Seductive Marni at H & M

Its this kind of campaign that rails me. Soooooo seductive. Hot-horse Sophia Coppola has directed the latest ad campaign for a collaborative range between the fashion house of Marni and high street megastar H & M. And boy does it look gooooood.

It has it all – Marrakesh, retro sun-soaked backing track, delicious eye-makeup, warm sun, greyhounds, candles, a pool and hot, hot people wearing covetable patterned threads living a life of enviable lax. What’s missing? Hmmmm, maybe just the small fact that H & M haven’t paid their garment workers a living wage for making this s**t.

Such a thin veneer of glamour over the labour behind the label.   What would the ad look like if it were telling us the truth? For one, it would be set in the slums of Bangladesh or India, and not in the resorts of Morocco. But hey ho, it looks good on their wealthy bodies so who cares where it came from right?

 

Sounds like heaps of fun to shop on the launch day too. Gee whizz.

For more information about H & M’s labour record, see our blog post here, and this here, and this here,  and well – there’s a lot of it. Google away.

 

Shoe evolution

Love the idea of these – two in one shoe, a ballet flat and a stiletto. Wear them out for the night and just pack away the heels when you’ve had enough. Or, wear the flats to work and slip on the heels for some clubbing. Clever.

They have some eco-credentials, using some recycled and earth-friendly products in their manufacture. The shoes are lightweight, nontoxic, and hypoallergenic. The insoles have some antibacterial guff going on too which you can “recharge” under the sun.

But I cant understand some of their claims. The shoe apparently “enhances and protects ecosystems and diversity” and “improves air quality”. Sounds pretty amazing if its true, but not too sure how evidenced this actually is.

In the meantime, here’s to the continuation of shoe evolution – from mean to green.

Shoes from Nael Coce. Via Ecouterre.

Hmmmm…

Click image to go to site

So I like Ascot Friday, as a style blog – she thrifts a lot, reuses a lot, remakes a lot and then looks HOT in the lot.

And I am sure if I took a piece of fabric out of my stash and put two armholes in it, and wore it under a cardy, I’d look like I had just got tangled in my bedsheet in the morning and couldn’t get out of it rather than this. Just sayin’. The lady’s amazing.

Feet firmly on Planet Earth

Starfish Clothing stock some mean labels. Obviously their own fine work, as well as  other great green stuff – such as the brilliant kowtow clothing and Terra Plana shoes.

I saw on their facebook page though, that this is Terra Plana’s last season. Tear. So should you be needing some new shoes for winter, nah let me say autumn, then get yourself along. They are LOVELY, they last brilliantly AND they have serious eco cred.

Click image to go to site

 

Not that I’ll be needing them – now that I am all ‘minimal’ in my wardrobe and everything – but do think its high time you got yourself some.

VVVintage

Awesome. VVVintage take vintage clothes, and through upcycling them with designers transform them into some new glory.

They are working with Oxfam, using some of their stash, and returning 10% profit back to them too, and international shipping is free should you want to partake in some of their splendid treats.

This kind of re-imagining of the fashion world so excites me. It allows room for the industry, room for the designer, room for us as the wearer – and room for the earth too.

Click image to go to site

Downsize me/The Wardrobe diet. Step Three: Shoes

Onto shoes. I am no Imelda Marcos when it comes to shoes. I have struggled buying ethically made shoes in the past, and so apart from a few pairs, the rest of these guys were bought second hand.

And I dont know – buying shoes second-hand just ain’t as enticing somehow. Hence my modest collection of 34 pairs of shoes. Not counting running/tramping shoes. No way I am using my quota up on those!

But apparently, that is far, far too many shoes. In the world of wardrobe minimalism, 8 pairs is all a lady needs,

I tried to hack my collection down to 8 pairs, but it was too, too mean. I got pretty close though.  I am very proud of getting my hoof options down to 12 pairs. Oh me, Oh my.

