make-up

Yes, this is still the same blog... just did a little make-over... less eye clutter the better right now.

paper fashion

Now this isn't exactly fashion, but it's more about patterns... French Paper is a paper mill, yes. I found this company (via design*sponge) and because it's a Michigan company, I got really happy and couldn't resist posting about it. It's family owned and operated, not to mention, everything runs on hydroelectric power. Talk about reshaping an industry...

Also, a designer who uses this paper mill has lovely prints available on etsy here. I wish this was fabric so I could recover my couch in it!

Knit Picks

This Saturday, November 3, we are having a Purl Jam Knitting Circle in the Fish House! Come at 8:00 PM and bring needles or crochet hooks if you have them... if you don't, it's okay.

This site is for inspiration.

the milky way

Meg from Faking Good Breeding has a thoughtful post on the lack of diversity in the modeling world titled Whitewashed Runways. This is so interesting in light of the recent Vogue India release - the first cover? Gemma Ward (white and blonde) front-and-center flanked by two Indian models.

Catapult magazine

The newest issue of the online magazine Catapult is all about "Dressing Up". There are some great resources for sparking your thoughts on how fashion interacts with our culture and the decisions we make, etc. Every issue of Catapult is great anyways, so if you are not a member yet - I highly recommend joining!!

art you can wear?

whether these could weather actual wear, I think they are great! yellow house art is a great site (via designsponge) for some amazing, affordable art.

approach with a spririt of restraint

refinery 29

sillery

too fun (via creatures of comfort)

amazing

Kirsten showed me this blog: A Dress A Day.
You will LOVE reading her "Secret Lives of Dresses" stories... I can't get over how fun this whole blog is, so check it out.

coat season

I'm such a coat person... more than shoes, more than bags. These are some favorites (via topshop)

Sock Dreams - Company of the week

Sock Dreams is the company of the week and you will LOVE what you get from them. The site sells a variety of labels for socks, leg-warmers, ARM warmers (yes, they exist), and tights/leggings, and all of them are sweatshop free sources with a lot from the U.S.

'tween fashion

When I was in this 'tweens age group, my fashion role models were from the show Kids Incorporated. yikes. glad that phase ended! Most of them have grown into more graceful fashions (Jennifer Love Hewitt) or into their own fashion blunders (Fergie, ahem)


For my sister, a senior in high school, it was more Mary Kate and Ashley...


Now maybe it's Hannah Montana?


But it seems that early teen fashion is bordering more on the Brittney Spears side of ugly than the bubblegum sparkling kaleidoscope of Disney. Obviously, most Calvin students are past this fashion phase (let's HOPE we are), but this is a fun article from Slate on the state of clothing for our younger counterparts. It's enough to make me pray for a FABber to tackle the 'tweens industry and get some amazingly creative, responsibly made, and affirming designs in those malls!!!

company of the week!

Tom Shoes is a really fun company we discovered last year. For every pair of shoes you buy, a pair is donated to a child in need... right now they are working towards a "South African shoe drop" with the goal of distributing more than 50,000 pairs! These are casual and comfortable enough that they would make amazing gifts for special people in your life! There's also a "style your sole" shoe party?? hmmmm....

Lylou Design

Okay, the bags are cute, but I have to admit what caught my eye was the clothes on the girl holding the bag. But the bags at Lylou are very nice - especially because she's a Georgia designer! wooohoo!

Alabama Chanin

Alabama Chanin is a designer who does not always design clothing (although what she does do is fun), but I LOVE her uses of clothing in other projects. Check out more of her work here.

Welcome back!

I am so excited that the FAB crew is on their way back to Calvin this week! There are new students who don't even know about FAB yet, there are FAB veterans ready to create and teach, and there's lots of in-betweeners. For a little inspiration, here's a new vintage clothing site that is wonderfully affordable.

enjoy!

favorite things

drooling over wonderful patterns from Built by Wendy at simplicity...


gorgeous shoes made by Hetty Rose from kimono fabric - via shiny squirrel

this outfit is so plain but really lovely... The Sartorialist is a new favorite! More uppity than Face Hunter, but great nonetheless.



Last but not least - check out these "Fashion Predictions" circa 1930. Looks like the one thing the "top" designers couldn't predict was FEMINISM! yikes.

