Awake 2012

I made this amulet with hair snippets from my baby's first haircut and some of my own. The art stems from the same need to create personal ritual that i had when i decided to get my first tattoo.

After my child was born I decided the culture lacked meaningfulness, so i commemorated his birth with a tat on the nape of my neck. This was over 35 years ago, and it was only sailors and bikers in the USA that were sporting ink at the time. Though tattoos were big in other cultures, it was considered a primitive form of machismo -a low class, tacky thing. I thought it was the perfect blend of street art, spirit and stoic acceptance of pain -an initiation into motherhood.

With the nearing of 2012 and awakening, my need to honor spirit has taken up with another antique idea reimagined for today. This, like the black rose on my neck, just feels right.

American Dream Inc.

canvas bag with stenciled design, made for AgitProp class at TESC Tacoma

The American Dream is a USA ethos 'in which freedom includes a promise of the possibility of prosperity and success. This was first expressed by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. The idea of the American Dream is rooted in the United States Declaration of Independence which proclaims that "all men are created equal" and that they are "endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights" including "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Now back in 1886 the Supreme Court supposedly ruled to call corporations 'human' and gave them the rights of said humans. However according to The Straight Dope, this clause was snuck into the books by a former railroad president. If true, it could be used to topple the recent Supreme Court ruling that gave multinational corporations the right of "free speech," earlier this year.

If you saw Inside Job you know how banks, Lehman Bros. and AIG used this bit of 'humanism' as they escaped liability because they were only giving 'opinions.' No doubt the Supremists of Crt were just making sure that this became a legal option for all future shenanigans.

Long story short, the corporations stole the individuals idea of the American Dream and overloaded the deck with super power capacity. They don't die automatically after 100 years, they haven't an underlying consciousness of right or wrong, no guilt, no socialization built into their psyches. Nope, they are free to exploit by very definition, hiring CEOs (elitist henchman) to grow their power and profits. ( an allusion to the Dreams 'right to prosper' which has been used to sue individuals, cities and now countries) They are free to become self defined sociopathic 'beings' wired to grow. Like a cancer they are destroying the very things that 'feed' them. Super suicidal psychopathic monsters are running the show, scary monsters indeed.

As today is the first day of Spring (Vernal Equinox) and many are hearing Nature's call to evolve, this can have a beautiful next chapter. However we can't wait for patriarchal permission ....we must reach out and act to change the destiny of our species and others. Life is in our hands and hearts.

2012 is nigh

"...Classical Maya of Mexico and Guatemala. Brilliant astronomers and pyramid builders, the Maya looked toward December 21, 2012, as the end of a 5,125 year "Long Count" that ends with the reunion of First Father, the sun, and Cosmic Mother, the galactic centre, at precisely 11:11am GMT. This once-every 26,000 year astronomical conjunction meant, for them, the end of one World Age and the beginning of the next - a time of destruction, purification, regeneration and new creation."
Daniel Pinchbeck from article in Dazed Digital.

So "species on the verge" and gives me a moment of calm... the evolved are showing up.

Street fashion

great style ...elder chic in Ballard.

Fashion Magazines

pencil drawing inspired by a vintage ad

I was a fashion magazine junkie. I have a huge collection of old Vogues, Elles, Bazaar (local and international) and sold tons at the sell off during the summer of 2009.

I did keep some favorite pages, ads, design ideas, great photographs and articles on specific designers and history. I can recall the Helmut Newtons of the 70s and 80s -the hard core looks that sold punk attitude and the bold glut of glitz. The cool effects of the 90s prints as tech altered photos were degraded and otherwise played with are also keepers.

I don't know if I am bored now, jaded or what? But lately the fashion pages in all the mainstream fashion media have been occupied by dull.

Are we tired of fashion designed for the $ which can't really satisfy the heart for the art of fashion and so photographers are like 'whatever' and it shows in the shoot? Is it all so throw away minded that we feel less inclined to be great because why bother? This is sad.

I really don't know what it's all about, do you?

Vested Interests

Vests are interesting. They were added to British fashionable attire in 1666 as a smote to the French fashion industry and were copied from the Persians. Design and art were always crossing borders, as ideas grow when fed. This idea was good as it added an extra layer for warmth.

Now I am playing with old oversized jackets that are too boxy for todays oversize and turning some into vests eliminates the hassle of sleeve resizing.

I am thinking this a great way to be suited up with billowy sleeved shirts. I have finished the vest but want to wait and reveal the whole ensemble ....so in the meantime a meanswear look of the late 40s.

