Feb 22
Sally Bjornsen

Ok girls, and one guy.  We do have one guy now, though we are yet to hear from him on the blog.  Anyway, back to my point.  Last week I posted the poll over there to your right.  It’s sort of a trite, yes/no kind of a poll.  I was in a hurry and was getting tired of the old department store versus boutique poll and thought it was time for some poll freshen-ing up.  And the: Is it easy?or Is it hard? poll was the best I could do that day.   When I published the question I was feeling proud and sassy, as if I could go a lifetime without buying anything new.   Well today is another story.  To say “who’s idea was this anyway,” would be saying it lightly.  It’s more like who’s!@#$%^&*()_ing idea was this anyway?   You see we have had record breaking sunshine in Seattle and temperatures hovering around 58 degrees.  It’s like Mother’s Day in February which is giving me some insight into my very limited warm weather wardrobe.  What pray tell will I wear when the real mother’s day gets here?   At least in the winter you can layer a great coat over a bad outfit. Not so in warm weather.  Can you say painter’s smock?  Perhaps I’ll pick up the paintbrush again. 

So back to the poll.  Last week this diet business was easy….this week?  Un frickin’ bearable.  I want something bright, snappy and new.  The good news is…tomorrow I will likely feel differently.  Hang in there girls, and our one guy! 

Sincerly, your fearless leader

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Nov 05

iPhoto LibraryThemeof the Week ResizedStrange, isn’t it, how far denim has come? If my grandfather knew that a $600 pair of jeans even existed… let alone that human beings were actually willing to pay that kind of money for them… he would, as my mother would say, roll over in his grave.

When I learned of this week’s theme, it was actually my grandfather who first came to mind – a hard working mechanic who, in the 1930’s, repaired trains in the belly of Grand Central Station. He essentially lived in ‘dungarees’ and durable blue denim overalls back when denim was considered “work clothes”. I can’t remember if it was from my Grandfather or a school assignment that I first learned of denim’s tie in with the San Francisco gold rush, but that’s another image that came to mind with this assignment… again, denim as sturdy work wear.

So, as is typical when I ponder anything relating to fashion, I’m left scratching my head over that NY Times article on jeans [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/fashion/29JEANS.html?emc=eta1]. Possibly BECAUSE I’m no fashionista, I kind of “get” denim, I really do. Or at least I thought I did. I mean, I practically live in my Levis. So I’m perplexed here… HUNDREDS of dollars for a single pair of jeans?! Am I the only one that finds this slightly insane? Sure you can acid wash ‘em, embellish ‘em, sandblast ‘em… you can even give ‘em whiskers, but at the end of the day, they’re still ‘dungarees’.

In a piece by Levi Strauss & Co. about the history of denim, I read, “If we were to use a human term to describe a textile, we might say that denim is an honest fabric – substantial, forthright, and unpretentious.” Boy, does THAT conflict with the current image of denim as high-end designer commodity!

Perhaps, in the long run, the impact of our current economic downturn on the designer jeans industry is a good thing. While I find spending even $100 on a pair of jeans excessive, at least prices have come down substantially from those of 5 or 10 years ago. Maybe denim will even return to its roots and again become the clothing of the hard working, industrious American… I’m thinkin’ this country could use a little more “substantial, forthright and unpretentious”!

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Nov 05
Sally Bjornsen

Themeof the Week ResizedHello all, we are starting a “theme of the week” posting contest.  Every week I will post a theme of the week, this week it is Denim.  Every week we will put out a theme and all of you bloggers can blog on that topic.  Then we all vote on the most thought provoking, silly, scary or outrageous post.  The person who wins gets a piece of apparel. 

Food for thought, there was a recent article in the NYTIMES style section about the falling prices of denim…check it out.

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