What I wore in autumn

A detail: Well, the thesis got defended. And pink dominated my outfit! Was it a protest outfit camouflaging as traditional femininity? Maybe. I already told you: The Pink Post: Instrumental and subversive uses of the traditionally feminine.

This is how it looked at the moment (and these pictures miss out on the magenta/bright pink combination of my Veja Taua sneakers, so look above):

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What else is new?

1. Very cute and, also, correct: How To Own Things You Want To Use Forever – An Anti-Fast Fashion Manifesto.

2. 2019 was the year when I first stepped into a Uniqlo, and I understand why one would like it. It still *is* fast fashion, but the design aspect is much better executed. So, Uniqlo – A History of Simplicity to Global Domination.

3. When it comes to the climate crisis and the COP25 idiocy, I just can’t… (in Spanish) Viva el cambio climático, viva el circo mediático and Qué les molesta tanto de Greta y la revolución de los jóvenes.

4. Decluttering is not the panacea! While I am wholehearted advocate of getting rid of stuff you don’t use or enjoy, it has to happen *once* and responsibly, because (these are Canadian examples, but the logic of knowing and rethinking must be the same everywhere) Here’s where your donated clothing really ends up and How To Declutter Ethically In Canada.

Obviously, ‘The Best Thing You Can Do Is Not Buy More Stuff,’ Says ‘Secondhand’ Expert.

5. In case you were in doubt: More than 60% of Counterfeit Fashion Purchases Were Knowingly Made by Consumers, Per New Study.

6. The Rise of Review Culture: ‘The thing about review culture is that the promise of finding “the best” is never fulfilled. For one, the best doesn’t exist — particularly in fashion, which is subjective. Second, too many people lean on the idea of buying “the best” to abdicate responsibility in developing a sense of taste. But most importantly, the reason why we never find the best is because that gnawing urge that compels us to find it in the first place is never satisfied.’

7. Let’s talk textile crafts: The Full History of Navajo Blankets and Rugs and Understanding Persian Rugs – Two and a Half Millennia of Silk and Wool.

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What I was writing about a year ago: #100wears: Street One jacket. That jacket has lived through so much!

What I was writing about two years ago: 7 dresses x 3 months: Lessons learnt. That was a fun experiment that confirmed that I am not a uniform dresser…

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w51 + Sunday links. Also wore this week: the Portuguese cape and the red flea sweater.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w51. And still wore this week: my mom’s trench and the flower bomb headpiece.

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Here, stimulate the brain:

1. In the spending news, As Gen Z Spending Habits Shift, Skincare, Natural Beauty Looks Continue to Outshine Traditional Cosmetics (hah, well, at least there are already things that Gen Z is killing; also, I find this trend quite wholesome) and Thoughts on a New Gilded Age.

2. Something I do wonder about is if I’ll see sewing skills coming back in by lifetime or dying out completely: From a Sewing Needle to a Laser Cutter, a New Approach to Fashion.

3. Politics through fashion at country music awards? Yes, please: In Praise of Jennifer Nettles’s Equal Play Pants.

4. Sometimes I just wonder about the audacity… How stupid do you have to be to copy a clearly recognizable print? Supreme-ly stupid: Supreme is Being Sued for Allegedly Hijacking Another Brand’s Camo Print.

The seemingly generalized disregard for trademarks keeps surprising my naïveté… How can taking somebody’s trademarked product and giving them ‘youthful upgrade’ be a successful (and legal?) business strategy? Well, Rolex Calls Foul on laCalifornienne and its Colorful “Counterfeit” Watches.

5. I’m not sure I’d like to wear the original 1940s and 1950s jeans models… Lee thinks I should: Lee Brings Back the First Women’s Denim It Ever Made. But, well, I am not a denimhead, those people know where to go: On the Hunt in Tokyo for ‘Authentic’ Denim.

In other denim news, (a) Levi Strauss CEO: ‘Sizes will go out the window 10 years from now’; (b) Denim Mills Show Confidence In Recycled Fibers but Will Brands Follow? and (c) You Can (and Should) Tailor Your Jeans to Fit You Perfectly. Here’s What You Need to Know.

6. I do enjoy long, romantic brand histories, what can I do… Eddie Bauer’s Legendary Parkas.

7. And there are people analyzing the links between fashion and politics, and politics through fashion. These who are being praised for just having the decency to think through their symbolic roles: The Duchess of Cambridge and Family Refine the Art of Pantone Politics and In Pakistan, Kate Middleton Aces Fashion Diplomacy. And, of course, dressing through *that* shitstorm, George Kent and the Bow Tie of History and How They Suited Up for the Impeachment Battle.

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What I was writing about a year ago: Garment Stories: Hunting Ensemble Beanie. An ode to considerate presents!

What I was writing about two years ago: #100wears: Hummel Madelaine Zip Jacket. And a love letter to an unexpected wardrobe hero…

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w50 + Sunday links. Also wore this week: the red flea sweater, my mom’s trench, Veja Wata Pierre sneakers, and Liisa’s velvet skater skirt.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w50 + Sunday links. And I was still wearing this week: my mom’s trench, the ‘pearl’ necklace, the red flea sweater, Veja Arcade sneakers, the Street One No Pasarán jacket.

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Orden a Tres podcast

Your all-time favorite KonMari™-dedicated podcast is back, this week talking about the horror that occasionally strikes mid-tidying festival: the fact that you have to dismantle your current order to tidy and to rebuild a new one. Here: Ep. 14 ¿Cómo sobrevivir al desorden mientras ordenas? You can also listen us on Spotify and Stitcher, and iTunes.

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And how about a cauldron full of hot strong love fun reading matter?

1. This is just too cute… basically, how very durably, hence still relevantly well-dressed Meg Ryan was in You’ve Got Mail: Lessons from… 1998.

2. And how toxic garbage is forever, and sometimes somebody has the power to make it go away: Buried leather to be excavated from Wolverine tannery site. A required read for all those claiming that leather is the sustainable option… as it, obviously, depends.

3. A couple of interesting observations from the world of high fashion: Millennials Are Taking Over Fashion, Too and, about designers with large firm experience striking out on their own, Doing It on Their Own: An unemployed designer who headed a fashion house can wait for another opportunity or just get on with it.

Also, this: Fashion’s Latest Trend: Eco Bragging Rights. If only they happened to become real achievements…

4. Just a reminder from The State of Fashion 2020, this is where the money is in fashion:

Clearly, we are still being fucked by the athleisure, fast fashion and luxury people. And, while these people are in charge – and aware that consumers want at least an appearance of sustainability – please memorize this: Greenwashing: How to See Through Disingenuous Eco-Marketing.

