Although I stubbornly managed to avoid the whole affair last year, I did manage to get pulled into a little bit of second annual Austin Fashion Week this year to support friends and even write and deliver my very own speech giving some advise to indie designers. So while fully ‘fessing up to my own lifelong distrust of the hype and posing inherent in such events, I’ll also try to take a step back and look at AFW with an objective eye and appreciate how this echo chamber of self congratulatory promotion interfaces with the grassroots innovation and experimentation that I enjoy so much.

Red carpet fanfare sizzled in the Texas sun

What I realized last night dressed to the nines while eating cheap hamburgers at a picnic table post red carpet award show is that AFW isn’t really about the actual clothes (the part I’m into) but is about cultivating the consumer. Oh yeah, that part. See, if no one is buying clothes from local designers and boutiques, how are any of the creatives supposed to make a living? I can snark about sorority girls (current and former) all I like, but if they’re not compulsively overstuffing their closets with higher end designer labels, what treasures would there be for me to discover at Buffalo Exchange once they trade in their excess?

AFW producer Matt Swinney introduces the big budget stage production for the awards show

A friend of mine who participated as a designer offered me an extra ticket to the awards show and I thought ‘what the heck?’ at least it would be good people watching. And I do have to offer some genuine respect and acknowledgement of the insane amount of work that goes into producing and coordinating all of these events. Thank goodness other people enjoy that kind of work and are willing to do it because I’m certainly not.

Having fun with the Bentley photo-op. That's me on the left and my friend and fabulous Austin designer Chia on the right. I'm wearing a top, shorts and vintage shoes from odd and various thrift stores while Chia is sporting Tina Sparkles' prize winning Little Black Dress.

That being said, I can’t help but chuckle over the irony of trying to tout Austin as having viable potential for this kind of formal (and profitable) industry when the fashionability of Austin as a hip place to live has been inexorably tangled with the slacker casual look that was advertised as a refreshing alternative to the big city pretension. Oh don’t get me wrong, the slacker hipster had a whole different flavor of pretension, but red carpets and Bentleys were not it.

Although the hipster slacker look might contribute significantly to the success of many local thrift stores, it’s not going to keep boutiques of triple digit party dresses afloat.

No, if you’re going to get the Real Housewives of Westlake to slap down the Platinum Amex for enough dresses, hair and makeup to keep these high rent boutique and salon storefronts open, then you need to give them enough opportunities to play dress up. Such as attending the AFW awards show…

In fact, for a mere $300 ($550 for two) you could get one of the ‘extremely limited’ VIP ticket packages that included not just special seating at this event, but personal shopping and princess attention. Which leads to the question that both the Austin American Statesman’s newcomer fashion writer and longtime cultural commentator Michael Barnes posed in his blog review:

Inevitably one must ask: Who is paying for all this? Surely not the starving creative class, which, in Austin, includes many of the seemingly high-end retailers in their pristine boutiques. (Just ask about their rents.) Fashion reporter Marques Harper has posed the crucial questions about what holds Fashion Week aloft, and what will do so in the future: Fees or sponsorships; ticket prices or donations?

Tina Sparkles & friend at afterparty

Insider sources (aka my designer friend with the extra ticket) told me that originally the designers were not given tickets to the $60ish per person after party. But then the producers, realizing that it would be weird to try and pull off a fashion week after party with no designers, decided to go ahead and include tickets in the packet. I also heard rumor of a kerfuffle that erupted over asking models to pony up $45 to participate. Producer Matt Swinney of event planning company Launch 787 reportedly spends upwards of $100k of his own cash each year to make this event happen, with the hopes that as it grows those tables of income/expense will turn in his favor.

