What I wore in winter

A note on the last outfit 1: Yes, the WAG top is still here, despite me almost discarding it before the February Swap. What happened was that I had already published that on Wednesday and Kristīne had already volunteered to adopt it when the inspiration struck. Yes, the little black dress (2008, HnM) is the perfect match for it. No fussing around the shoulder straps and the neckline of the dress while having all that skirt volume. And no need to redo the knot of the top or adjust the place where the skirt and top meets as it stays put atop of the dress. The LBD is probably living its last year as the ribbing of the top is starting to come apart, so we’ll see what the future brings… but so far these two are staying together for occasions when the floral corduroy bolero is a bit too much.

A note on the last outfit 2: This was the rare (first?) occasion when I took an outfit photo before actually wearing it. Typically I take my photos before leaving home or post factum. And, of course, weather decided not to cooperate! So my actual outer shell for Sunday ended up being my mom’s Ilse Jacobsen raincoat and wellies. It’s not a hand-me-down, I just borrowed it for a day. I have to admit that it brought me back to my thinking about getting a Stutterheim raincoat. But then I remembered that it rains rarely in Barcelona, so I don’t really need one… but I felt like a happy Pusheen while it lasted.

Nom-nom-nom, here comes your reading matter!

1. On racial representation in fashion: (a) Is Fashion All Blond? A Spoof Takes Aim + photos from the shoot that 1996 article refers to: Karl Lagerfeld’s Awesomely Weird “Scarlett ‘N The Hood” Photo Shoot; (b) Conspicuous by Their Presence + a more philosphical question about the use of bodies in fashion media – The big picture: models in Charles James gowns, New York, 1948.

2. And in other Lagerfeld-related news, well, he passed. So now you get to learn about him: (a) Karl Lagerfeld, 1933-2019; (b) Karl Lagerfeld, Designer Who Defined Luxury Fashion, Is Dead; (c) The Last Designer; (d) Resale Searches, Demand for Chanel Products is Up on the Heels of Lagerfeld’s Death.

3. Another write-up about Patagonia… no wonder, their products, their ethics, and their workplace culture are truly droolworthy – Behind Patagonia: Clothes, for the Outdoors. A strong backbone and 0 bullshit policy seem to be more common among outdoors apparel manufacturers, take this as another example – L.L.Bean: America’s Maine Outdoor Clothing Manufacturer.

4. And a dusting of the KonMari media frenzy: (a) The Joy Of Sparking Joy: A Kondo Scale For Clothing Enthusiasts; (b) (in Spanish) while not overtly a KonMari adept (she’s selling her own method, so that would be a marketing no-no), Alicia spills the beans on the changing ‘spark joy’ click-point, suggesting that 5 rounds (in 2 years or so) of repeated full-on tidying is around right to settle for a ‘never again’ state of tidy: Cuánto se tarda en ordenar una casa; (c) What White, Western Audiences Don’t Understand About Marie Kondo’s ‘Tidying Up’ – tl;dr: its animistic base that all things have a soul/spirit.

5. And, just for lavishly beautiful pictures of a completely unsustainable lifestyle, Louise from Miss Pandora took the Le Venise-Simplon-Orient-Express. Oh, my!

*

What I was writing about a year ago – The reading matter: part 2 – Save and sustain.

What I was writing about two years ago: Is There a Winter in Barcelona? A Winter 2017 recap.

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w09 + Sunday links. Heh, most of the usual winter suspects are still active…

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w9. First days of March in 2017 were clearly warmer than in 2018. And some of those garments are gone: the wrap skirt, the minion t-shirt, Julie’s linen dress, and my red denim jacket.

*

What has the weather done for you lately? Any fashion despairs or wins? Is the spring there yet?

*

Also, the tipjar is available if you ever feel like buying me a coffee:

Here, your grey cells will (burp and) thank you afterwards:

1. If you like being retold the obvious (but maybe catching a nice upcycling idea meanwhile): What’s Behind the Rise of Upcycled Garments?

2. Meanwhile, in racialized cosmetics news: Rwanda is the Third African Nation to Take a Stand on Skin-Lightening Products.

3. It’s always so cute when people write about stuff they are bewitched by, in this case, tailoring and leather: Making Bespoke Leather Jackets.

4. George Monbiot on toxic masculinity causing, apart from other stuff you had already thought about, higher mortality, mental health issues, and barriers for mitigating climate change: Testeria.

5. Alden Wicker observing (and excusing) our – as a society – lost ability to take care of our clothing: The spare button represents all the ways we fail to be good consumers and Put This On illustrating the usual procrastination around mending – Style & Fashion Drawings: Emergency Denim Repair. And the rather more uplifting (because those people dress dapper and buy investment pieces) reaction from Die, Workwear! – How We Lost Our Ability to Mend – that sends you back to your sewing kit.