5. At least the most weird-looking cultural appropriation has been cancelled: Dior Finally Says No to Sauvage.

6. Well, it is turtleneck weather in this hemisphere, so (a) My First-Date Turtleneck Has Never Failed Me; (b) The Rise and Fall of Elizabeth Holmes and the Black Turtleneck; and (c) Skip Grad School, Buy A Turtleneck.

7. FYI, ‘you can’t be sure that you don’t have coerced labour in your supply chain if you do cotton business in China‘.

In other China-news, What Does the Chinese Government’s Social Credit System Mean for China-Dependent Luxury Brands?

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What I was writing about a year ago: December Swap (8th!) recap.

What I was writing about two years ago: #KonMari for advanced minimalists. The obvious point: the tidying festival won’t be as cathartic if you have been already mindfully reducing your possessions. However, interesting insights are still possible.

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w49 + Sunday links. Also wore this week: my mom’s trench, the Muroexe boots, the Hunting Ensemble red beanie, the Devold sweater, Veja Wata Pierre sneakers.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w49 + Sunday links. Also appeared this week: my mom’s trench and the Muroexe boots.

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Are the little gray cells hungry? Here, give them some of this:

1. The Black Friday came and went… and here we still are sharing the joy of getting something we really wanted cheaper while condemning buying stuff just because it’s discounted: (a) Black Friday is bad for business; (b) Black Friday is bad for the planet and should be banned, say French MPs; and (c) Why Some Brands Are Taking a Stand Against Black Friday.

2. ‘When I start convincing myself that I’m a useless scrap of spoiling sentient meat whose sole value is in whether I meet the Sisyphean standards of productivity I keep setting for myself, that is my depression talking. It’s also the way culture, on some level, speaks to all of us who struggle. The idea that we can never work hard enough or be good enough. […] Almost everyone I love is having a hard time right now. Almost everyone I know comes home from a hard day being ground on the wheel of late-stage capitalism and tries to wrap their shattered brain around the very real prospect of species collapse. And almost all of them believe that they’re uniquely awful, that others have it much worse, that they could snap out of it if they weren’t so weak and lazy. Unfortunately, this means that on top of having to save the world, many of them also now have to handle major depression. And when you are depressed, recovery can feel just as impossible as saving the world.’ Laurie Penny dixit.

3. It is fun to observe when people have clearly published their first knee-jerk reaction and only *after* that they have researched the topic a bit. Exhibit A: Left Field’s Latest Jeans are Literally Bananas. Exhibit B: Left Field NYC and The Appeal of Banana Denim. Ugh… Well, go and read up. Here are some suggestions to begin with: Forget about cotton, we could be making textiles from banana and pineapple and What is banana fibre and how do you make textiles from it?

4. To understand what very curious place the menswear enthusiasts come from, read this 1960 essay The Art of Wearing Clothes by George Frazier. And read the fangirling those same menswear enthusiasts express about George.

5. If the phrase ‘the Japanese designers’ have ever given you a pause when used as something that everybody knows what it means, the first couple paragraphs of this will explain what they are referring to: This Winter’s Tonalwave.

6. Oh, the power of color: Monopolizing and Monetizing a Color: What is the Value of Tiffany & Co.’s Trademark Blue Hue? and The Red Coats Are Coming: Jane Fonda’s protest look makes a statement of its own.

7. A basic primer about the fact that no fiber is perfect: Synthetic vs. Natural Fibers – For Your Health and the Planet’s.

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What I was writing about a year ago: Maker’s Pride: Zipper Bag for My Yoga Mat. Pride indeed… few things offer a bigger happiness score than making something from scratch!

What I was writing about two years ago: Stop browsing fast fashion, browse the internet instead. A fun little suggestion to engage the fantasy instead of e-commerce. Still valid!

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w48 + Sunday links. Also wore this week: Liisa skater skirt, Muroexe boots, my mom’s trench, Veja Wata Pierre, and the swap Zara cardigan.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w48 + Sunday links. And also wore this week: Hummel Madelaine jacket, Muroexe boots, and my mom’s trench,.

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Here, feed the brain:

1. Fashion works in mysterious ways and that is why we love it – Woodstock Was the Birthplace of Festival Fashion: ‘That it never occurred to the group who created festival fashion that it might one day turn into a style sector of its own; that it would birth an era of mass-produced ersatz “individuality” […] is reflective of the naïveté in which such fashion was born, and the calculated way nostalgia for that time has been exploited.’

2. A good quality overview of the staple garment: The Military Origins of the Cardigan. For other similar stories, turn to Object Lessons.

3. Fashion writers still trying to wrap their heads around the death of retail and the particular case of Barneys’ in exhaustive detail: (a) Of Barneys’ Bankruptcy, Pride and the Fall; (b) “Private Sales” for Recently-Acquired Barneys’ “Most Loyal” Customers to Begin This Week; (c) Why Discount Retailers and Luxury Titans are Thriving While “Balanced” Entities are Closing Up Shop; and (d) The Impossible Alchemy of Barneys at Saks.

4. For men interested in fashion: How to Receive a Compliment.

5. This is a very interesting insight in the pursuits where the collectors, the sartorialists and the minimalists at times coincide, the pursuit of the optimal thing (that never really arrives): Subduction.

6. A promising turn in pressures to green oneself for the brands: Prada Just Inked the Fashion Industry’s First Loan that Links Interest Rates to Sustainability Efforts.

7. A reminder of how socks and boots are made: A Quick Tour of the CHUP Socks Factory and Don’t Throw Your Boots Away – An Interview with Bootmaker Felix Jouanneau.

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What I was writing about a year ago: Beyond repair: ZIB and Amoralle leggings. Sometimes things die, especially if they contain elastane and you insist on washing them in hot water… Learn from me and don’t boil your elastic garments, please!

What I was writing about two years ago: How to Survive *Winter* in Barcelona. The Mediterranean winter is garbage if you work from home (due to the historical building practices), so there you have some of my accumulated expertise on the topic.

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w47 + Sunday links. Also wearing this week: my aunt’s PhD Dress, the Lithuanian-made Devold sweater, Liisa skater skirt, the Muroexe Materia boots.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w47 + Sunday links. Repeating this week: the red flea market sweater and the Muroexe Materia boots.

