intellectual properties

fashion forward

my indie designer friend (and playmate and confidante) miranda caroligne is featured in a great SFBG piece this week:

Miranda Caroligne’s road from physical therapist to fashionista

And her reuse of materials is more than just style — it’s an outgrowth of the environmentalism she learned as a kid. Caroligne advocates sustainability and makes use of almost every shred of old fabric, no matter how big or small. “I have this philosophy of not having sizes,” she says. “I alter everything to fit.” Sometimes she lets her customers alter pieces with her, so inspired buyers can learn how to make clothing on their own. “Part of the reason the sewing machine’s out is to show people they can do it, too.”

To share her philosophy, Caroligne agreed to write Reconstructing Clothes for Dummies in the fall of 2007, encouraging fellow fashionistas to reuse old materials. She was surprised to reach not only an earth-loving, crafty crowd but also a non-sewing, mainstream audience. People were motivated to salvage their materials, whether they made their own clothes or not. Now, her style is becoming so popular with typical shoppers that some conventional retailers have started “faking” reconstruction.

But Caroligne says her authentic pieces are about reducing waste and avoiding conformity, not just about looking good.

Now, on a typical Friday afternoon at her boutique, as she sits at her old-fashioned sewing machine with a pile of white, ruffly fabric exploding out from under it, she waves playfully at a child strolling past the shop with his family. Another woman walks in and gives Caroligne a hug. “It’s less about fashion and more about meeting people, helping them get in touch with themselves,” she says. She wants everyone to be able to express themselves by wearing clothes that reveal how they feel.

if you live in SF and have never visited Miranda @ 14th & Guerrero, you really should….

me&gia in red

me and gia, 11.15.08 in miranda caroligne

gia aka galareh makes the most beautiful clothings as part of her label, galareh design. check it out.

Black Rock Arts Foundation Artumnal Gathering

sometimes the themes of the content of posts on this blog makes it seem like all i do is sit around listening to mopey music and reading and kvetching about politics.
not true – that’s just what i do during the day!
i do still know how to have fun (kvetch hard, play hard?).
for example, this was my saturday night:

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YBCA photos

in Miranda Caroligne @ YBCA Bay Area Independent Fashion Festival 10/11/08
www.mirandacaroligne.com

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YBCA SF Indie Fashion 10/11

this saturday: Yerba Buena Center for the Arts presents the Bay Area Guide to Independent Fashion Festival. while the SF gate article sort of degrades the bay area fashion scene as limping along, faltering, unable to pull itself together, full of failed attempts, those who work in fashion in this city know otherwise. it’s different here. there are different goals, different ways. the SF fashion scene might not be like Milan or New York, but it doesn’t want to be. come to the event saturday and check out what’s really going on. people are doing amazing things. i’ll be on the runway at about 3:00 for Miranda Caroligne.

i look like a grumpy 15 year old

and i often feel like one.

lostcoastphoto22, originally uploaded by amyleblancdotcom.

photo by lost coast photo

dress by miranda caroligne

leggings by effie’s heart

necklace by batucada jewelry

last sunday @ cafe cocomo

from the prepare for the playa fashion show last sunday @ cafe cocomo. red fleece hooded jacket by miranda caroligne; dress, hot pants and accessories by fati beloved.

not my most photogenic day, but there are they are for the record.

precompression

Flambe Lounge 06-20-08 MichaelOlsen/ZorkMagazine, originally uploaded by ZorkMagazine.

from my performance with miranda caroligne, interpreting the 2008 “American Dream” theme @ burning man precompression @ 1015 on friday 6/20.

we wore white bride-ish dresses with blood red accents. i also had a black mourning veil and “blood” stained white gloves. we simulated choking and mutilating ourselves with the red scarves, and projected sadness and anguish. the dresses miranda made could’ve gone the other way and done blushing bride/beauty queen/movie star/miss america, but that’s not what either of us were feeling (nor do we ever; that would’ve been quite an act for either of us). miranda said she momentarily felt bad about our performance being so dark instead of fun and optimistic. i didn’t.

basura sagrada :: june 12

david best, the longtime builder of the most magnificent temples at burning man, took a step down from that job recently, and up to the plate stepped Shrine and Tuk Tuk, “guerilla artists” and builders of smaller amazing temples and shrines out of found objects (aka: trash). they and the volunteer crew are working tirelessly on this project, welding together found metals and arranging all kinds of former pieces of people’s lives into one large piece of work which will serve as the temple for the playa this year: basura sagrada (sacred garbage, holy trash).

tomorrow night @ DNA lounge in SF there is a fundraiser for this, at which my friend miranda caroligne and i will be artfully serving the crowd from 7:30 onward. if you’re around, i highly recommend attendance at something beautiful.

more below.

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alchemy fashion 2.0

photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonunbound/sets/72157604754721425/

me & orange in clothing by miranda caroligne and metal by shira loa