The Found-up: Fall 2014

If you care (and I will totally understand if you don’t) but if you care, I would like to share my latest purchases with you. These items have been made well, sourced ethically and I’m getting excellent mileage out of them.

 

~August~

“Dub” Hooded shirt, Fig Don’t let the name or weird, slightly affected photo fool you– this is basically a glorified hoodie, but it sounds way more legit to say, This is my dub hooded shirt! Actually, that sounds pretty dumb. Moving on, then. This was technically a summer purchase, but I started getting the best use out of it this fall. It was purchased from a locally-owned outdoor apparel store in Nakusp, BC, the Best Place on Earth. It has an expansive hood– seriously, you could hide Frodo from a Ringwraith in here.* Its subtle peplum cut is flattering without being hyperfeminine or trendy and in summary, it’s my favourite pullover.** It’s black because black goes with everything and therefore aids me in my personal trend vendetta against Anna Wintour. Made in Canada.

 

~September~

Striped sweater, Vince This was a Vespucci find and a testament to the incredible value of consignment shopping. This sweater is 100 per cent cashmere (a surprisingly economical choice), in great used condition, retails for hundreds and I got it for eighty bucks. Made in China but secondhand means it’s off-grid.

 

~October~

Navy Pleated Tunic, aka my bulldog peplum methadone, Mini Mioche The design is versatile, but the best part about this garment is that even the fabric is produced sustainably– a rarity worth paying a premium for, in my opinion. I do feel obligated to warn any would-be purchaser that the neckhole is very small, or else my offspring is suffering from a serious case of melon head. I pulled it over her yesterday and she started re-enacting the burial scene from The Cask of Amontillado whilst attempting to fling herself off the change table. Some elastic may be in order. Made in Canada.

 

~November~

Robie button-down, Tradlands Saving the best for last? More like saving the best thing you’ve ever seen in your gosh-darn life FOREVER. When this arrived in the mail, I quite literally chronicled its unwrapping in photos and I am not a photo chronicler.***

My husband can attest to my jumping up and down like a sugar-charged toddler but he’d probably rather forget the whole episode. You can read all about Tradlands and their fashion philosophy over here so I’m just going to blather on about the perfect fit and slow craftsmanship and timeless versatility and how I’ve worn it for 3 days without washing it. What? No I didn’t say that. Made in USA.

 

* Hold the Bucklebury Ferry. Was that my second LOTR reference on this blog? I’m not a geek, I swear. My sister loves Firefly and my brother has more Robert Jordan books than Chapters but I’m normal, I promise. This sort of thing just spews out of me when I’m typing with a beer in my hand. One Innis & Gunn Original and my brain thinks I’m in a pair of flannel PJs, eating Cadbury Buttons on my mom’s couch while tenderly embracing the Tolkien box set I just received for my thirteenth Christmas. Nobody believes me. Okay, fine. I speak the languages of Middle Earth.

** My only pullover, actually, since I became a ruthless closet pillager.

*** If I see one more photo of somebody’s plate of food in my newsfeed, my muscles will rip my sleeves open and I will smash this laptop and never blog again.

The Finite Wardrobe, Part II.

I’m beginning to feel slightly guilty* for ripping on Anna Wintour knowing that my closet is still a hypocritical hodge-podge. Even though I’ve been working for a couple of years to pare my collection down, I’d estimate that about 25% of my wardrobe still belongs to at least one of these dubious categories:

trendy When I say ‘trendy’, I do not mean ‘stylish’. I mean, ‘I bought this because my naive little eyeballs once read that it was supposed to be in for the season’. After the first few wears, it became painfully clear that oversized polka-dot chiffon blouses do not become these wide shoulders and hips unless I am seven months pregnant, in which case I look adorable. Out of the closet, into the maternity rubbermaid.

