My friend Malissa Long produced a fashion show held on the south steps of the Texas State Capitol and asked me to say a few words. Here’s the text:

Good evening, everybody.

My name is Claire James and Malissa has asked me to say a few words about the fashion climate here in Austin, TX (my home town) and how that might interface with the global fashion phenomenon at large. I do believe that right now and especially in the coming decade that Austin, along with the rest Texas, will offer a unique set of opportunities based on a combination of economic factors and cultural influences you won’t be able to find anywhere else.

But what I’m not going to do is stand here and tell you that if you just do what you love and believe in yourself and visualize success that all of your dreams will come true.  No, think of me more as the critical naysayer of the fashion industry - trying to cut through the hype and glamour and PR and tell it straight about what’s really going on.

Photo: Wendy Corn

While on one hand I’m going to try and offer some useful advice for those of you motivated and determined to try to make a living (or at least a side income) as a fashion designer I’m also going to try to encourage many of you to stop worrying altogether about extracting dollars and cents profit from your creative endeavors and just enjoy designing and creating fashion for its own sake. That the amateur do-it-yourselfer has just as much - and in some instances more - to contribute to the collective visual sartorial culture as the professionals.

So, what business do I have making such proclamations? Let me share a little of my background. Currently I write a blog  - collectiveselection.com. - which is a byproduct of my masters thesis work in the Textiles and Apparel Program at Cornell University. Collective Selection is a discourse analysis of what other writers and journalists are saying not just about the fashion trends themselves, but the intersection of culture, economics and politics that together create the zeitgeist - or spirit of the times - that those trends reflect.

So today here in 2010 I now have the luxury of watching, wearing and enjoying fashion in the evenings and weekends I’m not at my nice secure business casual day job. But from 1995-2002 I did manage to just barely eek out a living as an independent craft artisan - designing, producing and selling a line of hand dyed wearable art.

The name of my micro business was Colorwheels, and maybe some of you (or your parents) bought a tank top or baby romper from me at the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar or any number of local craft shows.

Like many of you, my love of fashion and costume (because for me the line was always pretty blurry) was sparked in high school. Luckily for me, my mother had started teaching me to sew in the second grade, and as soon as I was introduced to the glorious, yet still untapped motherlode of thrift stores in the 80s, it was all over.

Since the small allowance from my hard working yet non indulgent parents combined with the meager paycheck earned checking groceries at Randalls couldn’t even get me in the ring with the popular girl mall princesses - and the identical oversized shaker knit sweaters, acid washed ankle zip guess jeans and hair bows they were all wearing were excruciatingly boring anyways, I decided it would be way more fun to spend that bit of cash on giant bags of vintage finds, get out my scissors and sewing machine and see how I could horrify my conservative mother while at the same time making the halls of high school a whole lot more interesting.

25 years ago refashioning vintage was somewhat of a radical and unusual defiance of the corporate mall culture that completely dominated the fashion choices available at the time. How awesome to look around me today and see refashioned vintage sold in stores, taught in classes, featured in television shows. It’s infiltrating and spreading everywhere as an accepted alternative that continues influence the mainstream.

Over the past 15 years I’ve watched the fashion scene in Austin grow exponentially. Every year there are more and more fashion shows on the calendar, more stores featuring local designers and more places to set up a pop up tent and sell directly to the public.

And this explosion of interest in fashion we see in Austin is our own Texas indie flavored microcosm of a global phenomenon. Whether its new green business models of production or an underground line of clothes that editors are buzzing about or a bold and unusual dress turning heads in a nightclub - the momentum is coming from individuals at the grassroots level pursuing their creative visions. The best the corporate conglomerates of brands beholden to the instant gratification of shareholders can do is try to cool hunt and co-opt the authentic innovation of street style and independent upstarts.

And if you’ve been paying attention to the business news and earnings reports of those big labels and retailers you know that the climate can be described as nervous at best. The PR departments might be exuding optimistic messages in an attempt to fake it til they make it, but the reality itself is actually pretty grim.

Now this is where I venture into my Nouriel Roubini style Dr. Doomsday bit, but stay with me if you would because I promise to end on an optimistic note.

Although there’s lots of interest and excitement about fashion in Austin, the level of production and distribution infrastructure designers need to have a viable professional industry does not currently exist here (yet). But I will argue that this might actually be a good thing because the fashion industry proper like we see in New York and LA today is currently in a lot of trouble.

