In just a few weeks it will be Autumn 2009....a few nights ago...was a tremendously buttercream full moon.....a preview of the true Harvest Moon...up in the sky.....
and the cold and the rains and the fogs will come........ and clear cold blue skies.... a crunchy leaves of russet, gold, burgundy, and orange.... A few fall items listed now and lots more to come in the next few days...
so ...clicking thru some fashion links via the Mad Fashionista...I end up at the new york times.....coverage of Fashion Week in teh big shitty......
When my wondering eyes should appear to land on this asshat statement:
"Sometimes they’re wearing everything they own at the same time because they have no choice,” said the designer Keanan Duffty, who sometimes plays a game on the street that he refers to as “Fashion Stylist or Homeless Person?” “It is not intended as a lack of respect for people with no homes and no means,” he said. “It’s more a kind of admiration for improvisations people come up with in a dreadful circumstance.”
and for more asshattery:
Erin Wasson,a model turned designer, seconded Mr. Duffty’s view that the professionals could take some tips from the homeless. And she defended remarks she made last year in an interview with Nylon magazine. “The people with the best style for me are the people that are the poorest,” Ms. Wasson said....“It’s not like I’m saying, ‘Oh, God, that’s so inspiring — you got your clothes from a garbage can,’ ” Ms. Wasson said. What is she saying then? “When I moved down to Venice Beach, I found these people with this amazing mentality, this gypsy mentality — people that you couldn’t label and put in a box,” said the designer
Yes, let's not glamorize the homeless while glamorizing the... homeless....Oh, it's just sooo Hard...to be young and pretty and wealthy and successful and completely devoid of:
1. Morals and empathy. 2. Talent.
This recent spate of "designers" of "fashion" have lost all ability to think of something unique, clever, fun, inspirational, or with a bit originality...so they turn to ripping off the young or older, ahem, DIY designers like uh, me...and thousands of others who actually think, ponder,create and give to the world of vapid fashion-addicts...something resembling Dressing Artfully.
Long gone, for the most part, are the days when those who populate the world's runways to inspire and have a wee bit of fun...
The Fashion Designers...oh, Yves,oh Mr. Dior...Oh, Miss Cashin...Oh Claire McCardell........ I still can somewhat respect quite a few ..don't misunderstand...Mr. Lagerfeld and his team still astound me how they can reinterpret Chanel...again and again...Those tweeds...Those pearls ! over and over and never bore me, and I don't even like Chanel!
So, I sent some vintage clothes to New York or LA...or SF.. or Paris...I know they are used for inspiration and that is just fine...we are inspired by that which has come before ...
What I see too often on the runways...are designs that are simply ripped off from the clever ones all over the globe...via...all the blogging that's going on...
I stand and sit and stare at the multitude of materials I have in my workshop..."Where The Magic Happens" and try to come up with something a bit different...as I assemble ...bricolauge...collage....
I could feel better about this (maybe) if the Young, Pretty and Vapid...would be less smug about the tremendous good fortune that has fallen into their collective nimble laps...to be Young and Pretty is just a gift...You did not earn it, You did not request it...
Please do not brag about your fortune, on the backs of those for whom Misfortune has befallen...these folks are on their knees....
the least you could do, is to stand up on your feet and act like a caring feeling grownup...and if you really must mock the homeless as "fashion", Keep your mindless PieHole shut. We don't want to know you for an asshat....we'd prefer some mystery there.
I see you seeing me! I vow to send you more fun content...more bang for your buck...oh, this is Free! anyway...Good stuff is on its way ! thanks for being a funkoma fan......
see me at wardrobe_remix... first time ever sending a pic of me to them...to the stream...I'm not wild about photos of me...but I relented because I dress in black a lot...and I'm gonna document many different me's in black. Ha.
So...my latest project...is a saffron vintage coat with some cute tartan and big red buttons... this was hanging on the rack last winter for a few days, and one day, I noticed......someone had cut the buttons off! So back in the box it went...I didn't know what I wanted to do with the coat...great style, nice size, fab color...
I've been saving these buttons for a while looking for a perfect project...and one day my eye spied...some classic red tartan.......
So your peanut butter is over my chocolate....and here we have a wonderful twist on a basic 50s/60s coat.... it's available at etsy...click my link over there on the right...or email me...
If it has leather and a buckle I'm
probably wearing it......
I have worn out a few pairs of LLBean boots...a few pair of lace-up calf high boots, and most recently ..a pair of LLBean mocs that I wore for the few years I gardened pro-style on the water for the Rich People.
I just passed them on to a thrift, so the next person could buy them for a couple of dollars and have the rubber replaced for about 25 bucks. Yes, these are items that are Fixed. Repaired. To wear again.
This is a weird concept in the throw-away culture that has boomed in the last 25 years. I'm glad I'm old enough to know what life used to be like...and I'm thrilled to see the very beginning of a turn-back to the ways of buying quality and not spending every penny on crap clothing.
Of course, giving you excellent quality things is what funkoma vintage is all about. I don't deal in the stupid fast fashion......Every item I deal in ...has to be something good!
I'm a classic-sturdy-quality-tomboy clothes nerd.
I love rubber, and stitching and leather, and canvas, and rawhide, and denim and wool, and tweed and corduroy.....I adore these: But these are really my LLBean Boot heartthrobs........
So can you imagine my delight when I found these a few days ago?
a LLBean boot with a belted buckle across the vamp.
I love them better than the lace up kind or the mocs...and I lurve them.......
Maine Hunting Shoe
L.L.Bean Inc.
Freeport,ME.
I don't know exactly how old this style is...that resembles an Engineer or motorcycle boot....I'm gonna guess 80s or 90s tho.
And that's the deal with The Classics.
Because the style changes very little over time, it can be hard to date.
At the very bottom of this post is a little video to watch of the real LLBean factory right here in the USA.
LLBean is one of the many labels I always buy......because I'm trying to raise the level of usability and do it with style........
The Pacific Northwest, the West Coast has its own style......
Oh sure these are from Maine...a shoe factory in PNW? Quite a few along the West Coast tho.......Magdesians, Kimel, Fleuvog.......West Coast Shoe Company, Nike...er not.
But Danner in Portland will recraft their fine boots just like LLBean.......
These LLBean shoes are so darn cute.....they have everything I love in sweeeet footwear....quality name and materials....cute cute cute overload style....
rubber and leather......just what a gal needs for a rainy Pacific Northwest day..
and bonus...pick your favorite colorway....here's just 3 choices......
When Night of The Living Dead played at the drive-in in Napa, I was 14. It was a hot summer night and my friends and I sat outside the car on a blanket with plenty of candy, popcorn and beer!
About halfway thru the movie I wanted back inside the car...it was dark and who know what the hay was wandering around the black night...
Not only that, but my boyfriend kinda resembled that ^^^ tall blonde guy with the Buddy Holly glasses...
I saw this weird fabric at the fabric store...and I had to possess it...possess it ....like eat its brains...and I made some leggings and I wore my pair of black....
and rolled and graded and the rumor is....Asphalt will be laid on 9-10 & 9-11...huzzah! then we'll see if the rain drain into my building and my neighbors will stop...oh boy did the Passages bldg get swamped....6 inches of water soaked many businesses...lawyer's office among 'em....Blueprints, legal papers, carpets ...soaked almost halfway from the back wall to the front...most water stopped seeping about halfway....everyone on my side got some damage from the rains since August 10th. update with pics tomorrow...
