The Great American Apparel Diet

no buying for one year

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

Last night as I was rummaging around in my closet looking for something to wear it occurred to me that I have given, thrown or recycled a lot of clothes over the past ten years. Darn, I’d love to have some of those items back, and if not the items themselves the time it took for me to shop, clean, futz and manage them into my wardrobe. Especially now since I am no longer able to purchase any new apparel. I remember vividly, an amazing and probably overpriced DKNY sweater coat. A sort of retro 20s style with velvet accents. I wonder who’s wearing that gorgeous garment now. I wish I were.

This morning, right on the heels of my closet rummaging, I read an article in the NYTimes magazine about storage and consumerism.  By 2005, according to the Boston College sociologist Juliet B. Schol, the average consumer purchased one new piece of clothing every five and a half days.  

This eye-opening statistic got me thinking about a “slow clothing” movement. There are official slow food, slow money, slow travel and slow sex movements these days. Why not a slow clothing movement? I wondered.  And is The Great Amearican Apparel Diet the beginning of it? 

 I googled “slow clothing” and “slow fashion,” and guess what…we’re slow to the movement. People have been blogging about this for a long time. “Wear local,” they say—is that like a sweater made with Fido the family dog’s hair? Or does it mean belting your neighbor’s old drapes and wearing them as a topper, a la Maria Van Trapp? Maybe we could learn from the Hispanics who wear huarache sandals made from repurposed flat tires? Buy from a thrift store and then remake your own, the experts suggest. Sew the arms of one sweater to the bodice of another, cut off pants and make them into a patchwork skirt, turn a tube top into a Rasta hair band. I am envisioning a renaissance fair.

In one article I read in the Christian Science Monitor, the author challenged US households “to create a single outfit for every man, woman, and child that is homemade.” Going back to a bygone era, she also suggested that people mend and darn their clothes.

Good idea for those people who:

a.) Know the meaning of darn in this context.

b). Know how to darn or sew http://www.ehow.com/how_648_darn-sock.html

c). Have a sewing machine. ( Investment Tip: Buy Singer, Ticker Symbol: SEW, you heard it here).

Darn (as in Darn-it), I wish I had that DKNY sweater coat  and that brown Liz Claiborne maxi, corduroy coat from 1987, and let’s not forget the blinding Neon Obermeyer ski jacket I bought in 1992 to match the bottom of my K2s. Looking back, I admit, it was a wasteful, hedonistic and consumer-centric few decades—but we looked good.

Now, with my apparel budget cut to the quick and my participation in The Great American Apparel Diet, I am left fantasizing about my old wardrobe. I imagine a lovely waif of a “slow clothing movement” girl prancing down the runway of life in my old clothes and my Guess booties. I trust that she appreciates where her wardrobe began. I really hope, upon further reflection, that the “slow girl” hasn’t sewn the arms of my Obermeyer ski jacket onto the bodice of my brown Liz Claiborne Courdory Maxi coat. But if she has, all I can say is “you go–slow girl!”

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

Hi guys…anyone out there?  Things are sort of quiet on the blog these days which makes me wonder….are you all still dieting?  Remember only a few more months.

Some good news.  My husband and I just got a tandem bike.  The bad news…cycling apparel.  For those of you unfamiliar with cycling shorts they are every girl’s fashion nemesis.  The good news, I don’t have to spend anytime in a dressing room trying on cycling shorts like I did last year thanks to TGAAD.   I will  blaze forward in the same bad, unattractive shorts I wore last year.  Which brings up a scary topic.  Trying on bike shorts.  If you haven’t done it don’t.  It’s enough to make a girl give up on the sport.  See my post from last Spring when I found myself in the same situation.  Unfortuantely I was still shopping…

June 2009 (pre TGAAD)

I have recently and reluctantly re-taken up cycling, I guess you could call it recycling.   I say reluctantly not because I don’t enjoy cycling or its benefits—forty miles equals a monster sized burrito and a frothy Hefferweizen.  I say reluctantly because the clothes SUCK.  I am being kind when I say that no one, not even Mark, my handsome, 2% body fat husband looks good in the stuff.

My re-entry into the sport began last spring when Mark talked me into upgrading my old, Raleigh ten speed to a fancy, schmancy, carbon fiber, eighteen speed something or other, with clip-in pedals.  He said the upgrade was for me but I really think the old red Raleigh along side his pimped-out racing bike embarrassed him.  My new bike, donned with all the components and the aero dynamic seat that is sure to give me hemorrhoids, is something he can stand by with pride.  My outfit?  Not so much.   Upon completing the expensive bike transaction with the tattooed sales specialist, Mark insisted we stop by the apparel section of the store to check out some cycling pants.  He obviously had a vision.