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Here, some smart porridge for your brain:

1. While I find all the textile innovation news cute – such as Candiani Creates First Biodegradable Stretch Denim – I am so much more into the reduction and true recycling as in making stuff from not virgin materials, preferably not even grinding/melting it down beforehand. So you can understand my complete love for Patagonia’s ReCrafted: (a) These Are Clothes Made From Other Clothes; (b) the workshop that does it for them in LA, Suay; and the final products (c) Patagonia ReCrafted Collection. Obviously, this excitement just shows how rare reusing materials has become and the price tags on these new things is an honest reflection of the complexity of the job. It is much easier to make stuff from new materials…

2. Yay, there are limits to shameless copying! Nirvana is bigger than Marc Jacobs: Marc Jacobs Can’t Kick Nirvana Lawsuit as Court Refuses to Dismiss the Trademark / Copyright Case.

3. In case you needed a reminder why e-commerce is mostly an inefficient garbage nightmare: China faces waste hangover after Singles’ Day buying binge.

4. I present to you a new heroine for your fashion altar – Sandy Schreier – with a wondrously random story of how a couture collection might start: The Met’s Next Big Fashion Show Comes From One Little-Known Woman.

5. Surprise! Instagram Is Great for Models. It’s Also Good for Predators.

6. Although Boris is old news by now, the analysis of his dressing is also an analysis of the man (explaining both his rise and fall): ‘As a longtime fan of P.G. Wodehouse and Chaucer, and a student of history, Mr. Johnson surely understands the way bumbling plays in both the public mind and the British character narrative. […] He doesn’t just break the boring old rules, he blows raspberries at them.’ Extra points for comparing him with the Duchess of Devonshire feeding her chickens in an evening gown.

7. And a complementary explanation from George linking it all back to particular educational practices: ‘Boarding school, a peculiarly British form of abuse, has devastating impacts not only on the boarders, but on those they grow up to dominate.’

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What I was writing about a year ago: Book review: The Joy of Less. While most of what Francine is saying reads like commonplace now, it wasn’t so in 2010. So it makes sense to revisit one of the first voices of this wave of minimalism.

What I was writing about two years ago: The Pink Post: Instrumental and subversive uses of the traditionally feminine.

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w46 + Sunday links. Also wore this week: Veja Arcade sneakers, Veja Wata Pierre sneakers, and the Street One jacket.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w46 + Sunday links. Still wearing: Veja Arcade sneakers, my mom’s Zara trench, and the Portuguese cape.

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Yeah, the cold weather is *in*, unclear if to call this autumn or winter, though… but the change was swift, and those Monday bare legs are unimaginable on Sunday.

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Your brain will burp and say thanks afterwards:

1. While I don’t feel that puffer jackets are somehow ‘recent trend’, that Charles James satin evening puffer from the 1930s is my discovery of the day: A Brief History of the Puffer Jacket and How the puffer jacket took over the world.

2. Surprise, surprise! This is what we need consulting/research companies for: Buying Clothes Doesn’t Really Make People Happy Anymore, Says Morgan Stanley. Well, if have finally ‘reached peak happiness with clothing purchases’, maybe we can now focus on something more important… In additional d-oh! news: Fashion addiction: expensive clothes hid my loneliness – then I gave 90% of them away.

3. I want to be like George when I grow up: ‘A few hours after this column is published, I hope to be in a police cell. I don’t yet know what the charge will be, where I will be arrested or when, but I know that if I go home this evening without feeling the hand of the law on my sleeve, I will have failed.’ Being like Jane is also OK with me: Jane Fonda got arrested 4 Fridays in a row. This week, there was ice cream.

4. I’m not sure if I’m convinced (and it falls in all the usual fallacies when trying to compare ‘now’ with ‘all the previous time’) but the research question is an interesting one: The 2010s Broke Our Sense Of Time.

5. And in the ‘how to survive winter’ news (because it is clearly a whole genre): (a) The Norwegian Secret To Enjoying A Long Winter; (b) How to Win at Winter, Scandinavian Style; (c) How to survive the winter: the expert guide to staying warm, healthy and happy; and the cutest of them all which resonates also with my (childhood) experiences (d) Winter is the season of my childhood. I’m glad it’s nearly here. Also, 7 Fabrics To Keep You Warm This Winter.

6. Bernadette Banner is my new internet love and role model! Liisa sent me a link to her Buying a Knockoff of My Own Dress: An Educated Roast, and down the youtube rabbit hole I went. Highly recommended for both entertainment, aesthetic and educational purposes.

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What I was writing about a year ago: KonMari experience: Mara. Ever wondered how would it be to do a KonMari tidying festival with a consultant guiding you through it? There you have it… Also, ♥

What I was writing about two years ago: #100wears: Ginta’s gray cardigan. The sturdiest form fitting cardigan I’ve ever known… RIP 2012-2019. I’m still looking for an equivalent…

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w45 + Sunday links. Still wearing this week: Street One jacket, Zara-swap cardigan, my mom’s gingham dress, and Veja Wata sneakers.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w45 + Sunday links. Also wore this week: Street One jacket, red flea sweater, and Veja Arcade sneakers.

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Here, a spoonful of brain-food:

1. The Color of Protest: ‘Imagine a world where you couldn’t wear black. Where would that leave the beatniks and the goths? The Audrey Hepburn-wannabes? Where would it leave the fashion folk, and all the social and cultural groups that have seized on the color as an identifier thanks to its long-term associations with … well, take your pick … darkness, existential angst, artistic endeavor, intimidation, obscurity, rigor, efficiency, mystery, depression and sophistication? Where would it leave the protesters?’ Also, China bans exports of black clothing to Hong Kong amid protests; all mailings to city ‘severely investigated’, courier firm worker says and In Addition to Banning Face Masks, the Chinese Government Has Been Blocking the Shipment of Black Clothing to Hong Kong.

2. Post-industrialism alright: Men Will Lose the Most Jobs to Robots, and That’s OK.

3. Here, get to know Greta better: “We Are Striking to Disrupt the System”: An Hour with 16-Year-Old Climate Activist Greta Thunberg.

4. On (now deceased) attempts of manufacturing cool: Was the Gap Ever Cool? A Look at 50 Years in Denim and Khaki.

5. A basic reminder of what greenwashing is (and how we are surrounded by that shit): (in Spanish) Greenwashing, ¿y eso, qué es?

6. The coat season is here for the menswear blogs: (a) Style & Fashion Drawings: Ideally Enough Coats; (b) The Nearly Forgotten Balmacaan; and (c) The Other Kind of Slip-On.

7. And a little fun story of one woman’s home sewing becoming a hat brand: The History of Stormy Kromer and the Iconic Winter Hat.

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What I was writing about a year ago: #100wears: Rayon shorts. On those wardrobe champions that are both outerwear and underwear…

What I was writing about two years ago: Curating the 100% comfort wardrobe. Me suggesting to adopt garments and give them a trial period because you’ll never know after just trying something on.

