if money was no object...

so, i'll admit it...i haven't been thinking of shopping retail much for a while.
two reasons:
1.) i'm getting ready to jet off to amsterdam, paris and antwerp in mere days (umm, friday!? eep!!), and truth be told i'm saving myself for all the great, interesting special, unknown to me yet stuff i hope to acquire on my travels over yonder...
and 2.) i've been sewing like a madwoman. and thrifting like a madwoman. so i've been sort of absorbed in those endeavors and spending somewhat less time scouring the 'nets for pretty things to obsess over.
BUT, that doesn't mean i haven't been doing ANY virtual perusing...i do have a few odd little wearables i wouldn't mind snatching up, if of course, money was no object...

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this may not be known by many, but i really like personalized items, especially that which is of the jewelry variety. in my jewel box, there resides at least two sterling silver initial rings, and a fun and funkified tatty devine perspex nameplate necklace. i guess my love of these little things comes from a secret love of things of a preppy-ish nature or that which is a little urban, or at times, a little tacky. the latest personalized item i am coveting are these namepate gold hoops, from personalized boutique dot com:

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i like the simple chic of the knit dress by lux (@ urbn), that simply pops when paired with my favorite color obsession of the last few years, orange:

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i'll admit it, i have about 20 pairs of jeans. to call them a staple item in my wardrobe would be an understatement. i've got skinny and straight styles (the cuts that look best on me), gray ones, red ones, and a myriad of jeans in various shades of blue, of course. but what i don't have is BLACK jeans. these overdyed black skinny jeans from teen retailer delia's seem like they'd be a PERFECT pair of black jeans for me: slim cut, solid black, simple. just the way i like my wardrobe staples.

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for many many MANY years i've had a strange aversion to white shoes. i think the reasons behind this avoidance of white in the form of footwear has been their inherent propensity for picking up street dirt like the dickens, and i abhor dirty white shoes! and right or wrong, i have this idea that white is an expansive color, and subsequently, i don't want to look like i have boat-like feets! but shoes as pretty as these chie mihara t-strap white slingback heels (available at ped shoes) are conspiring to change my mind on the subject of white.

i can see them, looking sparklingly clean, OF COURSE, paired with dark, dark jeans and perhaps an orange top, or the orange dress pictured above. and oh yeah, those nameplate hoops ahh! perfecto. :)

rare bird of fashion (and) pattern magic

ah, books. i love me some books! two recent additions to the ye olde bits and bobbins bookshelf...reviewed by me, for you!

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rare bird of fashion: the irreverent iris apfel by eric boman: not too long ago, i was gushing about the release of a book about iris apfel, remember? i'm happy to announce that i finally have that hot haute tome in my hands, having ordered it from amazon.com last week. and it's everything i'd hoped it would be, and more: this glossy and glamourous coffee table-sized hardback is filled with snapshots of iris wearing her clothes (these were not costumes, and ms. apfel is, by her own words, NOT just a collector of clothes, these are things she actually wore) coupled with a whole section about ms. apfel's life and how her clothes figured into that life, and fabulous quotes interspersed with photographs of her ensembles. she was, and still is, even in her twilight years, joyous, thoughtful, intelligent, unafraid to push boundaries and express herself through her clothing! again, i am not one for "style icons" in the traditional sense, but ms. apfel, as i have said before in that aforementioned post, is a major exception to that rule o' mine.
here's a small peek inside the book, at some lovely ensembles that she has worn, and some terrific quotes from iris that strike a huge chord with me personally:

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and on the subject of making fashion, in the most fundamental sense...

pattern magic by nakamichi tomoko: i read about this little gem on fashion incubator, a great blog about the ins and outs and secrets behind sustainable clothing and sewn product manufacture, and had to score a copy. it's japanese, but the illustrations and diagrams in the book are rather clear, so much information and inspiration may be gained. i am flatly, gushingly in love with the garments shown as examples in this book...so sculptural, so dimensional. clothing made with this kind of eye transcends merely being a covering for the body and crosses over into the realm of wearable art, in the most sophisticated of senses. this little book will long hold a place of reverence among my patternmaking and draping books, if for nothing else besides reminding me of the possibilities inherent in the design and process of clothesmaking, my chosen art/craft in this lifetime.
a peek inside what makes this book so amazing:

bashing the trendbashing

it seems to me that one of the mainstays of the fashion world, and of the fashion blogging world is following and tracking trends.

what's new? what's now? what's in? what's out? who's wearing what? who looks good? who looks bad?

it is interesting, yes.

but with some, it's about rating, making judgments, making pronouncements, offering opinions of this sort:

-"i'm SO SICK OF SEEING _____ [fill in the proverbial blank], i could PUKE."

-"everyone's wearing that, it's SO OUT NOW....[this new trend] is in now, people."

-"i'm totally not wearing [that trend] anymore, everyone's doing it, and i just don't want to be associated with it anymore."

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what is that all about, really? i want to know...what is the psychology behind this?

-is it about wanting to be seen as au courant? is that really important? if so, how important?

-is it a defense of your personal style, not wanting to be "copied"?

-is "copying" offensive? is it inherently "wrong"?

-can you really prevent "copying" or the "copping of (a) style or look"?

-is new better? is original better than that which is ubiquitous?

-will the world end of someone cops your look? wears what you love?

i want to delve into this more...i yearn to know, to discuss this feeling, this push inside of us that makes us want the novel, the new, the original...

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so many fashion movements of the past decades have had connections to the past...we are, as a culture, often looking back and finding inspiration in that which has come before. the bulk of designers look at what has happened, filter it through the lens of the present, and deliver something "new", either on a conscious or subconscious level.

fashion is cyclical. what's "now" today, will be "out" tomorrow. and give it some time, and it might be "in" again.

people in positions of power (magazine editors, fashion industry people, etc.) want things to change...they have a financial and personal stake in the trendmill. new styles equal new opportunities to make profit off the sale of the latest "look". if the trend changes from season to season, year to year, they provide consumers with the motivation to purchase, lest those consumers appear "behind the times". we live in a culture (in the west, primarily, but it other locales increasingly as well, with globalization) that is about consumption...good or bad.

BUT, here's the thing, TRENDS are really all SUBJECTIVE, though culturally driven. mostly...it's just ARBITRARY.

you don't have to listen to the pronouncements, the dictates.

if some of it makes sense to you, awesome!

if it doesn't, who cares?

will the world end if someone laughs at us for being behind or in front of the times?

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i believe these words to the bottom of my heart:

EVERYTHING and ANYTHING, past or present, is UP FOR GRABS, up for consideration, is a fashion possibility.

ON THE RIGHT PERSON, anything can work. i mean that. ANYTHING. in or out or otherwise.

trendSETTING is about calculated, thoughtful risks.

and it is for these reasons, more than anything else...

that i willfully, purposefully suggest this:

let's, once and for all, bash the trendbashing.

anybody with me?

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