“Wait a minute,” I said, pausing in my tracks for effect.   “Cycling pants?  Are you !@#$%^ nuts?  I told you I’d ride but I didn’t say I’d wear the pants. I would rather wear a pair of high waist, acid washed jeans than a pair of ugly, spandex, sausage legged shorts with a crotch chaffing, Kotex Maxi Pad chamois.  It’s not my look.”

“Well then what are you going to wear?” he asked.

“My yoga pants.”

“Your yoga pants, for cycling?”

“Yeah, why not?  They look so much better.  You know the ones, the bell bottom lulu lemon pants with the hipster contrast border at the waist.”

“You’re not serious.”

“Yes.  I am not wearing those weird pants.  No way.”

I saw in his eyes his vision for our future of biking together slip away.  “You can’t wear yoga pants babe.  Not with your fancy new bike.  It’s just not done.”

I knew then I was in over my head.  This cycling business was so much more than the bike.  It was a culture that demanded an aesthetic reset.  I was now the proud owner of a fancy bike that required me to scrap my instinctive fashion sensibility and embrace the ugliest, most unattractive trend invented by man (a woman would know better).

And so right there in the bike store I acquiesced.   I gathered six to ten pair of black cycling shorts and began the demoralizing task of squeezing my soft body into a variety of girdle like contraptions, one after the other in search of the “most flattering pair.”  News flash, for those of you who have an issue with cellulite the issue becomes an all out crisis in bike shorts. I stood face to face with myself in the small, dingy fitting room and mouthed the words “you know better.”

Mark called from outside the dressing room, “hon, come out and show us.”  The us included the youngish, sinewy sales woman.   “Not yet,” I said, nearly out of breath and laboriously peeling off another pair of tourniquet shorts.   The sales girl chimed in, “do you have a jersey?”  And with that she hung three loudly colored polyester jerseys over the dressing room door.  “Try these on, we just got them in.  They’re awesome.”   Awesome was not the word that came to mind.  Logo-mad print designer on acid was more like it.

I finally settled on a pair of black, below the knee knickers with a stayfree mini-pad sized chamois.  They were $90.  Who knew that being unattractive could cost so much?   My husband and his sales clerk side-kick were disappointed that I passed on the Jerseys.  I was certain that I could get away with cycling pants and a Gap t-shirt for a while.  At least until I found an inconspicuous jersey that didn’t scream “this is ugly.”

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

The proverbial ink had barely dried on our story about Manpacks when one of our spotters alerted us to an equivalent for women: Panty by Post, a Canadian venture that offers—sure enough—women’s underwear by monthly subscription.

Where Manpacks focuses on the practical and functional, however, Panty by Post has quite different aspirations. No basic whites here—rather, the company has an exclusive agreement with Montreal’s Blush Lingerie for its signature and bridal lines. Panties come in hipster, thong and bikini styles and are made with French lace and satin. Customers can order panties individually, or they can sign up for subscriptions lasting two, three, six or 12 months. A different panty is then sent every month, each wrapped in an attractive mailing package. Pricing ranges from CDN 16 for a single pair to CDN 240 for a year’s worth of premium deliveries. Panty by Post is also about to launch a men’s subscription service featuring Montreal-based JM Intimode’s eco-minded “Briefs in a Box.”

Part convenience and part indulgence, Panty by Post reminds us of ShoeDazzle’s monthly subscriptions to a handpicked series of stylish shoes. Where else might fashion-minded consumers be interested in a little curated selection and recurring delivery?

Website: www.pantybypost.com
Contact: info@pantybypost.com

Spotted by: Lori Kalef

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

Following in the footsteps of companies we’ve covered that let consumers customize their own sneakers and baby shoes, Sydney-based online shoe retailer Shoes of Prey is directing the design-your-own trend towards stylish, custom-made women’s shoes.

Launched in October, Shoes of Prey’s simple, online design tool puts bespoke shoes just a few clicks away for women wanting to design their dream shoes and have them hand-crafted to match their requirements. Customers choose the style, heel type, heel height, adornments and colours, and select from raw materials including calf skin, snake skin, fish skin, silk and more, which makes for a near infinite number of possible combination’s.

