255. FFW Giveaway: Etsy Gift Certficate
January 29th, 2010 § 35 Comments
Hello morning glories, we are having a GIVEAWAY! The prize is a $25 gift certificate to spend on the vintage dresses, shoes, and accessories in either Meggy’s Etsy store (For the Love of Brunch) or Jenny’s Etsy store (Unhappybarber Vintage.)
My favorite dresses in the store right now are the above pictured 1960′s polka dot dress and the 1970′s velvet burnout dress with big flare sleeves. (The Cinderella rhinestone bracelet is from Meggy’s store.) I’ll be adding a few spring jackets, 50′s sundresses, as well as some 40′s silk dresses to the store next week. Please visit Unhappybarber Vintage and For the Love of Brunch Etsy for more vintage clothing!
RULES TO ENTER:
-You ought to be a follower of our blog. (We love using Bloglovin’ to follow all of our favorite fashion and style blogs but you can follow our blog any way you want!)
-Please leave a comment with the following: 1) name 2) best way to reach you (email or blog address) 3) the last book you read and what did you think of it?
-Oh, and we ask that you read a poem out loud to a loved one before bed tonight. Only kidding. Except we’ll totally give you an extra giveaway entry if you do this. (Let us know what poem you read in a separate comment.)
Giveaway ends a week from now, February 5th. We’ll put all the entries into a big hat to pick the winner!
love,
Jenny & Meggy
PS — It’s been a sad week to lose both Howard Zinn and J.D. Salinger. Both of these men have had a tremendous impact on my life–Salinger on my writing life and my decision to pursue writing seriously, and Zinn on my political life and my first forays into activism and radical thinking. Thank you both.
254. FFW Interviews: Designer-in-Training Tessa Zeng
January 28th, 2010 § 16 Comments
If I weren’t a writer, and if I didn’t harbor secret fantasies of being a cheesemonger, you’d probably find me toiling in a design school, trying to figure out how to become a designer. But in this case, I think that I’m a better consumer than creator, and that leaves the world a little better off because we’ve got sharp ladies like Tessa Zeng around to keep the fashion world going. Tessa’s currently a student at the famous Rhode Island School of Design, has already collaborated with Thakoon, and if you check out her sleek corner of the web, you’ll find that she has sketches and samples to share.
Citing Alice in Wonderland, Tideland and Pan’s Labryinth as inspiration.
Glamour and whimsy all in a bundle.
So with a lot of generosity on Tessa’s part, FFW presents to you the following interview about advice for aspiring design students, design school, being a young designer, fashion, inspiration and more. Thank you, Tessa, for being such a great interviewee!
xo, mw
This is made from a thousand silk rose petals!
BEING A DESIGN STUDENT
1. As a promising young designer, what sort of advice would you give to young people who have dreams of going to design school? Technically speaking, the portfolio should be your main concentration. Building up a presentable body of work is a lifelong practice for any designer, and no school will accept you without one. If your high school art program isn’t stellar, consider taking extracurricular classes or summer programs to help you build up your work. Personally, I didn’t even have room in my schedule to take art class until junior year, so summer pre-college really saved me! Also, so many people think, “Oh, I’m going to be a fashion designer, so I’m only going to do fashion.” But that sort of thinking limits you so much! (And probably won’t fly at school either, unless you’re applying to be a technical designer.) Experiment with anything you can get your hands on, and don’t be afraid to branch out from the usual academic style that is typical of application portfolios. After all, most designers use the medium to convey ideas to the world. So why learn just one?
But aside from the portfolio, I would suggest doing some serious thinking and research. Having spoken to many of my fellow classmates here, I’ve concluded that the most important thing a designer needs to possess is a clear vision of his/her future work. It doesn’t have to get tremendously technical, but constantly working towards at least a basic idea of what inspires/moves you, your preferred working style, and what ideas you hope to manifest, will be extremely helpful. Design schools are not created equally. A program at one school will be utterly different from another with the same name. Some really emphasize concept, others teach 90% technique. School A might be all about interdisciplinary and independent study, while School B has a set and rigid curriculum with few electives. Each one has its benefits and drawbacks. Do yourself a favor and think about what you really want out of school. Then talk to some current students and professors!
2. Is design school what you thought it would be? Why or why not? I applied and got into my dream school, and more than a year later, I still can’t see myself anywhere else (in the U.S., at least!). But many things are different from what I had imagined, and that is also partially due to how I’ve evolved as a designer and thinker. I think that it’s easy to think that school will define your future. You read about a program that sounds amazing, and all of a sudden you’re picturing the incredible work it will push you to do. But in reality, no matter what the program, your work will be what YOU push yourself to do. The biggest support a school can give, I think, is to provide an inspiring work environment, and teach you how to technically execute your chosen craft. The rest of it is really up to you.
