the window of a black hole

Times like these feel like you're stuck in a gravitational time dilation. Slow oh in here tick tock tick painful tock but way too fast out there out side you'll never catch yourself up woosh you get dizzy eyed just thinking about trying but didn't someone once tell you time is a man made concept well whoever he was he wasn't a self made man and you'd put a pretty penny on that why wouldn't you sure aren't the odds better than four numbers in the local lotto

Hear ye hear ye

Come one, come all, to a vintage extravaganza by the sea!

Hear ye hear ye, hear me blow my horn: I'm Assistant Event Producer for a Vintage Fashion and Decor Fair which will be held in the Galway Bay Hotel on Sunday 12th September from 12 noon til 7pm. So you should come. And bring your friends. Or your mothers, ah go on sure don't they deserve a nice day out? The fair will see dealers from Galway and across Ireland selling their wares as well as various activities happening throughout the day... There will be two fashion shows, one at 2pm and one at 4pm; and there will be dancing demonstrations to sounds from the 40's and 50's with the opportunity for you to participate in mini swing dancing lessons too. There will be a display of vintage and classic cars and you can also get a vintage make-over as hair and beauty stylists will be on hand to work their transformation magic, and what else um um there will be a best dressed competition for both the ladies and gents, so come wearing your best vintage style!

BCN SS11

crepe not crap

When we lived in New York Issy worked in a shop on Broadway called Canal Jeans. Yes it sold some denim and regular clothing on the ground floor, but the basement sold vintage clothes. She was always bringing home strangely hideous garments which, from many mindnumbing hours of boring retail work in this basement, she believed were nice enough to purchase. One day she came home with this pair of shorts that had once been a high-waisted pair of Lee jeans before somebody took their scissors to them. We called them the "pancake shorts" because when you put them on your bum was quite literally sucked in to look like a pancake when you turned sideways. Needless to say they were never worn... yet despite the unattractiveness they bestowed upon the wearer, I was always a little bit attracted to them and upon recently coming across them in a drawer I decided I was going to wear them because it seems that after their hibernation since we came back from NY their style has found its day and they are now sort of, well, cool.



And pancake or not I wore them with a cheap old tshirt from Penneys and my favourite old sandals from somewhere in London, which make my feet look like duck billed platypuses.
And in other news... HOLY SMOKES!!!! American Apparel might be closing down!!! Read THIS article which quote unquote explains how the company "may not have sufficient liquidity necessary to sustain operations for the next 12 months". I had better start shopping - quick! where's my credit card?!

the fixation starts here

I've decided that this here lovely old blog of mine needs a bit of spicing up and what better way to do it than add an extra helping of that special magic ingredient - narcissism. For whether I like it or not the world is becoming increasingly voyeuristic at an alarming rate (For the record I can sincerely say I do not like it; the spreading "I'm not doing anything with anyone right now because I know what everybody is doing because I follow their facebook status updates which tell me they're doing absolutely nothing which is why they're updating their facebook status" mentality and the growing acceptance of said mentality scares the creeps out of me. Or also I'm scared that when people do do anything worthy of noting they feel the immediate need to make a note of it and put this piece of information out there for consumption by the general public. Whether this public cares or not is irrelevant as chances are the majority of them mindlessly skimming the feed on their home page will passivly consume a percentage of this information thus expressing minor amounts of interest in your quotidian doings and in return making you feel a bit special about yourself. Anyway yes this scares me and no there isn't actually much I can do about it; so instead I shall just have to face my fears because hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em...)
That said we are now coming to you live direct from the bedroom of my wonderful self where we bring you some factual titbits of what I did today: For breakfast I ate a dish of porridge because slow release energy foods are tops. Then I cycled to work on my bike and when I got to work I did some work. At eleven o'clock we had an exciting coffee break with everyone gathering in the Admin office as one of the girls from the Finance office had baked a Victoria Sponge Sandwich cake filled with whipped cream and fresh strawberries. In the evening I read my book for a while, it's called "The Diving Bell and The Butterfly" and I hope one day to be able to read the original version. Then I went swimming in the pool and came home and decided to talk about myself and the events of my uneventful day.
And just because a post wouldn't be a proper blog post without some photographs here are two of the mug from which I drank peppermint tea whilst writing this.

three men in a boat

I borrowed some clothes, some friends and a camera. Rub a dub dub this is our tub:

JWAnderson

Us Irish folk don't feature very often or very prominently in the big bad world of fashion, so it's exciting when we get the chance to create a fuss over one of our designers outside of the home market.
Coming from County Derry and with a degree in menswear from London College of Fashion, Jonathan William Anderson has been designing for men for four seasons and has now launched his first collection for women. I think his clothes bring impressions of our heritage into the modern day as they have a shadow of the rugged Irish countryside in them. They are centred around natural fabrics like lambswool and cashmere, but instead of looking like something made for the market of visiting Yanks that you honestly wouldn't be seen dead in, they make for wearable wardrobe pieces that are just that bit more interesting than your other everyday favourites. As he says himself "It's like my man and woman are lovers that constantly swap clothes". So I think what he wants us to take from his designs is a feeling of excitement from the idea of tomboys and tomgirls dressing for roaming adventures together, be they best friends in love with each other or with life.

libellous truths

In my last post I spoke of the super-practical side of American Apparel wardrobe basics (how I see it) Now I want to talk a little about the brand in terms of its super-sexual fashion side (how it wants to be seen).

