Category: Why

In Jeans.

Posted on by TheAmericanEdit

some of my favorites reads of late!

Laura Brown’s adventures in fashion

I’ve been on a perennial hunt for THE perfect pair of jeans… Laura Brown of Harper’s Bazaar sums up the obsession, perfectly.

The New Potato

Food & Fashion? Brilliant.

Talking Shop : Heidi Merrick + Desiree Kohan

I’ve never been to Des Kohan but after this interview, it is definitely on the top of my list for my next trip to LA! I love the concept, the attention to detail, the collaboration with and support of new lines… and the fact that nothing goes on sale, because everything in the store is worth it. So refreshing.

The Sweet Home

My friend Nate introduced me to this product review site – it’s amazing. For a review of bike locks, the reviewer interviewed known bike thieves!

Well Spent Book Club : CHEAP

Well Spent is one of my favorite blogs, and absolutely part of the inspiration behind TAE – I hated that it was so easy and enjoyable to discover new, honestly crafted clothing for my husband and that I had to search and search and read labels everywhere I went. They just launched a book club last month and, nerd that I am, I couldn’t wait to start commenting as soon as the post went up yesterday! There hasn’t been a lot of discourse yet, but hopefully there will be more as time goes on… I read next month’s book, Fugitive Denim: A moving Story of People and Pants in the Borderless World of Global Trade, several years ago and loved it. Would love for you to join in next month!

With that, have an amazing weekend! If there are any other great articles or blogs I should be reading, or brands I should be finding, please let me know!

To stay up to date with TAE, please follow along!

Buy Less, Choose Well

Posted on by TheAmericanEdit

Some recent and inspiring reads…

Kate Wordsmith : The Slow Movement Manifests

Kate’s a fellow Minnesotan that I have yet to meet… but her post this week on Slow Fashion resonated with me. In my ideal world, last week’s post on the inspiration behind TAE would have been written with 1/10 the eloquence as this one.

I find myself overwhelmed, once again, by the speed at which new trends, ideas and information are coming at me. This dizzying, never-ending slideshow is referred to as the (1) “New Speed of Fashion,”  by T Magazine, and as I watched my Twitter feed become engulfed with photos and videos tagged #NYFW over the past week, I reached a point where I had to turn to a handful of slow movement designers and curators for meditation.

Amanda Brooks : Classic Fashion

Former Fashion Director of Barneys, Amanda Brooks now lives on a farm in England with her family and shares her sartorial musings on her blog, I Love Your Style.

“We all have this idea that fashion is ephemeral. And in some regards it absolutely is. We buy something that catches our eye in a magazine, in a store, on style.com, we wear it a few times, and then it goes into fashion purgatory never to be worn again. Or never to be worn until it gains some vintage cred or stages a comeback a decade later. 

But when I was working at Barneys I knew I would be spending a large proportion of my disposable income on clothes, and I wanted to be smart about it. If I was going to splurge, it had to be on things I would wear for a long time, not just a season.”

Is “Made in America” clothing making a comeback at New York fashion week?

I was thrilled to see this article last week after posting my thoughts on Fashion Week – let’s hope more and more designers begin to follow suit!

Fallon : I’m Sick of Smart

My amazing friend Meg works at Fallon and shared this post with me this week – while written for the advertising world, I think it holds true in any creative realm.

So, while we Planners may not be working with Radiohead on its next studio effort, we are creating something for the people of this world. We’re leaving something creative behind, and we’re (hopefully) making an impact. Art doesn’t have a right answer so don’t be content with smart. Smart is just the starting line, and the journey doesn’t have to be difficult. Or, as one very enlightened creative explained to me, “The creative process isn’t a struggle, it’s a wiggle.”