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w44 + Sunday links. I was also wearing back then: the Street One jacket, the red flea market sweater, Veja Wata Pierre, Zara-Swap cardigan.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w44 + Sunday links. Repeating this week: the Street One jacket and WAG skirt.

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Orden a Tres podcast

This week on your favorite KonMari™ podcast in Spanish – Orden a Tres, of course – we talk about time and how the method can be applied to its use too: Ep. 13 KonMari más allá de los objetos: Tiempo. You can also listen us on Spotify and Stitcher, and iTunes.

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And now for something completely different,

1. For a bunch of fun Sunday reading, Autostraddle has a series on ‘queer women they didn’t teach you about in history class‘. Both educational and entertaining, my favorites include: (a) The Gay Love Stories of Moomin and the Queer Radicality of Tove Jansson because I was living completely oblivious to the apparently well-known fact that this beloved author had had a life-long partner she wrote into her work; (b) Rebel Girls: Bessie Smith Was a Queer Pioneer, and We’re Finally Gonna Get to Talk About It, because, well, Bessie Smith (also, the TV movie mentioned is this one); (c) I was still taught the ‘38 bystanders‘ stuff in my undergrad, so Kitty Genovese’s Murder: Everything You Know About The “38 Bystanders” Is Wrong; and, although I thought that the potential of nunneries as places of intellectual and sexual emancipation was obvious, (d) Swords, Satan and Sexuality: Queer Nuns of the Past. And the historical vocabulary offered is hilarious: Gal Pals In History: 8 Ways To Avoid Using The Words “Lesbian” or “Bisexual”. Yes, a toast to all those ‘close friends and devoted companions’!

2. Gaming’s #MeToo Moment and the Tyranny of Male Fragility. I highly recommend Sady Doyle’s Trainwreck for a lot of in-depth analysis of the internet misogyny among other things.

3. I kept doubting about this one, but, here, you have it and decide for yourself: The Native American Designers Behind Ginew Are Redefining Americana. Is self-appropriation possible? How about all the sides of packaging your culture for sale to others? Or is just basic authenticity that my tired eyes are unable to recognize?

4. Some iconic ‘costumes’ are so basic you could be wearing one right now: Alternative Style Icon: Howling Mad Murdock of the A-Team.

5. Two references to County Donegal appeared on my feeds simultaneously, so it must mean something: County Donegal and its Tweed and Exploring Ards Forest Park in Lighthouse.

6. Yvon lives under the same cognitive dissonance of not being able to stop trying while knowing that we’re f*cked alrght: Exclusive: Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard talks about the sustainability myth, the problem with Amazon—and why it’s not too late to save the planet.

7. And Halloween as an entry point in education about fast fashion might be a smart idea: (a) Scariest thing about Halloween is plastic waste, say charities; (b) Don’t Let The Scariest Thing About Your Costume Be How It Was Made; and (c) Haulternatives for a Waste-free Halloween.

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What I was writing about a year ago: Fix it! No Pasarán jacket and the ruffle blouse. That magical transformation of one little jacket…

What I was writing about two years ago: Educational afternoon: The True Cost and Upcycling Barcelona. The recap of Un Armario Verde’s one and only purely education activity so far. I have realized that I need hand-on action to feel satisfied about my activism.

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w43 + Sunday links. Was wearing also then: the Zara-Humana cardigan (only now it’s embroidered all over), Veja Wata Pierre sneakers, that upgraded Street One No Pasarán jacket, my mom’s gingham dress, my mom’s birds-and-flowers skirt, Liisa’s lace top, the #memade beige skirt. Oh, a lot indeed… my autumn wardrobe seems pretty much the same as a year ago.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w43 + Sunday links + Old #ootd. Also back then: the Street One jacket + you can also see the t-shirt that became the No Pasarán applique.

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As for the little gray cells, here:

1. Talking about uniforms not only as a strategy for reducing the decision fatigue but also as a marketing strategy: What Political Branding Looks Like. And then comes ‘fashion diplomacy’ to whom I’ve, apparently, arrived late… and how chosing the blandest possible things can be a countermove when everybody is watching and interpreting: (a) The Death of Fashion Diplomacy; (b) On the Fourth of July, Melania Trump Dresses for Independence; (c) Melania Trump’s Say-Nothing State Dinner Dress; and (d) Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Political Cost of Hair.

2. Well, at least coincidentally (as in: not purposefully) it seems to be a bit less male-dominated affair now: Women Are Defining Paris Couture.

3. I consider myself responsible for distributing as widely as possible every article that explains why Academia is a bad place for people, so (in Spanish) El coste mental de la carrera investigadora.

4. Pay attention to the words and where they point: This Is Not the Sixth Extinction. It’s the First Extermination Event. Also, (in Spanish) Así será el “siglo infernal”: por qué la crisis climática “es mucho peor de lo que imaginas”.

5. Obviously, 1 year since ‘Me Too’, Karnataka garment factory workers say harassment continues. And the usual ‘getting out of absolute poverty is good but not good enough’ stuff: The rise and rise of Bangladesh – but is life getting any better?

6. I keep reading about the ‘only wear once’ thing again and again so it must be true although I cannot understand it: One & Done: Why Do People Ditch Their Clothes After Just One Wear? and Kardashian Kloset: A Pros and Cons List.

7. This also whiffs of hypocrisy and speciesim of ‘skin yes, fluffy skin no’ but hey algo es algo: California becomes the first state to ban fur products and California Just Became the First State to Ban the Manufacture, Sale of Fur Products, and The California Fur Ban and What It Means for You (hint, hint: not much).

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What I was writing about a year ago: The urge to acquire. An invitation to sit back and observe when the ‘I want new things’ voice appears inside you… based on a true story.

What I was writing about two years ago: #100wears: Veja Taua. All time favorite sneakers, I’m now wearing my 4th and 5th pair.

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w42 + Sunday links. Also wearing this week: only Veja Wata Pierre sneakers. Apparently, it was colder last year around this time.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w42 + Sunday links. Repeating: my mom’s dark blue silk dress. Continuing with the fur ban, that also was the week when I got very pissed about the false controversy caused by people who ‘decide’ that ‘vegan’ leather being an unsustainable oil-derived substance makes fur and leather ‘ethical’… Bah! You can find my rage in the link section.

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Where do you stand on the plastic vs. animal products debate? What arguments move you the most? And what do you practice (and I hereby acknowledge that practices and values rarely align perfectly)?