 

closet decorator Like some kind of deranged oversized magpie, I decided to line my closet with this at some point because I thought it was pretty. I’m pretty sure my neurons didn’t even fire; it was a strict hand-to-hanger “ooh, shiny!” nervous impulse. Unfortunately, once I brought it home, I realized the lacy part exposed too much lady part. Not exactly ideal for the context in which I was planning to wear this blouse, i.e., in front of thirty teenagers at my Christian school. You are probably looking at these two photos so far and wondering how many times I have to buy something that looks bad before I will stop doing that. WELL…

ethical but ugly At one point, I felt so shopping deprived from constantly putting things back on the rack that the minute I’d see something made in the USA or Canada, I’d buy it even if it didn’t look that great. I hate hate HATE getting rid of items that I’ve barely worn but not as much as I hate being taunted by a surly gang of ill-chosen threads every time I open my closet door. I would take a picture but I don’t think you’re ready for it.**

nostalgic barnacle, irrelevant to current life stage This is a hoodie with history. It is one of two exact replica hoodies I purchased for myself while in University, when I felt a deep need to be validated by my sense of hipster irony. I spilled bleach on the original one, kept wearing it anyway for another 6 months and finally replaced it with Ironic Hoodie 2.0 when the cuffs started falling off. Horrifying, perhaps, but not for the girl who used to wear INSIDE OUT T-SHIRTS TO SCHOOL, NO I’M NOT KIDDING. But my thirtieth birthday draws nigh. These days, I like to wear my shirts right-side-out and no matter how hard I squint, Ironic Hoodie 2.0 doesn’t make me laugh anymore because I am (apparently) a decrepit prune.

Ironic Hoodie 1.0                                           Ironic Hoodie 2.0

I just took all the clothes belonging to these aforementioned groups and purged them (there were lots). My closet looks like this now:

blazerblazersweatersweaterblouseblouseblouseblousebuttondownbuttondownbuttondownhangerhangerhangeremptyspaceemptyspaceTshirtTshirtTshirtTshirtTshirtTshirtcardigancardigancardiganhangerhangertrouserstrousersdressdress

That’s right- I can quite literally visualize every item in my closet right now because each one adds real value to my wardrobe and is in there for a very specific reason.

Full of vigour (from doing this purge) and shame (from shopping poorly enough to make this purge necessary), I hereby declare that from now on, no garment shall cross the threshold of my closet door unless it fits all of the following criteria:

sourced ethically This means that it was assembled in a country with stringent labour standards, or under circumstances where special care was taken to ensure fair labour practices in a country with typically poor labour standards (e.g. fair trade).

purchased thoughtfully I will know what I’m buying before I enter the store, and I won’t leave with anything extra, no matter how cute the bulldog is.

deeply reflective of personal style NOT a passing trend, and therefore won’t leave my closet until it’s falling apart. On that note…

seriously well-made An ethically sourced garment can still shrink, fall to pieces and hit the landfill sooner than it ought to. This US made T-shirt started out awesome but came out of its first accidental encounter with the dryer too snug for Tyrion Lannister.

*not really. She was so mean to Anne Hathaway.

** I forgot to take the picture.

 

Sweater Weather!

I collect sweaters like some people collect garden gnomes, only my sweaters don’t stare at me with an uncanny, chilling smile and force me to sleep with my eyes open. Also, nobody has yet attempted to kidnap one of my sweaters and take it on a road trip.

Sweaters, when made with high-quality fabric like cashmere or merino wool, sourced responsibly, and looked after carefully, make exceptional (and economical) purchases.

They feel great. Cashmere is the tactile equivalent of drinking hot chocolate whilst looking out a frosted window and listening to this guy.

They’re super versatile. A high-quality sweater can linchpin any look. See what happens to my basic dove grey cashmere when paired with

a) Blue jeans:

b) Black cords and a collared shirt:

c) The same collared shirt and a pleated skirt:

Buying versatile basics is a way of protesting and countering the fast fashion movement (and if you can do it while supporting true artisans who are in the fashion industry for the right reasons, even better*). Also, please excuse the soother in the first ph– I mean, I have placed a soother in this photo on purpose to underscore the soothing nature of cashmere. Yes.