After the economic meltdown in the Fall of ’08, what do you think was the first thing people stopped buying? You guessed it, new clothes and shoes, especially the frivolous and expensive designer kind. I know there’s a lot of economists out there now talking about green shoots and the road to recovery, but my crystal ball tells me that for the immediate future our economy is in for another big hit at worst, and an anemic slump of unemployment at best.

Last year during New York fashion week I found one fashion writer brave enough to say what nobody else would: that at the shows themselves all too many industry veterans were busy working the room looking for gigs. Trouble is, most of their connections were in the same boat.

And more and more the established design houses are eliminating entry level positions and relying on and unlimited supply of fresh fashion school graduates for unpaid internships.

If you are hoping to make it big in the fashion industry as it exists in America today, I’d say good luck and I sure hope you have genius talent, incredible stamina, golden connections and a wealthy patron.

Now for the good news.

The best news I have is for the amateur do-it-yourselfers. The Blue Hangar still has mountains of discarded potential raw materials for $1.25 a piece, old school heavy duty sewing machines can be found used for under $50, (because really, the vast majority of home sewing machines built after 1975 are junk) and classes, books and websites to teach you to sew are within reach.

When you look back at the history of fashion and the changes in the dominant themes, norms and silhouettes, the most dramatic shifts always come in times of economic and social unrest. Now is the time to push it to the walls, and then push it some more. Enjoy the luxury of taking hours and hours, even days and weeks to painstakingly explore and experiment with techniques that may end up producing only one garment. And once you figure that out to the point where it’s efficient….move on to the next thing that catches your fancy.

I also find the social scene in Austin to be more fun and forgiving and far less judgmental and snobbish than cities where the stakes seem to be higher, like New York or San Francisco. The deliberately casual culture promoted by our own Chamber of Commerce means that one tends to find a broader range of social groups and types within the same venue.

At events like the Treasure City Thrift Fashion show everyone is applauded simply for giving it a shot. So go ahead, take a risk. If people think what you’re wearing is amazing, they’ll come up and tell you themselves. And if they think it’s just awful… well at least you’re keeping it weird!

So let’s say you’ve come up with a fun and unique twist on a garment or accessory, you’ve received lots of positive feedback, you’ve made more than you can wear and give away to friends and now you’re ready to try making a little bit of cash on the side to support your habit. The good news is that today there are stores like Parts and Labour and Moxie and the Compound that want to consign your work and have storefronts with systems and clientele already in place.

And of course I’m sure all of you are familiar with Etsy - the online marketplace that’s gotten many a new designer started with a viable business. But you will soon find out that efficient productions systems are essential to maintaining a profitable business of any size. The first hat is fun to make. And the third might be, too. But the thirtieth? Or the three hundredth? Streamlining is essential to preventing burnout.

The other thing essential to getting people to cross the line and fork over their hard earned dollars for your work - instead of just telling you how awesome they think it is - is that it has to be irresistible. And not just to one person, but to lots of them. Your look has to resonate with the tastes and subconscious desires of at least a niche demographic group.

And it must be well made. Period. Or people will pick it up and put it back or pass over the photo or send it back in the mail. Become skilled in your craft! If you’re making garments, learn to sew! I mean really learn to sew.

And what would I say to those of you who will settle for nothing less than making a living as a full time designer? For those of you determined to give it a shot, nothing I can say will talk you out of it because nothing anyone told me was able to talk me out of it. And boy did I show them! But I do believe that at least for me the naivete and boundless energy of being a twentysomething was essential.

Because you are the ones who are going to have to create your own jobs. To be visionary and creative enough to imagine not only new things to wear, but new models of doing business when the old ones are failing. Right now it’s extremely difficult to compete with the fast fashion monster machine churning out mountains of junky clothes at Forever 21 with exploited labor in third world countries. But do realize that this machine is dependent on key factors like the strength of the dollar, the stability of these other countries, and the low cost of international shipping. All of these factors can - and probably will - change into a whole new context in the coming decade.

In my blog I’m continually finding and posting articles about how luxury is being redefined for the 21st century and the focus is away from logos and bling (that’s so 2007) and towards ‘stealth wealth’ and the unique, one of a kind, handmade item that who’s craftsmanship is evident within the piece itself.

So for starters, learn to manage your money and your business. I know, it’s not the fun part. And if your mind is just too creatively oriented to do that well, you must partner up with someone you can trust to help you do it right. Pay your taxes, people.