With that, THANK YOU. Thank you for reading, emailing, tweeting, commenting, and supporting TAE over the last two weeks. I’m flabbergasted and just disgustingly, incredibly excited.  Also, I’m terrified that I won’t live up to your expectations. But I promise to do my best. Please, please, please let me know what you love, what you hate, and of course, what you think. And thank you, thank you, thank you!!! xx

fashion week.

Posted on by TheAmericanEdit

“Clover Canyon is made in California, and always will be.”

Fashion week.

The (sartorial) world lives and breathes fashion week. It comes in like an avalanche a few times a year, causing never-ending FOMO and an acute case of seasonal confusion.

But we love it. Fashion Week (#MBFW #NYFW, if you will) has become as much of a spectacle as the clothes themselves – and it’s amazing. I’m always amazed that the shows go on with minimal interruption, each and every year.

the-row

“Part of THE ROW’s mission is to support high-end fashion manufacturing in the US.”

I have ample experience creating product lines, but the majority have been with huge scale and resources behind my team. Creating a highly innovative line without that? It’s incredibly difficult… as any casual Project Runway viewer can attest.

Sampling and producing clothing is a complex process, it takes not only a huge amount of work and skill, but it also takes infrastructure – people trained in the techniques needed to create the garments and machines readily available to produce the product.

nanette

“Nanette Lepore is an advocate for Save the Garment Center and Made in NYC. Making it in America ensures that the fashion industry will continue to thrive in this country for years to come”

This infrastructure used to exist… and likely led to our favorite American designers (Oscar! Diane! Marc!) becoming who they are now… At one point, 95% of clothes sold in America were made here, and these designers and makers made New York City and the Garment District into the pinnacle of the fashion world that we know today.

honor

“Core to HONOR’s mission is a dedication to bringing industry back to Manhattan’s historic garment district, respect for the art of garment making, and fair treatment of the skilled artisans who create them. HONOR garments are developed and produced exclusively in New York City.”

However, today, less than 3% of the apparel that is sold in the United States is made here. At what point does this infrastructure cease to exist?

When that happens, what will happen to our beloved fashion week? What will happen to American fashion and innovation in general? Supporting American-made labels has economic benefit, yes, but more importantly, when you support these labels, you are investing in the future of fashion. You are setting the stage for the next Diane/Marc/Oscar to take his or her rightful place. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

Featured – some of my favorite shows from designers who make it a point to produce domestically.

for more – see Made in Midtown & Save the Garment Center. Images via WWD.

clothes.

Posted on by TheAmericanEdit

I’ve been working on this project for almost a year… and as much as I believe in quality over quantity, and buying American-made, I often doubted myself – would anyone actually read this? Can you really combine style and conscientiousness and ethics? There are so many issues that matter, is this really important?

Leave it to the Diana Vreeland and some of my favorite magazines, bloggers, and entrepreneurs to remind me just how important this really is…

Design for Mankind I Foresee a Closet Cleanout 

But what I don’t love is the headspace and energy and wastefulness that surround a closet that is – literally – spilling out of itself. I don’t love the uselessness of it all, the endless combinations of wardrobe options and choices and decisions that we were never created to focus on. Why does it matter?

Garance Dore My 5 Commandments of Style

#3 – Quality = Longevity

Vogue The Price of Cheap

We get what we pay for, as they say—but with a twist. When we buy cheap, we may save a few dollars, but the cost goes elsewhere, and eventually cheapness comes back to haunt us.

Zady

Zady began with a grand vision: to combat the fast-fashion craze by providing a platform for only those companies that care about timeless style and solid construction.

Cuyana

A lean closet enables a fuller life- for ourselves and for others. Our Lean Closet movement challenges us to collect fewer, better things, and to donate the pieces in our wardrobes that are merely taking up space to those who need them. Sometimes when things aren’t adding up in your life or your closet, it’s time to start subtracting.

I’ll be sharing related posts/articles regularly – in particular, I’ve come across some amazing Made in America bloggers recently who I’ve learned a lot from. If there’s something you think I’d like to see, please share in the comments!