wearing only used clothes

I wish I could do this for a year:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/ive-worn-charity-clothes-every-day-for-a-year-to-raise-money-for/

I figure that the purchase of a used item of clothing is a form of recycling. But this is going an extra big step.

Fall wrap up

 Montreal, Mile End

Spent another Thanksgiving on the Plateau in Montreal. The circuit Saint-Laurent >> Bernard >>  Avenue du Parc in Mile End will yield many a vintage/"antique"/consignment shops finds....

                         

A trip to the fine arts museum near Mc Gill yielded some fun surprises as well...
(speaking of recycling)

your old suitcase...
...is an artifact

Revolution, White River Junction, Vermont

I still favor men's jackets (although I passed this one up)

I don't have a photo from the consignment shop on Lower Main Street in Burlington, Vermont, but it has moved into some nice new digs and is well worth the visit.

And now for a nice little story that centers around an object. I ended up in a TJ Maxx in Claremont, New Hampshire  (shame on me, I know) where I bumped into my neighbor Shirley who was looking for a new purse because her old one was really getting old (she'd had it for twenty years). Shirley is a no frills kind of person, who hardly ever treats herself or indulges. She has a tough life, works hard, never complains.  I asked her whether she might be interested in an old leather bag of mine that I don't use anymore, and she said maybe.

So the next day, I walked the bag over to her house, and we chatted for an hour, she told me more bad news about her family, but she remained cheerful. I gave her the bag and asked if I could take a picture. She liked the bag even though it was bigger than what she was looking for. I'm just glad that I got to know my neighbor better. The bag enabled the conversation.



And finally, the daughter with the vintage cool running through her veins, Williamsburg, Brooklyn.




New York City. After the Paris attacks, and more gun violence in the USA, and the refugee crisis, and the planet getting dirtier and dirtier. I came here for a week to be with my family, to see some movies with friends, to take some young Europeans out to dinner, to see some live music, to see a play, to walk, and walk, and walk, to read a lot, to relax in a state of insouciance. Luckily, it worked. Thank you New York. Thank you friends, family, neighbors.

After Paris

So many words on social media, an outpouring of emotion.

I will be brief.

Looking at the last Paris posting from this past summer, I can't help but feel fortunate that, during the two weeks that I was there, the only thing I could complain about was the heat.

I know the bombed places well, these are the bobo neighborhoods where we all love to hang out. I was so proud of myself when I biked on a velib' from the 19th arrondissement down to the 10th then along the boulevard Richard Lenoir, which has the nice separate bike lane, to the 11th, to the Bastille neighborhood where I browsed at a very good comics bookstore on rue de Charonne.

Hot damn. I never felt so free and happy in my life as when I was riding that city bike alongside a bald hipster who was on his bike, and we waited for the green light, and I felt so urban and hip and cool. He disappeared in his direction, I went on in mine. Briefly,  two strangers sharing the same feeling of freedom.

I don't live in a city, but when I am in one,  I make sure to appreciate what the city has to offer. The ability to move around in so many different ways, bike, walk, metro, bus, scooter, roller blades, wheelchair, and to see so many different things, and hear so many conversations, languages, sounds, voices, music, and to eat and smell and drink and to watch people perform, and to luxuriate in clothes, shoes, jewelry, hats, gloves, leather, silk, cotton, wool, old, new.

But, most importantly, to be with other humans, and to share the activity of living.

Empty Nesting IV

Empty Nesting III

Northern New England Craft Fair

To segue from New York City to rural New England where I live, I will begin with my latest peak at the Sartorialist, who posted some racerback dresses he had spotted on the city streets probably during the last August heat wave.

From the Sartorialist.com

I myself am a big fan of the racerback style, and wish I could have found something in that shape when I was last in the City. Alas, I didn't find anything that I liked. But that really doesn't matter. I know that I have plenty of clothes. Life goes on.

Meanwhile the summer in New Hampshire has been very pleasant, and I lucked out with another lovely, sunny, breezy day when I headed  to the Sunapee Craft Fair with my friend Deb.  She is the manager of the local crafts store that sells only regionally made pottery, glass, wood objects and furniture, jewelry and clothing.
The Sunapee crafts fair, which takes place annually at the Sunapee ski area in Central New Hampshire, is a great place to fashion watch, but also to look at and for things for the home that have been made locally and (we hope) create a sustainable living for the craftspeople.

