sleek

Some visual treats from the Sleek Art Fair - look not read.

 

 

Parading down to Wiels.

in bloom bis

The valleys of the bluebell forest near Halle. Too easy to become a tree-hugger on seeing this.

Sorry, we are closed.

The Douglas Firs shop will be closed for a while. Time to work on the new season for the spring/summer 2014, time to look for new retail points and time to lay in the sun, if I find some!

the true fashion victims

http://js.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2303358/High-street-fashion-store-Zara-investigation-use-slave-labour-factories-Argentina.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/25/opinion/bangladesh-factory-collapse-opinion/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

I know you've all head about these, but I just find it unbelievable how little exposure the related information gets. I saw the information about Zara employing slave and child labour in its Argentinian factories making a couple of hits on Facebook and then it was gone.
Then the loud collapse of the Bangladeshi clothing factory, well you can't hide 600 hundred (and rising) dead underneath some dirt and say 'we have nothing to do with it'...or at least that's what I thought! Yet Benetton, Mango and H&M deny their partake even thought their branded garments are found in the rubble amongst the dead factory workers. I cannot express how shocked I was about the news and how even more 'shocked' - this word is not enough to describe - to hear the blatant lie the Western clothing companies are trying to feed us.
Here's an excerpt from another article about the collapsed factory:
"Many clothing brands were quick to distance themselves from the five factories that were housed in Rana Plaza. The building, which was not designed for industrial use and had three illegally added levels, collapsed April 24.
Benetton said none of the factories were its authorised suppliers, although Benetton labels were found in the rubble. Spain’s Mango said it hadn’t bought clothing from Rana Plaza factories but acknowledged it had been in talks with one factory to produce a test batch of clothing.
German clothing company KiK said it was “surprised, shocked and appalled” to learn its T-shirts and tops were found in the rubble. The company said it stopped doing business with the Rana Plaza factories in 2008. It promised an investigation.
Wal-Mart said there was no authorised production of its clothing lines at Rana Plaza but it was investigating whether there was unapproved subcontracting. Swedish retailer H&M, the single largest customer of Bangladeshi garment factories, said none of its clothes were produced there.
The Walt Disney Co. in March responded to publicity from last year’s fire at the Tazreen factory, where its branded clothing was found, by pulling out of Bangladesh production altogether.
Only a few companies, including Britain’s Primark and Canada’s Loblaw Inc., which owns the Joe Fresh clothing line, have acknowledged production at Rana Plaza and promised compensation. Loblaw’s CEO said there were 28 other brands and retailers using the five factories and urged them to end their “deafening silence.”
Companies that are downplaying involvement in Bangladesh’s factory safety problems may be counting on the short memories of Western consumers, who tend to focus on price and may not even check where a piece of clothing has been made. But that’s a risky strategy..."

My apologies to y'all sensitive readers for posting pictures of dead people on this blog, but I found this particular one circulating on Tumblr with comments like 'the final embrace' and 'tenderness rises above rubble'.
My say? Well... FUCK embrace, FUCK tenderness - they were just not supposed to die making stupid fucking cheap clothes for our insatiable Western lust for quickie fashion grabs and cheapo daily fashion fixes. I'm swallowing this porcupine-shaped truth for dinner.
Are you?

good things

 

Good things and pretty things - the wishlist is full of them! And ever since I got my first pair of Acne jeans, I haven't been taken them off, so now I'm planning a multiple jeans purchase alongside the rest of Acne goodness - crisp white shirt-dress, fuzzy angora round-neck, printed pointed pumps and canary yellow silk blouse in which I may just become a songbird flying and leaping over the potholes in a pair of stilettos chirping my happy tune. I don't mind really.

 

in bloom

Dries Van Noten sunglasses, Comme des Garcons perfume, Maria Black single earring, Zara shoes, Dries Van Noten skirt.