He did have the cahones to jump out and claim Austin Fashion Week as his own, so it’s not as if some other event planner can do it, but truth be told I remain skeptical of anyone’s ability to turn a profit from an event of this flavor in this city in this economic climate. If you own a print shop or sell beverage napkins I suppose you saw an uptick in sales as a result of all the parties and promotions, but fashionistas everywhere are notorious moochers and as Barnes noted the “chronically underpaid creative class” can barely afford to sustain their craft, much less the hypebeast needed to promote it. And earlier that day, mere blocks from the Long Center itself, I noticed a clean cut young man standing on the side of Lamar Boulevard waving a sign offering 2 months free rent for one of the dense urban living buildings that were all the rage during the boom. The sign didn’t mention it, but I’m sure they have walk in closets and granite countertops.

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.

At the Buffalo Exchange buying counter (image pulled from exploringberkeley.wordpress.com)

I dug up a fantastic article by Reyhan Harmanci for the San Francisco Chronicle, Rag Trade: Cashing in on Vintage, or Just Old, Clothes. The article is written in 2005, but from what I’ve observed personally, here in Austin, the practice of professional pickers selling to BX (Buffalo Exchange) has only grown:

The opportunity to convert used clothing into cash has created a new job: professional seller. Known as “pickers,” professional sellers can be a blessing or a curse to a store, depending on their approach to their line of work and the store’s reliance on their goods. The push and pull at the buy counter between the buyer and seller can be contentious; at its best, it’s a symbiotic relationship, based on a singular love of fashion.

At its worst, it’s a parasitic situation, in which the picker leeches off the store, preying on inexperienced buyers or dealing in stolen merchandise. Buyers, too, can sour the deal by rejecting good clothing to spite the seller or copping an attitude that, as Mascola says, “makes you feel like you’re going to see your social worker.”

Again with the judgement/shame issue I’m mentioned in other BX posts. But where do these professional sellers find enough clothes worthy to pass the knowing eyes of the buyers… and still turn a profit?

Through a friend, he heard that the place to go to was As Is, a nickname for the giant Goodwill on Van Ness and Market streets that wheels out bins of newly donated clothing every morning. “I started to get clued in, looking around at what was current, started reading fashion magazines for inspiration.

“Now I treat it like an art form,” he says, without a smile. Although Mascola has sold clothing at least once a week for six years, it’s never been a full-time job. “The profit margin is too thin; it would be too hard,” he says. “It’s more like a hobby.” He does allow that selling clothes beefs up his income from his retail job in the Castro.

from textile_fetish photostream on flickr

The Austin version of the ‘As Is’ in San Francisco? The Blue Hangar. There, I’ve said it. The secret is out in the open, and surely I’ve made an enemy or two. And the only reason I’m revealing this juicy little secret (that’s sort of out and about with the insiders, anyways) is because my day job prevents me from regular digs and pays me enough to just go buy the stuff for a higher price all pre-picked and sized at BX anyways.

The Blue Hangar on Springdale is supposedly where the clothes that have been sitting unsold on the racks for over three weeks at the regular Goodwills go to be tossed in piles on giant tables and sold for $1.25 a piece. They clear the tables and replace with fresh stock once, sometimes twice, a day and at that point the still unsold goods are compacted into bales and sold as such, often to third world countries. But a few years ago on one particularly stellar run, I quizzed the employee checking me out about the sources and she told me that often when the Goodwill stores were full and they were getting more donations than the stores could process, they’ll send the overflow straight to the Blue Hanger, unsorted. Ah ha! I knew the things that I found wouldn’t have lasted three weeks in the Goodwill store. So folks, right at the end of the month when everyone is moving and ditching stuff is THE time to hit the Blue Hanger.

I’ve shopped there for years, and during my last unemployment stint I’d go and load up with a combination of items for myself… and items to sell at BX. It’s super tricky, because you really have to know what those buyers want. I was pretty much able to break even and cover my costs of the whole run, but then again I took BX credit not cash. I was still out a wee bit of cash overall, but got to shop at BX basically for the cost of my time. I’d occasionally see BX employees there digging, too, but my costumer friend who’s there all the time has said that recently its intensified. And on a recent BX sell, I got into a conversation with a buyer who told me about a friend who was supporting her live music/drinking habit through selling finds from the Blue Hanger to BX.

