“We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check.
We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America,
there’s never been anything false
about
HOPE.”
–President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama
Zac Posen invites us to upload an image of what we wore to the polls at FashiontheVote.com. Not the most important decision of the day (there, I said it)… but kinda fun.
VOTE!!!
Last week marked the first-ever Carrotmob event in Kansas City! (And second-ever in the U.S.!) It was an honor to help organize this event with some of the most lovely, conscientious people in town.
What in the world is “Carrotmob”? Carrotmob is an absolutely ingenious concept of win-win consumer activism — we buy stuff we’d buy anyway, and with a relatively small amount of prep-work and organizing, we’re able to turn our purchases into a bargaining tool that end up helping a business benefit from energy efficiency improvements. I got involved because I believe in the positive impact we can make with our consumer-driven decisions… just takes a bit of well-thought-out strategy. I first read about it this spring on Worldchanging.com.
For our event, we approached 15 KC businesses with the proposal: “We’ll bring a mob of paying customers, if you commit the highest percentage of revenue to going green.” World of Spirits (1722 W. 39th St.) won the bidding war with a high bid of 24%! On Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008, 24% of the gross revenue collected between the hours of 5 and 10 p.m. were used to make the store more energy efficient.
Our awesome results:
325 - the minimum number of people that showed up.
$1500 - the average sales during the timeframe at the store on a normal day.
$7015 - the amount our mob spent!
$1683.60 - 24% that goes toward energy efficiency improvement to the store.
200 pounds - roughly the amount of food that was donated to Harvesters.
600 pounds - roughly the amount of food that Ed Sachs, the store owner, donated to Harvesters.
My bragging:
The first event was in SF. It was wildly successful… and I think ours may have actually topped theirs. Their store’s percentage bid was 22% — 2% lower than ours. Their mob doubled their store’s average sales — ours almost quintupled. And they attracted 400 people — which, per capita, we had to have topped with 325! Makes me proud so of KC!
We will definitely be organizing future events, with the next slated potentially for March/April 2009. Until then, join the Carrotmob KC Facebook group to keep up on things.
And I thank you.
Thanks to nitrolicious.com for an extensive and exciting update on Nike Considered, recounting its Spring 2009 launch event in NYC on Tuesday.
“For Spring 2009 Nike Considered Design will be featured in all six of Nike’s key categories, including ACG, tennis, running, soccer, women’s training, men’s training, sportswear and basketball. Nike’s best selling running shoe, the Pegasus, celebrating its 25th anniversary, is the first pinnacle running shoe to be Nike Considered Design.”
Read the full report from nitro:licious and glance through her 20+ pics of products and installments at the event. Check out my report from last February when the newest Air Jordan went Considered.
The s/s 2009 Fashion Week season will end on Nov. 3, with Moscow pulling up the rear. If you didn’t make it to any traditional runways (like me), never fear. Viktor & Rolf will come to you.
The French pair’s show was presented exclusively and delightfully online: The Viktor & Rolf s/s 2009 collection, “Funny Face.” Complete with as many as 12 Shalom Harlows appearing on the digital runway at a given time.
I’ve read several assumptions as to WHY the designers, known for extravagant shows, went digital this year. They vaguely told WWD, “It is a take on what a fashion show might be in the future.”
My first thought upon hearing the news: That it was one of the most gutsy green moves I’ve seen in the high-fashion world yet!
Several years ago I worked on a book profiling corporate sustainability pioneers. Michael Hendrix of Tricycle Inc., which reduces significant amounts of waste in the interior design industry by creating digital carpet samples, added this perspective:
“Tricycle is part of a larger trend that is finding new vehicles for experiences, and we’re using the digital world to get there. We used to exchange money, but now we use credit cards. We used to buy records, but now we download music. It doesn’t change the final experiece — it’s still rock+roll! We live in a time in which we can have familiar interactions through new mediums. … The digital era allows us to have more sustainable interactions.”
Perhaps sustainability wasn’t V&R’s motivation at the end of the day. But so what? Here’s to the future of fashion!
(I must note: Pulling off this video and website allegedly cost just as much as a typical show. And it employed less people. But think of all the other excesses that were saved… swag bags!)
Many congrats to Leanne for taking Project Runway! MUCH deserved… particularly on account that she made half her line with “sustainable textiles.” Further helping the world see that “green” doesn’t have to look granola-y. (THANK YOU.) There’s no doubt in my mind that this sustainable design element played at least a tiny part in helping the judges see her potential for rocking the fashion world in the future.
I finally went and looked at WWD’s Project Runway slideshow and review. I didn’t peek when it came out, thinking it would give away the final three — but it turns out that the final six contestants all showed collections, to throw us off if we DID peek. Which means that those who didn’t make the final still had to design full collections, all-the-while knowing they were out. Ouch.
Speaking of past designers and things not being as they appear — Suede. I talked with a lovely product developer from Lee Jeans tonight who has worked with him for years, and to her, he’s just “Stephen.” Suede, and talking about Suede in third person, was a gimmick for the show! Worked. That cock-a-doodle guy.
