Fashion Field Guide

 

food for the machine of life aka .nihilism parading as progress

Fashion Ecology and Evolution

How what we wear, do and create impacts what we wear, do and create. The mindful life will design itself. It will be fabulous!

I am almost through with my formal studies is environmental science and communications. The college i am attending is big on social justice, so that is my default major. I can now truly claim to be a meta disciplinary student of life, ongoing and ever changing. This is rock and roll.

Knowing how social injustice impacts access to resources, health, hierarchies and contributes to the Machiavellian and narcissistic attempts to control life, means I have to address it in order to go forward.

This super control of “life” is a bad idea and I can prove it. Then I will be free to go into how fashion can play a part in this re-volutionary drama. Really, fashion, art, poetry, video all have starring roles this next round, as co-creativity usurps procreativity.

Air Dye 2012

This eco friendly, as in water saving, dye technique was on the cat walk recently - part of the  fanfare created by the stakeholders of New York Fashion Week AirDye is for synthetic fabrics as is heat set but win some is better than none.
"Each Costello Tagliapietra dress dyed and printed with AirDye saves 45 gallons of water and 95 megajoules of energy."

Going to a meet-up in a few weeks and in my rsvp comment i wrote,
"i want to know what fabrics they carry that might be considered eco sane. (is a lesser/more thing as yet) I know the Northgate store carried some nice hemp weaves and knits, clean processed bamboos, tencel (?) & "healthy" organic cotton- if local water supply isn't endangered- etc. Also new dye techniques are being created to offset the coal tar "norm" This is the elephant in the fabric shop perhaps, but so be it!! -& This is just the tip of the trunk "

Sometimes speaking up is tricky, you never know what kind of reception you will get. This takes the "box of chocolates" metaphor to the next level. If the focus is on the chocolate and not the how, what, where, why and the whole of cocoa bean possibilities, we lose much in both the concept and the reality.

Happy Valentines Day, though i cringe at the market's absurd takeover i laud the sentiment. Today i promise to choose love over fear, that is my challenge, feel free to make it yours.

satin, velvet, beaded, embroidered valentines that 

hang on my wall to remind me of that which is truly valuable.

Woad Dye

Just found out about this medieval dye from France being revived and marketed in products by Bleu de Lecture.  French blue was in vogue way  before the aniline  mauve craze of the industrial era. Woad is plant based and looks to be a good alt for indigo (which crocks). This will add to the range of naturally sane blue colored possibilities.


The video from Des Racines et Ailes. is lovely and informative, even if you don't speak French  

photo credit: workshops from botanical colors, 

Woad Dye and Denise Lambert of Bleu de Lectoure

More on natural dyes at Botanical Colors. 

the light goes on

and on. Check out the latest universal light shows at http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120124.html
This post is to remind us that we are born of Stars (The Living Universe, Elgin) and that we are the light with the power necessary to change the way poor perceptions have  misguided life. It is also the year of the dragon, wow all this magick is now!!
photo by Bjørn Jørgensen/NASA (Grotfjord, Norway - 1/23/12).

Shame on US

Tris is back, though banned in 1977 for use in children's pajamas, it is now turning up on changing tables, car seats and other foam filled infant products.

banner for occupy seattle (occupy chaplains) 

stencilled panel by michael, fabric border finish  by djb

Flame retardants are chemicals meant to protect us, but once again the "cure" is might be worse than the disease. The effectiveness of flame reatarding toxins is being questioned but the health consequences of this body of  "halogenated flame retardants – those containing bromine or chlorine – can cause endocrine disruption, immunotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, cancer, and adverse effects on fetal and child development and on neurologic function."

Toxic flame retardants found in many foam baby products

By Robert Sanders, Media Relations | May 18, 2011

KOMO television just aired this "news" a few days ago.  Washington State legislators are seeking a ban, so this news is about the politics more than the health of children. That is a sad reflection of what our media considers important.

Common Threads Initiative

Patagonia, has launched an EBay shop for their used gear and garments. With headings : Reduce, Repair, Reuse, Recycle, Reimagine.

According to ecouterre, "Patagonia created a virtual swap meet on Wednesday for buying and selling used Patagonia gear—an unexpected retail model that’s a first for a major brand.......