Migrant People

Mushrooms grow out from their mycellum web

-an ever expanding circle -migrant populations are natural

Reading the book, Illegal People by David Bacon (2008) for class at TESC is an eye opener. I have been nibbling on the economic theories and practices for awhile now, over 10 years. When Zootsuit started to wither gracefully on the vine despite a brisk business, i knew there was more going on than the 'obvious' media addressed. My costs could not compete with overseas sweatshop prices and i wanted real answers. I wanted to know how this was good for 'us?'

Books at that time were all about DO What You Love the Money Will Follow and the like. However when I tracked the money paths in the books, they were sketchy and unrealistic for most entrepreneurs. Sole proprietors are ok but are the first to feel the crunch of the no buffer zone that aids big business. Another long story....later.

Anyway, Zootsuit was closed, a victim of the outsourcers rush towards cheap labor as EPA and minimum wage "obstructions" in the USA were barriers to 'economic growth'' At the same time government subsidies allowed for big businesses to go global actually working against the American public and small business as never before. I knew what i saw and i read the price drop propaganda and saw WTO stomp on protest, so i went back to school to understand what i was really up against and to change my career path.

Well, as in the Species on the Verge (of Extinction) from the fashionRIP Project, the phoenix is stretchiing her wings. She is bolder and braver than i ever thought possible and she has feathers sprouting daily. She is the archetype feminine and won't let the children stand in the muck of industrial decay or leave them to fix it (shame on us!!)...also she hates a mess and wow if this isn't clean up time, what is?

Economics is the motherlode so that is where this phoenix needs to concentrate. Move over Wall Street, momma has issues with your gambling problem.

Create Demand

Cardi from Dolly Rocker outta Detroit showin at Etsy

Am having a great time inventing a plot for the middle layer of "Made in Detroit"

The title of this entry relates to fast fashion's relentless onslaught to make us feel inadequate and hopelessly out of 'style.' When one realizes that the best designers become known via their personal aesthetique which then gets trumped by the need to design for a bottomline on the corporation's ledgers (like Gucci Group), one might experience enlightenment. Ok a bit over the top, but really the two goals are so different. To sell ever more product shows growth which translates to success therefore selling for mass appeal outweighs personal vision.

So talent is squeezed dry. That leaves a bad taste.

All around there appears to be an amazing acceptance of bad taste, for how can it be tasteful, chic or fashionable to run amuck through resources for no rational reason other than fear of being out of fashion?

Draining resources to feed a system that doesn't seem to get that it will eventually have nothing left to feed upon means eventually we are ALL out! Welcome to the Moderne Daymare.

The healthy alt version is to buy vintage, seccond round, used garb and to reFashion and repurpose what is already here. When new is necessary go to someone designing with sustainable fabrics, honoring Fair Trade win/win/win agendas and the like. be responsible and take charge of your destiny and please support local, eco sane, indy designers, clothiers and re-use merchants..

Fashion Propaganda

Vintage Buttons
Fashion history is full of a certain kind of propaganda. I am not talking advertisement and free (?) market idea proliferation or real designerly desire to fill a need (sportswear, warm coats)or a perceived need for something fresh, fun or shocking. That is juicy enough for another day.

No this is more along the lines of government interference like button laws (The Book of Buttons by Joyce Whittemore) and fabric color rules. With business and government holding hands for so long we have accepted or normed many things by the way they happened as if there is no other way for them to have come about.

As inventions have appeared almost simultaneously in different parts of the world without any special agenda other than the curious motivation of the inventor, I suspect we would be capable of wondrous things without this track. In fact an open systems approach would probably foster more brilliancy, not less.

Simplicity 1971

This Western look with great drapey sleeves is pattern number 1971. I can't find the date it was printed but the directions were lithographed in the USA and the Simplicity headquarters were located on Madison Ave., New York, NY.

Local production meant local workers. I am wondering about the working conditions as I suspect this is a late 40s look. Everything these days is becoming a question of economics as it is the control central of many systems that are in failure mode. A lot of alarms are ringing and covering our ears won't help.

Picture Tales

This 1947 pattern from McCalls says quite a bit. The wide shoulders might be considered symbolic masculinity, as women were called upon to work in the shipyards and the factories; to generally replace the men who had gone to war.

This cover was 2 years after the war while the women were being pushed back into their homes.

The tiny waists and soft hair suggests the look of the 50s when Dior brought back the full billowy super feminine skirt and barbie doll bustlines entered the scene.

Is it premeditated design or just a kickback from one extreme to another or what?

reClaimed suit

The original suit was too big shouldered and the rayon made for wimpy pants. I restyled the jacket and used part of the pant leg to add to the sleeves. Next up a skirt to wear with.