Which brings up an accusation I’ve heard many times that BX employees favor their friends, or friends of friends, or ‘cool people’ when buying. (more…)

How did we live before Google? A blog search turned up this fabulous insider post from Indiana Adams of Adored Austin: Indiana worked at Buffalo Exchange (heretofore abbreviated as ‘BX’) as a buyer, so she knows of what she speaks. It’s so good I’m going to block quote most of it:

I’ll admit that selling your clothes to Buffalo Exchange can be a little bit daunting. The worst is when you go in with several trash bags full of clothes and the buyer maybe buys the one thing that you threw in there as a joke and then passes on all your really awesome stuff that you thought for sure they’d offer you a billion dollars for. Then you have to do the walk of shame to your car with your bags still full!

Indiana Adams sports an outfit on her blog, 'Adored Austin'

Kids, you’re not alone in that walk of shame. Remember, this is coming from a buyer.

Believe me, this happens way more often than not, but it’s not because they crazy fashionista behind the counter hates your guts and despises your personal style. If they’re passing on things that you think they should have bought, here’s some reasons why:
1. They may already have a lot of what you’re selling in the store.
2. The store could be really, really full so they’ve been instructed to be incredibly selective until the racks empty up a bit.
3. The items you’re selling may not be in season, yet.

Since I’ve never been afraid to strike up a friendly, non-defensive chat with the buyers du jour, I’ve heard them tell me (and others) much of the same thing. And a little personal observation? Even though it’s not supposed to matter which buyer you get and they do a whole lot of second opinions with each other… it totally matters which buyer you get. The fashion eye is a subjective thing. period.

Before I worked there, it was hard to sell there. For me, my clothes are an extension of who I am. If they didn’t buy my clothes, that means they didn’t like my clothes, and that means that they don’t like the way I dress, and that means they don’t like me, and that means I should just go eat worms and cry in a corner.

Exactly. So well put, Indiana. This is why my friends who’ve felt the sting of the walk of shame can get forever soured. But to their credit, I noticed that a few years ago when I returned to Austin after a few years away at grad school, the buyers were now making a deliberate effort to be nice and kind, even if there was sometimes a bit of strain, kinda like a waitress voice. (I don’t blame them one bit, I’ve been a waitress…)

But after I worked there, I found out that there’s just so much more to it than that. And besides, there’s no reason to be embarrassed if the buyer doesn’t buy your stuff. One time a dude came in with (this is not a joke!) two trash bags full of jock straps and sweat socks. Those are the kind of people who should be embarrassed. I mean, really. What in the world was he doing with so many jock straps? And why in the world did he think I’d be able to resell them at Buffalo Exchange? Um, gross.

Really? Wow. Someone buy those kids and industrial strength mega bottle of Purell, please!

Austin Buffalo Exchange

This will be the first post in a series exploring both the behind the scenes mechanics as well as cultural implications of the buying process at Buffalo Exchange. I’ll also be repeatedly stating, for the record, that if you give me $100 to spend on clothing in one store in Austin, it would be Buffalo Exchange - it’s my favorite place to shop and I always consider it a triumph to trade in as much - or even more - than I spend on merchandise. I have, as such, always harbored a keen fascination for the buying process - both from the perspective of a seller as well as an armchair urban fashion anthropologist.

Today I’m going to highlight some excerpts from a Time Magazine article I dug up from a couple of years ago that articulates the psychology of seller’s anxiety. Anita Hamilton writes in The New Trend of Used Clothes:

Viki Stevenson stands behind the counter, passing fashion judgment.

With the rare exception of those fashionistas who’s entire bag gets bought, anyone who’s ever sold to ‘The Buffy’ knows this feeling. And speak with anyone who’s had their entire bag (or the vast majority of it) rejected and they might just go off on a tirade somewhat similar in tone to telling the story of being rejected at a party by someone you were trying to chat up. People take it personally; I know I have, even though I understand that they have a business imperative to buy what they know will sell. Still, it is a judgement of one’s taste - do you have so many fabulous clothes that the ones you’re tired of still maintain cash value? Or are your cast offs long since out of fashion or even worse, never in style to begin with.

