Thursday, September 22, 2011

New York fashion week Spring 2012

The centre point of NY fashion week was men. Either the clothes aimed to repel men, either the clothes were aimed at appealing to men, desperately. A total waste of time, if you ask me, straight men don’t really care about what clothes you put on. They picture you without clothes on anyway.

A few shows were aimed at appealing to little girls, which I did like. Because when I look at a fashion show I always wonder if I would have liked it just as much when I was a kid, if no, than I put it in the category ‘temporary fashion, eternally ugly’. Oscar de la Renta made a collection that would have made me swoon as a kid: big skirts, lace, feathers, everything. As an adult I still like those things and I still can’t afford them. Jenny Packham also made a collection I would have loved as a kid: flowy fabrics, fairy colors, flowers and sequins. As a grown-up I don’t love it as much as I would have as a kid, but I still like it. It makes me nostalgic about the times I would build camps with my friends, while we were dressed up like a princess.

The collections I liked the most were the ones from Vena Cava, Milly and Jason Wu, because I like them today just as much as I would have as a kid. Vena Cava was very much Classic Hollywood goes to Africa. The earthy colours made it grounded, the bright orange would light it up, the seventies glamour would add the chic and the big chunky jewelry would take the seriousness off. I find this one of the few collections that uses elements of traditional African wear without making it look like some kind of fetish.


Vena Cava Spring 2012


These pictures are property of Vena Cava. Do not republish without their permission.

I honestly never heard of Milly before, but I did like it. Because when I would try to find an outfit for a job interview, I would find it extremely hard to find one that would make me look like the interesting person I described in my resume, while I would still show that I would take the job seriously. Business like clothes would make me look like a little girl drowning in a suit that wasn’t meant for her and the more casual clothes would make me look as if my only 5 year plan was getting married and making babies. Catwalk outfits often are extremely inappropriate to wear in daily life, but the outfits of Milly were very wearable and a lot of them were even perfect for business.

When designers choose to revive the past, it often looks like nothing more than a ‘copy paste’ from the past. It often ends up looking even more old-fashioned than the original. Jason Wu is one of the few that knows how to translate it in a whole ‘new look’. Michelle Obama is a very smart woman with good taste in clothes and in men. I think Jason Wu deserves a position at Dior.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Fashion, drugs and fair trade

This month’s theme on the Feminist Fashion Bloggers’s website is ethics. And I’m a good girl so I always do as I’m told, unless I do the exact opposite. So below is my opinion on fair trade.


I think there are two things that don’t go together and that is: telling people they should buy fair trade and taking drugs. There is absolutely not a single industry in this world that causes more harm than the drugs industry. And I’m not talking about drug addicts. I’m talking about the people that make it and that bring it to you.

Below are some reasons why some people seem to think that the drugs industry isn’t that bad:

It’s not my fault. It’s because it’s illegal. If drugs would be legal, we could also make fair trade drugs.
  • Using drugs is not going to make them legal.

The money from drugs trade is used to support rebel armies that try to overthrow the violent, cruel regime of their countries.
  • They use violence to (try to) overthrow this regime. History will tell you that rebel armies that overthrow a regime with violence hardly ever become a democracy, if never.

It creates opportunities for a lot of people that really have no other solutions.
  • So do sweatshops.


I also think it’s very suspicious that there is more demand for fair trade clothes and food than for fair trade oil. The oil industry is in my opinion the number two industry responsible for human suffering. And it do is legal, so there is no reason why oil can’t be made fair trade. I think it’s because clothes and food are seen as an expression of your personality and that oil isn’t: ‘You are what you eat’ and ‘Fine feathers make fine friends.’ There is no saying about how the kind of gas you tank says something about who you are. I think the reason people buy fair trade often isn’t because they are someone that wants to change the world, but because they want to be someone that tries to save the world.

I still think it’s a good thing to buy fair trade food or clothes, but if you want to change the world, you’re going to have to do more than just buy stuff. Buying fair trade food or clothes do are steps in the right direction, but it are small steps and you can take bigger ones.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

What you want and what you can get

I want clothes

That flatter my body
That’ll always stay with me
That express how I’m feeling
That respect the world I live in

What you can get is clothes

That only fit some people
That only last a season
That are what everybody’s wearing
That above all, respect profit-making