earth-conscious – Does This Make Me Look

Kim Gordon. What can I say? By far the coolest rock chick I’ve known. Even though I only had one (quite awesome) conversation with her, I spent a fair amount of time in the same room or hovering on the periphery of her space as she stared down an audience, bass in hand, looked over limp deli meat on a backstage craft table or did any of the other multitude of things musicians do when they’re on the road. She scared the bejeezus out of me since her smart, self-possessed and stylish vibe reminded me how desperately I wanted to be all of those things too. Of course now that I’m older, I understand that underneath we all have a similar roiling mix of humanness. Though I do believe that what we drape over that human part shouts out.

I can think of no better way to celebrate independence than by bringing Kim’s kick-ass sartorial attitude to life in a way that is anti-fast-fashion, anti-establishment and anti-boring. Rebel meet rebel.

This photo taken with her band Sonic Youth is attitude in stance and style. Those moments are not for sale, although it’s possible you might feel rather badass wearing any piece of the clothing she has on. Starting from the top:

Yes. VOTE. Just do it. And remind your fellow citizens to do it too! There’s nothing more rebel than that. And this T announces that. It has a kind of old-school fade-y vibe that I like a lot. Plus the site that makes it, teepublic, supports independent artists in a strong way.

I also like this one:

From a company featuring clothing 100% eco, 100% fair trade, and is also German, which I like to include on a day we celebrate all the people in our melting-pot. I think Ms. Gordon would enjoy this whole vibe.

I’m now moving immediately to the trousers, for they are so special as to only be referred to as trousers and almost (almost) steal the whole show. In some weird universe, these actual trousers owned by the very woman wearing them are (were) on sale here on the internets. But I prefer sharing something with a similar vibe. Yes, these pants say male. Working in a male dominated industry, as Kim does, as I have, as we all do to some extent by living in the world, I love that she’s flying that flag while exhibiting her absolute woman-ness.

While these don’t have the irony of Kim’s awesome pair by way of words, they’re subversive to me in the fact that this company Ace&Jig are doing something at a decent price point that helps the earth and are a company born and bred in Brooklyn by two fierce ladies with a vision. I love the style and comfort that these seem to have (even though I’ve been a late-arriver on the return to high-waisted slacks—they reminded me too much of the eighties and some sad mom-jean flashback). But these look great, have pockets and a lightweight summer vibe in both texture and textile.

These vintage trousers are also quite fun and sold on an online vintage site, which means they’ve had a life before, but now are being passed on to us to live again somewhere else. Nothing more earth-friendly than that! And if red, white and blue is your thing, these hit that mark.

Which brings me to this: If you’re someone who enjoys thrift stores, a variation of these pieces can be found there, it just takes diving in. Much like going to a bookstore, it depends on whether you’re in the mood to rifle or have a specific list of what you want and head to that rack. That’s especially true when it comes to accessorizing, which from the photo of Kim above can include a neon-green terrycloth wristband (because bass playing, like sports, is sweaty business), a white grommeted belt or silver shoes.

Sometimes you have to accessorize a furry companion as well. While this neckerchief can be used for human style, I had a few reasons to bring in this little guy: 1) who doesn’t love a pooch? 2) It’s effin’ hot here in NYC and here is a picture of snow. 3) Most important, this company is cool!

So go to town with your independent spirit, not just today, but 365 days. What piece of clothing makes you feel most independent?

Good on the planet, good on me.

Wherein I realize that being both fashion forward and fashion conscious can happen at the same time.

“Remember this: No one is looking at your imperfections; they’re all too busy worrying about their own.” Isaac Mizrahi

That question: Does this make me look [fat, short, squat, crazy, cool, your special fashion-fear here]? It’s so common. So insidious because it’s a collection of words that exposes our rough seams. The frayed edges we want to keep the world from seeing.

For a tiny little while now I’ve been finishing that question with age-inappropriate. Which is a loaded two-word hyphenate I’ll be approaching to some degree like an ornery unicorn with a toothache in these writings. But there’s another way I’ve been turning that question on its head, which is really going to be the main focus of these writings: Does this make me look conscious? As in, does what I’m displaying on my body make the planet look good too?

I love fashion with a passion unabashed. But maybe more I should say I love style. The individual kind. The definition that suggests a person has some interesting ideas about how to express themself through their clothes. Last year I read an article by Ann Patchett “My Year of No Shopping” and on top of the fact that I recognized I had enough stuff, but have never been quite the Maria Kondo type, I wanted to find a way to curb my fast-fashion habit. As an avid thrifter with a Goodwill membership card hanging off my key ring, it seemed a good time to challenge myself and only purchase from places where either the money would go somewhere good (i.e., thrift stores) or the vendor was ethically responsible.

What I want from this blog is to tell you how that funhouse has been going and to share tips on the ways I’ve found to answer “How does this make me look as a citizen of the world?”

Thanks for being here!

Tag: earth-conscious

Stars. Stripes. A Cool Thing.

Does this make me look…