*

What I was writing about a year ago – #100wears: Arcopedico wedge ballerinas.

What I was writing about two years ago: Why We Swap and How.

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w08 + Sunday links.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w8.

*

Where are you on the mender-procrastinator gradient? Do you mend, do you collect it all and then never fix it, or have you lost all hope and assume that torn pieces are just done for you?

*

Also, the tipjar is available if you ever feel like buying me a coffee:

Here, fill the little mind attic:

1. Uniforms are a good idea for many people – and so many of you already have it down to a pair of dark skinnies and a t-shirt – so maybe embrace it (no, it’s not for men only): Five Reasons To Wear The Same Thing Every Day and An interview with a guy who wears the same thing every day. I tried a dresses-only period and clearly crave more diversity, you can read more about it here and here.

2. I never thought I’d dedicate a whole mini-section to Rihanna, but after seeing a completely honestly asked ‘Is Rihanna the Coco Chanel of the 21st century?‘ in the NYT, well, let’s go: (a) A Splashy Entrance by Rihanna Puts Chinese Designers in the Spotlight; (b) Kim K., J-Lo, Beyoncé [and Rihanna] Undress for Success With the Naked Look; (c) A Lawsuit Between Puma and Forever 21 Poses an Interesting Question About Celebrity “Creative Directors”; (d) Rihanna Files $75 Million Lawsuit Against Her Dad Over His “Egregious” Use of Their Last Name; (e) UPDATED: LVMH and Rihanna in “Secret Talks” to Launch Luxury Label.

3. As if fast fashion wasn’t sinister enough on its own, here, get some debt on to of it: Buying a new purse? This startup wants to help you pay for it — but could also get you into debt.

4. An n-th reminder on Living More Sustainably: Clothing. The usual key points include buying less, buying better, buying used, fixing when needed, and – this one you don’t see that much, but you should – shopping in brick-and-mortar, so that you would be sure about the fit and not sending packages back and forth. As in: No online shopping company can figure out how to quit this one plastic bag and Your online shopping has a startling hidden cost.

5. One of those weird fashion stories of ‘how can it be that (once) a key industry in Scotland depends on Himalayan goats?’: It’s more than just money, it’s cashmere and The Last Of Good Scottish Cashmere: William Lockie.

*

What I was writing about a year ago: A year of blogging and adjusting expectations.

What I was writing about two years ago: My Wardrobe, Part 2: How I Build and Track My Seasonal Capsules.

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w07 + Sunday links.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w7.

*

Have you tried the uniform-dressing? Or maybe you have a hidden uniform – what Anuschka Rees calls ‘outfit formulas’ – not the same items necessarily but several similar mix’n’match pieces (for example, (a couple of) dark skinnies, (several) low-hem tops, a pair of oxfords or a pair of chukkas + aleather jacket)? Putting it differently, if you would have to chose a uniform for next 3 months, what would that be? Or does the very thought of a uniform give you goosebumps?

*

Also, the tipjar is available if you ever feel like buying me a coffee:

Also, the Saturday swap outfit and the stuff that makes swap happen:

And the brain nom-noms are served, bon appétit!

1. On time and fashion (and, surprise, how fast fashion has ruined it all): How Tempo is Changing Fashion + an example of someone from very high shelves going against that crazy whirlwind: Meet Your Favorite Fashion Designer’s Favorite Vintage Dealer + an ode to wearing the same things for a long time (the best form of resistance!): The Joy Of Old Clothes.

2. If you want some objective reasons for feeling sorry for yourself (and a whole generation): How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation.

3. (American) politics and fashion: (a) George H.W. Bush, the Original Sock Diplomat, (b) Nancy Pelosi’s Coat Catches Fire, (c) Why Covering Nancy Pelosi’s Hot Pink Dress Isn’t Sexist, (d) Finally Revealed! Trump’s Reasoning Behind His Extra Long Ties, and (e) The Lessons of the Women in White at the State of the Union Address.

4. If you have been watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and swooning over the 1950s recreation (those dresses! those coats! the outrageous headpieces!), among other things, this: New York’s Lost Department Stores.

5. But if winter still has you craving everything warm and fluffy, here, have some fleece history: The Mill That Invented Synthetic Fleece and Caught By The Fuzz: A Brief History Of Fleece.

*

What I was writing about a year ago: February 2018 (5th!) Clothes’ Swap Recap.

What I was writing about two years ago – My Wardrobe, Part 1: What Do I Have and How Did I Get Here.

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w06 + Sunday links. The hair was long but the clothing was pretty much the same…

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w6. Oh, the very beginnings! Those first outfit photos have more visual interest than these, I think, (within the same set of limits) I was experimenting more back then.