A detail A: The weather shock coming from Latvian October into Barcelona October lasted a couple of days. And started with having to take off the cape, the hat, the gloves, the cardigan… and tights upon arrival:

A detail B: And I finally acted upon my urge to pick up textile garbage that idiots leave beside the containers. This was a pretty and promising one, so a good clean start into textile dumpster diving! I got a couple of tops out of it and a whole haul – after I’ve bleached those sweat stains that probably got them discarded out of them – for the next swap we’ll be exploring… This one, btw.

A PSA for the thick ones: Textile garbage in Barcelona goes into the orange containers. All Punt Verd stations will either have a container or just take you bag. And all Humana shops will take it. Do not just leave it on the street! There is enough garbage going around already… and I’m not always around to save it!

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Orden a Tres podcast

This week in your favorite – and the only one of its kind – podcast in *Spanish* dedicated to all things Marie Kondo, we talk about relationships: Ep. 12 KonMari más allá de los objetos: Relaciones. You can also listen us on Spotify and Stitcher, and iTunes.

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As for the brain food and reading matter,

1. Let’s start with some science (and all the chemistry equations you wanted for your Sunday afternoon): Demystifying ocean acidification and biodiversity impacts. I know, I know, but it’s important…

2. Only this week, pretty randomly and quite late, I came across one of the pioneering work in the capsule wardrobe universe, Donna Karan‘s Seven Easy Pieces or ‘Essentials’. Although the whole thing is steeped into 1980’s notion of beauty, career women and femininity, the idea that 7 (!) considered and compatible pieces can carry one throughout day and night is very cool. The whole thing is built on a bodysuit + layers formula, and is pretty genius if you like bodysuits… Here, (a) Now You Know: The Evolution of Donna Karan’s Seven Easy Pieces and (b) Donna Karan Names Her Favorite Seven Pieces of Her Career. You could easily replicate this and then be able to say that you capsule is Donna Karan inspired…

Donna Karan’s Seven Easy Pieces at MoMA’s “Is Fashion Modern?” exhibit by Quartz/Marc Bain.

3. And for more fashion theory and history, quite some time Liliana recommended a Coursera course from MoMA on her FB page… and now I have finally enrolled in Fashion as Design. So you might be getting an even more obscure references and reading pieces than before. To begin, Bernard Rudofsky’s 1944 exhibition “Are Clothes Modern?” (I have talked a bit about his stuff before here) and a brief glimpse at 2011 MoMa exhibition Is Fashion Modern? guided by its curator.

4. For those wanting more fashion history – or smart enough to contribute a wiki-resource of fashion history, Fashion History Timeline: A hub for fashion research from State University of New York Fashion Institute of Technology.

5. A reminder to all activists, especially Extinction Rebellion… although when it comes to climate crisis protests, the logic that Ta-Nehisi Coates describes might not be a perfect fit: Civil-Rights Protests Have Never Been Popular, hopefully…

6. These are old scandals by the criteria of the 24-hour media cycle but I’ve been thinking about them this week… and cultural (mis)appropriation is an ongoing thing: (a) on the very short cycle of consumer outrage and forgetfulness, The Resurrection of Dolce & Gabbana; and the Carolina Herrera vs Mexico debacle (b) (in Spanish) México acusa a Carolina Herrera de apropiación cultural por su colección más reciente, and (c) Homage or Theft? Carolina Herrera Called Out by Mexican Minister where Vanessa Friedman dixit about the new caution surrounding cultural appropriation: ‘The natural end result of this particular trend, after all, is that designers and the brands they work for become so worried about offending that they cease to look at the world outside, defining their aesthetic ever more narrowly. Their own experience becomes their sole creative fodder. And that serves neither them nor us. It does not lead to new ways of being in an ever-evolving world. It leads to stasis. Fashion, more than most industries, was founded on the principle of cultural cross-pollination. Like most cross-pollination, it has produced astonishing, illuminating results. That it did so in a way that ill served some of those involved is unquestionable. That it needs to rethink its practices and systems so everyone has a seat at the table is also not in doubt. (…) The question is whether, once the authority of a government minister is added to the pressure of the crowd, it is already too late?’

7. I really enjoy it when even the usually expensive stuff loving menswear blogs get annoyed: Cucinelli’s New Kids Collection Is The Most Ridiculous Thing Ever.

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What I was writing about a year ago: Beyond repair: sports bra and blue leggings. Learning to admit that there is a point of bye-bye, followed by a trip to the orange container. Or, well, rags and trapillo yarn or sth.

What I was writing about two years ago: Autumn capsule = 3 months and 7 dresses. Wearing only 7 dresses for all that autumn was fun indeed…

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w41 + Sunday links. Also wearing this week: Veja Wata Pierre sneakers, Veja Arcade sneakers, Humana-Zara ruffle top, swap-Zara cardigan, and Liisa’s black top…

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w41 + Sunday links. And still relevant: Veja Arcade sneakers…

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Do you ever pick up garbage from the street? Or are you the one leaving it on the street hoping I’ll pass by and pick it up? Do you think it’s a reasonable system for exchange of goods?

How it looked at the moment:

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Orden a Tres podcast

We are often bewitched by what we are not that good at, right? So this week on Orden a Tres you will get us, three far from perfect KonMari™ consultants, talking about the importance of self-care… As always, in Spanish: Ep. 11 Hablemos de auto-cuidado. You can also listen us on Spotify and Stitcher, and – finally! – iTunes.

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And for the little gray cells,

1. This week you get a special section on (mostly) men’s undergarments: (a) A Brief History of Men’s Underwear; (b) Winter Undie-land: A Brief History of Long Underwear; (c) Union suit; (d) The Unlikely Return Of White Socks; (e) Laughing at the Robes.

2. In the ‘cute but unlikely to scale projects’ uplifting press releases section, Great Green Wall and (in Spanish) leather substitute made from nopal.

3. Leave it to George to remind you who your class enemies are: ‘Immense wealth translates automatically into immense environmental impacts, regardless of the intentions of those who possess it. The very wealthy, almost as a matter of definition, are committing ecocide.’

4. Basic sustainability advice applied: make do (Extending the life of electronics by a year equivalent to taking millions of cars off the road) and try to make something else out of your garbage (7 Creative Ways to Upcycle Your Old Clothes).

5. On that romantic mist surrounding certain garments: ‘“Utilitarian” is probably an inappropriate concept for this discussion, except in our shared #menswear fantasies of rus in urbe. No one today really needs shoes whose construction has the butch origin story required for #menswear fantasies.’

6. On how purity, perfection and 100% coherence is impossible, and how people attempting any kind of sustainability have to embrace this fact or perish under the weight of our conscience: (in Spanish) La coherencia es una trampa.

