What’s a $4,000 Suit Worth? →

As Frew sewed a jacket, he explained how he customizes every aspect of its design — the width of the lapel, the number and size of the pockets — for each client. What makes a bespoke suit unique, he said, is that it’s the result of skills that only a trained hand can perform. Modern technology cannot create anything comparable.

As I watched Frew work, it became glaringly obvious why he is not rich. Like a 17th-century craftsman, he has no economy of scale. It takes Frew about 75 hours to make a suit — he averages about two per month — and he has no employees. A large part of his revenue is used to pay off his material expenses, and because his labor is so demanding, he relies on an outside salesman, who requires commissions. (Frew can’t even afford to make a suit for himself. When we met, he was wearing shorts and a T-shirt.)

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“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” 

Truth from Stephen King, hand-lettered by Lisa Congdon – who has a brilliant penchant for that sort of thing.

Also see Ira Glass on grit vs. talent and Tchaikovsky on work ethic vs. inspiration.

(Source: )

Things You Might Read on a Fashion Blog →

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I’m so sorry I haven’t updated lately, I’ve been busy running errands, brunching, spending quality time with my close-knit friends and family with whom I never argue but who don’t merit a place on this blog because duh they’re not pretty enough, racking up credit card debt

"You don’t have to be pretty. You don’t owe prettiness to anyone. Not to your boyfriend/spouse/partner, not to your co-workers, especially not to random men on the street. You don’t owe it to your mother, you don’t owe it to your children, you don’t owe it to civilization in general. Prettiness is not a rent you pay for occupying a space marked “female”."

Erin (from A Dress A Day)

(Source: burrito-princess, via ohdelay)

A cat is gorgeous and wild Leopard which disguises itself! Dress a cat only with shawl. Shawl achieves the duty of a foppish muffler. Back cloth is a tartan check handle and a hat and shawl look dear. Moreover, since it can equip with both on a piece of Velcro, attachment and detachment are easy! 

via Cat Prin: The Tailor of a Cat, because: Japan.

"

Let’s admit this now. Fashion has to dress the world’s population and likewise pay for all of the mills, designers, retailers, clerks, magazines, and advertisers invested in it. But subversion is fashion too. Mainstream and subculture work as strategic dance partners here. The point of subculture is always to fight against the hegemony, and when their signs become appropriated or outdated, the resistant have to find new, unexpected, jarring visual methods of revolt. If this game of invent-and-take weren’t built into the system, most women today would still be wearing house dresses, and a leather jacket would still mean trouble…

Fashion is one of the few consistent—or willingly inconsistent—ways in which we show who we are as individuals. It literally sticks to the body…

Ultimately the downside of fashion is the fetishizing of the ever-shifting object. But the upside is that it still can be an individual play of decisions. If we have to walk around in these balls of fabric, those willing to roll the dice can use them, screw with them, turn them into billboards or bellwethers. Even to hate fashion is still to realize its power, and anything that has power can be used, appropriated, or rechanneled. We do not want our lives to become lifestyles, as luxury brands are quick to create. But the best way not to become slaves to fashion is to embrace its potential. Slaves don’t hug their masters. Refusal isn’t revolution. Try that one on.

"

Christopher Bollen in VICE: “I Love Fashion” (2008)

Because “You can’t dress up in the revolutions of your parents.”

(Source: Vice Magazine)

Girl Talk (On Architect Barbie) →

These women used toys to manipulate space and overturn the accepted order. To make and create. To bleach and chop. They knew the pleasures of the empty cardboard box.

But mixed in with reminiscences about Fisher Price airports and now-too-dangerous Tinkertoys were architects who did play with Barbie. They made dream houses out of shoeboxes, clothes out of fabric scraps, and used the dolls to add a human element to their Lincoln Log constructions.

Read more: http://www.dwell.com/articles/girl-talk.html#ixzz1z6wPHFZG

114. 2012: CT124 blog post June 26, 2012. 8:15 pm. It’s been four hours and... →

oneonefour2012:

CT124 blog post

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June 26, 2012. 8:15 pm. It’s been four hours and twenty-something minutes since a simple statement pinched a portion of my brain. I was having a consultation with my professor regarding my plans for the final project. In the middle of my fancy explanation, she told me, “…yan…

"What has become clear is that fashion is to many women what sport is to many men: a pastime, a passion, a shared language, a form of self-definition, and a temporary escape from the opposite sex, all rolled into one deeply satisfying whole."

A Man’s Guide to a Woman’s Wardrobe, by Luke Leitch (via theepitomeofquiet)

(Source: moreintelligentlife.com, via nogreatillusion)

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Give yourself a treat this summer and buy a Chevy Dream Tour tank top for only 500 Pesos, inclusive of shipping fees.

#practicum

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