A clean and organized approach to shopping? Not yet.
I simply would like to keep track of what I buy because the wardrobe is a mess and it sometimes helps to take a picture and put it on my own blog to have a clear view of what I own. I mean it!
This spring I'm going completely nuts for Dries Van Noten - and the good news is that I sell his stuff at Stjil, not only to my beloved customers, obviously, but to myself as well... and I do feel privileged getting my hands on the best pieces before everyone. So I bagged these fantastic transparent white frames just as they arrived and decided to finally separate myself from the nth amount of cash and become a proud owner of the quilted flower skirt - it is a longer and lower slunk skirt than any other one in my wardrobe, and it does need a bit of outfit planning to avoid looking like someone's mom... a tricky thing, so I've decided to honour it by finding a matching top, to no avail... Instead I came back home with a new fragrance (I've been 'sans parfum' for about a year - that's a change) by Comme des Garcons and a single earring by Maria Black.
Now jewellery has always been an unknown territory for me, on one hand buying a piece of jewellery for me is like getting a tattoo - it's personal, almost intimate, on the other hand I hate to fall into the trap of the tacky gold and diamonds so I never really buy anything that has real value. But when I saw the Maria Black graphic earrings, necklaces and rings at Hunting and Collecting,  I knew it was something different. My choice is a single earring in a shape of a dagger, so much for the Game of Thrones fan!

 

The shoes have been a long doubt, because no one ever is meant to buy anything there! Child abuse, slavery, toxic products - yes, Zara is all that, and my feet will probably rot off! But I'm bad at reasoning and self-control when it comes to white patent leather, platforms and lace-ups, hence the doubtful buy. Yet they compliment perfectly the girly tulips and make for a tougher look.

 

Now the trouble of how to wear the skirt remains. I'd prefer a fuzzy angora sweater, but it can't be too loose. Or a white shirt? or just a graphic t-shirt? I haven't got a clue.

let there be light!

 I've managed to surprise myself twice by finding all the necessary fabrics for Douglas Firs summer 2014 and bagging a gorgeous coat from one of my favourite collection of all times. It only happens once and only at Dries Van Noten stocksales!
And while I'm wowing about the coat, the main attraction of stocksales in Antwerp is still designer fabrics, well for me at least. Where else can one find top quality fabrics for so cheap that it almost hurts? I got back home with a bag full of soft cottons and some printed silk, and even though I do not favour prints all that much I couldn't resist a subtile marble print that could be flower print that could be just random brush-strokes. In other words I totally gave into: "Let there be light!" attitude of Dries Van Noten's SS2011 and the next thing you'll see from my Douglas Firs brand will be the shining light of soft pastels.

look of the day

Look of the day is the sour one, no makeup, new haircut that I don't really like, but it felt like an obligatory thing to do. Hairdressers always make the hair look so tacky!

A.P.C. coat, trousers and shoes; COS sweater; Marc by Marc Jacobs bag

Prairie

I've never been too keen on the designer/high-street brand collaborations - not because I don't like the designers or high-street brands, but because I find it hard mixing them both and still believing that what comes out is the designer garment. The worst example being Maison Martin Margiela for H&M - cheap copies of the MMM classics, sweatshop-made in China? I already feel the goosebumps crawling up my back, together with some ugly eczema from toxic fabric colorants.

So that's how I would imagine Weekday - a member of H&M Group, but....

There's always a 'but' in my posts, years down the blogging line and I keep on going!

What Weekday has done for the Matthew Ames collaboration is rather admirable. They've created a different to Ames' regular work denim line - much more in-line with the high-street brand philosophy, and thus bringing Matthew Ames out of creative hiatus. It's almost like a separate brand - Prairie. They've worked the garments through to their own capacities, without ever trying to get the 'affordable' catwalk look. This collection presents itself with a lot of confidence...well, at least to me, and what I mean by 'confidence' is a rare find when clothes assume their own status and are not trying to be anything else - denim is denim and it looks good, point.

I dream to one day march alongside the Christophe Lemaire/Damir Doma/Matthew Ames army. One day when I feel as confident as those clothes.

oh no!

...It's an outfit post!

I never document my outfits, but I probably should - for your entertainment and for my own. Yet when I leave for work I tend to run about in a terrible rush and when I'm on holiday and I have all the time in the world I get too lazy to dress for a picture and think about clothes as something photogenic.

On a sunny day in my tiny garden things seem to be brighter though. I have just made an appointment with a hairdresser - that's why! I haven't had a haircut for two and a half years now, so it's more than time to change. Please, excuse the hairy mess of me. Look at the clothes, photogenic....or not.

 

Jumpsuit Les Prairies de Paris, boots Acne, necklace Calourette