*

What are your outfit photo preferences? Breathtaking or mundane? I know very well the appeal of beautiful editorials… An example from my feeds would be Rebecca at A Clothes Horse! Or Louise at Miss Pandora. But I have no plans of going anywhere from my bedroom wall. This is a statistical and historic exercise, not an aesthetic one necessarily. Fun fact: the simpler the photo the harder to hide any imperfections in fit.

I haven’t done a proper close-up session yet, but the golden sparkly snitch-like thing I’m wearing is a gift from Giulia. Her obviously very talented and nimble-fingered cousin makes those and calls the endeavor Little Bit Bijoux. I have the one with golden leaves, and it’s gorgeous.

Feed the brain and start a fire!

1. A little something for the wool fetishists among us, a whole bed: Dreams of Sheep at Shepherd’s Dream. And more pastoral ideals and scenery: Fully Engaged Farming at Sophie’s Icelandic Sheep.

2. OK, I’m a bit beyond the moment the ugly (but expected) truth about #twinning and the 10-year-challenge became very clear… If you don’t know what I’m talking about, google it, hah! And always, always remember that uploading a photo to any platform means gifting them all rights to it, unless otherwise specified: Did You Read PopSugar’s Terms Before Submitting Your Selfie?

3. On how sometimes we prefer discomfort because we interpret it as ‘the thing is working’ aka ‘it should feel this way when I’m doing it right’: On Comfort. This is about a toothpaste mostly (and then about suits), but I can think of many pieces of feminine-wear that tells you that the right pain is what you are looking for… Don’t get me started on high heels and waist training!

4. A little thing that apparently is not unique to me: asking for *everything* once you start exploring tailor-made options… The author suggests embracing it: Get it out of your system.

5. The big thing in sustainable fashion activism during January was Bangladesh. First, Bangladesh ordered Accord to leave: As international factory safety group ordered to leave Bangladesh, garment workers fear return to deadly work conditions. And then workers took to the streets: Bangladesh garment manufacturers raise workers’ pay amid violent clashes with police and These Women Make Your Zara Jeans. Now, They’re Demanding to Be Paid Fairly.

*

This section is expanding because now Un Armario Verde is two years old and we can, accordingly, go two years back in posts, so:

What I was writing about a year ago – The reading matter: Part 1 – Art and inspo.

What I was writing about two years ago – The Minimalist Wardrobe Masterpost: What Do People Do and Why?

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w05 + Sunday links. My winter silhouettes haven’t really changed, but I’m skipping the red stockings this winter.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w5. Well, the trench and the Hummel atleisure jacket are still here…

*

Have your style and wardrobe contents changed a lot in the last two years? Is there a high turnover rate in your wardrobe? What are the garments or styles you have been wearing for a long time now?

Yeah, I fixed a hand-me-down dress and then wore it all week… But of course! For me that always has been a sign of a beautiful new friendship: wanting to spend together all the time possible.

But meanwhile, here, feed the little gray cells:

1. By now you should know if your winter boots are performing up to your expectations. Want to know what makes a great boot? Here, take a detailed analysis from people who know what they are talking about (and are ready to use a saw to make convincing visuals): We Cut 5 Great Boots in Half to See What Makes a Quality Pair.

2. OK, so you grown blasé to the fact that very poorly paid people, including children made your fast fashion garments… How about slave labor, does that move you a bit? Did a slave make your sneakers? The answer is: Probably. Or prison labor? Prisoners in a Chinese Internment Camp Made Clothes for a Major U.S. Apparel Supplier.

3. I just love those love letter posts dedicated to ‘the one right thing’ my favorite menswear blogs produce so often. Here you have yet another story of a great company that once was world-famous in one particular product – The History Behind Stetson: The Quintessential Cowboy Hat. And if you want an even more subtler specialty product, here, have this one: Those Lovely Neapolitan Trousers. In my ideal world we would tell such stories about each detail, each garment and each brand we wear..

4. On the other hand, the stupid marketing missteps in fashion are just mind-blowing. I keep thinking about the fact that all these campaigns and products pass through at least a couple of meetings with at least a couple of supposedly professional people approving this shit… Fashion’s Year in Cultural Don’ts.

5. One of those little promising news: The Denim Industry Inches Toward a Circular Economy as Mills Adopt Recycled Fibers. No word about the fact how they are planning to take apart some of those mixed-fiber fabrics to use again after this cycle… But that’s the next step, I guess.

*

What I was writing about a year ago: right in time for the upcoming February swap, Wardrobe pruning for minimalists: KonMari stairway to heaven.