They’re cost-effective. Yes, good sweaters are expensive upfront, but they cost far less than buying a crummy one over and over and over again. Contrary to popular belief, cashmere’s durability is on par with wool, and high quality cashmere won’t pill, unlike the polyester-blend sweater I bought 2 years ago from the Gap for $50 and finally gave away in exasperation because no matter how carefully I washed that sucker in cold water or laid it flat to dry, it still emerged from every cleaning with a new colony of fibre-acne. That sweater from the above photos cost me two hundred bucks, but it’s going to last me until my daughter becomes a snarky teenager and makes me throw it out in the year 2027 because it embarrasses her for some esoteric reason. Meanwhile, she’ll probably be wearing something like this:

They’re trend-resistant. Fashion trends are to blame for turning our closets into revolving doors, contributing to waste and flooding the overseas used garment market, ultimately taking business away from local artisans in those countries. Who among us will deny, for example, that this dress or these leggings or this godforsaken boot will be at Goodwill within 12 months of purchase? A sweater in a neutral colour or classic pattern, on the other hand, has so much longevity that its appeal will quite literally outlive you.

See? This sweater that Katherine Hepburn wore is now in my closet.**

Now, where to buy these magical garments? An ethically sourced wool or cashmere sweater can be a bit of a unicorn, but you can buy one custom-made, 3D printed, at Appalatch, my new favourite store. If you’re looking for greater style and colour variety, my friend just told me about Everlane. While this company does make use of overseas factories, its sourcing practices are far, far more stringent and transparent than other companies offering comparable luxury basics, such as Lord & Taylor. They’ve also been featured on Ecouterre, where the company founder talks about supporting the ‘buy less’ movement. They even went so far as to shut down their online store on Black Friday!

Gotta run– My sweaters are getting antsy and I need to take them out of the wardrobe and sing to them.

*Unfortunately, this particular sweater was not sourced ethically- I purchased it before I was being careful that way- but it has held up to my quality standards if not my ethical ones.

**That is not the same sweater.

My Winter Wish List.

You know that mildly creepy “Grown Up Christmas List” song, wherein a fully-grown adult sings to Santa about sitting on his lap? I like the Amy Grant version. I can’t help it. Nostalgia has forever burned it into the pleasure zone of my little brain. But let me arrive at my point here because my infant daughter just finally went to sleep and I’m halfway through a nice glass of red wine and I have about 23 minutes to spend with you before my personal energy metre officially expires for the day.*

Back to the song… with one quick digression. Oh boy, I’m starting to think Stuart McLean is my real daddy.

I used to love the mall at Christmas. I probably don’t need to spend any time conjuring a multisensory experience for you here. Poinsettias. Pepperidge Farm kiosks. Window displays featuring cozy sweaters, fake model smiles and pine boughs. Santa. Candles for sale with names like “bonfire” and “young spruce”. The Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. Dog calendars. The obvious contrivance was alluring; I could lose myself in it for an evening, kind of like the movies.

I don’t really visit the mall anymore, for reasons that will be delineated in another post. In place of what I will lovingly refer to as “my Christmas wish list as dictated to me by some marketing rep in Manhattan,” I am now producing for you here “the list of things I wish I’d known about before I spent all that money at Old Navy.” Insofar as adulthood consists of independent thought, I guess this could be considered my own “grown up Christmas list,” hopefully minus a potentially awkward Santa encounter.

1. Cold Mountain Cape, Appalatch

 

2. Robie Shirt, Tradlands

 

 

3. Phillip Riding Boot, Frye

 

4. Lizzielooms Slipper, Feelgoodz

5. Star Shoulder Sweater, Chinti and Parker (this would be more like my, “hey, I won the lottery! let’s buy a sweater!” option)

Soother misplaced (by baby). Red wine finished (by me). Over and out.

*this was originally posted around midnight yesterday, not 8:18 am as I think we can all agree that would be more than a little alarming.