Drive by Jocelyn Pezon
So genius.
OSS+
→ Ask me anything
An Of Stranger Sensibilities Blog Supplement
A lot of things don't make the final cut to the blog. Hence the supplement! Music, additional outfit photos, and other random ones taken by me will be added along the way as well. Enjoy.
Blog
Inspiration
A lot of things don't make the final cut to the blog. Hence the supplement! Music, additional outfit photos, and other random ones taken by me will be added along the way as well. Enjoy.
Blog
Inspiration
→ Ask me anything
Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.
~Miriam Beard
FASHION ILLUSTRATIONS BY LILI LU
Fashion illustration is often overlooked, but such a beautiful and essential element in the industry. I stumbled upon these gorgeous drawings by young French student, Lili Lu, and was in awe. Aren’t these long haired characters a beaut’? Check out a cool fashion illustration piece featuring some of the most talented artists around in the latest issue of WeTheUrban Magazine (page 56)!
Harry Shum Jr Keeps His Cool
We teamed up with the Glee star to show you how to winterize your wardrobe in style. Check out all the looks then read our bonus interview with “The Man with No Bones.”
(via fashiondiplomacy)
Happy Birthday.
Self-Portrait
Pablo Picasso
1896
Museo Picasso, Barcelona, Spain
Self-portrait with Cloak
Pablo Picasso
1901
Musée Picasso, Paris, France
Self-Portrait
Pablo Picasso
1907
Narodni Gallery, Prague, CzechiaSelf-Portrait
Pablo Picasso
1938
(Does anyone know where this is housed?)
Happy birthday, Pablo Picasso, born 130 years ago today.
Scrimp, Save, and Shop Slowly
In the past week, I’ve been reading The Craftsman by Richard Sennett, a wonderful book that Bruce Boyer recommended to me some time ago. In one chapter, Sennett talks about various epochs when the volume of material goods available to Westerners expanded dramatically.
In the Renaissance, trade with non-Europeans swelled the number of goods at people’s disposal. Netherlands, Britain, and France had an unprecedented demand for new possessions (and subsequently the furniture that was needed to display those possessions). As material abundance seeped downward, it extended to ordinary matters such as people having more than a single pair of shoes to wear and different clothes for different seasons. Victorian England was similarly prosperous. Here, the advancement of industrialization made it possible for the British to enjoy more clothes, domestic utensils, and books.
In each of these periods, Europeans felt both wonder and anxiety for their new material abundance. People worried about how to use goods well, what abundance might be for, and how not to be spoiled by possessions. Human virtues such as restraint and simplicity came to the fore, and some wondered whether the sheer quantity of objects around them would dull their senses.
One can see a reflection of these periods in our current state. Despite all of the economic problems we may have, most Westerners (and many in the East) still live in a consumer paradise. However, I think we’ve struggled to properly manage the issues that have come out of that. Take, for example, clothing, which has largely become an industry of “fast fashion.” Clothing is made cheaper and cheaper, and new items are introduced not just on a seasonal basis, but also multiple times throughout a season.
The production of cheap clothing has led us to devalue clothes, both in what we’re willing to pay and how we treat them. The mere availability of $15 button-up shirts makes people cringe at the idea of a $75 shirt, even if it’s made from better materials and done with better stitching. Give someone a closet full of $15 shirts, and they’ll have no incentive to really learn how to take care of what they own.
The availability of cheap clothing has also made voracious appetites possible. People these days are constantly buying new clothes, and this introduces a level of waste that’s only dreamed of in scarcity societies. Even cheap, poorly made garments - which are only meant to last two or three years - are thrown out long before the end of their practical life.
One explanation is that people these days are more aroused by anticipation than actual operation. Getting the latest thing is more important than making good use of what you have, and being so easily able to consume new and cheap things makes this quest an endless activity. Consequently, people have much more than they need, but nothing that they truly satisfies them. This triggers a vicious feedback loop - because they’re not satisfied, they go out and buy more and more, but since they consume so much, their limited budget forces them to only buy other unsatisfying things.
It also sets an utterly bizarre modern mindframe. In what other era have people thought they need to fill every “gap” in their closet? “I have wool trousers in glen plaid, solids, window panes, and houndstooth, all in navy, brown, and grey, but none in olive, so I have to fill that gap.” Granted, I write about things such as “Five Casual Trousers for Fall,” but this doesn’t mean you have to get every one. I’m giving you options, not a shopping list.
In previous epochs when Westerners enjoyed such material abundance, they reflected back on what it meant for society and themselves as individuals. We’ve done the same; there’s all sorts of neo-Ruskinian attitudes these days. Everyone is talking about craftsmanship and returning to a more “humanist” view of production.
The fundamental problem, though, is still present: we expect to accumulate an unreasonable amount of clothes, and we want to do it within a year, if not a season. People are constantly hunting for “deals” at “fast fashion” stores such as Zara, buying things without any real long-term impression of what they need, and spending whatever is within their immediate disposable income. That kind of practice will lead to an enormous wardrobe, but of things they’ll never quite like, so they’ll never really wear.
It would be better, I think, to have a more controlled appetite. Make a prioritized list of the staples you need, and don’t get side tracked into impulse buys. Then, find out how to really discern quality in clothing, and buy what is truly, truly worthwhile. Instead of owning a hundred mediocre ties, thinking that they were a “bargain,” buy ten quality ones in your most basic designs. Instead of having twenty mediocre shoes, buy three excellent pairs, and use the time that you would otherwise spend on shopping to take care of what you have. Put in shoe trees, apply leather conditioner, and take the time to buff and polish.
Of course, if you have the means to accumulate nothing but the best, then more power to you. If you’re of limited means, however, you would do better by really taking the time to understand how to discern quality and prioritize that over price. If you can’t afford it today, then scrimp and save for a while until you can. If you take a long view - that you will need five to seven years to accumulate a decent wardrobe - and don’t expect to need fifty trousers in every single pattern and color, this is quite achievable. That is, after all, how most people built wardrobes in the past.
(pictured above: installation art by Christian Boltanski)
Reblog if you’re using an Apple device right now. Let’s see how many lives Steve Jobs touched.
(Source: fairycastle, via miss-cherie)
“
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
”— Steve Jobs, Stanford University commencement speech, 2005. (via aconversationoncool)