N.E.E.T.

Have you looked at the latest issue of N.E.E.T. magazine?? I LOVE these D.I.Y. bracelets.

great goodness

Looking for some FABulous designs for this summer? look at Eva Dress. The coolest vintage patterns available.


This one is circa 1934.


this one is a Katharine Hepburn "frock" circa 1933

Check out Ornamentea's amazing site! Relatively affordable with unexpected details... Oh, the possibilities.


felt rings...


birds on a wire...

What do you think? This is the "new rave" look, and it's catching, according to Seamsters. The bag is Fendi and the shoe is Pierre Hardy, and on the left is a French Connection dress/tunic. The colors are peppy, but maybe too much?

to market, to market

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm really geeked about the Fulton St. farmers market opening this Saturday. Yesterday I ran across Etsy store twotrees. Shanna Murray is the owner and her May}to Market theme is so happy.


love the apron


check out the bags - so simple

drool...

I almost feel some Calvinist guilt creeping in when I look at the textiles from Print & Pattern because they look so rich. And you will love them.

Quiz: art or crap?

This is so fun and revealing... Art or Crap? can you tell the difference? After you fail miserably, find out "why you sucked so bad" at this, and learn about some of the movements and explanations from artists. I'd love to see this about fashion!

I found this on my favorite new blog: How about orange... Definitely becoming a quick daily read with DIY attitude... hence the adorable tacks below.

facehunter

this is such a great idea for a blog! Face Hunter makes me dream of going to Paris someday, but there's some great style here in GR... anyone want to start a GR blog of street-fashion-photos?

Discussion

This coming Tuesday FAB is hosting a discussion in the Fish House at 7:30pm. The plan is to open up a conversation about the way the church and Christian publications have handled an idea of "sanctified" fashion. We will be looking at the Brio article I posted about earlier in the year. This is our first of a series of discussions we'd like to host. So, please come by the Fish House on Tuesday and join us!

sun beam

This website makes my day.

Lovely

This recycled-leather bag is making me think of the ugly leather coats I see at Goodwill and all the possiblities... Thank you, Ashley Watson

Modesty for teens?

In my search for the possible existence of fashion magazines with Christian/environmental/social justice issues at its possible core, I ran across an article from the popular Focus on the Family Brio magazine... the Christian teen magazine claiming it is "teaching, entertaining and challenging teen girls toward a healthy self-concept and closer relationship with Jesus Christ."

Take a look at this article on "Modeling Modesty" - their take on what's important in fashion. How do we respond to this? What is this communicating to girls about their bodies? What is it communicating concerning God's thoughts on beauty, creativity, responsibility, or, simply, being Christians women and girls? And just check out the list of rules!

And FAB guys, what do you make of this passage:
Say your friend Brad is standing before your youth group because your youth pastor asked him to read a passage from the Bible. Brad pauses as he’s reading to make eye contact with the group, just as his speech teacher taught him to do.

The moment Brad looks up, he sees a girl wearing a tight T-shirt. Immediately, Brad’s mind is distracted from the Lord and the Bible — two things he’s truly interested in.


Even apart from just criticizing such manipulative writing targeted at maleable audiences, I have a lot to say on this article, but all I will say here is pay attention to the sense of fear. I remember reading similar articles in this very magazine back in my middle school years. They have a strong effect. Good or bad???... you decide.

I love lala...

These fabrics look so inviting to me... the photography is really dreamy as well. Check out Lala for ideas and to see some great sensibilities!

We're Making a Magazine!!!

The idea behind this magazine is for FAB and the larger Calvin community to have an avenue to communicate ideas and expressions of what FAB is all about. This will be an opportunity for the Fashion Advisory Board to express the core ideas behind the club, in new ways. While the fashion shows have been amazing opportunities for FAB, a magazine lends itself to additional means of expression. There are a few aspects to this project:
- Reviews – a chance to comment on the fashion industry, responding to things that we see happening, that we think need addressing. Also, this can include reviews of designers’ work, fashion shows, companies, etc.
- FAB exposure – sections of the magazine simply describing what FAB is and what it aims to accomplish. This can include editorials as well.
- D.I.Y. – (Do It Yourself) A section devoted to sharing methods and tips on different aspects of making your own clothing… everything from info on sewing machines, to jewelry making to finding places were you can get material, etc.
- Calvin Designers – This would be a section where Calvin designers can show their work. This could involve everything from photo shoots to design drawings to designers’ explanations of their work.
- Articles/Essays – This section would offer a lot of freedom. Here, we would encourage FAB members and the rest of the Calvin community to contribute articles pertaining to fashion… everything from ethical shopping to body image issues to theology.