Earlier this summer there was some controversy surrounding CEO Dov Chaney and the policies he enforces with regard to his company's employees. This is because the latest approach to tightening the AA 'aesthetic' saw the introduction of a refined hiring strategy whereby applicants are selected based largely on their 'full body head to toe' photographs which accompany their applications, with their Curriculum Vitaes taking second place in terms of hiring consideration.

AA's advertising campaign is already very recognisable; it uses models who look like normal people to promote the brand externally, but now the brand is pushing to use normal people who look like models to promote the brand internally... In defence of his No Uglies Allowed policy, Chaney said he does want employees who look good but this doesn't necessarily mean they have to be good looking: "At American Apparel, we strive to hire salespeople who have an enthusiasm for fashion and retail and who themselves have good fashion sense," he said. "But this does not necessarily mean they have to be physically attractive."

So if you're an average looking Joe Soap with a killer sense of style then surely, according to Chaney's statement above, you're the one for the job. You'll effortlessly acheive the required look of the "Classy-Vintage-Chique-Late 80's-Early 90's-Ralph Lauren-Vogue-Nautical-High End brand" that is American Apparel. Assuming then the HR department is operating effectively, why is it that the company feels the need to provide all employees with a stringent list of guidelines regarding their working uniform? And if the physical endowment of individual employees is not as important as their fashion ability, why then are they provided with an extensive list of standards of personal grooming? This sample of instructions from the illustrated manual detailing how to remain in line with the 'New Standard' provides an example of the definite code of appearance to which both male and female employess must adhere:


Yes sex sells, but when drawing the line of discrimination where do morals of beauty, brains and 'smart casual' fit into the workplace picture? What do you think? Is AA just being thorough and putting in place regulations necessary for efficiently running a business focused on a vision, or are they taking things too far?

two birds and one stone

I love American Apparel (please don't stop reading) Their clothes are plain and basic and consistent in their sameness. And for some reason I think they always look good on; one of their plain white tshirts worn by itself can look cool, unlike regular white tshirts which can tend to look a little boring. I don't see AA as monotonous, rather I like to look at it in the way I look at a nice piece of blank paper -wishing I had some sharp crayola pencils at hand; for very outfit needs a solid foundation around which the imagination can work and what better than clothes that have a good cut and wash well? (Nobody is paying me to promote the label, I promise)

As an example of how, in my books, their dependability is one of their strongest traits I'm going to talk about my black dress. Not your typical LBD but it has got me out of more 'shit I have nothing to wear' situations than you would believe. Like at the weekend I had two very spontaneous nights out in a row where last minute dressing meant I had zero time to think just time to grab and run...
Night one led me to my fail-safe aforementioned black dress, and a night of a film screening projected outdoors in a candle lit garden of hammocks and armchairs, some dancing followed by good conversation and bad wine to welcome the morning. Night two led me to donning the same dress for a) proximity to hand from heap on floor and b) said fail-safeness, and then a night which saw a table tennis party and a silent disco with lots of dancing and lots and lots of sweating. Here are my two outfits and I think I'll make a pact to post a photo of everytime I wear it from now on.



Also, here's a song you might like. It's relevant here because it links my night number two together, but that aside you should listen because it will put you in the mood for dancing - the best mood of them all!

banking on the weekend

We all like to be right about things, right? Right. So go on, test yourself and you won't be wrong - which of the following is true:
A) Yesterday I went to the supermarket to buy some basil.
B) Yesterday I went to a cafe to buy some coffee.
C) Yesterday I went to Topshop to buy some clothes.
D) All of the above.

All facts. At a glance they're nothing unusual, they're just a few unsurprising facts from an ordinary day in the life of an ordinary girl. And they're all true; D is the correct answer. Fact. But somewhere along the way something went astray and now I'm confused and confuddled, bemused and bedazzled... I went empty handed in to A and came out with a lovely purchase. I went empty handed in to B and came out with a lovely purchase. So when I went empty handed in to C and came out with nothing other than a frown on my face I didn't know what to do. I thought I knew the algorithm (Want plus money equals happy)Had I not just twice successfully executed it? So then what was I doing wrong this time? Had Topshop failed to show me something I wanted? No that certainly wasn't it. Had I been so long without disposable income that I no longer knew what to do with it? Could it be? Had I forgotten how to shop?

This looks like a problem indeed but don't worry I know the answer (because I'm always right)You see I failed to reach the Happy part because although I had the Money part the Want part was too vague; I didn't specifically desire one thing in particular which meant I ended up wanting everything and my brain spontaneously exploded, the shock of which fooled me into thinking I wanted nothing. The full purse and the empty hands now equate.

Take a look here at some of the AW collection for Topshop and afterwards tell me your cerebral cortex didn't threaten to ignite even a little bit