Second, understand that at least half - if not more - of your time and energy will be spent hustling to get your product in front of your target audience. The marketplace is glutted with stuff, how is anyone going to find your signal amidst all the noise?

Third, go out and get a copy of Kathleen Fasenella’s “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing.” And read her companion blog - Fashion Incubator. Even if you’re a jeweler, she gives you the straight talk about how to get a product manufactured and marketed.

Whatever way you decide to approach making, finding, assembling, deconstructing and reconstructing clothing and accessories, please keep doing it! Give us something to talk about. Give the trend forecasters something to cool hunt and trickle up so it can trickle back down.

What will the fashion scene in Austin look like a decade from now? I’m waiting for you to show me.

Mochila bags featured in NY Times' "Mochila Bags: In the Moment, and Long Gone"

Apparently the latest ‘It Bag’ fought over by ‘It Girls’ isn’t coming from the usual logo ladened corporate conglomerates.

It takes the women of the Wayuu tribe of Colombia and Venezuela up to a month to weave a mochila bag, working eight hours a day, every day. It took no time at all for J. Crew, which featured the strappy satchels in its June catalog, to sell all of them. In fact, they were gone before many customers had even flipped open the issue.

But however wonderful it might seem to be supporting ancient indigenous artisanal craft,  what happens to this new mini industry once the fashionistas abandon these for the next big trend? Karin Nelson writes for the NY Times:

Recently, the mochila has become something of a cult item, toted around town by fashion editors and It girls, and the subject of chatter on style blogs. “It seems to be the iconic tribal bag,” said Anne Slowey, the fashion news director of Elle, who has picked up a few on her travels. “The perfect mix of practical, exotic and chic.”

The PR folks at J. Crew offer the following explanation for the bag’s popularity.

“Craftsmanship is something rare and very valuable,” said Jenna Lyons, J. Crew’s creative director, who was not at all surprised by how quickly the bags went. “There are few things that are still made by hand, much less in a technique that is handed down through generations and is a means of support for a community.” On top of that, she added, “It’s a beautiful bag.”

It’s not entirely untrue, of course, but completely neglects the obvious fact that these amazingly crafted items have been around since long before J. Crew… why now are they all of a sudden so hot? Nelson writes:

Much of the craze can be traced to November when the Vogue editor Lauren Santo Domingo organized the Mochila Project. For it, 40 designers, from Alexander Wang to Oscar de la Renta, were each given a traditional bag and asked to rework it in their own style. The extraordinary results — the Calvin Klein was trimmed in snakeskin; the J. Mendel, in fur — were then auctioned off at a charity event in Miami that left those nowhere near South Florida somewhat envious.

Ah yes, the real truth. Craftsmanship is one thing, but when the fashion cabal creates an elite insider event, carrying around the signifier that marks you as in the know? That’s what the ‘It Girls’ will shell out the big bucks for.

And who knows, given the shift away from corporate symbols and towards the status of individual quality crafts, perhaps some entrepreneur might find a way to enlist the work of of the Wayuu tribe into the next great thing.

Christina Binkley writes for the Wall Street Journal:

Towering brands like Gucci and Louis Vuitton may dominate ad pages and storefronts, but small designers are gaining a bigger foothold in fashion.

What Sundance did for indie film—showcasing it for a bigger audience—Web sites like Etsy are doing for the little guys of design.

from Smashingdarling.com

She explains how technology is helping the little guy (gal) rise at the same time the giants slide:

At the same time, consumers are increasingly hungry for independent designs. In part, brand fatigue is to blame. Big fashion labels sell the same products the world over, diminishing their logos’ cachet.

Ah yes, brand fatigue. The corporate conglomerates bought out something with actual heritage and promptly proceeded to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.

Their designers work on collections a year or more in advance of the clothes’ appearance in stores and rarely—if ever—meet the people who eventually buy them. Moreover, many consumers lost faith in luxury brands after watching prices soar during the boom, then plummet during the crash in the fall of 2008. The slashed sales prices raised questions about the true value of branded goods.

Ah yes, that pesky 08 crash that caught high end retailers with their designer pants down. Kind of hard to regain that snooty image after that season of bargain bin desperation.

Indie designers offer pieces that not everyone has, allowing consumers to create their own style. I’ve noticed that the clothes and jewelry of mine that garner the most compliments are those that come from indie designers. They’re not the same old trendy looks.