3. What do you think are the biggest obstacles for a young designer today? I think that in the “real world,” the obstacles are the same as they are for anyone graduating school, only with varying competitive edges. The financial challenges in finding a job or starting an independent business, for example. But the obstacles that truly matter, in the end, are those within yourself. Especially if you are looking to become or end up as an independent designer. Because within all the current complexities of publicity, industry politics, and social trends, it can be difficult to maintain design integrity as a young designer. No matter how brilliant you are, there will always be hordes of naysayers or financial backers who pull out at the last minute (I think recent industry news has made this a very clear possibility). To believe in your own capabilities and ideas, to persevere even when there doesn’t seem to be an appreciative audience– these are the principles you need to hold for as long as you work.
YOUR AESTHETIC & DESIGNS
4. What inspires you when you put together your garments? What are your favorite shapes, fabrics, materials? My first and foremost inspiration comes in idea form. Usually I’ll start with an overarching concept or prompt. From there, I’ll sketch out some ideas. At this stage, I’m drawing upon a huge image bank I’ve stored in my memory, on my hard drive, and aesthetic notebooks I’ve created over the years. Throughout the process, I am mentally reshaping various design-related philosophies, which is exhausting when coupled with the creative process, but extremely rewarding and necessary by the time I’ve reached the final product.
I’m constantly challenging myself to work in different ways and with varying materials, but I’ll admit that I’m often drawn to feminine materials like tulle, lace, and velvet. I love to use a delicate fabric to convey something unexpected, and I’ve been known to design tulle pantsuits and conversely– evening dresses made out of jersey t-shirt knit. I’ll also pounce on anything that lets me defy gravity a little bit to create sculptural form and asymmetry!
5. Who would you love to dress, and why? What would you dress him or her in? Regina Spektor. She is one of the only “celebrities” I would actually love to work with, because of my profound respect for her work. Her whimsical and inventive mind translates to her quirky aesthetic. She would look great in vintage-inspired combinations of high waisted trousers, floaty blouses, and sundresses, but with unusual representative twists thrown in– a skirt designed to look like a birdcage with a pocket for the door, for example. Watermelon striped blouses. Sleeves that unfurl like wings.
6. Sum up your aesthetic in 3 words. Conceptual, whimsical, cat.
ETC.
7. Tell me about the Thakoon collaboration. What was that process like? This was a design contest I entered on a whim, and honestly way the whole thing worked out was pretty crazy for me, because I usually stress out so much about applying for scholarships and contests. But for this one, I just took a painting (that I had fingerpainted in my high school art class) and adapted it to the contest’s shirt template because I thought it suited Thakoon’s aesthetic. Weeks went by and I completely forgot I even entered. And then one day, I opened my inbox to an email saying that I’d won the grand prize out of thousands of entries. The next thing I knew, I was talking to Thakoon himself on the phone, and my design was being sold at Kirna Zabete in New York. For a high school junior who had decided to study fashion only months before, it was a pretty incredible leap. I like to think of the collaboration as the first manifestation of my fine art and design interests coming together.
8. Anything else you’d like us to know? I love designing fashion, but it’s by no means the only way I express myself! I write copious amounts of poetry, dance as much as I can, and run a philosophical style blog. I believe that thinking and creating go hand in hand, and together they can hold the entire world.
253. Swedish Hasbeens + numinous days (+ more fashion campaigns centered around the toilet, please)
January 26th, 2010 § 35 Comments
Thrifted toggle coat, Tretorn cardigan from Gilt (use my code here,) Nadinoo peacock dress, Swedish Hasbeens jodhpur boots, scarf + earrings from Istanbul.
There’s a Paul Lafarge story about a woman who dreams of growing younger until she no longer exists in The Facts of Winter, which I like, because as a child, I wanted very much to experience inexistence so that I would no longer be afraid of it. (Due to watching too much Saved By the Bell and believing wholeheartedly I could freeze time like Zach Morris, I figured I’d experience inexistence for a few minutes and then get back to existing, dolt that I was.) In the spirit of backtracking, I bring you these photos of my Swedish Hasbeens jodhpur boots (so many S’s) in reverse order.
I don’t remember if I first heard of Swedish Hasbeens from Rhiannon’s blog, Liebemarlene, or from Jennifer’s blog, Sally Jane Vintage, but either way, thanks to both ladies, who always seem to have their pulse on cool new designers and vintage-inspired labels–how do you do it?–for alerting me to this charming company. All of their shoes are handmade with natural grain leather and wooden soles. According their website, the story is:
Her name was Anita and she was the hottest mum in all of southern Sweden in the 1970’s. While smoking Camel she screamed at her kids until her curlers fell out and just looked fabulous in her white high-heeled clogs.