7. A piece of satire proposing that we are at peak sartorial tolerance hence making any effort at shocking ‘the gray mass’ futile: Area Men Struggle To Find New Ways To Freak Out Squares.

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What I was writing about a year ago: After 9 months of the big spreadsheet. Ah, the rule of dry facts…

What I was writing about two years ago: (after the fourth swap) September Clothes’ Swap Recap.

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w40 + Sunday links. And not repeating anything this week because of weather differences involved…

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w40 + Sunday links. Hah, actually Veja Arcade and the pearl earrings are being repeated, so that weather argument loses a bit of its power…

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Do you agree with the assertion that nothing shocks people anymore fashion-wise? Have you ever dressed with the purpose of shocking and provoking? Still doing so?

How it looked at the moment:

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Orden a Tres podcast

In this week’s episode of your favorite KonMari-dedicated podcast in Spanish we talk about life with animals… and how the Marie Kondo logic applies to them: Ep. 10 KonMari™ más allá de los objetos: Mascotas. You can also listen us on Spotify and Stitcher, and – finally! – iTunes.

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And now for the brain:

1. In March 1960 somebody at Observer had the bizarre idea to ask Simone de Beauvoir about ‘her attitude to fashion and how she chooses her clothes’, despite her telling them that ‘I am not at all interested in clothes […] I have so many other things to think about, so many other interests that they are not at all on my mind.’

2. A kind reminder that separating our garbage in some imaginary neat categories does not mean that it gets converted into something new. In many occasions we just piss off the workers of the recycling plants and break their equipment: (a) (for USA) Plastics: What’s Recyclable, What Becomes Trash — And Why and (b) (for Catalunya) Residu, on vas?

3. Consumption patterns as clear reflections of wider sociodemographic trends: Architecture Professor Explains Why Malls Are Dying.

4. ‘Going carbon neutral’ is mostly greenwashing for the big brands… Gucci Says it Will be Completely Carbon Neutral by the End of September and Kering Says its “Entire Group” is Going Carbon Neutral. Here’s What That Means… + a reminder that if a vendor/brand looks all boho, ecletic and/or vintage, it doesn’t mean a thing as the sustainability credentials go: How Ethical is Anthropologie?

5. When menswear blogs recommend a woman’s movie wardrobe for its use of menswear: Inspiration From Emma Thompson In Late Night.

6. In the mental health corner, A Perfect Mess: Black Swan (dir. Darren Aronofsky, 2010) and (in Spanish) Mi depresión nunca fue mía (o 5 cosas que he aprendido sobre salud mental).

7. The kind of fashion editorials I can get behind (because comfy and practical = ultimate good): My Fashion Fantasy is Napping and Get An Overcoat This Fall.

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What I was writing about a year ago: Fix it! WAG skirt and lace undershirt. My adventures in fixing… few accomplishments make me as proud as prolonging a garments life!

What I was writing about two years ago: Summer 2017 capsule ins and outs.

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w39 + Sunday links. Wearing also this week: only the pearl earrings as end of September in Rīga and Moscow is a very different affair than in Barcelona.

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w39 + Sunday links. Again, repeating only pearls, because, well, it’s not really sandal weather here…

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I had the interesting experience of wearing my mom’s rather formal (for my standards) coat throughout our Moscow trip… interesting indeed, made me think… no conclusions yet but certainly felt different. What are your relationships with formal/adult clothing? Do you wear it? Do you enjoy it? Are there external circumstances (like, ehm, jobs) that make you wear suits, pencil skirts, white blouses, etc. serious adult garments?

A detail: Above you see the Barcelona part of this week… then I planned my suitcase,

Packed it suitcase full of winter stuff…

To get two weeks of Latvian and Russian autumn:

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Orden a Tres podcast

This week at Orden a Tres podcast we talk about plants and their role in the KonMari™ universe – Ep. 9 KonMari™ más allá de los objetos: Plantas. You can also listen us on Spotify and Stitcher, and iTunes.

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And for the gray cells:

1. Laurie Penny seeing the silver lining (whisper: fanfic will save the world) – We Can Be Heroes: How the Nerds Are Reinventing Pop Culture.

2. An obituary to department stories as places of beauty and longing: The Slow Death of Glamour. As for the present, A 7-Year Old Fashion Rental Company is Buying 193-Year Old Lord & Taylor.

3. When the purists see the irony that can be found among them: “Can’t Wait To See How This Breaks In,” Says Man Who Buys New Clothes Every Week. Meanwhile, you can still – unironically – learn about traditional Japanese hand-dyeing methods, mourn that Levi’s is No Longer Producing Any 501 Jeans in America, and worship Japanese denim: A Rare Visit to Kapital, Japan’s Denim Paradise.

4. The twisted realities of the influencer culture: Are the Most Valuable Brand Endorsements Free? Well, at least this one makes certain intuitive sense.

5. The status quo of the fashion industry? (a) The 76-Year-Long Evolution of New York Fashion Week; (b) The Denim Industry Needs to Find the Innovation Thread: Heritage labels face threats from the athleisure trend and growing demand for sustainable fashion; (c) It’s too late for ethical fashion: A sustainability expert explains that progress in the industry is cancelled out by the rate at which the fashion economy is speeding up; (d) Forever 21’s Expected Bankruptcy Filing Does Not Mark the Fall of Fast Fashion; (e) I can’t believe people still do the surprised ‘I just discovered the ills of fast fashion’ books and articles… but here you have another one only because it introduces the notion of ‘fashion bulimia’ (I’m unsure what the survivors of eating disorders think of this but it is a powerful reframing): The environment and economy are paying the price for fast fashion — but there’s hope.

6. When gestures interpreted as sustainable became hip and sociologically weird: How Fancy Water Bottles Became a 21st-Century Status Symbol and Too Much of a Good Thing (on the mysterious multiplication of canvas totes).

7. I am really longing for some serious disruption, like this: Grounded. I just don’t yet have the courage to do it myself…

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What I was writing about a year ago: September Swap (7th!) recap. Contains the swap to-do list that typically gets me in a knot and then I write these post-swap rants… I thought about maybe toning it down a bit for this week’s recap, but then decided that truth will make us free and maybe even prevent post-swap migraines (I’ve had only one in my life and that was after a swap).

What I was writing about two years ago: Six months of blogging and adjusting expectations. Oh, all those shattered expectations about going immediately viral… or shall we call it a strong belief in the quality of my content?!

What I was wearing a year ago: #whatiwore 2018w38 + Sunday links. Also wore this week: the WAG skirt and the Zara-Humana ruffle blouse (from this ‘I really really want to buy sth’ occasion a year ago).