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w04 + Sunday links. Ha! Even with the same new dress and new leggings, I’m still repeating the trench, the cape, the red flea sweater, the Muroexe boots and the previous incarnation of the little red beanie.

*

How do you start relationships with new (to you) garments? Wearing all the time? Saving for special occasions? Dry cleaning or washing the moment they cross your doorstep? Do you have any rituals, especially for pre-loved garments to clear out the previous wearer and fill it with you? I normally don’t do anything, assuming that the best way to replace odors and spirits is to impose a new one – mine. However, with this dress is was a bit special as it still smelled of my mom as I was refashioning and wearing it for the first times. That brought me right back to my childhood when I used to smell her sweaters if I was missing her while she was traveling.

Braaain-braaain-braaain, feed the braaain…

1. Just a beautiful story of crafty people making beautiful things + the magic that wool is: A Family History in Hats.

2. So, with the new KonMari-mania going around thanks to Netflix (this is a reasonable review + get the basis of Kondo’s method explained in a 15-point clickbait list here)… Some organizing basics from Spanish professional organizers + a very ironic list of ‘buy this stuff to make sure you get rid of stuff’: (in Spanish) Cinco claves para ordenar tu casa de una vez por todas.

3. And a BuzzFeed sermon on being organized as the socially responsible thing to do: Being Organized Is A Gift I Give Myself And Other People. While I’m typically better at giving sermons than appreciating them, this: “Being flaky isn’t cute; it’s disrespectful. This isn’t the intention, of course. (And, in fact, most of the disorganized people I know are actually trying to make too many people happy.) But the reality is that being close to someone who is consistently all over the place requires a tremendous amount of emotional labor”.

4. I don’t know who threw the bomb, but people in many places, including the f*ing Wall Street Journal, have suddenly – and simultaneously – grasped the problematic choice between real and faux fur. Gosh, get a second-hand anything and let it go… Examples: (a) Real Fur vs. Fake Fur: The Latest Dilemma for Socially Conscious Consumers; (b) Fashion or Faux Pas: The Conversation About Fur Became Far More Nuanced in 2018; (c) Real Fur is Bad for Animals. Fake Fur is Bad for the Earth. What the Hell Do We Do Now?

5. For pure pleasure, City Hermit: The Style Of Allen Ginsberg. And to throw in some contrast from the squares ‘who were burned alive in their innocent flannel suits on Madison Avenue amid blasts of leaden verse and the tanked-up clatter of the iron regiments of fashion‘, an ode to the same flannel: Better than Wool Flannel Trousers.

*

What I was writing about a year ago: #100wears: Bik Bok parka.

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2018w03 + Sunday links.

*

I’m still trying to figure out if I want to say anything new about the ‘Tidying Up with Marie Kondo‘ whirlpool, aside from the fact that everybody thinks it’s hilarious to forward me all possible coverage of it… Anyways, have you seen it? Has it inspired you to empty your wardrobe and see how big your mountain is? Or are you the one sharing the jokes? The best one I’ve seen so far (in Spanish) was about Marie Kondo suggesting people keep only three relatives. Captures the spirit of her method quite precisely, imho, especially after the Holiday season.

“It is the brain, the little gray cells on which one must rely. One must seek the truth within – not without.” But first you have to feed those little gray cells:

1. Some basic tricks our minds (and retailers) play against us: 10 Situations When We Lose Our Common Sense and Buy Useless Stuff.

2. Mending has some serious benefits – Mending as a philosophy of life: 9 reasons for why it’s worth it. My favorite being ‘Mending is prefect for practicing imperfection’. The whole blog is a cute gem full of thoughtfulness and sustainable ideas, unfortunately inactive since September 2018, offering posts titled What makes a garment repair-worthy? and Mending knits: 3 favourite darns.

3. The internet classic on second shifts and all mental work that goes into maintaining a household, typically done by women: You should’ve asked by Emma Clit.

4. In 2018 I started to follow – and learned a lot – from several menswear blogs: Heddels (especially remarkable for their Fade of the Day section showcasing worn out garments), Put This On, and Die, Workwear! Maybe I just haven’t found the right women’s fashion blogs for this time in my life but I’m really enjoying the historical and aesthetic obsessions of these people. And then I found this: ‘Every once in a while, I’ll hear a woman say how she wishes a piece of menswear could be made for the female form, or how she’s excited to see one of her favorite designers take inspiration from the men’s aisle. Which is funny because, just as often, I find myself inspired by what women today are wearing. As society has wrestled with the concept of gender over the last hundred years, fashion has followed. And while there’s been a bit push and pull – from the strictly gender delineated world of gray flannel suits and A-frame skirts, to the space-age unisex uniforms of the late 1960s – we’re now at a point where gender takes on a much more complex and nuanced meaning in terms of how clothing is worn’.

