My academic side: teaching a new course on craft and production

I've been blogging here as a side interest, while a book project gets most of my attention. (It's related to ethical fashion on the gender vs. gender-free side of things, being about pink and blue and all that.) It's been a real luxury being on sabbatical; time is everyone's most precious commodity, and I was willing to go on half salary in return for a full year to research, think and write. (also knit, cook and take afternoon naps) With just under six months before I am back in the classroom, I now have my teaching schedule and and trying hard not to get too excited, lest the book slip to the back burner. Fortunately, next year's courses include two new courses which will be making frequent appearances in this blog.

Advanced Material Culture: Craft and Production (Fall 2009). Most material culture literature and teaching these days seem to emphasize either object analysis or consumer culture, as opposed to the production of objects and the relationship between maker and artifact. Given the interest in DIY (including gardening, knitting, furniture hacking, and all forms of cookery) and my own lifelong fascination with how things are made, this seemed to be a great, fresh angle to pursue. I am looking for good readings, but want the course to be very hands-on, not text-heavy.

Consumer Culture: Simplicity and Anti-consumption in American Life (Spring 2010). This is a course I've been imagining ever since I migrated from textiles to American Studies. Consumer culture literature and courses tend to focus on advertising, marketing, consumer-identity/branding aspects of purchasing behavior, but American culture has always included movements which resist or oppose excessive consumption. David Shi's The Simple Life: Plain Living and High Thinking in American Culturewill provide the historical perspective.

I'll be posting about both courses here as they progress.

Trashion: my new favorite word

I'll admit being late to this neologism, but quick to embrace it, since it's a great one: trashion, which is fashion made of nearly 100% recycled or secondhand materials. As often happens, I've done trashion before I even knew the word -- witness my amazingly successful (at least with my son) T-shirt messenger bag and laptop sleeve. The word "trashion" results in 85,900 Google hits, so there's lots of sharing and reporting going on out there. Here are  a few links to get you started:

A fun article about making an entire outfit, including shoes and a shoulder bag, out of Starbucks discards.
The Trashion Nation group on Flickr.
The Refashion Archives on Craftzone.com (not all strictly Trashion), but still some great ideas.
Wardrobe Refashion, which reminds me I'd like to sign up again and try some new projects.

Recession Chic, Pt. 2

There's more food for thought in Kelly Marages' terrific piece in the Washington Post. But when the economy needs consumer spending, having frugality become a trend among people who actually have disposable income is not necessarily a good thing. Consider the case of Marie Antoinette.

For nearly two hundred years, the fashion extravanances of French royality, led by either the Queen or a royal mistress, had driven the demand for domestically-produced silks. Marie Antoinette abdicated this role in the 1780s when she adopted the "chemise" style of dress, fabricated of English cotton. The fashionable ladies of France followed her lead, despite protests from the French silk industry. We all know how well this story ended.

Living beyond your means is never wise, and I'm not saying that people should be maxing out their credit cards to boost the economy. But if you're in a position to support your local restaurants and shops, please do. And if you've got some great clothes in your closet that you seldom wear, I'd love to find them on the rack at my favorite thrift store. And if you're a journalist write style articles, consider going easier on the "rich people making sacrifices" stuff. Some of it is embarrassing. As Kelly Marages writes:

And when it comes down to it, if you need to be told that packing your lunch saves money, you're probably not someone who needs to pack your lunch. So please don't pretend that you are.

Recession Chic

Kelly Marages has a terrific piece in the Sunday Washington Post about how newsfolk have covered the impact of the recession on fashion and lifestyle choices. Like me, Kelly seems to have been raised frugally in the unselfconscious middle class manner. There are two ramifications of this upbringing. First, it is possible to feel insanely hedonistic doing something wealthy people do so routinely they no longer enjoy it. Because I eat leftovers nearly everyday (because I make lots of food whenever I cook), having a meal in a restaurant is an exquisite, self-indulgent experience. Second, while frugally-raised people are certainly capable of spending money in flush times, it's never been that hard to dial back on expenditures. I already know nearly all of the advice being offered by magazines and newsletters, and I can save a ton of money not buying them to read articles I could have written.

Marages' article raises some wonderful points about the new "recessionistas". There's the silliness of dresses and shoes being "a steal" at under $150. The breathless discovery that inexpensive cuts of meat and in-season vegetables, cooked slowly, make a great low-cost, nutritious meal. (Not to mention fabulous leftovers!) My favorite, the place in the article where I choked on my coffee:

The advice doesn't stop there. We've been told to go shopping in our closets. Cute -- but what does it mean? That I should take a shirt and pair it with some pants or a skirt that I haven't already matched it to? Call me crazy, but isn't that just called getting dressed?

