New York Times on thrift style

The article in today's (Dec 28/2013) online issue of the New York Times contains some wonderful insights on the allure of thrifted clothing.  Macklemore's song an end of the year anthem?

This excerpt refers to "D.I.Y. solipsists" who are "curating" our "selves" through the stuff we assemble:

"It was “Thrift Shop,” of course, the ode by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis to the democratic joys of the bargain bin, where “one man’s trash is another man’s come-up.” For a generation of digital natives accustomed to ransacking the Internet for goods and ideas floating free from a contextual matrix, “Thrift Shop” was more than a chart topper. It was a metaphor.

We live in a thrift shop culture, compelled by daily, hourly and constantly refreshed trips to the Goodwill outlet that is the web. There we find all the stuff for assembling the “curated” selves who experts say are the new American trendsetters, D.I.Y. solipsists. Like Macklemore, we repurpose, we mash up, we grab things off the sale rack and try it on for size.

Nowhere was this clearer in 2013 than in the evolution of style. Despite the best efforts of luxury-goods manufacturers and their attendant lap-dog press, fashion seemed to have mislaid the capital “F.”

Lee Miller

In  New York City in late November, I happened to walk by the Rizzoli bookstore and wandered in. It's not in its original location, but it still feels very much like an old world bookstore, the kind of space in which one wants to linger and finger the pages of books. I picked up a book on photographer Lee Miller, which I thought my younger daughter Clara and I could share.

Clara has read it and now it's my turn. The question of female beauty has arisen, I see her as athletic and wholesome, but also a cross between Catherine Deneuve and Greta Gerwig. But what I like the most of course are the clothes and the poses. 

The fact that she was both in front of the camera and behind it is also intriguing. 

  in front …  

… and behind the camera

                                                                                                   

Becky Conekin, the author of the book on Miller and fashion, attempts to analyze this paradox, and attempts to understand the possibility of a woman making herself the object of the gaze.  I'm not sure that Conekin succeeds in her interpretation. But it doesn't really matter. This book is a fun fashion book and a biography of a woman who had an extraordinary life. 

This photograph, taken during World War II to promote the use of safety gear during German bombings of London, summarizes for me at least the disappearance of a border between aesthetics (surrealist inspired in this case), commodification (of clothing, not just as practical but also as fashionable and trendy) and propaganda (we can defend ourselves against the enemy). Furthermore the photograph is very modern. By modern I mean that it is not only timeless, but it sets the style for fashion photography for decades to come. Fashion photography is attractive not only because it commodifies the clothes. That would be predictable and boring. But because it also surprises the viewer with poses, accessories, lighting, backdrops and special effects (with the advent of photoshop) that make the viewer dream of another reality. At the risk of sounding like a Roland Barthes wannabe, I will stop and let the images speak for themselves.  

Back and foreword

I spent the Thanksgiving holiday in New York City, as mentioned in a previous post. I finally uploaded the photo of my friend Laure in a consignment shop on West Broadway in Soho. I don't have a photo of the skirt she ended up purchasing, and this sweater, albeit lovely, had a tying system that became too complicated.

The end of a calendar year is a good time to purge -- which means cleaning out closets and filling bags with stuff to bring to consignment shops and thrifts stores. It's also a good time to look back and look forward. I look back on a tumultuous year for many people, and I look foreword to a more peaceful year, pared down to its most essential elements.

young bohemians

Another blog I just came across via Sally Jane: It Girl, Rag Doll
Great clothes, inspiring outfits!

New thoughts on old clothes

I just spent Thanksgiving in New York City where I reconnected with my daughter Clara whose clothes come mainly from the Salvation Army.

This outfit is made up of hand me downs and aforementioned finds at a West Side Salvation Army store.

I visited her in her new neighborhood in Bushwick, Brooklyn, reachable by M train, an elevated subway train that harkens back to the New York of the 1940s and 50s, including, free of charge, a slow and slightly bumpy ride through Williamsburg and Bedford Stuyvesant.

                                 

I also went to the New Museum on the Bowery in Lower Manhattan where I couldn't help but notice the number of men wearing colorful sneakers,  suede shoes and leather booties. 

I'm not sure how I feel about this male fashion statement. Perhaps I just need to get used to it. 

It's December, drab, grey, cold, and depressing. Back home in New Hampshire, when I'm feeling bored and blue, I cruise ebay looking at Coach bags. Harlow's vintage web site popped up, with a lovely red bag

 as well as  this wonderful little video…