5. For a contrast with menswear (or, depending how you look at it, to combine with their beloved knit ties), here you have a lady who did the impossible – made the crochet look glamorous: Greta Plattry. Here you have a couple of write-ups about her and photos of her designs from the glorious 1950s – 1, 2, 3 (the third link gives you also the original prices and the conversion in today’s dollars; gives you a thought about casual swimwear as investment pieces and the radical change clothing prices have undergone in last 50+ years).

*

What I was writing about a year ago: The capsule is dead, long live the spreadsheet!

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2018w02 + Sunday links (the 100th post!).

*

Do you have menswear inspirations? Or blogs you read for a once-removed value? For example, for me the menswear blogs are teaching to pay attention to detail that somehow are easier to gloss over in women’s fashion. Anyways, all new reading suggestions will be appreciated.

The year might be new, but the brain has to be fed:

1. I am still a sucker for a good fashion anecdote, obviously, especially if it’s about somebody’s whim becoming an unexpected hit: Bernstein’s Folly. Or protest fashion that then loses its meaning – Wretched Excess: The Rebellion of the Wide-Leg Pant. Or just completely weird ideas, like having designated drinking jackets as to not to ruin the good suits – Ivy Workwear Style Via Princeton University’s Beer Jackets.

2. A short look at the gilets jaunes from a purely fashion point of view: The Power of the Yellow Vest.

3. If the Holiday season has tired your liver, kidneys, and/or brain and you have been entertaining the idea to never ever consume something again, turns out that Vice (!) has a whole straight edge section (!) dedicated to ‘the drugs are bad, mkay’: (a) Smoking Weed Can Be a Lot of Fun, But Let’s Not Pretend it Doesn’t Fuck You Up; (b) When Partying Becomes a Problem: How I Managed to Quit Drink and Drugs; (c) How Giving Up Drink and Drugs in Your Twenties Can Change Your Life; (d) This Is Why Gen Z Isn’t Into Drink or Drugs; (e) Quitting Alcohol Doesn’t Have to Be the End of Your Social Life. The funniest and scariest cultural changes in substance abuse I found there were the pressures stemming from the footprints such behavior leaves on one’s social media: it all will be photographed if not filmed, will project a ‘bad’ image, your prospective employers will be able to see it, your puffy face will look uglier in the selfies… and, in this competitive economy where serious people start to prepare for their career in the kindergarten, ain’t nobody got time for that anyways.

4. I don’t own anything Elizabeth Suzanne, their aesthetics are mostly not really my style, and I know that their way of working implies a price point inaccessible to most, but I just can’t help but love the way they do business: 2018: A Reflection and Recap and 2018 Holiday FAQs.

5. Those who have made a new year’s resolution to travel more, don’t. It’s a dirty business. Literally. (In Spanish) Cada turista contamina al día en Barcelona el equivalente a conducir 410 kilómetros. Go to a library and read  a book instead!

*

What I was writing about a year ago: How expensive is an ethical wardrobe? 2017 second half money talk.

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2018w01 + Sunday links.

*

So, what are your new year’s resolutions? Teetotalism or getting a beer jacket? More travel or more books? Doing more or contaminating less?

Om-nom-nom, here we go with a nice hefty portion of brain food to finish off 2018:

1. People either ignore them on hate them these days, but once they were all the rage – Artificial Intelligence: A Guide To Synthetic Fibers.

2. And if you are going to proclaim yourself as a natural fiber person, The Types of Cottons You Should Know.

3. Ha! The consistent theft and forgery of design can be a good thing for fostering in-house production and integrated supply chains at least at the highest shelves of fashion industry: Fashion’s Notoriously Controlling Luxury Brands Are Busy Bringing Everything They Can In-House.

4. And more garment history so that you would have an idea about the history behind an now-ubiquitous design: The Boot That Became “The Chelsea”.

5. It has been 120 years since Veblen’s The Theory of the Leisure Class and 40 since Bourdieu’s Distinction, and still our fashion choices tell our politics and social class by a mile away: Cambridge Analytica Used Fashion Tastes to Identify Right-Wing Voters and Cambridge Analytica Used Consumers’ Fashion Preferences to Target Them with Pro-Trump Messaging.

*

What I was writing about a year ago: Fashion, sustainability and tidying books I read in 2017.

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2017w52.

Also, this is the 200th blog post at Un Armario Verde en 100th #whatiwore post. You can scroll through all those posts here (if you want the weird Mediterranean seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn) or see them all at a glance on Pinterest here. All together it looks rather spectacular, and the data lover in me squeals alright about such abundance of consistent data.

*

What do you think your fashion choices tell about you? Could you be politically targeted due to your looks or would that be a total miss? Do you camouflage or express your true self via clothing, ehm, wearing your heart on your actual sleeves?