The physical magazine we hope can be a standard magazine-sized, full-color, glossy product. In order to make this happen, we need a way to pay for the printing expenses. Advertising is one way to help offset the costs. So, be thinking about businesses, organizations, or people that would be interested in advertising in a magazine like this.

This would be a huge endeavor for the Fashion Advisory Board. So, we will need a lot of people who want to be a part of it. We will need:
- Writers for the articles
- Photographers for the shoots and for other articles
- Graphic designers for magazine layout
- Editors to make sure the content we put in the magazine is of high quality.
- People to manage advertising
- Artists to do illustrations for articles (examples: DIY instruction articles and other random drawings for articles)

Additional ideas:
- Photo Shoots – we would like to assemble teams of designers, photographers, models and hair & make-up people to do photo shoots. For example, a designer could have a theme for the shoot and work with the photographer to pick a location… The team can meet at a location to do the shoot. Get creative, bring special lighting, props, play around with working in different weather conditions and interesting locations (location ideas: GR city parks, laundromats, nature preserve, restaurants, parents’ home, attics, lake Michigan, Grand River, the heckman library, a public bus, etc.) Take lots and lots and lots of pictures.

- Articles – For the articles try to explore issues pertaining to fashion and Christianity. A big reason FAB is here is because Christians have a tendency to write-off fashion… so we’re looking for thought-provoking articles. Some examples/suggestions:
- How the fashion industry distorts our perceptions of beauty
- What are the effects of fashion on division vs. unity?
- Theological fashion – What Would Jesus Wear?
- What are we saying with what we wear? (Raising awareness? Modesty? Ect.)
- Is it ok for Christians to wear diamonds given the shady practices of jewelry companies?
- The art of fashion vs. the Christian idea of simplicity and humility
- D.I.Y. articles about thrifting, reusing old clothes and materials, alternative make-up and hair methods, knitting, embroidery, stencil art, patches, etc.
- What companies/stores support ethical manufacturing? Which don’t?
- Information about manufacturing practices.
- Expression vs. Modesty
- Gender issues
- Body image issues / eating disorders
how different clothes look on different body types
-meaning/intention of colors
-comparison/contrast of 2 outfits that are very similar... one is expensive and arduous, the other is thrift and environmentally friendly
-methods for combating the negative messages from the media
-healthy nutrition/lifestyles
-vegan fashion for dummies
modesty boundaries
-fashion ads and magazine photos: how ethical is airbrushing perfection?
-to what extent do magazines alter photographs to "perfect" the women?
-gender inequality
-telling gender roles to take a hike
There are billions of other things you can write about; these are just a few ideas.

This magazine is an amazing opportunity for use to publicly explore issues that have often been swept under the rug. It is a chance for artists to offer up their work to the community for thoughtful consideration… And we’ll look so good doing it!

favorite things

oh, I am SO addicted to Kate Spade's Behind the Curtain website! watch out!
Kate Spade is always interesting to watch. her "things we love" is quickly becoming my favorite place. The above pictures were gleaned from this page: an amazing online bookstore called Nieves and on jan von holleben's site.

A different kind of social...

FAB is increasingly tackling the issue of the social justice piece of fashion. For the vast amount of consumers, spending $2400 on a Valentino cocktail dress is not an option, so we all look for the next best. Maybe it's the runway watching Forever 21, or the trendsetting H&M... we are looking for affordable in-the-moment outfit. But it often comes at the price of things much more precious than a few bucks. Our magazine will discuss these issues more in-depth, but in the meantime, here are some fair trade clothing options...

http://www.fairindigo.com/index.php?osCsid=0d7a638bac2372023307197c5711aa7a

http://www.justgarments.net/

so many sources

This blog, seamsters, has amazing finds from independant designers, including this by Isabela Capeto.

gorgeous!

Take a look at these lovely hats from Rosy Naylor!