1. Full length black leather riding boots – vintage
2. Terra Plana black leather mid-calf boot – bought from Starfish
3. Trackers Cowboy ankle boot – vintage
4. Character Black Dance shoe – bought in London/vintage
5. Nude colour heeled shoe – bought in London
6. Stone coloured strapped heel – vintage
7. Wooden wedge –  bought from Overland actually – made in Italy
8. Hogl shoe – bought in the marvellous Wairarapa at a particularly pleasing price
9-12 Various beachy flats

I hope I wont come to regret this fit of spartan.

I might just condense Steps 4-6 for your reading pleasure into a handy chart. There are only so many before and after shots you want to see I am sure. 

Oh happy day!

Most Wanted Vintage, the cracker jack store for all vintage treasures found in Aro Valley, Wellington has just launched an online shop. Go have a gander,  especially if you are homebound or provincial – you’ll thank me for the mainline to the good stuff.

Downsize me/The Wardrobe diet. Step Two: Scarves

So, sorting out my scarves were a breeze. I knew I had heaps of these suckers and boy was I right. But as I normally keep them stuffed in a bowling bag I never see exactly how many.

Soooooo, with a drum roll, here is my scarf collection before the cull. I had to take two photos, one of my longer scarves and one of my silkies. I love silk scarves but I collect them FAR more than I wear them. There were 28 scarves in total. That is alot of warm necks people!

And my after scarf situation. 11 scarves. Okay, so again, it’s not exactly minimal – but I have a feeling I will never be one of these people. But as long as I am not one of these people, all will be well.

Downsize me/The Wardrobe diet. Step One: Dresses

Okay. So before we begin I suggest you pop back a couple of posts, and read about this guy. He owns a couple of handful of things and seems genuinely pleased to do so.

It challenged me. A lot. I subscribe to many of the measures of sustainable living and I do feel virtuous in the way I gather my threads, shwopping, opshopping and buying NZ made or ethically made things new.  But the fact remains my wardrobe is absolutely FULL of clothes and I dont need them all.  The volume of my treasures, after reading about Wardrobe Minimalism, is pretty darn shameful.

So I vowed to share my journey toward having a bit more wardrobe zen with you.  

DRESSES

I decided to break the situation into pieces. And to start with dresses because they are pretty. And far more exciting to cull than socks. Although, that said, I wont need to downsize my sock collection at all. It seems I hoard in direct correlation with attractiveness.

Okay, so here is my BEFORE situation. 34 dresses. Yes, 34.

It was hard to get them all in the same shot, and this is the best I could do. I knew I had a penchant for black, but that penchant presented itself as 16 black dresses. I know I can’t need this many. I also had some dresses in there that I liked the idea of, but never wore in reality.

Clearly I think checkered dresses are a great idea but perhaps only in my dreams as I never take these guys out. So out they go. Similarly with that bright red Hailwood dress in there. I wore it to a wedding once, and never will again. Red is just not for me. So out it goes.  And then there are the two fifties style polka dot dresses, both of which never see the light of day anymore.  So out they go. The cobalt blue knit dress? Amazingly cool, but not on me. Out it goes. And then I took to the black dresses in the same scythe-like manner.

And, before you know it, I had chopped my dress collection, down to a trim 15 dresses.

AND, the unexpected boon of this, is I can see my personal style so much clearer now. I would have said I am eclectic at my best, downright confused at my worst, but looking at my streamlined collection, I clearly gravitate towards black and vintage. This is very helpful for this girl to know.

Doubters out there may point out that 15 dresses is hardly minimal. I know. I am kind of that person who had Exclusive Brethren length hair, chopped it to shoulder length hair and yet feels like Sinead. Fifteen dresses is feeling kind of bald to me you know?

So, as a mental break for myself, I am taking to scarves next. Equally pretty, but far less meaningful. See you there.

The most expensive t-shirt in the world

Is this for real? It looks as though they sell nothing else, and there in only one image of the t-shirt on their website. And really? £256,500. Wow.

I did a google for the company who make them,  Superlative Luxury, and got nadda.

Is it a high-end Nigerian bank account scam? A piece of satirical art? Or is this actually legitimate? There are so many things I need to say if its for real, but just trusting for now that the world has not gone that mad – just yet.