently arrived at Shopbop, Eugenia Kim's (famed NY milliner) chunky fox scarf ($232)...

It's a cute commentary on the ever present fur debate, but nothing new. Industrious crafters have already posted handcrafted 'vegan' fox stoles, for much less, on Etsy.

Seller Celepiu's:

Raspberry Foks $75

Chocolate Foks $95

Those who can knit & purl may want to recreate it themselves (go freeform, or check out pattern options at Ravelry.)

Eugenia Kim fox scarf $232-

Ravelry pattern $3-

Yarn and notions $45-

Two afternoons worth of The Mentalist and a headstart on carpel tunnel $0=

Total savings $184

Worth A Thousand - Shoe design by Kobi Levi

Dare to Repair!

I volunteer as an 'image consultant' at a local Dress-for-Success-type agency that outfits women with appropriate interview and business attire. I suppose someone has to work a ladle down at The Soup Kitchen, but as far as socially conscious time investments go, mine is the FUNNEST! A couple times a week I get to dress up needful, grateful lifesize dolls and then thrust them into the downtown core with a veritable spree of shopping bags. It's a blast (ours originated with the local Junior League; see if there's an organiztion in your area).

Because I contribute during regular business hours the blend of fellow volunteers is strangely dichotomous. It seems the volunteers are either 'ladies who lunch' comfortable or somehow marginalized/unemployed/in transition. I am neither (read: comfortably unemployed). There is a fine line of circumstance that separates the two, and I am surely the volunteer who is toeing it. I wear brand names and have some tastes so expensive they sound like Tracy Jordan lines/Kanye West tweets. Yet, I buy almost everything steeply discounted online or through charity or vintage shops. I love that victorious feeling schlepping through Value Village, like I've somehow pulled one over, beaten the system, damned the man. At the volunteer agency I get a kick out of being the indistinguishable gray to the haves and have-nots (BTW all of whom get along famously, arguing only over things as trivial as "is this embellished cardigan cute or gaudy?")

There was a rather stirring conversation last week in the back-of-house while sorting through the mountain range of donations that is somehow constantly creeping towards the fire exit. These discussions are usually sparked by a single article of clothing being pulled from a garbage bag and held up, Lion King style, for the hushed onlookers to worship. My Scandinavian friend (recently immigrated and volunteering until her work papers are in) hoisted a spectacular wrap dress only to find a couple moth holes on the skirted portion; then the "do we toss it or is it WORTH saving" debate circled the room as the dress was passed and examined by each person. It looked orderly, like a Kindergarten classroom in which only the person holding the Share Bear gets to speak. I listened, unsurprised, to each woman's vote fall onto her side of the aforementioned line of privilege. Worth is subjective. I am guilty of devaluing items because they are, or even have an air of, disposability. Simply because I can throw something away doesn't mean I should.

I can't remember whether the dress was rescued or refused, but it has been front of mind since. I've been padding around my bedroom, eyeballing the unworn and forgotten garments that line the drawer bottoms and remote corners. There is a white hoodie ripe for a washing machine dye-job, jeans to be cut off, and even a wrap dress that would be far more useful as a top. So for the next few weeks my Bernina is going to take over the dining table, and hopefully I'll end up with a few 'new' things to wear volunteering.

Great DIY sites like BUST magazine and Threadbanger have friendly hosts that impart complex crafting know how in digestible little pieces. You can find anything from millinery techniques to silk screening. Free.

Some excellent resources for those interested in EcoChic. Beware: scary info about the environmentally deleterious effects of the cotton industry and alarming amounts of post-consumer textile waste... may change your lifestyle.

Slow Fashion: Alternative Fashion Concepts

Comprehensive and well researched, Green Is the New Black: How To Change the World With Style

More books for upcycling inspiration:

Patternmaking for a Perfict Fit:...Recreate and Redesign You Favourite Fashions

The Generation T books (there are 2)

The modern day version of the Make Do and Mend propaganda of the 40's and 50's is Platform21's (an Amsterdam-based collective) Repair Manifesto. If you can get your hands on the vintage pamphlets too there's some grandmotherly wisdom about increasing textile longevity (ie: the extinct art of 'darning').