Prices range from AUD 195 for ballet flats to AUD 300 for 4½-inch heels. International shipping is available, and the shoes take about six weeks to arrive. The service is backed by a generous returns policy which guarantees that if the shoes don’t fit, Shoes of Prey will remake them until they do; and if the customer doesn’t like the design, they can send the shoes back for a full refund or have a new design made for them free of charge.

Retailers—is this a model to be hot on the heels of? Shoes of Prey welcomes contact from merchants who are interested in offering the design-your-own shoes tool under their own brand. (Related: One-of-a-kind shoe art — High-heeled shoes, designed by the crowds.)

Website: www.shoesofprey.com
Contact: mike@shoesofprey.com

Spotted by: Ngaire Stevens

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

SoOoOooOoo I’ve done it. I have fallen off the proverbial wagon and bought something.

Was it expensive? Probably…
Unnecessary? Probably..
Worth it? TOTALLY.

To be fair, this isn’t juuusst ‘something’ it’s more than that…I bought a limited edition type coat by Smythe for HBC. It’s ABSOLUTELY 100% GORGEOUS!! And I LOOOVVVEE it and it LOOVEESS MEEEEE back! I want to have its babies! 100,000,000 of them!!

………annnyywaaayyy.

Let’s slow things down with a little history lesson about this jacket: In 2009 HBC [Hudson Bay Company] asked 10 Canadian Designers to re-create one of a kind coats from a HBC Point Blanket. Originally, they weren’t for sale, however, Smythe’s jacket in particular was so popular that they made a special order of 100 coats and sold them during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Anyhow, this is just one little minor blip on the radar. I will continue on with this challenge. After purchasing my jacket, I started thinking; I wonder what the success rate of this challenge is. I know you can measure ‘successes’ in a number of different ways yadayadayada. But if you measure your success rate as 100% = no buying anything and 0% = buying a new pair of Louboutin’s every week, what would it beeeee?!?!

Perhaps we can start a poll: For those on the challenge, how many non-essential items have you purchased? Don’t’ be shy, be honest…but be warned, I WILL JUDGE YOU! [just kidding, I won't - cubs honor]

Zero
1 – 4
5 – 9
10 – 14
15 & Up

I suppose it was rather ambitious of me for thinking I could go an ENTIRE year without shopping. Mehhh…oh well, it was a good run; 7 weeks of zero shopping. That’s pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good…if I say so myself. All in all, No regrets. And whatever your number is; keep on keeping on.

For previous post, and more ridiculousness check out Naked Susie; A year without [new] clothes

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

I have a friend who judges women on whether or not they remember where they were when Lady Di died.  She uses this as a barometer for what kind of woman you are.  If you can’t remember or don’t care my friend would instantly dismiss you as “not her kind of girl.”

Well I can take that concept a step further…I know what I was wearing when Lady Di died—a pair of burnt orange Gap jeans, a gray short sleeved t-shirt and a pair of ratty Nike Pegasus shoes, sans socks.  I was probably wearing a bad bra too; I don’t remember the brand.  Underwear? Who knows?  I had been painting my office and made a quick trip to the paint store when I heard the news.  I wish I had been more appropriately dressed for the occasion.  It was Lady Di after all.

I know it’s silly and probably a giant brain drain but like songs from the 70s I remember almost every important event in my life by the outfit I wore.  I am not just talking about clothes I wore in pictures; I am talking about clothes that I wore to my first gyno appt., my first kiss, and my first day of third grade.  The list goes on and on, it’s kind of embarrassing.

I also have a list in my brain of my top ten outfits of a lifetime.  It starts with an ensemble from third grade.  A knit pant suit with yellow and white horizontal striped bell bottoms (who knew that was ever a good look) and a solid yellow knit tunic.  And then there was the pair of footless black leggings paired with a fuchsia shaker sweater that went down to my knees—In retrospect I looked like The Big Fig Newton with a ratty perm.  Then there was the Rayon black blazer from The Limited that I wore with pleated Seattle Blues acid washed jeans, The Nicole Miller aqua and black print flapper dress with the long waist (it looked hideous on me but I loved the print).

I won’t bore you with the rest of my top ten, but here’s my point.  Apparel makes my world-go-round.  It’s part of who I am, how I approach the world and how I organize my mind.  Weird, and quite possibly shallow, I know.  Just think of all the world’s problems that have been left unsolved simply because my brain is filled with memories of polyester and wool. But, oh well, that’s me.

