#knowyourwardrobe

[tkauu]

Know your most durable garment from your wardrobe - Denim.

Goes without wash for ages, while getting better with aging. So being a denim enthusiast, I had to add this. As we all own at least a couple of jeans in our wardrobe, hence I felt it was important to address all the myths related to jeans.

Denim is the most durable fabric from which our jean is made. Due to its durability and wear and tear, it has the most life compared to any fabric. However, with passing years, it also gains a lot of its character with time and usage. It was used by miners and sailors initially being a sturdy and touch fabric in nature.

Raw denim when worn for longer time, adapts to the body, and characteristic of its user, hence making it the unique like its wearer. The fabric is almost a blessing in disguise. It has a property of fading with time; hence one can find various finishes on the jeans for the same. Denim also looks best even when embroidered or patched to mend it. Mending has worked the best with denims, for it adds a new character and talking about a story of the wearer.

However, I have found a lot of people throwing away their jeans just because it no longer serves the purpose. It starts looking faded or if the denim gets torn somewhere, they tend to discard it thinking that it can no longer be worn. While you can fancy faded, painted or embroidered denim to be brought from the market, I would suggest to let your existing denim stay longer so it will shadow the character of your body. So next time before you plan to discard any of your existing denims, find out ways to mend it. Trust me it will give a very new look to your denim. Trust your denim, it’s a best friend which will go with you for much longer time.

[tkauu]

Do you always think that clothes can make you look better? The more, the variety, the trendiest you have, the better you can look. However, a great style does include a great accessory. With the right combination of a handbag, perfume, and shoes, it can give any older outfit a newer look. Just peep into your wardrobe to know what accessories you already own. I am sure that there are good number of scarves or bandanas, bags or tie or shoes that you already own, they just need to move out to be paired up with your clothes. If you still feel the urge to shop, and find the clothing these days to be expensive, yet want to spend effectively less money, then invest in accessories. They totally change any look that you have already flaunted. Think about ways to add good accessory which might trigger other sense than visual, just like a good perfume. You dress up to look great visually, however perfume is adding aroma to your persona, which ultimately triggers the sense of smell in most of the people. If you wish to play safe, you can always go for subtle smell. But I feel it adds the notch to your persona. Using what is in your wardrobe and sticking to not buying clothing are great ways to turn sustainable. However, if you still need to invest in some accessories, look in for brands that are making accessories out of waste, or those who are supporting local artisans. That indeed would be a great way to be a conscious buyer while leading a sustainable living.

[tkauu]

Coming to the end of our series of ‘know your wardrobe’. Our last post is: What goes inside your wardrobe? Do you follow any kind of shopping rule? Don’t we all love shopping. Yes, indeed, we all do. As the lock down starts easing, we might hit back to the cycle of shopping and hunting for new trends in the market. Our markets are already flooded with green-washed images of all those fast fashion brands. This is how they aim to sell their product. But a lot of our fast fashion is boosted by our impulsive buying behavior. Means the purchases we make are fast – unconscious decisions, unconscious buying leads to unwanted clothes. So, what happens next? If you really made a purchase for an occasion, then maybe it will be worn a couple of times. But then what? We get caught up in the cycle of not repeating the same garment for any other occasion. But I think the problem starts with the very idea of buying something which needs to be worn for a few hours or maybe we get bored by it too soon. Fast fashion is like junk food. As junk food being bad for our inner body health, fast fashion is bad for our outer body and our planet. So how does fast fashion affect our body or our planet? - Tricks us to spend money more often. - The more you own, the more cluttered is your wardrobe and mind, leading you to stress every time you want to go out. - Fast fashion gets discarded, only ends up being filled up in our landfills. - The quality of fast fashion equally as cheap as its cost, hence the disposal rate being much higher. Choose wise, Be conscious!

[tkauu]

Know your fabric. Time to pick up each of your garment and learn a little more about its material and fabric care. Each of your garment will have a various label and tags on your clothing. Some are attached to your garment and some are the branding tags. They exist for a reason, they brief you about the material of the product, wash care instructions and the brand story. As much you enjoy the brand story, somewhere the rest of the information gets neglected. So basically, each of your wash care symbol has a different meaning and connotation to it. Know your wash care symbols thoroughly to know about which fabric needs what kind of care. Like silk, would need a dry cleaning mostly, similarly your whites generally need to wash separately. You will learn about materials which are easy care and luxury care. There is another aspect of knowing your fabric other than just taking care of it. When you know your fabric, you also know which kind of fabric is best suited for your body or activity. So, let us say you want something to wear for summer. However, adorning a fabric which is not breathable for your skin would turn out to be a disaster. Hence it becomes necessary to know why what comforts your skin. So, why should you know your fabric? – Care for your clothes and skin in relation to the season or activity you do, both resulting in forming a longer relationship with your clothing and body. Tip - You could easily club this exercise with hanger rule while decluttering your wardrobe, to manage your laundry better. And like I always said it is equally vital to know what goes on your body just like what goes inside your body. Image source - Pinterest

[viviansverden]

2017 DIARY RECAP

#BOUNDARIES

" Because grief seeps into the external world as the inner experience bleeds into the outer..."  

