scalarparty ([info]scalarparty) wrote,
@ 2006-02-05 15:09:00
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Entry tags:blingbling, recyc, stylee

the junky pre-loved ecolos: on and on and on and on....
recycled junksmithing aesthetic hits the runways!
PreLoved
OK, it's no secret around Live Journal, that the coolest of the cool have taken (clothes) recycling and raised it to an artform! The kids don't necessarily have a political agenda or anything... they just dig what they're doing and as a good benefit, look hot! And there are pros doing this as well-- in Toronto there the group who did the above clothing. They're called PreLoved and in Montreal a similar but different group are called On and On Ecolo Chic (ok their name sucks but look how pretty):
onandon
But if you ask me, the absolute hottest of all is Junky Styling (and I thought On&On wasn't such a hot name...)

Junky Styling is Annika Sanders and Kerry Seager. They have a shop in London (UK) and have been making new treads from old threads for 7 years now. What began as a fun hobby for creating unique club clothes has grown into a studio, a boutique and a world wide reputation for daring haut couture made from junked couture. They've also had a helping hand from Gwen Stefani who loves wearing the JuSt lable.
JuStJuStJuSt
Now this is the best kind of recycling! Not only do they not need to make NEW materials, save things from going to the landfill, but it's also not like they are going to take a pinstripe suit and mechanicaly de-thread it, then re-loom the threads to make a new fabric. No, they just cut, design, then re-sew. The results as you can see are pretty smashing!
JuSt
I was desperately trying to get my hands on a picture that they have on their site but it's flash(! Arrgh can't steal pix!!!) Anyway the pic in question was a men's suit, redone (or as Jamais Cascio would say, mashed up) it had 5 pleats down the back an dwell, let's just say that I hope to one day show up to business meetings in a suit like that!
JuSt
They obviously have clothes that are a little more expensive than the Canadian counterparts, but that's ok, rich people need eco clothes too (and they just can't do what we do, go to a goodwill and be creative, they need something like JunkyStyling). So whether you are a rock-star diva or a dimestore beauty queen, there is hope, because the future will see indistinguishable styles from both ends of the spectrum. And they're both as green as can be!
JuSt
(please take special notice of those killer shoes)

...if only we could get JLo into it instead of fur!


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[info]keeki_grrrl
2006-02-05 11:14 pm UTC (link)
ha interesting,,, i guess if people are gunna pay shit loads of money for clothes then might as well be recycled, niiice, shud be more of this, innit,
though tis uber trendy in uk to buy from charity shops, retro is in, proper retro as well, i dont know about canada but here there are soooo many shops buying into it, and markets, though my family have done this all our lives, my mum is avid fan of charity shops (i tink usa calls em thrift stores?)
but again i think the thing with this and the posh recyclers you mention is that with such competetion it makes the actuall cheap stores up their prices, i guess not AS appicable to the links you show, but with charirty shops in uk vs trendy retro stores, there has been such an increase, its not fair! cos i buy all my clothes (well practically) seecond hand)
hahaha i just cheked out the site you say and its i brick lane!hahahaha no surprises then why its fucking xpensive as!
my mum and my mate last yr had a stall just off brick lane, selling hand made knitted goodness, no one bought it, i think this epitomises how tragic our world is, buy from mega expensive places but not support the individual, sad.
the websites you show i dont think do the recycling biz justice, the fact that they selling a zip necklace for (i dont want to think how much) kinda shows to an extend that people will buy cos an established name, tis not fair,

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[info]scalarparty
2006-02-06 03:24 am UTC (link)
well tis/tisn't fair--

I think it's fair for some trendoid to spend godknowshowmuch on a stupid zipper necklace, in the sense that if you wanted to make one you could do it cheaply (of course, why would you??)

Here, there are "retro" stores that go to the same place the charities go to for used clothing and buy it by weight-- they will get a t-shirt for $2, clean it up and not even alter it, yet then sell it for $20 that same t-shirt at a "Goodwill" (store for poor people, but everyone goes there) will cost $5 or $10 tops --and you can get ugly ones for less than $5. thats why I linked "tshirt surgery" before anything else, because the real cool part of this whole trend is the kids doing it themselves...

i don't know what it's like over where you are, but over here people throw out mountains of ugly clothes every year. only a small amount get to "retro" stores because they have to have a certain look--- and there are not yet enough of these mashup stores, so the stuff that doesn't make the cut-- there are literally mountains of the stuff--- it would suck if that was no longer the case, but sadly with the level of consumption that is going on these days, there will be a new mountain in the near future.... personally what bums me out about the retro being fashionable is that the real chice finds usually end up in swanlky retro shops in SF or NYC and then they cost a fortune (and the wort part is that they can't be treated rough because they are so old...) I am much more into this mashup style (now)

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(Anonymous)
2006-02-07 11:03 pm UTC (link)
hmm yeah and no,,, you know though i only attak what you say on one level, i think its sound,, (but i m trying to seeee another side to make sense for myself)
i just think theres this level where a certain section of society is not made aware of, like how you say 'kids and tshirt cutups' i guess im one of them 'kids' haha, but where is the justice of such rich smucks getting the aknowledgment for the undergorund?though in this sense im contradicting my whole philosophy i stand by, that being 'take my ideas feed yor own inspiration' but i think its ever so slihgtly different, these people shouldnt be praised for their efforts when so maaany cheaper and less profitable underground efforts dont rely on money but still spread the message, these are the people who should be notcied,
i realise though in my saying this, to be a universal idea this cant work, i guess im hinting at the whole money issue and rejecting all that, i just dont have any praside for people who do stuff which others do but ask for shit loads of money, i guess its an ethical thing more than the efforts of the recyclingness, youget me?

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[info]scalarparty
2006-02-08 02:20 am UTC (link)
oh it does suck that users steal the ideas from the kids (i.e. the street) and then try to reinvent themselves with the fire they stole and actually dont even mimic all that well (tho there is a men's suit by junky styling that does kick ass) malcolm mclaren stole the new york dolls and recycled it into sex pistols, the san francisco underground was userped by the record industry, techno became car commercial and video game music, Picasshole stole from everyone (but matisse who would have cut his fingers off if he had the chance)

i could even mention a particular blog that is commercial that has faorly regularly taken stuff from this here LJ (sometimes stories, sometimes themes and sometimes LIKE TODAY my visual gags (usually anywhere from 4 hours to 4 days later....) and they make money at it!

i totally know what you are saying... but its the same as the whole amreican apparel *issue* and that is it's still better tobe doing whatthey are dong than any other haut couture made with poisen dyes and synthetics and no regard for the planet... a modicum. not at all a paradigme.

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