Entertainment Weekly, as part of a Q&A the day after Suede’s elimination:
What’s the third-person-talking thing? When did that start?
Suede:
… I say it because it captures attention. I mean, I’m on TV. And it’s funny. …
Portland Fashion Week is baaack! If your first question is the same as mine was, I’ll go ahead and answer it — no, Leanimal-slash-Leanne Marshall didn’t show. (She was way too busy WINNING — note the confident prediction — Project Runway.) Remember, she was my fave at last year’s show! Fun to look back and see how her style has continued to evolve.
The world’s most sustainable fashion week kicked off last night and is showing its first collections tonight. Looks like Portland’s local Willamette Week will be covering it in wonderful detail. We’ll most certainly stay tuned.
Last week I saw Jenny Lewis kicking off her Acid Tongue tour, this week the album came out, and wow — I cannot get enough of this girl. Yes, she was already my favorite in pretty much every way, but somehow she never disappoints.
Like this eloquent interview in 1991, two years after Troop Beverly Hills and The Wizard — her big hits as a child actor — for Teen Set:
Despite the hilariously awkward interviewer, directing and editing (a minute-long trampoline jumping montage?), 15-year-old Jenny classily fields the question, “Is there anything you’d like to say to all the fans and people that write to you or read about you in Teen Set?”
“You really have to care about your planet, you know, because without the planet we wouldn’t be here. You really have to start recycling and stop using aerosol hairspray and aerosol cans and really start caring about other things beside themselves.”
Aw.
The video also shows off her hat collection at the time — which helps explain all the fedoras on this tour? (Three out of six band members, including Jenny, wore them at my show in Lawrence.) Just like her magnificent songwriting evolution of the past few years, her vintage wardrobe is certainly swinging effortlessly from country to glamorous to cutesy (and back) these days…
In Nashville, via LanceCo.
In Austin, via Patrick Dentler.
In Oxford, Miss., via caroline+lee.
In Chicago, via Patr.ck Mart.n.
Backstage in Lawrence, via the Pitch.
First photo in Lawrence, via nickdavis.
I just wrote way too long a comment on another blog to not post it here. This is a preview of some permanent content I’ve been working on for this site, so please — join the conversation.
It started with Green Grechen’s original post, In the News…Throwaway Fashion. Check it out. From me:
Hey Grechen! Love your thoughts. Your comment — “Sometimes it’s a challenge for me to remember that part of promoting an environmentally-friendly lifestyle and wardrobe can’t always be about BUYING organic cotton or other eco-friendly clothing items, but should also incorporate vintage shopping and simply repairing and taking care of the treasured items you DO have so they’ll last longer” — is something I’ve thought about a lot. I’m a massive proponent of the latter, and as an eco-fashion blogger, I would love to promote only vintage wares. (Obviously, there are problems with that — the first being that only one person can have any given piece. Anyway.) But the reality is that people will keep buying new things! And we want to get the word out on what gorgeous socially responsible fashion options there are out there, for the times that you genuinely do need something new. It’s like the question of teaching sex ed to teenagers — abstinence-only is a wonderful idea, but the reality is, some are gonna do it and need to know were to get a condom.
Keep reading →
Apparently it’s pure science, friends. A “perception expert” in the UK reports findings that horizontal stripes are more slimming than vertical. “Horizontal stripes don’t make you look fat. The one wearing the vertical stripes (as compared in the study) looks wider than the one wearing the horizontal stripes. Horizontal stripes, if anything, make you look thinner,” the expert said.
Striped tees from Alternative.
While I’m sitting at my desk looking forward to Project Runway tonight, I wanted to throw this up if you hadn’t seen it — Leanne’s winning design from two weeks ago is available on the Diane Von Furstenburg website. It’s beautiful! And I don’t know about the specifics of this dress, but DVF does have some green cred.
Speaking of this American Express-sponsored challenge, the show has been SO sponsored this season (first Saturn, then this) — and it’s moving to Lifetime next season to follow a better offer. Lifetime! Hm.
Lovely piece from Margaret Teich on The Huffington Post titled Refashioning Fashion Week:
… French Women dress like eco-fashionistas. Which is to say, they invest in durable pieces that last for many seasons, they mix and match high-end designers like Chanel with thrift store looks, and for the most part stay away from disposable, trend based fashion. Thrift stores, clothes swaps, swap sites, and durable fashion are all smart ways to build a timeless wardrobe without breaking the bank or having to get rid of ill fitting, flimsy fashion that you can wear one night only. Not to mention reduce, reuse, recycle, and refashion.
… Swap, thrift shop, make your own, and refashion the looks you like, while saving money and being a designer or stylist yourself. Fashion is, ultimately, wearable art. Be your own artist.
Amen, sister! And who better to inspire our delightfully crumply, mix-y match-y styles than Marc Jacobs? Irreverent, retro and beautiful as ever on last week’s runway.
And the spirited kid-sister Marc by Marc Jacobs (which is actually my fave).