’same old trendy looks?’ Talk about inverting status.

Plus it doesn’t hurt your reputation for shopping savvy to admit that you bought something from a young, up-and-coming designer. These days, the “buy local” movement has whetted shoppers’ appetite for a greater sense of connection with their goods’ creators.

Now, even the huge brands are striving to establish authenticity—sometimes trying a bit too hard. British authorities recently banned Louis Vuitton ads that showed an artisan laboring on a bag, saying the ads suggested, falsely, that its bags are handmade.

And how many more potential LV customers saw the blogosphere light up with that juicy story rather than the bullshit ad they wanted them to see? How many of those customers are instead connecting with the actual artisan of the ’statement jewelry’ they’re investing in?

Trish Ginter, co-founder of SmashingDarling, which sells products from nearly 700 indie designers, identifies the site’s typical shopper as “a very professional woman,” she says. “They’re purchasing things that set them apart.”

Wordsworth Boot in Moss Green - John Fluevog, from Libby's Steampunk Gift Guide at Steampunkworkshop.com. Someone buy these for me! *covet*

For buyers, designers, retailers and marketers wondering what the new face of consumption might look like in a post meltdown economy, Jake von Slatt and Bruce Sterling offer a vision of steampunk philosophy so eloquently stated I had to include it in its entirety. It’s a challenge to voluntary simplicity, which he claims as boring. And can be a lot of work. (no kidding!) The steampunk philosophy allows us to embrace and enjoy and even spend a lot of money on beautifully functional well crafted things things in our daily lives. What is disdained is the excessive, the filler, the junk, the disposable.

I stumbled upon this on the Steampunk workshop site:

The definition of steampunk is still a fluid and flexible thing, and that’s exactly how I like it.  When we talk about what steampunk is we talk in generalities and we leave a lot open for interpretation and thus creativity. But there are some memes in steampunk which are recurring. One of those is the rejection of a disposable economy, a belief that there is value in the finely made, and that participation in today’s race to the bottom, to the lowest price, to quantity over quality, is ultimately injurious.

Bruce Sterling (a steampunk icon in his own right) wrote about the value of fine things in his Last Veridian Note:

It’s not bad to own fine things that you like. What you need are things that you GENUINELY like. Things that you cherish, that enhance your existence in the world. The rest is dross.

Do not “economize.” Please. That is not the point. The economy is clearly insane. Even its champions are terrified by it now. It’s melting the North Pole. So “economization” is not your friend. Cheapness can be value-less. Voluntary simplicity is, furthermore, boring. Less can become too much work.

The items that you use incessantly, the items you employ every day, the normal, boring goods that don’t seem luxurious or romantic: these are the critical ones. They are truly central. The everyday object is the monarch of all objects. It’s in your time most, it’s in your space most. It is “where it is at,” and it is “what is going on.”

It takes a while to get this through your head, because it’s the opposite of the legendary of shopping. However: the things that you use every day should be the best-designed things you can get. For instance, you cannot possibly spend too much money on a bed – (assuming you have a regular bed, which in point of fact I do not). You’re spending a third of your lifetime in a bed. Your bed might be sagging, ugly, groaning and infested with dust mites, because you are used to that situation and cannot see it. That calamity might escape your conscious notice. See it. Replace it.
…
Get excellent tools and appliances. Not a hundred bad, cheap, easy ones. Get the genuinely good ones. Work at it. Pay some attention here, do not neglect the issue by imagining yourself to be serenely “non-materialistic.” There is nothing more “materialistic” than doing the same household job five times because your tools suck. Do not allow yourself to be trapped in time-sucking black holes of mechanical dysfunction. That is not civilized.

from NY Times: breaking ground for the White House kitchen garden

We’ve all heard about Michelle Obama as a fashion trendsetter and how her wearing a brand is the kind of marketing gold that money can’t buy. So if Michelle can turn the White House lawn into a kitchen garden, does that mean we’ll start seeing less Chem Lawn and more victory gardens in suburbs across America? Will neighborhood association rules have to cave on this one as the sustainable, local, organic and healthy food movement gains mainstream momentum? Let’s hope so.

The organization Eat The View is taking credit for instigating the replanting of the White House Victory Garden.