One summer day in 2006 we found the shoes she wore (300 pairs of red, white and black beautiful clogs from the 70’s) in the basement of an old clog factory in the neighboring village and brought them to Stockholm. So for all these people that shared our love for Anita’s wooden shoes and for ourselves we started Swedish Hasbeens.
I like the morally indefensible mom–’scuse me, mum–and her hot-ass shoes and the image of a woman screaming until her curlers pop off. In my continued version, she shakes her head and applies some make-up and goes to the disco with a perfect head of curls.
At first, I was a little weirded out by the long list of warnings that come with these shoes, such as: “The leather may have insect bites or tears,” “There may be twigs in the wood,” “The wood may chip if you should knock into something,” or “Be careful using your shoes in water since it may loosen the glue between the rubber and the wood and the sole might come off.” But then I dealt with it the way I deal with most things in life, which is to ignore the warnings and forge ahead. I admit I was a little bummed my boots didn’t have a twigs in the wooden heel but relieved that the leather was free from insect bites and tears. I wonder how frangible these shoes really are? Only recklessness over a sustained period of time will tell.
High heeled jodhpur boots, braided sky high clogs, and peeptoe sky high clogs from Spring 2010 collection.
I especially like the frothy pastels from their Spring 2010 collection. It would be fun to tart up an already tarted-up outfit with a pair of the pastel pink or blue braided clogs. I’m envisioning high waisted cut-offs and a cropped halter top, or a little romper over a vintage two-piece bathing suit. Also, on the subject of tartiness–are these clogs reminding anyone else of the Candies’ ad campaign back in the 90′s with Jenny McCarthy?
I love the tee-hee-whatever insouciance of this ad. There was another Candie’s ad where Jenny McCarthy lets one rip in a packed elevator. I can’t find it on the web, but I don’t think I made it up. This type of ad campaign might be the only kind I can tolerate–one that doesn’t take itself too seriously. (Why does the ‘avant-garde’ in fashion have to be completely humorless? See: Italian Futurists for the unholy marriage of embarrassing ideas and primitive prose under the trellis of utter and complete sincerity, aka YO edgy designers, can you have a sense of humor, thanks.) There’s nothing gross or weird or unsettling about sitting on the toilet, but there’s something very gross and disturbing about the more recent Candie’s ads with Hayden Panettiere trying to look sexy in a completely generic way.
Oh advertising, you utterly banal and yet completely insidious industry, you.
Love, Jenny
252. A few things: maps, love for Threadbared, support for Haiti, the sweet gifts and oddities that remind me apricot trees exist in countries whose warmth will call forth the exact colour of apricots in the flesh
January 25th, 2010 § 9 Comments
Two things waiting for me in my stack of mail when I arrived in Iowa: a present from Meggy and a copy of The Best of Vice Magazine book, which I’m in (a tiny tiny little essay near the end.) I felt glass shards in my chest when I tried to read the essay–I wrote it so long ago and the prose seems so primitive and unnatural like a flower who doesn’t know she’s a weed. I couldn’t help a little moment of Radiohead-circa “Creep,”-style self-pitying for myself (Snow queen of redundancies, sorry.)
How happy I was to open up an envelope with a note from Meggy and the prettiest vintage bracelet I’ve seen in ages! (Pictured above in first two photos.) I was especially excited because I used to wear tons and tons of bracelets (five to ten on each wrist,) but stopped out of complete laziness, and also because of several bracelets breaking on more than one occasion when I was gesturing too wildly with my hands to tell a story. Anyway, I love the adjustable cuff and the iridescence of the flower, which unfortunately has not had a chance to glitter its way into the outside world because it’s permanently overcast here. As soon as there’s some sun, I’ll show you more pictures of this gorgeous cuff bracelet that Meggy was sweet enough to send to me, and maybe I’ll write a post on my modest vintage jewelry collection.
The earthquake in Haiti has been very painful to read about. I’ve been watching Democracy Now! for updates on Haiti, and reading dispatches from our good friend Nick Casey, who was in Haiti reporting for the Wall Street Journal. He’s written some superb articles, (here, here, and here,) and not only on Haiti (he’s brilliant at everything he’s covered so far.) I’m also grateful to Threadbared for alerting me to these progressive links on the Haitian earthquake. This New York Times article and this article in the Guardian I found to be particularly astute and good reminders as to the work and danger that lies ahead.
