Sunday, September 14, 2008

Fashion: Where you find it.

I had a student named Kay, who, because she's just a great person and knows how to multi-task, got herself a volunteer position at our local St. Vincent DePaul thrift store, to be closer to the "art supplies."

Our Vinnie's is literally a tourist destination - like a last outpost of civilized thrifting before you hit the edge of nowhere.  We schedule a trip to this store whenever visiting artists we like come to town. Everyone believes it's the most amazing St. Vinnie's ever, even long time thrifters like me. The best part of the store is the fabric and notions area.  It's run by some tough ladies of a certain age, and Kay was really lucky the day she was told she'd been assigned to help them out.  One of the things she does is sort the donated craft and knitting magazines. 

Old knitting and craft mags are pretty amusing reading; my mom has given me many I remember from my childhood, and the weird thing is, some of those patterns are back in style. With knowledge of yarn substitutions you can actually save a ton by buying these old magazines and adapting the patterns (which are NOT of course ALL worth adapting!) to a more modern color and yarn. I get the feeling this is exactly what some contemporary knitting patterns are, in fact: a new yarn, a new skinnier model to wear it, and bingo, who can tell this was originally seen in a Paton's brochure from 1976?  (I also swear I have a pattern book from 1985 with Lisa Kudrow on the cover - if I could prove it maybe I could sell it?)  Anyway, back to Kay.  

One day she's sorting the pattern books and magazines and the woman in charge tells her to toss everything from the 1980's.  Kay at first thinks it's because the 80's are so over, no one will buy them and it's some sort of retail marketing strategy, but no, she learns: it's because the ones from the 80's are "too risque."  Knitting books, banned for being sexy.  

Now, think about this - who was knitting in the 1980's?  My mom, my best friend's mom, and well, that's about it.  Knitting got really basic, maybe because of knitting machines, which had been rethought as homemaker's appliances (like the sewing machine) that could knit the image of a sheep or a balloon into your oversized Cosby sweater. Knitting was the opposite of sexy, which had to be hard on the Europeans who were producing a lot of sexy yarns, like Phildar, a French company.  Phildar's solution was evidently to take all undergarments off the models, put them on the beach sans tanlines, and sell oversized cotton sweaters as potentially the sexiest little toppers imaginable.  Hence, St. Vincent DePaul, a Catholic charity, has a volunteer (in this case, Kay) weed out the entire decade and toss it in the trash.

But Kay is not reliable. She smuggles the magazines out to show someone who will appreciate this, namely ME.  After we have a laugh over what the Notions and Fabrics Superintendent has censored from the shelves, I notice something.  I'm strangely attracted to pattern number 30, from the Phildar catalogue 106, published for summer 1984.  They call it a short camisole.  I think, a vest, to keep the bust modest and the tummy free from sweat at the same time.  Perfect for the changing climate of the building where I teach.

So down to the stash I head one afternoon and I find 2 balls of Avalon alpaca/mohair blend in black.  This yarn cost me next to nothing - part of a life-changing event that I'll write about another time, it's practically Free Clothes once I put in the time to do the math, swatching, and of course, knitting.  It actually took much longer than it should have, since the thing is so small and took less than 100 grams of yarn, but it was knit on 3's and 4's, and I redid my ribbing about 3 times before I liked it. I also see I have 4 buttons on mine, whereas the original had 3. Whatever! The original was also varigated, metallic, and
worn with nothing underneath! Mine (shown here blocking) is fuzzy, black, and will never be worn without a shirt - I just don't have the tan for it.  

My point here is, learn the difference between 'style' and 'fashion,' put in some man-hours, and you'll never be left with "nothing to wear." 

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Not so good at blogging



Well, I'm formulating my first posting, which will focus on a knitting issue I'm dealing with currently.  First of all, I got an email today from a person who wanted to see something I made, which was apparently referenced in someone else's blog.  Sure wish I knew who the first blogger was, but anyway.  I had to send her to a museum's website and tell her to download a PDF catalogue.  This got me thinking about the original piece she'd asked about. Why do I just make stuff and send it off and act like it never happened?  I liked that work, I was proud enough of it to submit it to a show, but still and all, I think I was worried about recreating it, or using it professionally, because it's jewelry, and I'm no jeweler, I have no academic background in that, and I have infinite respect for my friends who are trained as metalsmiths (oodles of friends who are metalsmiths and/or make a living off creating unique and wonderful pieces of jewelry.)  Anyway, here are some images of the work I'm talking about, called Return to Tiffany's, and including the one piece the museum did not want which I call Charm.  (I guess my 'heart' does look like a big tongue. Not that that's necessarily a BAD thing. )