cliches become cliches because of excessive overuse or love. cliches are truth. and black is ground zero for fashion cliches. you can use black as a wardrobe base. or tiny ballerinas leotards. and for all manner of stealth gear- think ninjas and AK47s. you can force yourself to abandon it momentarily, explaining to friends and shopgirls that “oh my god all i wear is black, i have to wear some colour!” you can “reduce” it to funeral gear. OR workout gear! and the ONLY colour of shoes you wear [your 50 plus pairs? your army of shoes? i have such an army]. but it will never go away. sometimes there is nothing cozier, sexier, beautiful & intelligent than layer upon layer of black, covering your body and protecting it from winter and anything else you might fear. or love.

FENDI F/W 08 / ETRO F/W 08. photos style.com. clickclick for bigger pics.

and because i’m not finding perfect examples of this for women, back to menswear, again.

all JULIUS S/S 09. i 1st found Julius through Flickr friend Mafia Hunt. and these pics i think originate from fashionmag.fr.

you know all i really care about is that i can wear piles of black again and not be looked at like some morbid pretentious freak.

when i started this blog [January 14 2006 and approximately 400 entries ago] i wrote a couple “shop talk” entries. i’ve let that slide, but think i will start it up again. because, you hear the best things in stores!

also, when i started the SDR blog i worked part-time in a clothing store. but now i work part-time in a craft store. i think i prefer to help people out with making things instead of fashion talk. i like to do fashion talk here.

i get a lot of funny requests at work- “how can i make this mousetrap into a car?”, “how can i fill this shoebox with a miniature japanese meditation room?”. and yesterday i got- “can you sell rockets to people who are mentally ill?”, more about this later.

for anyone who hasn’t figured it out through my online “broadcasting”, i live in Vancouver Canada. and live & work in a neighbourhood near the ocean, once populated by quiet money WASPs, hippies and west coast dudes/dudettes but now somewhat overrun by Hummers, specifically those Duecks. i’m not saying the past or present is better, i’m just saying. i have always had a love/hate relationship with my hood. but i do like my $3- a visit, floor-to-ceiling-glass community center that overlooks a a cricket club. and i do like the trees.

anyway. sometimes i work at the store on Saturdays. which i like. people with a lot of “personality” come in, i like people with a lot of “personality”.

the 1st interesting incident that day was my intercepting an elderly hippie women from antagonizing another client about using a plastic bag. guess what? i am against plastic bags too. i mean i make reusable bags that can work very well for shopping. that’s what i do with mine. she was very aggressive about it. and since that previous customer and i had already talked about her guilt over using this ONE plastic bag i felt like another customer having a go at her was a bit much. so she then turned her “concerns” on me. amazing. especially since i was on her side. ahem.

let’s get back to rocket guys. we sell A LOT of rockets. these 2 guys were so funny. one very preppy in a pink polo button-down. both pretty yuppy. in response to the “mentally ill” question, i said it wasn’t my job to judge other people’s mental well-being. that was just the beginning of this awesome-type conversation. i unlocked the rocket engine cabinet for them. they argued amiably if not spastically over using the 7 or 10 second delay engines. they mocked each other’s ability to even count to 10. they clutched expensive rockets in their arms. they were totally wasted on a hot summer afternoon.

on the way back to the cash pink shirt guy says to me- “it must be weird for you to work in a craft store, i mean all the nerds you have to deal with and you are a hot babe”. i said i was a “combo deal” and a nerd too. they told me they were engineers, and sort of argued amongst themselves about that too. i wish i videotaped this because it was like talking to Bert & Ernie imitating yuppies telling me they were engineers. at this point i noticed what looked like “icing sugar” dabbed above one engineer’s upper lip. “icing sugar”. well maybe he likes donuts. this is Canada after all.

they asked if i worked for commission. i didn’t say anything. but suggested since we were all being so honest today, they could just give me more money if they felt like it. with the transaction almost, finally complete we got talking about google. pink shirt icing sugar guy says suggestively- “so you like to be googled huh…”. yuppy #2 apologizes. i do the eyebrow raise, roll-eyes, shnortle-laugh, headshake, walk away thing.

it was pretty hilarious.

note to self… make some.

this is a topic that is often on my mind. i like quality but i don’t like snobbery or elitism. but a love of quality can become elitism. there is an interview with A.P.C. designer Jean Touitou that has him talking about how his anti-elitist anti-label brand has ironically become an elitist and highly recognized label-brand due to its popularity [which is doubly ironic or actually doesn’t make sense]. i’ve been Googling around the internet and can’t find this interview. it must have been hard copy. help me out here if you can.

here are some random fashion images that i have collected on my desktop this week. and the relevance to this topic? just a little collection of visual ironies and unexpected combinations. output of the expensive fashion machine which i love & sometimes hate. oh and a lot of white & cream…

Corinne Roitfeld Paris fashion week 2008

Facehunter/Dior FW 2008/Kate Moss [remember to clickclick.]

ok i love this sweatshirt. who makes it, this i do not know. i am sometimes a well-intentioned but inadequate blogger. do tell if you know the maker!

the tote maker i do know, it’s Stella McCartney for F/W 2008. i’ve mentioned her before because she makes only vegan accessories. it’s sometimes not easy to create a sassy vegan accessory that competes with the tidal wave of leather goods out there. can you tell i am a vegan accessory maker? the fight is on! i also love that it is wood. i think wood should be treated and appreciated as preciously as it is. i have some ideas for wood myself…

photos- unknown! & style.com

someone is really getting it right. and that would be the British designer Erdem Moralioglu. 2 dresses from his latest collection.

pics via The Fashion Spot. click for largesse.

just a heads up that the last Sunday of June, July & August 2008 SWANclothing & Totes will be available at the Portobello West fashion & art market in Vancouver BC Canada. so the 1st date is this upcoming Sunday June 29th 12-6pm, $2 admission.

this is the 1st time i’m doing a craft show. i plan on keeping it simple. but all my totes will be there. so come and find me and say hi :)

Seeing as I am a tote maker & carrier, and I do do the bag stare [though I am usually checking out hardware… seriously], today’s StyleBubble blog talked to me from the heart of the daily urban fashion “battlefield”.

An excerpt-
“So today, when I got on the tube, sat right down and was stressfully drinking my Americano, I noticed two ladies sitting across from me giving me the oddest looks. Did I have unrubbed moisteriser on my face? Was my hair sticking up? My outfit was a little tame/rushed so nothing to look at there. I then realised they were staring at my bag, an old and faded Vivienne Westwood number. Then as quickly as I caught the stare, they then turned away and exchanged a sort of knowing ‘sneery’ look with each other. I had encountered the Bag Stare…”

In full here.

I left a comment, it’s a bit snarky looking back on it. Sigh…

Thanks again Susie, I am such a fan it is just embarrassing.

i can’t seem to sew & type! i’m working on 3 stores orders, and then some. so a quick i LOVE these shoes blog.

heck! it’s a gold loafer sandal. how could i not love them. or… is that a golf shoe sandal???

they are “LILY” from Minna Parikka.

i LOVE this peacock leather wrist cuff by Etsy seller Sunny Rising Leather…

and she has so MANY other beautiful items…