Creature of Habit

Knitted Speckle Cable Cardigan, Aubin & Wills Striped cotton tank, Khaki paperbag belted trousers, Leather & Canvas Brogue, Alexander Wang Rocco leather tote, Revolve Clothing - GORJANA Graham Brown Leather Wrap Bracelet/Gold..., Pyrite Necklace - 24" Chain, gold vivienne studs, Nars Nail Polish - Orgasm: Official Stockist HQhair.com,

I'm one of those people who will find a song or album that they like and listen to it over, and over, and over. I get the same way with food sometimes too, I mean why mess with a good thing? This doesn't necessarily mean I'm not adventurous, but when I like something I like something and tend to run with it. So after talking about those river rocks I'd found I had to smile (sigh?) when I looked back at this Polyvore set I'd made a few days ago, all in the same colours I'd been talking about. The funny thing is, and this is a lot of the reason I enjoy Polyvore, I mostly only wear black. Well, maybe that's not entirely true, but black is definitely my comfort colour. So while in my head I would wear this outfit, in reality I'd probably grab a black cardy (comfort clothing article, its a necessity) instead. Oh well, it's fun to dream! I'm really digging this casual kinda masculine, annie hall-ish vibe though (I almost included a hat, but it was getting a little too Diane Keaton) and I'm really hoping Dorothy Perkins brings those pants back in because they're basically my dream pants for Fall! I've been trying to thrift some, to no avail which is maybe partly due to me not having the patience to try on all the tapered slacks in the hope that one will look like this. Dorothy Perkins carries them in plus sizes too, which is a bonus, so fingers crossed!

We spent most of the weekend getting ready for a craft fair on Sunday, that unfortunately I was too sick to go to! So bummed, it's the first time I've actually been ready without pulling an almost all nighter beforehand, haha. We were hoping to do a preview of some of the new necklaces there, but I guess we'll just have to wait until we release them online. If you want a sneak peek you can see a little of what we're working on over here, where I'll be adding a few more photos soon.

A few things;
- A new mixtape, Working Weekend. We watched The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack over the weekend, and the track on there of his always makes me a little teary. Such a beautiful, melancholy voice.
- I absolutely love this chunky shawl fromYarnover Movement! Also, did you know she's having a sale? Best go take a look!
- An interesting discussion over on Sarah McNeil's blog about copyright and watermarks, worth a read both of the post and the comments. I need to go add my two cents!

Smitten: Anna Allen

I am completely smitten by the beautiful work of clothing designer, Anna Allen. The fabric, the simplicity, the photos - it's all perfect. I mean, a work smock! So dreamy. Also, I think I need to find a new wicker laundry hamper, and carry it around our balcony on my hip. Find even more beautiful photos in her lookbook.

Osborne Shoes, lust and uneasiness.

 I've been wracking my brains trying to remember where I first saw those floral jazzies up there, but I've been totally swooning over them ever since. When I saw them again on Evie's blog today I took the chance to check out the rest of Osborn Shoes and was pretty smitten. The shoes are all made by a group of 21 artisans in Guatemala City, fair trade and with locally sourced and recycled materials (blankets, clothing and the like). I love that you can see the colour and traditional patterns in many of the shoes. Those booties up there are made from hand block printed cotton and the huipile jazzies in the middle are all one of a kind. Hand blocked printed cotton, people!

Osborne Shoes are such a fantastic example of the combination of art and function, and the fact that owners Carla Venticinque-Osborn and Aaron Osborn strive to provide meaningful and well paid work for people who live in an area that's economy has been nearly destroyed to fuel our desire for cheap crap, make me really happy*.  I also love that by looking at the range of prints and how much the collections seem to change, it looks like Osborne Shoes are really made with what is available at the time and that there has been a decision made to make things like huipil accessible to folks living outside communities who wear these traditional textiles in their day to day lives. 

On the other hand, I have to admit I feel a little weird about the Kente booties (yes, despite raving about them two paragraphs ago) because while aesthetically I think they're fantastic, Kente cloth has always a been a traditionally sacred textile. Of course it has become super recognizable and more common place over the years, I'm just not sure that it is anyone but the people of Ghana that get to decide how their textiles are used and whether or not they should become more accessible. Admittedly I'm saying this with absolutely no idea about how these particular textiles were acquired and used, but it makes me uneasy and I think it's important to raise these questions, you know?


Thoughts?



*What doesn't make me happy is seeing Nylon describe some of the prints as 'native tribal' because it is just so unbelievably lazy and ethnocentric.