Nom-nom-nom…

1. If you wanted a reminder why fast fashion is not a good idea neither as a gift nor as a last minute sequin dress provider: (a) Global garment workers exploited as big brands pressure suppliers: Report; (b) 5 Years After Pay Pledge, HnM Still Isn’t Paying Laborers a “Living Wage”; (c) Bangladesh to eject safety inspectors brought in after Rana Plaza disaster. Stay away from those people! + also, The Biggest Fake News in Fashion, aka ‘fashion as we know it is bad for the environment and pollutes a lot, but we cannot really say that it is the second most polluting industry’.

2. And if you wanted a suggestion list for your 2018 resolutions: Ten simple ways to act on climate change. Yes, you already know these by heart but have you actually tried to apply these to your life? All 10? Half? Just 3? Let me remind you that the 4 most effective on the individual level are: having less children, going car free, flying less, and switching to plant-based diet.

3. A long(ish) read on the sudden appearance (in the common social consciousness) of one of the trendiest sustainability issues: The plastic backlash: what’s behind our sudden rage – and will it make a difference?

4. And just for historical fashion fun – The Pilgrims: The Original Sadd Boys [for whom black was too daring of a color].

5. An occasional uplifting piece of new that is supposed to make us feel hopeful about fashion: The UK workers’ co-op filling in fast fashion’s gaps and here you can buy from that co-op: Community Clothing.

And as a community service: In Mapping, Size Matters + more about Gall–Peters projection. Because you are old enough to know that maps are political and that Africa is bigger than Greenland or Europe. You are welcome!

*

What I was writing about a year ago: 7 dresses x 3 months: Lessons learnt.

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2017w51.

*

Have you already prepared your 2019 resolutions/goals? Are you giving up something? Are you starting something new? Did your 2018 sustainability resolutions work out?

Hello there, we specialize in the best brain food around here:

1. Knowing my tireless advocacy work for laundering less – proof 1, proof 2 – I recommend this cute BuzzFeed survey of figuring out how much of a cleanliness freak are you in comparison with (let’s not talk about the survey design or its representativity) the average American millennial: Ok, This Poll Is The Place To Confess How Often You Actually Wash These Things. Obviously, I don’t mean to say that the average person is right, just to point out that there is a lot of heterogeneity in habits that still allows survival and that critical judgement has to be applied.

2. Feminist analysis from when subtle, symbolic sexism in politics was a worry – The Princess Effect: How women’s magazines demean powerful women—even when they’re trying to celebrate them. Oh, 2014, I miss you!

3. I keep coming across excerpts from Alison Matthews David’s Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present and it looks delicious. Take a look: 7 Ways Victorian Fashion Could Kill You. Into 2018 reading list it goes!

4. And continuing on the topic on trusting your own judgement: the glory of a minimalist purge (of quite an extreme case, I’d dare to say) in I Surrendered My Wardrobe and the equally true story how a tiny wardrobe might be only a temporary therapy instead of a permanent solution for your true self in The Anxiety of the Minimalist Closet. Relax and do you at your own pace, if you are suffering from millennial shit anxieties you probably still have at least 50 healthy years to live, you have time to explore all kinds of dressing. I, of course, recommend a step-wise reduction and greening of your wardrobe…

5. And a party pooper which might or might not renew your sustainability pledges for the next year: Does Climate Change Mean You Should Fly Less? Yeah, Maybe. For me the balance between individual and collective action is the hardest part of the whole sustainability thing. I’m still figuring it out (17 flights in 2016, 23 in 2017, 8 in 2018 but 2019 already looks like a fly-a-lot year…) but starting to think is.. well, a beginning.

*

What I was writing about a year ago: #100wears: Hummel Madelaine Zip Jacket.

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2017w50 + Sunday links.

*

How do you deal with the ‘personal responsibility’ vs. ‘only massive social/political action can achieve the CO2 cut we need’? Is your propulsion towards radical lifestyle changes, community organizing, or just existential dread under the blanket? What to you do when the existential dread and helplessness comes?

Nom-nom-nom, said the little gray cells:

1. A bit of indigo fetish just for you: True Blue and Indigo Witches + raw, traceable wool fetish, too – Fleece patrol: How organic wool from Patagonia is creating sustainable luxury.

2. Funny fashion tips (and obsessions) around maintenance of hegemonic masculinities: My Father’s Fashion Tips and The Most Flattering Sweater?

3. The horrible stories of visible and undeniable pollution created by textile industry in loosely controlled places: (a) Bangladesh Pollution, Told in Colors and Smells, (b) The denim capital of the world: So polluted you can’t give the houses away, and (c) Dying for Meaning.

