Monday, March 21, 2011

Vintage Sewing Patterns

Join Rue La La.  Designer brands/Generic prices. By invitation only http://www.ruelala.com/invite/petitpoix

Vintage Pattern Resources:

Monday, March 14, 2011

"I love fashion. I just don´t like the way it´s presented."

This is a quotation by Wendy Hicks artist/photographer. I wish I had thought of such a poignant thing to say. Fashion is an industry that is full of creativity, fun, excitement, beauty as well as a wonderful platform for psychological, sociological and anthropological observation throughout the world and throughout history. But we can do our part to make the industry better by being ethical designers.

Hear Wendy´s podcast at the "Endangered Species" conference that took place in London. In her work "Fashioning Inspirations" she took average people and airbrushed them to look like they would in a fashion advertisement.

Here is an article in newspaper from her hometown of Suffolk England  East Anglian Daily Times;  Fashion´s Altered Images.  And her Fashioning Inspirations exhibit.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Endangered Species - The Female Body

The Endangered Species summit is taking place this month concurrently in five cities internationally regarding body image and all the serious issues surrounding it worldwide.  Perhaps you may be interested in attending the interesting workshops and conferences at a location near you. Unfortunately I only learned about it today, the London and Melbourne ones have already finished however there are interesting videos and podcasts of some of the conferences.

Buenos Aires, Argentina:  March 16, 2011
London, England:  March 4, 2011  Videos, Podcasts
New York, U.S.A.:  March 18-19, 2011 at the New School
Melbourne, Australia:  March 10, 2011  Facebook
Sao Paolo, Brazil:  March 26, 2011

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

John Galliano fired from Christian Dior

Not the first time Mr. Galliano had been witnessed at a Parisian bar making antisemitic comments, however this time the Christian Dior company took action. Racial insults are actually punishable by law in France. Here is a very interesting sociological analysis of John Galliano´s appalling public outburst.  The darker side of the fashion industry.

High Fascism - New York Times article
by Rhonda Garelick; March 6, 2011

In response to the incident actress Natalie Portman stated,  "...as an individual who is proud to be Jewish, I will not be associated with Mr. Galliano in any way."  Then in a very elegant and classy way she "dissed" the designer.  She wore a gown from the fashion house Rodarte to the academy awards cermony instead of the Galliano she had reportedly planned to wear.  To add insult to injury she won an Oscar for her role in "Black Swan" that very night.

In the words made famous by Heidi Klum on Project Runway, "In fashion, one day you are in, the next day  you are out." It will be interesting to see where John Galliano will go from here.  His talent alone will not be enough to sustain him.

Thank you to Vera Dardati of Massachusetts U.S.A. for suggesting this link.