I’ve taken a sudden interest in DIY weddings. It’s not so much that I’m crooning to get married, or even engaged anytime soon, I just love the idea of throwing a beautiful outdoor party where near everything is made by hand, and of my taste. (Although, being prepared is never a bad thing in my eyes either…)
As summarized by Eli Geddis aka The Odd Topsy:
“The GOVV consists of electronic artists Olav, M.O.T.O, Marc Junker, Jonathan Rickard, Fivetone, Djinn XVII and The Odd Topsy.
Computer Music 01 is a snapshot of the first year of the collective’s work. Ranging from headphone music to dance…
Hello again!
Well Christmas is over and I’m back to the daily. It was/is always nice to be able to step away from it all for a few weeks - to totally lose touch with my online followings.
But fashion week(s) is nearly upon us once again so let’s just get right back into with the latest from one of my favourites. And nothing gets the fashion flowing quite like a video for Gareth Pugh.
What do you think of this one? It’s incredibly beautiful and awesomely inspiring, albeit mildly disturbing but it wouldn’t be Gareth Pugh otherwise, but is anyone else finding the visuals slightly repetitive? Ruth Hogben does an amazing job there is no doubt, but with so much at their disposal (and such creative minds!) one might expect to see a little more variation in techniques, even concepts. That being said, the parts that stood out were the ones in contrast to the dance-mirror-reverb-dance-mirror-parachute bits. The fragility expressed in the hatch-ling like scene and in the water was captivating, even mesmerizing. It was a story, one that I had not yet been told.
So what do you think? Why so little novelty? Does it take away from beauty of it all?
Being in school is definitely a love-hate thing for me. It’s true, I did long for the structure of education the second I left the shackles of University just a few years go, but there’s something about being in class again, about testing my own thought patterns that’s getting me a little restless.
Previously I blamed the context- UVic is green enough to make anyone who spends their time up there smell of patchouli. But I never expected this of fashion school. Here I am supposed to be learning how to sew and pattern draft and I find myself pondering freedom of expression, questioning the motives of my “superiors” and frankly, getting a little pissed off about brainwashing.
So much of fashion is about the brands. What brands are important, what brands are falling, which ones are prestigious, which ones are trying a little too hard to keep our attention. And this can be quite interesting, even relevant. But what I can’t stop from rubbing the seat of my soul wrong is the way people place importance on these brands. I recognize the impact of these companies; you can’t swing a Chanel 2.55 quilted hand bag in a mall, downtown street, or even suburbia with out hitting at least 3 knock-offs; but I still question their validity. Truthfully, most people know very little about fashion. They know nothing about the brands they are buying, and even less about the product they are consuming. They are buying to fulfil some need that they don’t even understand why they have.
“Have you seen the new Marc Jacobs bag? It’s to die.” Is it? Do you really love it? Or do you just think you should love it, cause Marc is like, so hot right now?
I can’t help but feel that all this mindless acceptance and consumption leaves very little room for creativity. The freedom of thought to truly express yourself through the beauty of clothing. To not worry about who’s showing what, who’s wearing who, or what the “it” bag is this season- to just decide for ourselves. What do I like?
I recently found this incredible website (Stylelikeu) that takes us into the closets and lives of stylish people. Some of them are famous, some not at all. These are real people. Cool people who live rad lives doing real things. This is real style. This is real fashion. Take a look. (Tia and Hannah, this is for you)
Danielle & Jeffertitti from Stylelikeu.com from Stylelikeu on Vimeo.
*I Love fashion. I really do. It is what made me who I am today. I think it’s great and wonderful, and ever-so important to be well versed in the knowledge of fashion (just like it’s important to be knowledgeable in whatever your field of choice is), but I refuse to let it define me. Fashion is about living. It is about expressing, embracing and above all, it is about loving.
xx meg
Over the past few months of marketing class, I have become dreadfully aware of how much our world is driven by consumerism. Deep down, I guess I’ve always known, having willingly played my part, by buying things I didn’t need because they were cheap and trendy. So in an effort to make more thoughtful purchases, I’ve been looking for investment pieces – items I’ll fall more in love with each passing year.
My most recent discovery is a NYC-based company called LAYERxlayer, created by Patrick Turiello and Leah Fabish, who have backgrounds in architecture, industrial design and fashion. They believe that good design is timeless, and intend on becoming an umbrella under which other designers and crafters can collaborate and create.
LAYERxlayer makes handcrafted bags from high-quality fabrics such as 100% USA denim and canvas. Turiello and Fabish have made their mission clear in the LAYERxlayer Fall 2010 lookbook –
“We use the highest quality materials to insure that what we design will get better with age, as most things worth holding onto should. We’re not concerned with trends or nostalgia – we care about quality and craft.”
Here are a few LAYERxlayer designs from the Fall/Winter 2010 collection:
The bags range in price from $49.00 - $189.00, are available on their website and are definitely on my Christmas list.
-Rachel
All images are from the LAYERxlayer website.