Note:

Another volunteer just told me to check out Wabi Sabi (Wiki That Shit), a Japanese theory and spiritual concept that focuses on the transient properties of material objects, honouring the imperfections and evolution that results from natural processes.

Beauty is impermanence.

I like it.

Butter by Nadia

Butter by Nadia created the oft-imitated convertible jersey wrap dress you've been seeing everywhere. Their 'signature wrap' has been quietly encasing celebrities for years (see above: Naomi Watts, all glowy and prego) and has recently gained steam with 30-something bridesmaids. I would've thought the more ample-chested would shy away from unsupportively thin jersey, but strategic wrapping could allow for undergarments to remain, well, under wraps.

It's a simple formula: %92 Rayon and %8 Spandex. That's it. Sizeless.

The signature style is a circle skirt with two attached wings.

It now comes in a rainbow of colours, plaid, and 'Jane Fonda' stripe.

The company's last spring campaign saw branches out to

cleverly draped tulip skirts and ruffled blouses

(my favourite was the 40's inspired 'Fleur' sweetheart tee).

Of course they've also added a jumpsuit version.

I own a tricolour version of the signature wrap (matte, not the current satin-finish version). An excellent travel companion, it's been on 3 continents already. It also enjoys visiting outdoor music festivals and covering up swimsuits at the beach. I highly recommend picking one up at Butter by Nadia.

Worth A Thousand - James Franco

The End of an Era

For the first time since it's founding in 1969, The Gap has a new logo (What did Helvetica ever do to them?)

The San Francisco-based company has produced some of the most memorable and influential advertising campaigns of the past few decades, creating their own vocabulary of style. My Top 5 Gap moments:



5) The current Black Magic campaign; this is what The Gap does best, recycle shopworn ideas to seem fresh and accessible. I already own a dozen pairs of black pants, but damnit if this spread didn't make me want to throw one of 'em on and go oogle the far hipper versions hanging in The Gap.


4) Fall 2004 "How Do You Wear It?" campaign.

Fresh off SATC success, only SJP could make simple blue jeans

seem cool, covetable, and Manolo-worthy to the fashionista set.


3) Synergy - music and fashion (think of the "Everyone in Leather" campaign set to Depeche Mode or the more recent Love Train holiday series). You could count on the appropriate compilation CD playing instore too, just in case you needed more sensory cues in the changing room.


2) "Individuals of Style" (since 1988) campaign combined some of the world's most famous faces with esteemed editorial and fashion photographers. Kudos to The Gap for often using controversial or notoriously reclusive celebrities.

(Herb Ritts photographs K.D. Lang, from the coffee table book Individuals)



1) 1997 khakis with soul (spcifically, Khaki Swing doing jitterbug to Jump Jive & Wail)

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

Dita Von Teese's recent appearance on Jean Paul Gaultier's runway reminded me of one of my favourite fashionable films; it's right up there with Givenchy doing Charade and Richard Gere wearing the crap out of Armani's American Gigilo suits.

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) is lauded across the interweb for youthful Helen Mirren's nude scenes. Those who get past the soft-core consider it an allegorical indictment of the inequalities that result from Thatcherism (Wiki That Shit). I think it should be known for the spectacular costuming of Mr. Jean Paul Gaultier, which he clearly referenced with Spring 2011's caged bustier that closed the show.

The tone of the film is moody and dark, with many scenes shot like sweeping genre paintings, including dozens of characters and the complete set. Cinematic and lush, moments appear like framed masterpieces flowing into each other. The color-coded scenery is mimicked by the costumes; Helen Mirren's dress and single fringed glove transform into ivory when the character is in the white bathroom, then to green in the emerald-shaded kitchen, and back to red in the predominantly scarlet dining room.

This clever lighting and set design, working in tandem with very purposeful costuming, is all too rare (see also: Kristen Bell camouflaged in pinks and greens for the first 2 seasons of Veronica Mars). It's aesthetically magnificent and pushes the plot onwards from scene to scene. Treading between the bizarre and beautiful, this gruesome fable is impossible to look away from, right up until the momentously satisfying climax.