trendi: a good pair of man jeans

We are living through a great age for men's jeans, and clothes in general, if you know what to look for. So-->
What to look for:
good fit= no more baggy nonsense boys. If you're skinny, wear lean jeans, if you're not, get a pair that's big enough
good wash= no more whiskering or bleaching or distressing, this was never cool. Also, dark even wash, YUM
Yup, that's about it. You can't really go wrong w/ a dark pair of good fitting jeans. Now boys, go find a pair because these make me ridiculously happy. And pair your pair w/ a slouchy tee or some other such fabulous man shirt.
Yay oder nay: Toats Yay^max

fashion quandry.

I took this picture on the sly as I walked to my car today.
Questions: Has the person in question talked to her doctor about a) her need to wear sweatpants in 75 degree weather and b) the fact that the right side of her body is hotter than her left? I think both are serious issues that need to discussed with a professional.

too horrible by half: fanny packs

Do I really need to explain this? All women have fat aprons as my sewing teacher calls them, to keep the baby warm, as my mother says. Do we really need to accentuate this area with another pouch to keep our change in? And wearing fanny packs to the side is no better. I for one, with 40" hips (and that's all hips, no butt) do NOT need any wider of a profile. And heaven forbid we actually wear them as their name suggests. I saw this tower of fannies in the BYU bookstore today and I nearly vomitted in my mouth, but was too distracted by getting my camera out to really have any problems. Worst of all, these "brilliant" leather fannies are the nasty patchwork type a la the spell book from Hocus Pocus, yeah, you know the one.

wishlist: sailor/fall front pants

I've wanted sailor pants forever. Maybe someday I'll make a pair...

too horrible by half: manpris

Man capris, or manpris are just a no. I'm not a fan of most types of capris. It's not a favorable length of pant and finding any pair that might be near an appropriate length is very difficult. But when it comes to men, capris are a major no. Let's think about it shall we? Capris as a rule stop somewhere between shorts and pants, meaning they leave from mid-calf to the ankle exposed. Now think of a more feminine and dainty area of a man's physique. You can't. Man ankle, when exposed w/o man calf and man knee is the definition of awkward. Most boys who wear manpris are, let's face it, not of the bulkiest build, so really from the knees down you'd think they might be girls, but no, they have hairy hairy ankles that you can see clearly because of their manpris. I have nothing against hairy man legs, but seeing only ankle is just not ok. Show me the whole bottom leg or let's keep it all under wraps, k boys?
PS I know those first pictures aren't really manpris, but come on, leggpris? come on!!!

wishlist: jodhpurs and capelets

I've wanted jodhpurs for forever and of course now I'm seeing them in magazines etc. That's always how it works with me. Anyway. I want more of real equestrian jodhpurs (but not so tight), and not the icky tapered pants that people might label jodhpurs these days. Roberto Cavalli's Fall '07 Ready to Wear has some nice, moderate pairs. I saw a pair in Lucky once that were corduroy w/ leather inner leg guards. I want the leg guards real bad.

This ensemble (who's pants I'm not so hot about) also has a capelet, which I also want. I have a pattern back home and some nice subtle plaid wool. I don't know where one would necessarily wear a capelet these days, but I still want one.

dying class w/ Jeff Lieder

Jeff Lieder, a good friend of my Janet and textile dyer extraordinaire came to BYU and taught a two day dying class for the costume students. I was lucky enough to get to attend! From 9-4 on Friday and Saturday we learned the basics of dying, silk screening, foiling, and silk painting. I'll just post my photos now and caption them.

We first dyed silk scarves using the "color by accident" method. This involved mixing our immersion dyes, shoving a wet scarf in a cut off water bottle in whatever twisty way we wanted (mine was a tight coil) then pouring the dyes into the bottle. This normally produces a mottled effect, but since I did mine so tight I got more of a tie-dyed look. After the dyes sit for 15 minutes in the bottle they are poured out and soda ash is added to stop the dyes from "crawling" and to make them permanent. This is left for an hour or more, then poured out. The scarf is rinsed and hung to dry. The dyes are now color and light fast.

After dying we started the silk screening process. We each made our own silk screen using light activated PhotoEZ sheets. These sheets are essentially silk impregnated with emulsion chemicals that when exposed to sunlight print whatever image is blocking the light onto the sheet, which image is later washed away leaving only the silk. Fine lines and detail are shied away from, but pretty nice detail can be achieved. This paper is also available in 'high def'.