What I was wearing two years ago: #whatiwore 2017w38. Repeated this week: my mom’s gingham dress, pearl earrings and the DIY mixed ‘pearl’ necklace.

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Can you help but roll your eyes at the n-th media fast fashion outrage discovery moment? Please, dear people, it’s 2019, everybody knows… maybe not the details but the big picture is ignored only thanks to cognitive dissonance. I know, I know, you never know which piece of information will penetrate the defenses of somebody but it just gets painfully repetitive. I just find it hard to believe that there are still editors who would pay for a general ‘everything is wrong in fast fashion’ coverage. Dude, infiltrate, do profound qualitative work, do in-depth coverage of the alternatives, do something new, please!

Feed the little gray cells:

1. OK, the retail might be working very hard to reinvent itself, but this is just weird: “Going to a store […] should feel like going to a hotel or resort, where you are taking away a memory because you are touched by an emotion you want to revisit […] As a retailer, this means “you are not serving a person who needs an item,” […] You are serving a person who needs an experience”: Libraries, Gardens, Museums. Oh, and a Clothing Store.

2. When the way how we use our body parts change, also this happens: Surgery students ‘losing dexterity to stitch patients’. Apparently stitcher robots are not really here yet…

3. And the other reason to praise – or at least explain the surge of – the hands-on crafts is their mental health benefits (in Spanish): Las manualidades son el nuevo yoga para la paz mental: Lettering.

4. George Monbiot got on the quit meat bandwagon only after imagining animal-less meat. Here’s another sprinkle of his futuristic excitement, in this case about synthesizing all food: “a group of Finnish researchers has been producing food without either animals or plants. Their only ingredients are hydrogen-oxidising bacteria, electricity from solar panels, a small amount of water, carbon dioxide drawn from the air, nitrogen and trace quantities of minerals such as calcium, sodium, potassium and zinc. The food they have produced is 50 to 60% protein, the rest is carbohydrate and fat. […] They use electricity from solar panels to electrolyse water, producing hydrogen, that feeds bacteria (which turn it back into water). Unlike other forms of microbial protein (such as Quorn), it requires no carbohydrate feedstock – in other words, no plants.”

5. Lessons from the plastic-free people (in Spanish): Tres años viviendo sin plástico and – with focus on our unwillingness to trouble others – Sin plástico y sin vergüenza.

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What I was writing about a year ago: How to Survive *Winter* in Barcelona.

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2017w47 + Sunday links.

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What are the sustainability practices that make you feel like a burden? Asking to weight your own containers at the bulk bins? Telling that you don’t eat this, this, this, and that at a social gathering? Asking where and under what conditions was this made? Having to lie about what you did with people’s last year’s presents?

The best brain food for the best people:

1. Mid-term elections in US, Melania Trump’s fashion choices, Michelle Obama’s book tour, and the season 6 of House of Cards have brought a series of NYT articles (♥ Vanessa Friedman) on the meaning of dress while in office: (a) Melania Trump: Out of Africa, Still in Costume, (b) The First Female President Will Not Carry a Handbag, (c) Dressing Michelle Obama, Then and Now, and (d) The Congressional Uniform Is About to Change.

2. And these two weird-for-me articles (trigger warnings for restrictive beauty standards and class bias) speak to the same interaction between appearance and how people treat one in line with their reading of our appearances: Why do attractive people dress well? I interviewed a random stranger to find out and How to become an International Woman of Mystery.

3. Can you beat Bill Gates’ score on this climate change quiz? And after that, Climate change and the 75% problem. Major takeaway points: cut meat and dairy, reduce your consumption of new things, rethink all those internet purchases, think about making your dwelling more energy efficient…

4. The McKinsey report about how ‘nearshoring’ – still outsourcing to cheaper places but doing it closer so that the production would shorten even more the sketch-to-shelf cycle – is the new business-smart thing to do fashion popped up in my feeds again (this was the first time): In an age of super-fast fashion, Mexico and Turkey may be the new China. Ugh, when relatively good things happen for the wrong reasons…

5. This: Please Stop Clearing Out Your Wardrobe In The Name Of Sustainability. Again and again, every conversation about sustainability has to begin with the fact that the most sustainable thing to do is to wear out things you already have, even if they came from fast fashion brands that you now loathe. Paradoxically enough, wearing your fast fashion stuff a lot is a way of sticking it to them! My advice on this, here – Baby Steps: Detoxing A Wardrobe Takes Time.

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What I was writing about a year ago: The Pink Post: Instrumental and subversive uses of the traditionally feminine.

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2017w46 + Sunday links.

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Have you had to curb your impulse to throw away anything that said H’n’M or Zara on it after your first exposure to problems with fast fashion? What did you do? Do you happily pick up fast fashion items at swaps or second hand shops or do you shun them? Do you ever think about this paradox of you wearing and hence representing a brand you do not agree with at all while doing the most sustainable thing possible in giving the most possible wears to their garments?

Brain food, brain food, what a good idea:

1. Urbanism and fashion industry, oh, yes: Is NYC’s garment district unraveling? and How Manhattan Became a Rich Ghost Town. And, in similar vein, some innovation in how to get their fashion to people (still moving parcels around but at least not with new garments): WeWork Is Getting Into Workplace Fashion With Rent the Runway.

2. Today is the Best Time in Fashion: “Fashion has become closer to modern art. Whereas both forms were once ruled by strict classical ideas, the space is now free with untrammeled creativity and multidirectional experimentation, where people can both celebrate beauty as well as ideas that challenge traditional notions of beauty.”

3. When politics and ethical/sustainable fashion might or might not come together: Made in USA and the Rise of Nationalism.

4. What the ultrarich do if they have similar long term vision of future as I do: How tech’s richest plan to save themselves after the apocalypse.

5. Structural disadvantages in the industry: The Most Diverse Fashion Season Ever on the Runway, but Not the Front Row and What it’s really like to be black and work in fashion.

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What I was writing about a year ago – #100wears: Ginta’s gray cardigan.

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2017w45 + Sunday links.

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The weather is confusing, there is a lot of work (at work, ha), the blog is a bit backlogged, and my links are very USA-centric. Yes. How are you do doing?

Ho-ho-ho, brain food for everybody!

1. I am so not gen-Z, I have no intuitive understanding of the streetwear aesthetics. Hence, (a) The Season of Peak Sneaker Silliness, (b) How America Became a Nation of Yoga Pants, and (c) Is the Streetwear Bubble About to Burst?