4. One of those weird, chain-of-unintended-consequences stories how politics created fashion structures in XVII century and how climate change is making it unviable now – The King of Couture: How Louis XIV invented fashion as we know it and Are Fashion Seasons Outdated?

5. And to put some fire in making nice, authentic for you – not necessarily ones made of 1940s originals, though – wardrobes Five Reasons Vintage Clothing Is Not Just “Old Used Clothes” (Even Though It Kind of Is), and Building a Vintage Closet: a few quick notes, and Building a vintage closet, Step 1: Who are you? There’s a whole series of these there…

*

What I was writing about a year ago: #KonMari for advanced minimalists.

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2017w49 + Sunday links.

*

I am more and more astonished about the collective wish to play winter here, and my willingness to take part. It has been sunny and oscillating between 16-18ºC lately, and streets are full with winter jackets and boots. (OK, and sunglasses too.) Of course, those are not thick enough for a really cold winter, but is very clearly not the same clothing that one wears when a Latvian summer hits exactly the same temperatures, or when a Spaniard travels to Scandinavia in August. And I should know better. I have had enough of those 10ºC summers. But there you have me, wearing wool tights in 18ºC and being cranky about sweating too much. Weird… Yes, yes, climate change, wool nostalgia manufactured by marketing, clinging to the picture book ideas what winter is, the paradoxical life of being cold inside (the no-heating life, anybody?) and warm outside, but I still find it a bit disturbing when there’s a mass market for poorly filled puffy jackets that have a winter look but keeps you warm to the level that a Latvian spring coat would.

Are people faking winter where you live or do you get a real one?

Because your gray cells deserve a feast:

1. And because ’tis the season: 12 Easy Ideas for a Sustainable(ish) Christmas.

2. And to reduce the stress and increase the lifespan of your most festive (hence usually the most exposed to stain catastrophes) garments: How to Remove (Almost) Every Stain from Your Clothes.

3. Oh, funny story for 2018: Victoria’s Secret Is Trying to Change With the Times. Or Is It? D-oh!

4. And on the other side of sex-segregated dressing and gendered narratives: The Sneaky Way Clothing Brands Hooked Men on Stretch Jeans.

5. Of course, this section wouldn’t be true to itself without some climate pessimism and tales on how the world is going down the toilet in a hand basket, courtesy of George Monbiot: In a World of Their Own and Hopeless Realism.

*

What I was writing about a year ago: Stop browsing fast fashion, browse the internet instead.

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2017w48 + Sunday links.

*

Do you have any plans for sustainable-ing Christmas? Less love miles? Less gifts? Less decoration? In my family this is the first year – after several years of discussions about such possibility – when the agreement is to not to give presents… We’ll see how that will go. So far it has been quite relaxing as the pressure to think up something reasonably fun, useful and sustainable for people who already have it all has been lifted.

Only when done with editing I realized I’m wearing the same flea market sweater (2015) in all four outfits… well, that sweater has more than #100wears and doesn’t care about few more.

A random update: I just back-upped my 2017 outfit photos, the separate photos and the Photoshop files… It’s 1664 items and 13.98 GB in total. And those weren’t even full 52 weeks, only February-December… the 9999 photo cycle of my camera was complete in mid-November. I wonder what kind of archiving people doing this kind of blogging for decades do. I’m probably keeping too many ‘could do’ photos. Will see if the total of 2018 will be smaller.

*

Brain-food, brain-food, what a good idea! It’s free and the little grey cells love it:

You know I love garment stories. So does Patagonia with their Worn Wear initiative and so many other people. Here are just two inspirations to wear your garments to threads: The Wedding Jacket and The Joy Of Wearing Out A Piece Of Gear.

In line with my ranting and raving about paid content in ethical fashion, here you have Leah from Style Wise uncovering several layers of issues: Is Social Good Marketing Just Another Form of Greenwashing?

And a pinch of practical feminist inspiration before March 8: A Story of a Fuck Off Fund (yeah, I just went against all that good advice and blew mine on Marie Kondo consultant training) and Thing My Mom Said: “What If He Finds a New Wife?”

*

Also, it was my name day this week. Archana from To Universe With Love made me a gift of linking to my #100wears series and sending some nice traffic my way, and also re-baptized my ‘Lizzie’. In 30 years that people have been approaching my name creatively, that’s a new one. Even in Latvia I got mixed up with Elīza’s and got my macron snubbed resulting in a pronunciation my mother never intended, but the 10 years I’ve been living far away from people who can pronounce my name properly has been an interesting experience… the most I can get out of Spaniards on a good day is Luise (fun fact: Catalan native speakers can pronounce a proper ‘z’ while Castilian-speakers cannot; neither can deal with the almost singing part of accent on the first syllable followed by a macron), but these days I’m also reacting to Luisa, Luis (which is a male name, btw), Elise, Lucy… The best one I’ve got is Lucille.