回顧2017年的日記，我讀到這段：

「我從一個嗜好建構自己、拆解他人的人，變成一個渴望在結構的縫隙中蜷身，只求不跌落的人。透過讀書、做夢和胡思亂想，我藉由虛構的經驗感知一套歪斜扭曲的現實。如果現實世界有任何侵入到自我的危險，我就會立刻跟它斷線。原來，連愛情也不例外。我住在現實般的夢裡，害怕一爬出這副繭就會立刻死亡.......我是否心存僥倖？明白自己從不是完整的單一主體，因此當他明確指稱我是什麼，對我的愛又是如何如何時，我便自動分裂，藏在其他人格的模板後。」  

對自己、人事物和大環境的不信任，充斥2017上半年。不安與不適從未如此鮮明，我失去善於取出適當距離的能力，活生生被丟進滾燙的現實裡。我察覺到自己在現實生活中，狡猾又常自我分裂的習性，但這壞習慣突然不太管用了。不知所措時只能大量地寫，在乾淨的白紙上找到較為純淨的誠實。我後來發現，在紙上我作不成千面女郎。大概是文采不足，反正不論我在現實中怎麼分裂，留在紙上的特質都出奇統一。當然，我也發現許多誤解自己的時候。那些沈浮在情緒中，無法敏銳冷靜的時刻，我寫出許多長篇大論，貌似很有邏輯的誤會。

我猜想比較健康的活著的方式，是允許自己放輕鬆存在於現實當下，然後設定一套叫做「界線」的系統。而不是像我這樣活在一個縝密的、用思辨構築出的世界，然後在其中一絲不掛又反應遲鈍。Tavi Gevinson曾寫道她也是類似如此的人，只不過那是因為她擅於把現實編寫作更迷人的樣子，因此常常不經意倒因為果。我想我沒那麼後設，只是比較膽小，或自以為聰明。或兩者皆是。

#BODY

“Moins je me reconnais dans mon corps, plus je me sens obligée de m’en occuper.” - Simone de Beauvoir

上面那句並不是西蒙波娃多了不起的名言，只是我在讀她的短篇故事集《La Femme Rompue》時讀到的一句話。意思大致是：當我越不認識自己的身體，就越感到有責任照顧它。法文原文使用「在」身體裡認別自己，而非我「的」身體，多了一層身體作為容器的意涵。這真是一句廢話，但當我用異國語言閱讀時，莫名就會出現一股神秘的崇高氛圍。不過這句話的前後關係讓我想到一件事：身體的變化似乎都跑在意識之前，導致我們意識上的自我認同總是苦苦追在身體變化之後。尤其我這種遲鈍的人，每每像瞎子般摸索到底這些過敏、感冒、痘痘、鼻血和胃痛在搞什麼？

2017年從年初開始，我逐漸對「肉體」的意象產生興趣：我開始畫出許多器官或模擬器官的線條和幾何塊狀。我漸漸對具體物件失去興趣，不再藉著故事畫面的引導畫畫。六月的時候，X畫室辦了一場人體素描，時間點簡直天時地利人和。參與畫畫的有好幾人，但只有我沒把模特兒當人在畫，因為我壓跟沒把人頭畫出來。不同動作、光線下，身體每一個部位都可以拉出來仔細描摹。我對它們的主人沒有興趣，因為肢體本身散發出來的、幽微的訊號太神祕、太引人入勝。可惜的是，我仍在自己的畫中看見膽怯和空白——我感知到那些訊號的存在，卻不敢跟它們溝通。人體素描一下子就結束了，之後我也沒有積極找機會繼續探討這件事。到了夏天，我嘗試使用畫畫以外，我最熟悉的兩個系統認識肉體的意象：文字知識和影像系統。嘗試的過程其實沒有什麼收穫。我在書上尋找「身體本身的感覺」，讀到的卻幾乎都是「意識的身體感」。被寫出來的，幾乎都是意識延伸至身體的表現，身體只是意識的偶裝。不是嫌棄這種書寫，任何將身體器官搬上白紙都像在馬路上脫內衣般赤裸。不過我還是好奇有沒有肉身的情緒帶著意識衝陣寫出來的文字。身體的感情是很不受控的，身體寫出來的文字一定也能表現出其獨特的猖狂和暴烈。

我嘗試寫，讓意識書寫身體的感受。每次動筆都有種很遙遠的感覺，彷彿身體的記憶跟五歲以前的經驗一樣陌生。我總是越寫離自己的感官越遠。在打這段文字的同時，盧非易在講台上嗡嗡嗡，突然冒出一句「身體是我們最重要的傳播載體」，啪地一聲打到上課分心的我。我也不知道課程怎麼會談到這個，專心側耳聽了一會，他又談到別的事情去了。為什麼身體是我們最重要的傳播媒體？就像一部靠情感演技而非情節支撐的電影，這種直覺式的身體感夠濃密的時候，是很難被分析、被拆解的。我想寫出那樣的東西。

直到上禮拜，我終於經驗到身體感官與書寫的合一。成果也許沒有成功傳達「用身體載體帶領意識寫字」的狀態，但過程中確實如此。我挑檢了某些素材，放進虛構故事《殘人》裡。階段性的成功鼓舞了我不少，表示這條身體書寫的路是有開闢潛力的。這也讓我鬆一口氣。原本編織、發展故事情節的能力忽然當機，但在這當機的空白中我還有無限多可以練習的東西。

WARDROBE DATA

2017年我做了一份衣服表單，紀錄我擁有的衣物的年齡，產地、材質等資訊。我希望能夠在衣著上更對自己、對製衣業負責。

2018 JANVIER Moodboard

Louis Le Brocquy: Isolated Being / Woman / Head with open Mouth / Human Image

Loveless (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2017)

La Jetée (Chris Marker, 1962)

死神與接骨木花 — 藥草塔羅

安尚秀 — 韓國字體設計師

攝影集 Beyond the Clouds by HART+LËSHKINA