Once a picture is decided on (which is smaller than the screening frame) you place it in a certain order and direction between the PhotoEZ sheet, plexi glass and a piece of miter board and felt. This is covered in something light safe until you are in direct sunlight, when you take it out and point it directly at the sun for 5 minutes, recover and take it inside. You then put it in a tub of water for 10 minutes, rinse it on a piece of plastic canvas to remove the emulsion from the image and...

cure it in the sun for 10 minutes.

And then you have a wonderful silk screen. This is then taped w/ water repellent, special tape (I have the names for everything if you really want them) into the screen frame in a certain order and direction and you have your silk screen ready to print!

SATURDAY

After we'd mixed highly concentrated pigments into a silk screening base of either translucent or opaque we began printing!! Basically you stretch out whatever you're printing onto on a table covered in batting and muslin. You blob paint at the top of the screen, hold the frame w/ one hand and kind of squeegee the ink lightly over the screen to flood it with ink. Then you do that once or twice more with more pressure in the same direction to set the ink, take the frame and screen off and wah la...

You get a print. I did my paisleys in chartreuse w/ opaque base so they'll sit on top of the fabric, and not let the fabric's color come through. The tshirt was provided by Jeff. I didn't dye it :(.

After printing we learned about foiling which involves using a special "glue" ink that will bond w/ foil in a heat clamp. This can be used in your silk screen, but I chose to hand paint it onto only some parts of my paisley.

After a print is made, but before you foil it it needs to be set in a very hot dyer for about and hour. You then place it on the heat clamp (I don't have a picture, sorry) w/ the foil on top and clamp it at at least 250 degrees for 45 seconds. Take it off/out and let cool, then peal the foil off! And there you go! The shirt can them be washed (inside out w/ foil) and fabric softened.

I used just straight translucent base for my scarf.

Jeff showing us some hand painting techniques on silk. We use the same immersion dyes we used earlier, only now we can choose to thicken them w/ a special globby stuff, and we need to activate them (like the soda ash did) before we use them to paint.

Groups of 5 worked on a piece together. This will then be separated so we can each have a scarf from it. Once it's done we roll it into newsprint, then into a cinnamon roll type configuration and steam it over a pot of boiling water for 15 minutes. Then it's washed and dried and is done!

The whole gang.

outfit 9/11/09

Target T- $5
Gap LONG trousers- $15
BYU Bookstore flats- $20
Forever 21 blue sharf (shawl/scarf)-$10

Besides my knock off pashmina (a shawl woven from the wool of feral Himalayan goats) this sharf is my favorite. I try to wear them in different ways. What do you think of this way? Mostly I tie it one way and it flops around until something like this happens.

too horrible by half: leggings

Leggings are not pants people!! Nor are "footless tights". You're only allowed to wear leggings if you are a beautiful European woman wearing them under a skirt that goes to your knees at least, and if you are you're probably over this horrible fad by now anyway. Worse than leggings in general are metallic, animal print or otherwise horrified variations on that theme. Gross. Sometimes I wonder what my generation will get made fun of for down the line (bell bottoms, shoulder pads etc) and I already know my kids are going to have a heyday w/ leggings. When will this monstrocity of a trend end?!

update: Indians are also aloud to wear leggings because they invented them, and wear them w/ long tops.

trendi: slouchy and vneck tees

I've always wanted to keep a photo diary of trendi things (I want to be lame and use an "i"), so this is the perfect place, henna? (Hindi for "right?" or "isn't it?" or "ok?")

I LOVE slouchy tees recently, mostly on girls, but sometimes on guys. With lower necks than the average tee they are a nice substitute to the classic, chokes you lots neckline. As we can see w/ Mr. Blue however, the slouchy/vneck tee trend has gone a little overboard and can get v. uncomfortable, even if the wearer isn't an emaciated hipster. However, when a fine balance between slouchy tee and glorious man neck is achieved we attain Zac Efron status (above). The jury's still out on our good friend Arjun Rampal (below). And while I love SRK to ribbons, he's getting a tad old for this look in the extreme, but in moderation he rocks it.

Yay oder Nay: when applied correctly YAY