 I love the two toned Birkenstock.

 It was a good place to show off your stored away hat that you never dare wear anywhere else.

I wish I could have a bathroom accented with some of these tiles...

 I ended up buying a scarf from this weaver, I couldn't resist...

 Love the purple paired with the red worn by the woman on the right. 

Oh how nicely everything flows...

Gold wire, all hand made

Lest we forget where fabric comes from (when it isn't made in a laboratory or a factory).

Other than the scarf, and a vase that I bought from a potter who specializes in Raku, I really couldn't justify another purchase. I am in the process of cleaning out the contents of my home, and I already have an accumulation of lovely pots, plates, mugs, vases, glasses, wood furniture, and plenty of jewelry.  At the recycling center in town where we have a "swap shop," my friend Colleen showed me what she had found there. I told her that I was currently in an "output" mode, as in needing to get rid of things, rather than bring more things in. I sense that many of us who have lived in the same house for several decades are in the same boat. At the next house warming, I will offer something from my home, after cleaning it up of course, and trying my best to make look new. I will be honest with the person to whom I plan to give the hand me down gift, and I hope that he won't mind. Now, where did I put that Alice in Wonderland mirror?

Hot end of July, NYC

 I am in New York for a few days to visit my family. I like to contrast the fashion strategies of New Yorkers with those of the Parisians a month earlier, as they walk through the hot urban concrete jungle. More exposure of skin, more "shifts" (love the shifts), flat shoes (love the sneakers with dresses, heels are bad enough in more comfortable temperatures), and of course, the necessary sun shielding accessory, the hat.

 Inside...

 ...and outside McNally Jackson bookstore on Prince Street.

Stopped in Housing Works Bookstore on Crosby Street and picked up this classic volume...

                                                         

 Waiting to cross Canal Street















Always grappling with the ethics -- or lack thereof -- of the garment industry, as I peruse many shops and their summer sales, I am pleased that 1. I limited myself to two purchases, 2. they were made in consignment shops and 3. they are machine washable. American Apparel, whose labor practices are somewhat less awful than most clothing manufacturers, had a dress that I really liked, but it was dry clean only. I don't want to put the dry cleaning industry out of business, sometimes you need to clean something and it has to be done chemically, but nowadays fabrics for clothes that are meant to be worn often should be washable in a standard washing machine.

I was also on the search for a white short sleeved blouse. I saw many including a lovely textured one at Steven Allen on Elizabeth Street in NoLiTa.  They are pricey, but that is because they are made in the USA.

While I was in the hot city, I did manage to see the documentary on Nina Simone at the IFC on Sixth Avenue. What a talented woman who lived through desegregation and the civil rights movement, and was not afraid to be outspoken.

The film focuses primarily on her rise to fame in the 1950s and her political engagement in the 1960s. Lots of concert footage, but also footage from the civil protest, which, juxtaposed, evokes a strong argument for the political power of artistic performance.

This has been the summer of pop music. I've also uncovered some concert footage from the 1970s thanks to the extensive archives of the French television institute, l'INA. A French tv program known as "Pop 2", hosted by Patrice Blanc-Francard, showed concert footage from many of the great artists -- English, American and French -- from that era. We are nostalgic for these moments, these people, that sound and those values. Why? Because, when we despair that somebody who is a very rich obnoxious businessman is running for president, we can reminisce about a time when humans brought people together, rather than split us apart.

Paris in the Heat

A trip to Paris for a conference landed me in one of the hottest summers on record. The temperature climbed to 100ºF and remained there for a week or so. I was interested in fashion strategies, or what Parisians wear when it's that bloody hot.

 Women of the young kind are in shorts, older women are in dresses, or loose fitting pants.

                                                  Then you have the ones who wear both.

I was fascinated by this woman's head gear...

A few other stand outs that I surreptitiously photographed:

Inside the Bastille Opera House

Outside the Bastille Opera House

 Inside the Pompidou Center, I was mesmerized by videos of dancers whose rhythmic movements influenced the architect, Le Corbusier. The visitor's outfits were also mesmerizing.

Difficult to see, the woman in red and white dress with striped green and white bag. I had to check my bike helmet, but that's another story. Next time I go to the museum, I'll be sure to bring a cool looking tote bag.