205. The wrong kind of consumerism + my love for Mandate of Heaven + my not love for so many other things

November 19th, 2009 § 10 Comments

Photo from Mandate of Heaven’s Spring ’08 American Dreamers collection. Will you look at that vintage lace?

Surprise, another random jumble of pictures and thoughts blog post. Or, in other words, the only type of post I know how to write. Now that the weather is dreary again and the sun is only around until noon, I can’t stop dreaming of short shorts and halter tops and bared midriffs and sunglasses and peep toe sandals. Whenever I start feeling this way I always end up spending way too much time ogling the clothes on Mandate of Heaven’s design blog. I first heard of Mandate of Heaven when I went to the–are you ready–WARPED TOUR in 2008 with my brother. I promise you I wasn’t there to see the bands: The Devil Wears Prada, Gym Class Heroes, or Me and You and Everyone We Know. I was there with my brother so that he didn’t have to go with my mom. (Love you, mom!)

My brother didn’t want to be seen with me at all, understandably, so I spent eight hours walking around, staring at fourteen year olds wearing shirts that said, I LOVE EMO BOYS or, HATE EMOS LOVE METAL GRLS, which made me giggle/feel depressed all at once. My only savior was waiting to see Gil Mantera’s Party Dream (one of the best live bands ever and here’s the evidence) to come onto this tiny little stage next to the skate rink. I was maybe one of five people there who had actually heard of them. (Hey Gil Mantera’s Party Dream, how did you end up at the same Warped Tour as me?) Gil Mantera was a mindgasp of goodness, of course, but even more amazing? The posse of girls in adorable rompers dancing to the band that played before Gil Mantera. This one girl was wearing a cornflower blue romper with a HUGE hood, and this other girl was wearing an accordion pleated silk pink romper with a tiny halter and green chucks. I was only able to get a back shot, but don’t they look wonderful? I found out later that they were wearing Mandate of Heaven.

(Photo credit: me & I’m sorry for lecherously taking a photo of your outfits!)

My favorite fashion blogs are the ones that focus on pretty or extra cute vintage clothing, or blogs that feature high street and affordable brands remixed with vintage, but it’s rare to find a (good) fashion blog that showcases–should I use this slightly gross word–sexy clothing. I kind of love over the top, obscenely revealing clothing, and it’s not that I like dressing that way all the time, or that I have places to go in such clothes, but I just love the idea of stepping out and baring your legs/arms/shoulders/midriff/butt cleavage/regular cleavage for no reason, or going out in a pair of flimsy shorts that might accidentally fly up when you’re running errands, and not in a sad, planned, trainwreck celebrity type of way, but in a joyful, it feels fucking good to wear what I want kind of way.

I think that’s why I love Mandate of Heaven’s clothing so much. I love their flirty, generously short playsuits (all made from recycled vintage fabrics!) Like this gorgeous long-sleeved playsuit with a floral Peter Pan collar from their Winter 08 collection:

I love the materials they use. I never thought burlap, feedsack and old bedsheets could be so lovely:

Right: Burlap, cotton and nylon tulle minidress with boned bodice and removable straps; left: Cotton feedsack and iridescent cotton recycled bedsheet playsuit with removable grosgrain straps.

I’m also loving the stop motion videos on their blog, like this one, which begins with the Neutral Milk Hotel song that, ever since Meggy’s wedding last summer, will always remind me of the double doors opening and seeing Meggy dressed like a dream maiden in her wedding gown, walking down the aisle towards Chris. These stop motion videos have such a homemade, endearingly flawed quality to them that I can’t help but adore them. Although, I’m also equally charmed by the beautiful video Rhiannon recently posted on her blog, which contains the perfect symbiosis of impeccable professionalism and surprising whimsy.

I’m blister-crazy for the new Mandate collection. Will you just look at this!

(All photos from Mandate of Heaven’s Spring Ten Opiate collection, which according to their website was “produced in a fair wage environment in the USA from fine organic fabrics.” YES!)

When I checked my email this morning, I reconfirmed that my daily Refinery29 emails are kind of useless. Their 19 Holiday Party Dresses list was so uninspiring to me. And that’s how I often feel about fashion magazines and a lot of the really big fashion/style blogs (too wimpy to drop names here!) I’m just bored by how expected all of the photos and outfits and ideas and inspirations are. Even though these are three steps above polished turds, I would never really covet or desire anything like these dresses:

(From refinery29)

I’d so much rather wear a tiny playsuit constructed from vintage blue eyelet with a velvet peter pan collar, the shortest shorts, and a crown of flowers on my hair for the upcoming holiday parties.

Two years ago, I was obsessed with wearing one of the playsuits from Mandate of Heaven’s American Dreamers Spring ’08 collection. Like maybe a ruffled button-up silk playsuit with pink scalloped tap shorts?

Or what about a low ruffle-back playsuit with mustard yellow booty shorts?

Or maybe just a simple tuxedo-front black and white playsuit with a Chaplin hat?

I never got one (didn’t happen to have hundreds of dollars at my disposal,) then freaked out the day of prom, had no idea what to wear, and ended up digging out a pink ruffle dress I bought ages ago at a vintage store in San Francisco. Anyway, could the whole point of this post really be to tell you that I finally ended up buying a Mandate of Heaven playsuit? You know, since winter in Iowa is just starting and in about a month this place will transform into a frozen tundra.

Love, Jenny

§ 10 Responses to 205. The wrong kind of consumerism + my love for Mandate of Heaven + my not love for so many other things

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