Wool on wool on wool
March is still winter, you fool
Outfit rundown
Knit dress (used as a top): vintage
Skirt: old Pink Martini
Scarf: thrifted
Cardigan: second-hand earth, music and ecology
Hat: old Fint
Boots: old Sperry Topsider (I changed boots to go outside; those are my indoor boots until spring)
Wool tights: old Mondor
Brooches: vintage and handmade
Belt: thrifted
Earrings: handmade (by a friend)
I noticed that the Royal Easter Show had a category for an item made completely from handspun. So I did something crazy & spent December/Jan crocheting up the shawl my ‘Sunburnt Country’ handspun was destined for to enter the category.
Regardless of how successful this piece will be in the competition, this shawl came out more beautiful than I imagined when I was designing the yarn.
This was my second ever foray into crochet and quite a bold project, both in color and scope. So, so many ends to weave in, and no set pattern for this one, though there are others online who have given recreating from the screen a go and who have been very helpful - see my Ko-Fi post (link in bio) for more details, including my attempt at writing it up.
Though definitely shagadelic, it's not perfect - l'd love to try blocking it to get some of the trim to sit with some more flounce but ran out of time before the event I wore it to. I may add a layer or two to the sleeves to make them more dramatically 60s flared, but for now, I'm thrilled!
I secured the dress to my shoulders with clutch fashion glue (not sponsored, just happy to have a product that works!) and it seemed to work a treat- can't wait to have a play with this some more, especially for temporary hemming and other fun textile work.
I took those two first pictures (as well as my outfit video) in 8 minutes before rushing out to take the morning train to yet another medical appointment.
Outfit rundown
Skirt: old Pink Martini (Boutique 1861)
Cardigan: offbrand from many years ago
Turtleneck: second-hand Ank Rouge
Hat: Parkhurst
Bag: second-hand Fint
Shoes: thrifted
Belt: thrifted
Brooches: vintage
Maiitake earrings: Takano (Design Festa)
I DON'T think the notion that everyone in the past except the hyper-wealthy wore rags all the time is a grand conspiracy to make us satisfied with the throwaway bullshit clothes have become
because a lot of smaller and more ordinary factors snowballing into two unrelated things is more likely
but.
part of me thinks all the companies peddling a world made of plastic, where 90% of textures are knits, would really not like it if more people were aware of just how sensorily rich and durable a lot of clothing- up and down the social ladder -used to be
it's convenient for them, at least, that so many people don't know it can be different
SLAY, an animal rights documentary on animals in the fashion industry, has to be one of the most poorly researched documentaries I’ve seen in awhile. Not only does the documentary go after fur (which is to be expected), but also wool and leather while making some startlingly false claims.
First of the major claims against fur is that they state fur is not biodegradable, a talking point they admit to taking from Collective Fashion Justice (an animal rights clothing collective). CFJ claims that only 20% of the fur is biodegradable, which they took from a portion of this study. The actual statistic is that at the 30-day mark the mink had degraded by 25.8%, while the fake fur hadn’t degraded at all.
According to the paper, “in the disintegration test, it was observed that the Undyed mink fur, Undyed fox fur, Dyed
mink fur and Dyed fox fur partially disintegrated [after 30 days]: the skin fell apart and disappeared but the hairs remained. The fake fur did not show any disintegration, only discoloration” (Debeer). Fur is made of pure keratin which is hard to break down, this is why there are some hair follicles still left over from extinct animals! The part that is easier to disintegrate is leather part, even with the tanning process the material is biodegradable.
The most irritating claim they make is that fur, leather, and wool have a higher carbon footprint. First, the carbon footprint doesn't take into account the fact that cattle, sheep, and animal raised for fur produce multiple products. A polyester shirt is only a polyester shirt, the cow the leather is made out of also produced milk, meat, and important by-products. While animals raised for fur also produce important oils, biofuel, and eat animal waste products from other industries.
This mantle appears to have been made from a wool shawl woven with broad bands of boteh motifs, originally with a central medallion now cut in half at the base of each side to fall attractively over arms in wear, and quarter medallions at each corner that are now placed at each side of the centre front and back of the garment.
Shawls striped with pattern, sometimes known as zebra shawls, were an alternative to the ubiquitous style of broad borders to a plain ground or central motif. Particularly popular from the 1820s to the 1860s they were produced by European manufacturers as well as the original Indian avid Kashmiri centres.