I don't deny that there are some people out there who didn't have the advantage of a frugal upbringing, and who are looking for ways to economize. For them, some of this information is not only fresh and new, but necessary. As a mom, I do hope that my kids picked up some of these habits at home. If they didn't, it's probably my fault.

Going green at Wal-mart? Organic cotton jeans for $18

I need new jeans. Many ethical shoppers are not fans of Wal-mart. The discount retail giant has been trying hard to lay to rest consumer concerns about its pay scale, its anti-union stance and its tendency to supplant local stores. But consider this: since at least 2006, Wal-mart has been using its size and influence to boost the market for organic cotton. In fact, they are probably the largest purchaser of $100 organic cotton products, which gives them considerable clout. And the result is affordable, environmentally-friendly clothing, like these organic cotton bootcut jeans for $18. Both the fabric and the jeans are imported, but in recent years Wal-mart has introduced its Ethical Standards Program "to strengthen the implementation of positive labor and environmental practices in factories". $18 for a pair of organic cotton jeans is an amazing price.

Ethical consumption is rarely a clear-cut path; it involves having good information and self-awareness. Ultimately, consumption decisions are personal: What do I value? What am I willing to sacrifice for my values? What options are completely off the table? Loomstate, Levis, and Orvis all make organic cotton jeans, as well -- for a very pretty penny, and with no more guarantee that they are ethically produced. I value sustainability and fair labor practices, but my clothes must fit my person as well as my pocketbook. It would appear that an exploratory trip to Wal-Mart is in my future.

Teens Turning Green: Re-thinking Prom

I've had a few friends share their concern that, while they are trying to tailor their consumption to match their own environmental sensibilities, their teenage children, especially their daughters, are oblivious -- or even hostile -- to the message. As prom season begins, Teens Turning Green is trying to reverse the trend by engaging teens in a creative challenge, Project Green Prom "to engage high school students across the country to “green” their high school proms (and their own prom preparation.)" The promotion includes a YouTube video contest, with prizes for both the winner and his/her school.

Of course, I solved the prom problem by never being invited to one...

Old News and bamboo (again)

I am a regular reader of the Huffington Post; it's one of my favorite sites for political commentary, especially the very witty Jason Linkins. Imagine my disappointment to find a post about vintage clothing (with more information in the comments than the article), entitled "Green is the New Black" (sooooo last year!) that has this gem in the first sentence:

silky and sustainable bamboo knits

Given that the correct, legal labeling is now becoming much more common -- not everywhere, yet, but moving in that direction -- and that information on bamboo RAYON is not exactly hard to find, my reaction is GAH! (I must acknowledge Anna Marie Cox...)

Good News: Eco-trends surviving the recession

Business Intelligence Middle East has a long, interesting article about green trends that are defying the economic downturn. Among the more fascination snippets:

Many consumers are eager to flaunt their green behaviour and possessions because there are now millions of other consumers who are actually impressed by green lifestyles. As per the above, ECO-ICONIC is not about all green products, it’s about those products that through their distinct appearance or stories actually show that they're green, or at least invoke some curiosity from onlookers, and thus help their owners/users attract recognition from their peers.

I can attest to that; one of my favorite pairs of earrings (purchased at 10,000 Villages) is made of rolled-up paper, like the beads you used to make at summer camp. People notice and comment on them all the time, which give me the chance to say a little something about recycling and fair trade. That's one way fashion helps us construct identity, by providing an opening for social interaction that reveals our values.

"Tightwad Gazette" author's take on the recession

One of the prime movers in the frugality movement of the 1990s was Amy Dacyczyn (pronounced sort of like "decision"), whose "Tightwad Gazette" newsletter inspired people all across the country to seek ways to live better for less. The Ann Arbor Business Review interviewed her at her home in Maine, where she still lives by her frugal principles, and it's an interesting read.

I don't agree with Dacyczn on every point, but -- as she points out -- neither of us is an economist. She faults people who took the subprime mortgage bait more than I would, and she thinks employees of the Big Three automakers are overpaid (she seems unaware the health care and legacy pension benefits parts of the equation).

Dacyczyn and I are just ordinary citizens -- sister Nice White Ladies, if you will -- who are trying to do the right thing for ourselves and our families, to live by our values. I agree with her that ""what's best for the economy is that every individual and individual family unit is in the best financial health possible" and I share her concern that too much self-sufficiency might not be "good for the economy at large", when that economy depends so heavily on consumer spending beyond necessity.

In the end, my primary concerns continue to be my own household's well-being and our impact on the planet, rather than on the economy. If I had much more money, I would probably not own more things, but better things and more locally-made things. Old Navy and Macy's should probably not count on me to help their bottom line.