For the record, as I write this I am wearing a J. Crew heather gray long sleeved cotton t-shirt, a pair of strategically ripped jeans by Big Star, my Frye engineer boots with Hue stripped socks, a pair of Calvin Klein undies and a flesh colored Natori bra.

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

Hello Everyone!

After reading about TGAAD in October of 2010 I decided to take the plunge in November, and officially joined the website this month. I have been spreading the word to friends & on FB as well.

I have been trying to cut down my consuming for some time- for ‘green’ reasons and personal reasons as well…because I have a HUGE closet! Why? Well, I AM a clotheshorse, been following fashion since I was 11 (I’ve read EVERY issue of Vogue since the 7o’s- that’s a lot of issues!) but the reason my closet is so huge is that I am an Actor & Costume Designer; I run my own small theater company and we never throw anything away! So, whenever I wanted to rationalize new clothing purchases, I would just move some old clothes into the costume stock and voila! now I ‘needed’ something new.

So I have a lot more resources than most to keep wearing my own things, plus I can sew and re-configure old things in new styles- I think I am much luckier (and therefore need TGAAD more) than most.

Here’s my big question: Does buying clothing from Secondhand stores or thrift stores count? I ask because, yes, these things would be ‘new’ to ME, but are not new clothing, and not adding new items into circulation. Also, many of the secondhand items that don’t get bought get thrown away eventually (wasted).

I ask because it has been fairly easy for me to stop buying new clothes- running a theater company is already an exercise in negative income ( add in this economy and there isn’t much money for clothes anyway!). But resisting temptation in the Thrift store has been HARD! I must shop there when I am costuming a show, and its really difficult to resist buying something that is: A) very cheap, and B) is now being used instead of winding up in a landfill.

So, what do you all think? Is buying Secondhand cheating on TGAAD?

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

So here it is Sunday afternoon, a perfect day for shopping- NOT.  Normally, that is my routine.  I can feel the siren call of the mall.  I am being taunted by a 30% off Kohl’s coupon.  Sigh.  It’s interesting to me to see that so much of my typical day involved shopping.  Yesterday I did my grocery shopping and spent an extra long time in the cosmetics aisle.  I didn’t  buy anything, but I needed to see what was new.  I accumulate way too much STUFF!  I have to be careful not to just switch my obsession from clothing to makeup or something else (like start buying 37 bras or something LOL).  I definitely could fall into that trap.  I started sorting a few drawers to make a pile for Goodwill, but I kept removing things from the pile.  I guess that is ok. What I will do this week is wear each of the items I took back from the pile.  I will see how they make me feel.   I have a feeling, there will be a problem with each (I know one is too loose and that is why I never wear it) I’m thinking that if I force myself to wear it all day at work maybe I will recognize that I don’t love it, don’t need it and I can let go.   I shouldn’t have bought it in the first place but I rationalized it because of the price!  I have quite a few of those.  For me this is all about mindfulness. Too bad I’m out of my mind. 

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post

So today, I looked at my clothes with fresh, bright, optimistic eyes..  Until I was snapped back to the reality which is my closet.  Oh well, it was worth a shot.  In the end, I decided on a pair of jeans [my staple go-to pant; the new AE ones I was talking about..I can't believe how much I like them!], a flowy embellished chiffon tank, and a sparkly festive cardigan from Madewell.  Lovely if I say so myself.

..and then a thought creeped into my head: Kind. Of. Predictable. “Why?” might you ask?

Well, right now it’s VERY winter where I live.  There’s tons of snow ..and coldness.. like, I have to wear ski-pants on-a-daily-basis-type-coldness.  There’s definitely no cute winter outfits going on here or in the near future.  Theres no doubt that I lose most of my style ”mo-jo” during the winter months, since the main focus is to stay warm..

…Which ultimately leads me to no other choice but my tried and true outfit:  Jeans [of course..], a flowy tank of some sort.. paired with a cardigan.

At least I can take solace in the new clothes I ordered pre-diet that have yet to arrive  and as each day gets warmer, I will slowly swap ski-pants for skirts, winter boots for high heels, and sweaters for sleeveless tanks [not to be worn at the same time, mind you] and hopefully I can get the creative juices flowing.

Peace, Love & Happiness.

• share:
• Bookmark on Delicious
• Digg this
• Recommend on Facebook
• Share on Reddit
• Share with Stumblers
• Tweet this
• Follow this posts comments

Tweet This Post