It can provoke all those junior high anxieties of being judged and teased by ‘the cool kids’, even if you supposedly didn’t care what they had to say.

This quickening cycle of fashion lets secondhand stores be pickier than ever. Unlike nonprofits such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army, which accept most donations, the fast-fashion resale shops typically buy only about 5% of the apparel that people bring into the store. It can be a humbling experience for a novice seller, who may find herself leaving the shop with the same bag of castoffs that she walked in with.

Only 5%? I had no idea, I’d love to find out more details on that statistic. Now I don’t feel as bad when they only take about a third of what I bring in.

And it also speaks to the fact that even though recycling is the eco thing to do, most of the clothes hanging on the racks *new* don’t have enough fashion mojo to hold their value and make it through the gatekeepers to have a second life… that someone will pay for. To those who are feeling the sting of rejection, think about this - if Buffalo Exchange took most of what people brought in, it would look a heck of a lot like Goodwill.

The rise of fast fashion, which uses a speeded-up production cycle to rush designer-inspired clothes to moderately priced retailers like Zara and H&M, has breathed new life into secondhand stores like Buffalo Exchange by boosting their supply of barely worn apparel. “H&M is our bread and butter,” says Stevenson, 27, as she flips through a carousel of blouses from H&M, American Apparel, Benetton and the Gap with prices ranging from $7.50 to $14 apiece.

Since more shoppers are loading up on cheap chic every few weeks instead of purchasing a few higher-priced basics once every few months, they’re less sentimental about quickly unloading them to help finance the next round.

But what happens when people stop buying as much fast fashion? I love recycling, don’t get me wrong, but ever since my first thrift forays 2 decades ago I’ve been keenly aware that my opportunities as such - to recycle but still be fashionable - are entirely dependent on others excessive consumerism. As soon as that starts to dip, it’s going to be a lot more competitive - and expensive to find the finds.

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…)

WWII Victory Garden poster

Most of us remember hearing about the WWII Victory Gardens as part of history class. At the time it sure seemed like a quaint historical fact. But after these past few months have brought Americans a spike in gas prices (which corresponded with a spike in food prices) and a hurricane that brought the fourth largest city in our country to its knees which was quickly overshadowed by the biggest financial meltdown since the depression, I predict we’re going to see a renewed interest in money saving practices that encourage self reliance. Not to mention the now obvious fact that picking veggies in the backyard and carrying them into the kitchen instead of driving to the grocery store to buy food trucked in from all corners of the country is about as carbon friendly as it gets.

WWII Victory Garden poster

The following comes from the New Hampshire State Library site:

The Victory Garden was a household activity during the war and one of the most well received of all home front chores. At its peak, it is estimated that nearly 20,000,000 gardens were grown and about 40 percent of all vegetables produced in the U.S. came from Victory Gardens. By the end of the war the Department of Agriculture estimated total home front production of over one million tons of vegetables valued at 85 million dollars.

A government campaign to encourage self reliance, hard work and sacrifice flies in the face of the hyperconsumer ethic that’s all most of us Gen Xers and younger have ever known. Even though the mission and purpose are different now (save the planet, save your household budget) a widespread adoption of this practice could make a huge difference. (more…)

For a few years now the fashion editorials have been talking about a return to the eighties. And I’ve been saying “I’ll believe it when I see shoulder pads.” As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for:

Julie Budet of Yelle (photo: Theresa Noyes)

I tagged along with some friends to see Yelle at the Mohawk in Austin. She walked out in this, the crowd went wild, and I leaned over and shouted ‘only the French could get away with this.’

Yes, those are hot pink shoulder pads with super long fringe sewn on all attached to the outside of an oversized scrunched shoulder tee. (see the full set of show photos on Theresa Noyes’ picasa site)

Yelle in melon Reeboks (photo: Theresa Noyes)

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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…