The Most Brilliant Lookbook I've Ever Seen...

In my quest for other amazing people who are truly dedicated to using fashion as a vehicle for real social justice, I came across the incredibly informative blog of non other than Otto Von Busch and his graduate design students at Parsons. I've blogged about Prof. Busch quite a few times, as he is BRILLIANT!, and am so glad to have found this digital, blog database of all things fashion and social justice.

One of the "case studies" featured was of Retrofit Republic, a vintage and recycled fashion retailer, style agency, and event planner started by two amazing women who started a company from their love of fashion, social justice for LGBTQ and communities of color, and outreach to make the world a more fashion and cultural energy-efficient bohemia (play on word "retro fit").

In the advent of video lookbooks, this is the most brilliant one I've seen yet. Their lookbook manages to not only showcase their amazing Fall 2012 looks but highlights some powerful people dispelling and conquering the myths that haunt our fashion, aesthetic, cultural, and sartorial worlds. The fashion industry needs a lot of social healing- imagine if every design house used their look book as a platform for activism.

Watch and-with conventional fashion magazine in hand-take notes:


The Real Bodies Manifesto Lookbook Video, Fall 2012 from Retrofit Republic on Vimeo.

Happy Sunday
T*

Goodbye Folk: Vintage (inspired) Fabulousity from Mexico City

Greetings Folks!

So, I'm still sewing like crazy preparing my Occupy Wall Street meets Studio54 Capsule Collection for RAW:Brooklyn RADIATE! If you are in the NYC, NJ, tri-state vicinity, you won't want to miss this show :) (Artist name: reciclaGEM :)).

However, in the sewing, scrap quilting, fabric swatching, ring-making interim, I wanted to draw your attention to a quirky-beautiful shop in Condesa, Mexico City called Goodbye Folk. Some of you international second-hand clothing savvy folks may know that Mexico, in the response to I guess second-hand clothing flooding into the country from the USofA and making it harder for local clothing manufacturers from the country to make any sort of profit, instituted some pretty serious restrictions on used clothing importation. Sometimes you need a pretty heavy license, sometimes it's banned altogether. HOWEVER...this amazing gem, Goodbye Folk, makers of hand-made leather shoes and the like have managed to open up an amazing vintage (inspired :) ) shop in Mexico City that has celebrities and fashionistas alike frequenting.

Watch this amazing youtube video of a miracle in the works...manifest before your eyes.

Peace, love, and vintage visions,

-T*