By the way, have we mentioned how much we love Threadbared? Mimi & Minh-ha recently posted a conversation about shopping that covers everything from the chaos of thrift stores, to the politics of vintage, to a 1960′s flammable nurse’s uniform, to the feminist answer to fashion consumption (if there is one,) to refugee camps, to church basements full of weird clothing that spawn a lifelong devotion to thrifting. Now go brew some tea and read it, you well-dressed muthafuckas.
love, Jenny
251. Being baaaaaad
January 22nd, 2010 § 7 Comments
I feel like a baddie, not bad as ho ho ho, I uppercutted a dude who was harassing me all night and he landed spread-eagled on his back and all of his friends apologized to me and stopped being chauvinists in life, but more like bad as in there are piles of clothes, shoes, books, and little things everywhere and my mind is a pile of nonthinking turds. Uh, remember when I was crybabying about how I might not sleep until dawn? Well, I didn’t sleep at all, got on a plane, arrived in Iowa City just in time to miss the freezing rain, went to bed at six pm, and then woke up at six am the next day. Last night, I couldn’t sleep because I was panicked by how many things I own and had an intense desire to purge 80% of my closet, and donate all half of my books. I wish my moments of panic could lead to satisfying action, but every time I tried to put something in a bag, I ended up compulsively writing down little stories and memories associated with that item of clothing. Why why why why why why do I have to allocate so much nostalgic power to my material possessions? The latest post from Rebecca of The Clothes Horse, struck a chord with me:
If you see a recurring theme about memories on my blog and my dependence upon objects and pictures to keep them alive, it might be because this is a minor obsession of mine. I don’t really depend upon my head being able to maintain accurate recollection of the past; frankly I distrust my mental ability to remember. With tokens and images frozen in time I do hope to delay my imminent amnesia…
Samesies! (I feel the same.) By the way, do you remember the moment when Michael Cera is about to have his first sexual encounter in Superbad with his superdrunk crush, and the girl says, “I sooooo flirt with you in math class,” and Michael Cera’s character says, “Tell me about it, I–Samesies!” Is it bad that it charmed me to no end when Michael Cera revealed on Letterman that he can’t eat double decker sandwiches because his mouth can’t open all the way? And is it bad that I had a little flutter in my heart when I found out that he had an Asian girlfriend (way back in the day,) and is it bad that he’s the main reason I want to see Youth in Revolt (also because I love the book but my Youth in Revolt love pales against my Michael Cera love,) and the female lead from Youth in Revolt is in Touchback, the film our amazingly talented friend Max wrote the screenplay for, and if you remember, Meggy posted about way back. All of this means I’m inching up in my six degrees of separation from Michael Cera, and also that I’m a creep.
This is what I mean about being bad. I finally managed to get the title of this post to be a little more succinct than my usual 200+ characters–I can never use Twitter–titles, but will you look at this endless stream of nothing I’m still writing? I have a lot of outfit posts I’d love to show you all soon, including my Swedish Hasbeens jodhpurs that I finally figured out how to wear. And a big two-part Lisbon post that will have to wait until I get the photos from Michael’s camera, who is still in Lisbon, and will be there for another two weeks. These photos were taken outside of the Thieve’s Market in Lisbon, and I’m looking not high fashion and not eco-friendly with my plastic bag in hand, which contained a Holga camera that I bargained down 50% and three feathers that Michael bought to make us necklaces, and even though the Holga camera was 30% broken/missing parts, and the feathers I won’t see for another few weeks, I feel sort of protective over these photos, like I want to nuzzle them with my finger, which I realize might be an unpleasant thing to hear someone say about a photo of herself. Told you I’m a creep.
H&M trench, thrifted blue polka dot dress, F21 cardigan, Hansel from Basel tights, Dexter boots, Blue umbrella from the Thieves Market, Coach bag (gift from my momma), and too much plastic in my hands and also Rayban sunglasses–aka, the only sunglasses I haven’t lost after 3 months.
Love, Jenny
250. the elephant belt
January 21st, 2010 § 24 Comments
Cardigan worn as dress (Obey), vintage elephant jeweled belt (Retro Active), high-waisted black leggings (American Apparel), vintage boots (the Get Up)
I’m so tired of wearing my massive sleeping-bag coat that I’ve downgraded to wearing less warm, but more fashionable, outfits, like cardigans layered under a new-to-me faux cropped fur coat that Lydia generously gave me, and putting my hands in my pockets a lot. Everyone says that this winter has been terrible, but I honestly feel like it’s been a lot warmer than it was last year. Or maybe that’s just because I was a fresh-faced Californian transplant last year.
xo, mw