2. Because time by time you just need a tongue-in-cheek anarchist essay: The Abolition of Work by Bob Black.

3. And a reminder that gender has always been what people made of it: A Brief History of Unisex Fashion + a contemporary high fashion example: Céline, Hedi Slimane, and the Grown-Up Woman.

4. And one of the beautiful contingencies when technology and new social mores attached to them push away the old: How Cycling Clothing Opened Doors for Women + a contemporary experiment (mentioned in the article) that shows how far we’ve gone since then: Bikes and Bloomers.

5. And this stuff that I’ve never really understood – Hermès CEO: “People Still Want Things That Not a Lot of People Can Get”.

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What I was writing about a year ago: Curating the 100% comfort wardrobe.

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2017w44 + Sunday links.

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What are the trends that you do not understand? Does it make you feel old or just out of touch, or just proudly individual? Are your arguments more about (a) lack of practicality, (b) ridicule, or (c) sheer ugliness?

Here, feed the brain:

1. While most articles about uniform dressing emphasize reduction of decision fatigue and tech millionaires, this 2014 piece turns the argument on its head and talks about uniforms as ‘a stance against trends’ and ‘a consistent recognizable foundation’: The Case for Uniforms. The most inspirational example mentioned is Diane Pernet from A Shaded View on Fashion.

2. On disinhibited creation: Why you should make useless things.

3. I’m such a sucker for ‘look at this person who single-handedly and with great dignity revived an old industry and is doing great’, so: A Legacy of Production at Valley Oak Wool & Fiber Mill. Also, the microscopic-precision handiwork for high fashion as a solution for the youth unemployment (and stupid non-jobs of the digital economy): Teenagers, Forget Engineering. Your Future Is Craft.

4. And I cannot resist a detailed history of a classic and local working class garment when boy fashionistas are fangirling about them: The Other Fisherman Sweater.

5. For our scary future section, How to edit a human. This one comes with a side dish of the dirty business that science often is, in this case making clear also the difference in opportunities for worldwide recognition that funding/location bring to labs and research groups, or how a bunch of genius Lithuanians won’t ever get a Nobel.

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What I was writing about a year ago: An Educational afternoon – The True Cost and Upcycling Barcelona.

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2017w43 + Sunday links + Old #ootd.

Other old posts you might enjoy: Adventures of the spring 2017 capsule and The wardrobe ins and outs of spring 2017.

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Do you have any favorite type of stories among the sustainability usuals? Are you more touched by stories of independent wool farmers in West or underprivileged women’s cooperatives in South? Materials, dyes, sewing – which stories you save for special weekend moments of enjoyment? Share some of your favorites, please.

The Friday outfit is a story of comfort vs. stupid ideas about what’s appropriate… That hoodie, well, actually two of those – organic cotton, made in India, stamped with the corporate identity of the company C works for – appeared in our home after a work event that C went to. First I tried to get him to discard both of them because ‘you don’t need them’, then I accepted that he really was using it around the house, then I started to wear the other one myself noting how warm and fluffy it is… and on Friday I went out on the street with it.
Only to the swimming pool and back, and it was raining, but I had sworn to myself not to wear this one outside… But knowing winters in Barcelona and how all I want to wear to the pool – and that’s three times a week and just down the block – is something comfy and adequate for weather, it will now be my gym uniform. And it has a hood to make up for my unwillingness to blow dry my hair. A win for the ‘relax and be casual’ team.

Lesson learnt I consider myself a tiny step closer to: Letting go, of course, and following the sirens of comfort.

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Now that you are all comfy, under a blanket and with a cup of warm something, here:

1. The typical reminders of all the offshoring problems and onshoring complexities: Why Is It So Hard for Clothing Manufacturers to Pay a Living Wage? and American Manufacturing Doesn’t Have to Die. And just to put a sinister spin on that, out of the Dark side a big consulting company: Is apparel manufacturing coming home? The ironic part is that for them – and people they serve – it’s not about ethics but about a balance between production/shipping costs and timing. So their conclusion is that producing in Mexico for US market or Turkey for EU market makes a lot of sense (and customers love it, too) but not really on situ production, that would be waaay too expensive…

2. In the news of ‘animals we are not exploiting yet that have a great potential’- New Artificial Spider Silk: Stronger Than Steel and 98 Percent Water. Be calm, it’s about replicating ‘the spider technology’ not cramming masses of spiders together and making them work for us, no, we do that mostly with mammals, humans and otherwise, not spiders. Not yet, at least.

3. History time! And about the seasonal wares, no less. The Trench Coat: Before, During, and After the Trenches and From Cavalry to Coco Chanel: The Cardigan Unbuttoned.

4. To bring you back – or for the first time – to William Morris and ‘Some Hints on Pattern-Designing‘ (1881) among his other writings, here are some guidelines from him:

“We ought to get to understand the value of intelligent work, the work of men’s hands guided by their brains, and to take that, though it be rough, rather than the unintelligent work of machines or slaves, though it be delicate;
to refuse altogether to use machine-made work unless where the nature of the thing made compels it, or where the machine does what mere human suffering would otherwise have to do;
to have a high standard of excellence in wares and not to accept makeshifts for the real thing, but rather to go without;
to have no ornament merely for fashion’s sake, but only because we really think it beautiful, otherwise to go without it;
not to live in an ugly and squalid place (such as London) for the sake of mere excitement or the like, but only because our duties bind us to it;
to treat the natural beauty of the earth as a holy thing not to be rashly dealt with for any consideration;
to treat with the utmost care whatever of architecture and the like is left us of the times of art.

I deny that it can ever be our own to do as we like with; it is the property of the world, that we hold in trust for those that come after us.”

5. And I encourage you, yes, repeatedly, to do some pattern play. It’s not 19th century anymore and any basic image editing software can bring you and your doodles a lot of joy. Here is one way to do it: Pattern Play with Jeanetta: How to Create a Pattern in the style of William Morris. As a proof, my 5-minute pattern from mandalas that were in my 2017 agenda:

Or how this:

Becomes that:

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What I was writing about a year ago: #100wears: Veja Taua… Oh, I miss them dearly! And I am stalking some random leftover pairs on Amazon hoping they will still be there when my October salary comes in. Those sneakers were so good, I’m now ready to buy two new pairs and just have them sitting in my wardrobe waiting for the current Wata to wear out. After three pairs worn to shreds, I think that’s an informed decision.

What I was wearing a year ago (see how many items coincide!): #whatiwore 2017w42 + Sunday links.

Other old posts you might enjoy: We shall swap again and May Swap recap.

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Have you had any comfort vs. ‘propriety’ dilemmas or insights lately? Which one do you typically gravitate towards?