Eat the View is a campaign to plant high-impact food gardens in high-profile places. We asked the Obamas to lead the way by replanting a kitchen garden on the First Lawn and they heard our call!

from an old Anthropologie catalog

When I first read the WWD article, Anthropologie Engages Shoppers with Craft Workshops, (the store was hosting a series of ‘reinvention workshops’ teaching customers to make gifts from articles they already had in their closets) I was perplexed, and more than a little suspicious. Why would a company whose core strategy is to sell this vintage, crafty, nostalgic boho aesthetic for a hefty premium encourage people to circumvent their cash registers?

At the December workshops, customers learned how to refashion blouses, rework cardigan sweaters, revamp gloves and hats and renew scarves…Other seminars were devoted to making hair accessories, wrapping packages with scarves, reinventing plush toys and revitalizing ornaments.

…the reinvention workshops “aren’t designed to sell anything,” said Wendy Wurtzburger, Anthropologie’s chief merchandising officer, explaining that the goal is to teach women how to get more out of the existing items in their wardrobes.

Really? The chief merchandising officer is defying the message of overconsumption to teach women to get more out of what they already have?

From a post on Jezebel.com

The retailer said giving new life to old things is especially relevant given the state of the economy, adding that customers will discover how “extraordinary and meaningful a hand-crafted, remade gift can be.”

But… doesn’t that just highlight how extraordinarily unmeaningful gifts purchased in a chain store showcasing a non existent lifestyle and made by sweatshop workers are? (more…)

The boom in crafts and related supplies contrasts with poor results for traditional retailers, like electronics retailers and department stores. The nation’s overall retail sales in November fell 7.4 percent from the year before, according to the Commerce Department.

gingerbread in a jar + gingerbread softie. Posted on flickr by cathygaubert. "thanks to angry chicken's post, i hopped on the "crazy cake in a jar train" (the words of the chicken). she linked to mariko of supereggplant.com where i discoverd a most delicious recipe for gingerbread pudding cake, which serves eight and divides up wonderfully into eight 8 oz. jars! seriously, if you even remotely like gingerbread, go there right now for this recipe. when baked in the jars, there is a lovely layer of gooey deliciousness that is created as the cakes cool. you can reheat in the microwave for about 25 seconds to make it nice and warm. for these, though, i added a dollop of cream cheese-butter cream icing...yum!!!"

Every day the media is filled with stories of increasing gloom and doom for the nations retailers. With purse strings tightening across the nation, those businesses that are defying the slump and doing well should be watched closely as harbingers of things to come. And I couldn’t be more delighted - and vindicated - to see that the NY Times business section has a feature piece on how well business oriented towards the DIY (do-it-yourself) craft niche are doing this holiday season.

Claire Cain Miller writes, For Craft Sales, Recession is a Help:

“A lot of people are doing a do-it-yourself Christmas, because of the economic downturn but also wanting to make their lives more sustainable, making stuff as opposed to buying more stuff,” she said.

Making your own Christmas gifts is not a new idea, but the psychological shift in the consumer mindset that’s accompanied this financial crisis has made the idea more acceptable, more fashionable, more of a status symbol to do and receive.

“Across the country, people are crafting more,” he said. “With the recession, people are looking for ways to save money, and doctors are recommending it as a major form of stress relief.”

…”I wanted something that was affordable but still meaningful and kind of fun,” she said.

The news is good for amateurs as well as professionals:

Even people who do not have the time or inclination to create their own gifts are shunning big-box stores to buy handmade gifts directly from artists, in part to save on the margin in retail stores.

…Apart from the lower cost, handmade gifts have a nonfinancial value that appeals to many buyers.

“I just like the fact that I’m supporting someone who’s trying to make their way in the world by using their talents, and my money is going directly to a person instead of a chain of middlemen,” said Christy Petterson, a jeweler in Atlanta who co-edits GetCrafty.com and has bought handmade gifts this season. “For the same amount of money, the specialness factor is way higher. It’s more heartfelt than if you bought something from a big-box store.”

I have long maintained that there was an anti-corporate, anti-consumer undercurrent that was strong, albeit marginal, and was influencing mainstream aesthetics of vintage and handmade. Speaking as a professional crafter during the boom years of 93-03 let me emphasize that none of these inclinations are new or revolutionary; they’ve just reached a tipping point and are spreading wildly into the mainstream. I found the following statistic astounding.