When Quvenzhané Wallis emerged as everybody’s darling five years ago, this quote accompanied some of the writing about the difficulty press had in learning to pronounce her name:

After all these years of trying to explain my name and having to settle on suboptimal versions – and that’s what most names get when crossing borders – I’m really not sure I agree with that. I have wished to be Anna or Marta, and not having to repeat my name three times to every stranger.

Does your name travel easy or do you have alternatives for each language you speak? (Mine are Luīze – Louise – Luise – Луиза) Have you ever wished for a different name, or have you actually changed yours for a one you like more (be it formally or informally)?

This time the brain food is more of a ‘go think about this’ and not ‘go, learn’, but it’s cold and dark outside, so you might have some time on your hands:

The inclusiveness of the all vegan-zero waste-minimalism stuff is a big one… More questions than answers you can get from Ariana on the very pronounced gender bias of these movements at least when it comes to the social-media-visible people and from Francesca on intersectionality and on cultural appropriation because these are the whitest, Westernest and most middle class hypes alive (because it doesn’t count when poor people and entire societies have lived minimal and zero waste for hundreds if not thousands of years).

And from George who still serves us the horrors of late capitalism and then offers some possibilities to exit that shit, here you have the thought I already shared in my last swap recap: “I would love to hear people reply, when asked what they do: I volunteer at the food bank and run marathons. In my time off, I work for money”.

*

So I found winter in Rīga… and re-affirmed the usefulness of my winter gear, of woolen socks and reliable public transportation. Have you re-assessed anything – possessions, habits, stuff you were taking for granted – due to weather lately? Or just lately?

Here, feed the little gray cells:

Now We Know! Fashion Is the 5th Most Polluting Industry, Equal to Livestock. In case you were spending nights awake, wondering…

Electricity Map – Live CO2 emissions of electricity consumption, not for all the world, but interesting nonetheless, showing ‘in real-time where your electricity comes from and how much CO2 was emitted to produce it’ and taking into account the international energy markets of countries importing and exporting electricity.

I drool every time Mr. Money Mustache reveals one of his projects and lament having close to zero practical skills. Here’s one of the examples: My DIY Solar Power Setup – Free Energy for Life.

And for your viewing pleasure (and decluttering inspiration), Jaye Schlesinger’s series ‘Possessed’ where she painted everything left after KonMari-ing her belongings + a Spark Joy podcast episode with her explaining the project.

*

Have you found any new podcast inspirations lately? Do you have a listening routine for everyday chores: podcasts, youtubers, audiobooks, music? And what are the skills that you are at awe with when other people turn out to have them?

Winter hunger for more info? I’ve got you covered:

(In Spanish) ¿Bolsas de papel o de plástico? and ¿Plástico o vidrio? These great #zeroplastic people are actually taking the step beyond the usual discourse of swapping ‘this for that’ and questioning to what extent the easy swaps are more sustainable, in this case plastic bags vs. paper bags and plastic vs. glass. The short answer: any item of one use only is a bad idea!

Fashion and feminist-washing? The Fashion Law is ON the case with Fashion’s Push for #MeToo is Ignoring a Significant Number of Women and Spare Me Your Protest Fashion and Show Me Your Employment Contracts.

What are your little everyday choices that soothe your climate change guilt? Well, here you have them ordered by efficiency:

*

Which individual sustainability choices have you – consciously or serendipitously – adopted? Less children, no car, less flights (I’m working on this one in 2018!), changing your electricity provider (in my to-do list), or eating more plants?

So we went looking for winter some 1800km north-east. Didn’t find much of that but enough potatoes and pickles! That explains the delays in your weekly brain-food portion, though:

Archana’s Little Blue Book, following the logic that “every woman has a book’s worth style memoirs inside of her. And her book is unique and a result of her style journey. […] Here is mine.” Her blog is one of the most recent additions to my regular reading, take this post as a nice example why.

Move over, hygge, because seems that mottanai is the new cool concept borrowed from a language we don’ speak. Be prepared for a new deluge of books using that one as the catch in 2018!

Another The Fashion Law gem on the marketing strategies of luxury brands: The 24 Anti-Laws of Marketing. Basically on how to push products via scarcity and snobbery. Cool.

*

The Hamburg trip showed how some garments I don’t wear in Barcelona become priceless when in appropriate setting. Namely, my fluffy coat and the woolen tights as opposed to the stay-up stockings. A friendly reminder: stay-up stockings are not really made for below 10ºC temperatures, especially if you are going for long walks!
What are your garments that have revealed themselves only under certain conditions?