The Common Threads Initiative addresses a significant part of today’s environmental problem: the footprint of our stuff,” says Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia’s founder and owner. “This program first asks customers to not buy something if they don’t need it. If they do need it, we ask that they buy what will last a long time—and to repair what breaks, reuse, or resell whatever they don’t wear any more. And, finally, recycle whatever’s truly worn out.”

Not only will Patagonia be putting used clothes back into circulation, but it also won’t profit from any of the transactions.

The program is groundbreaking for several reasons. Not only will Patagonia be putting used clothes back into circulation, which could cannibalize new sales, but it also won’t profit from any of the transactions. Patagonia, Chouinard adds, is the first company to ask its customers to take a formal pledge to reduce consumption and keep products out of the landfill or incinerator."

Bluebird for Happiness

Aqua flocked organdy, fiber collage
for my granddaughters.

Welcoming the New Year

Kids Killer Klothes

"Ask your legislator to support the Toxic-Free Kids Act! The Toxic-Free Kids Act will be introduced in January, but we need to get the word out now. Why? Because we don’t want cancer-causing flame retardants in our children’s products and we need companies to stop replacing one toxic chemical with another in products made for kids.

The Toxic-Free Kids Act will get cancer-causing Tris Flame Retardants out of baby products and encourage companies to switch to safer chemicals that won't harm health, the environment, or their bottom line. Tris flame retardants are especially concerning because they can cause cancer. One was even removed from kids pajamas in the 70s because of health concerns but now it’s back, and we need to get it out of our homes and away from our kids."

This is a message from Washington Toxics Coalition, in the hope that we as a people will start taking back our responsibility for the well being of life on this little planet, we call home.

I am for a "Sanity Act" as there is no rational excuse I can find to not freak at what our "leaders" have allowed. In the name of commerce we as a species have been duped into a suicidal trance of sugars, fats and seductive virtual worlds.

The manmade processed, patented, promoted for profits reality lost it's human purpose. What have we become and why is it so much less than our true possibility.?

possibility

the chicken stopped to ponder possibilities before crossing the road.
Ballard metal art on 57th and 14th

When faced with an opposition, ask yourself or others what might be another possibility? It is so easy to see the "is" that we fail to realize that it is only an appearance of one of many possible alternatives. What may look to be anger may be pain. What is a rule may have a good way around it. What was useful once, may no longer be applicable.

Broken

digitally enhanced re-used envelope
collage/marker illustration

"The U.S. chemical regulatory system is broken and fails to protect people, wildlife and the environment from toxic chemical exposures." (Washington Toxics Coalition)

Flame retardants (PBDEs) in clothing and household furnishings, carpet padding, televisions -the list is long make your haven a hazardous site.

"PBDEs are a family of chemicals used as flame retardants in our everyday lives. They accumulate and are long lasting, and we are concerned about them because they have been known interfere with proper thyroid function in laboratory animals, cause problems with brain development, and disrupt learning, memory and behavior.

When there is a fire, seconds are precious and flame retardants can save lives. However, many alternatives are available which are safer. Governments which have passed PBDE bans recognize those alternatives and are choosing to protect fire fighters, children and all citizens from harmful toxic chemicals by encouraging safe alternatives." Safer States

Fashion? Where?

Illustration with marker, re-purposed envelopes
on paper. 2011 djb

I am out of love with fashion.

I have been wondering if it was just me and my jaded vision or if there was more to it. There is more.

Designers are being killed They are dying in the process of business over art, function and aesthetics When business dominates art, it ruins the best of it. Like the goose who laid the golden eggs, when designers are pushed to produce too much, too fast, there is burn out and whole, fully developed, lifecycle potentials are squashed. This is sad all around.

Fashion got boring because sales glut, trend pushing, fast fashion laws of profit have fouled the scene. Chanel designed for lifestyle changes. She created clothing for bobbed, indie women. The clothing followed the cultural changes.

Now designs are made for corporate bottom lines. That speaks to another cultural change. This change destroys more than it needs and gives back as little as possible. It wants volume and is always hungry. This is against the law of nature and is therefore very dangerous.

The antidote is to buy from local independent designers, exchange and swap and/or re-fashion and re-style clothing yourself or hire a pro refashionist. All of this will better support your local economy and that is a good thing.

Occupy is about the abuse. Creating the alternative economies that enhance creativity, diversity and healthy well being can start with your next purchase. Be mindful and we will get through this and into the new dawning.

be well.