On Sept. 29, a day the stock market plunged sharply, Etsy, the leading Web marketplace for handmade goods, had record sales. In November and December, the site has continued to break records. Last month, artists sold $10.8 million of goods on Etsy, up from $4.2 million in November 2007. Some 135,000 people signed up for Etsy memberships and sellers listed 1.1 million new items, both figures more than double the same month last year.

Some Etsy merchants have had such unexpectedly high sales this season that they are shutting down early because they do not have time to make any more gifts.

This makes me so happy.

It was a sewing/screenprinting/secondhand clothing scene as Austin’s second annual Swap-O-Rama-Rama took place this weekend as one of the many hands-on activities at Maker Faire. Participants brought bags of clothing to donate, and then dug through the piles to find garments to take as is, or bring to one of the design stations to refashion into something new. (More on the Swap-O-Rama-Rama concept and originator Wendy Tremayne’s concept can be found in my post on last year’s event.)

Beverly sports her fun finds

One of the most entertaining parts of a swap are the people doing quick over-the-clothes-try-ons who end up walking around in the oddest combinations. Usually bringing undies to a swap is a no-no, but we were pretty sure these were an ill-advised, never worn gift and her friends were trying to convince her to put them on over something as part of a costume. Halloween is just around the corner…

Future Craft Collective at Swap-O-Rama-Rama

Kathy Sever of the Future Craft Collective used her lesson learned from last year’s swap that you can’t teach people to sew anything they can imagine in a few hours at a busy festival. Future Craft Collective brought pattern blocks from the sewing classes they teach at their space and limited projects to a choice of hat, appliqued tee or skirt that was easy and achievable. (more…)

It looks like October 2008 was unofficial DIY fashion month in Austin. Treasure City Thrift hosted their second annual fashion show on October 10 and this year they enlisted ilovemikelitt to host the production and do the publicity, thus turning this event and the after party that followed into THE place to be in Austin that Friday night.

Estella Starr, model: Jane Warner-Lee, photo: Ann Harkness

ilovemikelitt describes themselves as “a social and cultural organization dedicated to celebrating the creative life in any way that comes to mind.” (yes, the pun is intended. If you still don’t get it, try saying their name outloud a few times. See?) Their events always draw a substantial crowd of mostly 20something artsy, progressive, vegetarian, college educated creative types who embrace the bohemian, DIY, thrift aesthetic as an alternative status system. While this was the core demographic, there were also plenty of young kids, parents and even grandparents who’d turned out to support their friends and family and see what they’d been up to.

photo: 'expressive sheep' on flickr

When I arrived at the event, the crowd was literally spilling out onto 12th street and even my 6ft tall self had to stand on my tiptoes to catch glimpses of the runway.

Fortunately, there were many photographers there with equipment better suited to nighttime low-budget outdoor lighting and most of the images you see here are thanks to Em Lim and Ann Harkness. (If you know the names of some of the designers I wasn’t able to connect with the photos, please send them in!). The photographer in this photo risked life, limb and expensive equipment to scale the fence in impossible shoes and still manage to look as stylish as the runway girls.

Mike Litt and team are superbly entertaining, unapologetically campy MCs and the audience LOVED this show - they were absolutely crazy about it, cheering and clapping through out.For a long time I’ve had a theory that in order for DIY local refashion to spread beyond the niche of devoted crafters and catch on to the point of making any sort of impact, it would have to really become the cool thing to do. And begin to cross that ever so tough barrier into willing buyers. After all, fashion clothing - as opposed to mere apparel - is aspirational. And as this show really got underway I found myself wondering if we were witnessing a tipping point of sorts, a spilling over into yet a broader concentric circle of influence. Inside sources say that the organizers of this show were really surprised at the amount of interest and number of entries. (much like Gail of Blackmail’s LBD contest the previous weekend.)

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I must say I was pleasantly surprised at the caliber of the designs. Granted, a lot of these would never pass an apparel professor’s inside out construction inspection, but what was most exciting to me were how many of the looks really hit the mark in terms of what’s going on in fashion today, and would be just the right thing to wear to a bar or party. And that night, on the eastside, refashion was king. Here are a few of my favorites from the show:

"Blood by Chia and Javi" (photo: Ann Harkness)

Early in the designer line up was Austin design veteran Chia, who picked up on the blood theme currently on the fashion horizon. (more…)

When Austin’s Blackmail announced their first annual Little Black Dress contest and several of my friends entered, it prompted a fair amount of discussion as to what, exactly, is a Little Black Dress? (LBD in fashion lingo.) And what separates the LBD from just a dress that happens to be made of black fabric? (A review of the show production can be found in the previous post.)

Gail Chovan MC's Blackmail's LBD contest (photo: First Samples)

In an earlier post on the LBD, I focused on Zarah Crawford’s use of the term chic pauvre (of which she considered the LBD an ideal example) in an article for the NY Times Style Magazine. Let’s consider Crawford’s description:

In 1926, Coco Chanel revolutionized fashion with the introduction of a little black day dress in crepe de Chine, an idea that proved so culturally pervasive that today most women own at least one L.B.D. and the term itself has entered the lexicon as a metaphor for utilitarian chic.

…The 1929 stock market crash assured the dress’s ascendancy, as overnight it became unseemly for women to flaunt their wealth. Although extremely expensive, this so-called chic pauvre (poor style) allowed the wearer to telegraph her status to other members of the social elite.

With that in mind, here are some highlights from the Blackmail contest:

Virtuoso Award to Chia's LBD (photo: Disco Gerdes)

My Virtuoso Award goes to Chia. This dress was exquisitely crafted, the detail work phenomenal, the fit impeccable and the silhouette in line with the upcoming iconic shapes of this decade. I want this dress. And I thought Moser was dead wrong when he slammed the design as being ‘too eighties.’ While that might have been a derogatory comment 10-15 years ago, he clearly hasn’t read a single fashion magazine or been into a trendy store in the past three years because the return of the eighties has gone from being daring news to pretty much ubiquitous. There is also a distinct difference between copying and eighties dress and referencing elements of the era. That dress did not happen in the eighties. (I know, I was there for the first go-round. An eighties dress would have had shoulder pads not just shoulder focus.)

contest winner Leslie Fender (photo from Austin 360)

The Timeless Classic Award goes to Leslie Spencer, the contest winner. Her dress was also impeccably tailored and fit beautifully. Its shape could have been from the late 30’s to early 60’s. The flower was a bit distracting for me, but it was a clever way to add some splash for the contest. Remove it and you’ve got a fantastic stealth style.

Stealth Award to Jen Delk's LBD (photo: Disco Gerdes)

And speaking of, my Stealth Award goes to Jen Delk’s kimono sleeve a-line sheath. It was simple, yet beautifully constructed. It is the perfect balance of flattering but classy. The roomy but not exaggerated kimono sleeve is another upcoming silhouette of the decade. Buying this dress now will give you many solid years of style. Moser trashed her choice of an inexpensive polyester fabric but I think the issue is more complex than that. Jen put forth a valid argument that Austin has extremely limited fabric shopping options and her fabric was comparable with what one would find in mid-range mall stores. But considering the ‘extremely expensive’ criteria for an LBD, the painstaking construction would have been better served in a silk shantung (which Jen plans to purchase to make one of these for herself.)

Jennifer Raish's LBD (photo: First Samples)

Runway Award to Jennifer Raish (photo Disco Gerdes)

The Runway Award goes to Jennifer Raish’s crocheted dress that looked right out of style.com’s slideshows. Coincidentally, the NY Times’ Bill Cunningham featured the lace/crocheted phenomenon this weekend for his ‘On the Street’ audio slideshow. Talk about the Wow factor - everyone was in awe of this dress, myself included. This piece is, however, a great discussion topic for what defines an LBD. Stunning though it is, I don’t think it technically has the stealth and utilitarian qualities to be an LBD. Although who knows, a decade from now this could be the next basic layer.

Gotta Have It Award - Tina Sparkle's LBD (photo: Disco Gerdes)

And the Gotta Have It Award goes to Tina Sparkles’ wool tunic that was snapped up immediately. Rumor has it that the show’s sponsor, Gail Chovan, wanted it for herself - the highest complement from a woman who knows a good LBD when she sees it. Tina’s dress is subtle, utilitarian, sexy and of the moment. While I don’t think it hit’s Crawford’s ‘extremely expensive’ mark, either, it is perfectly suited for Austin’s laid back style.

One final note: At the risk of offending the mayor’s wife (one of the event judges, seen in the photo above) in no universe do rainbow tights - with animal print ankle boots, no less - fall into the stealth, utilitarian, expensive chic definition of an LBD. And Outside of Halloween or Burning Man, no woman over 25 should ever leave the house in these. Someone had to tell her…