THE WARDROBE_REMIX(ER) BEING REVEALED:

name: Liisa-Maria
flickr handle: vasiliisa
age: 34
location: Helsinki, Finland
website: http://vasiliisa.etsy.com/ (her etsy store)

DEEP(ER) QUESTIONS:

what do you do for a living? or, if you are a student, what are you
studying?

I’m a PhD student in Cultural Studies, and I also have a degree in Fine Arts.

what are your passions/obsessions?

Thrifting! I thrift a lot of my clothes and accessories, but also my furniture, tableware, etc. Fashion and clothes in general. Crafts, doing things with my hands, arts, classical music, cats. To name only a few.

what inspires you?

People everywhere: on the streets, street fashion sites (especially wardrobe_remix!), magazines… Pictures from past decades, especially the ’70s. Colours, textures and shapes in general; it’s fun to mix them and see how they interact. I love to observe those things everywhere I go. Also, I think it can be very inspiring to think about your own dos and don’ts and the reasoning behind them. Challenging the rules you made for yourself can result in something very innovative!

how do you define “style”?

“Style” is a way of presenting ourselves to others, and it is manifested in many ways. So, it’s not only clothing we’re talking about.

how would you describe your personal style?

Triple c: colourful, cute, and crazy!

how does your background (personal history, passions, culture,
nationality, etc.) come through in the clothes you like and wear, if
at all?

My love for thrifting is one obvious thing, as well as my struggle for a more sustainable lifestyle in general. When I was a wee undergrad, it was the ’90s and there a was a deep economical depression in Finland; during that period thrifting became quite popular and there were thrift stores and flea markets everywhere. I, trying to cope with my student budget, followed suit. Perhaps I’d learned to love thrifting anyway, but that kind of sealed my fate.

choose one item in your closet that you feel completely expresses
your personal style and/or aesthetic. describe it. what is it and
why is it “you”?

That item would be my mother’s old Marimekko dress from 1972. It’s Finnish, it’s quirky, very colourful and it has a history. [ed: see first photograph]

do you collect anything? if so, what?

I collect children’s vintage fabrics. Those I collect pretty systematically. More randomly and occassionally I collect a bit this and that, like coloured glassware.

what are some of your favorite places to shop when you want to add
to your wardrobe? online? locally? anywhere in the world? why are
these places favorites of yours?

I love thrift stores, anywhere, but also stores that sell handmade, unique things and refashioned/recycled items. I love to see unexpected things, and those are the places to look for them. I also like to shop local, wherever I am. And I love online auctions!

does your location (where you live) affect your style? if so, in
what ways? describe what your city is like in regard to fashion.

Oh yes. I love Finnish brands, vintage and new… Also I need to be prepared for a variety of weathers, which definitely affects my wardrobe, and my style. We have to be somewhat practical in the winter.

There’s a bunch of stylish people in Helsinki, even though it’s not like hel-looks most of the time. In Finland it’s traditionally been less OK to put your money in clothes (regarding money spent on clothes, I think we as a nation are still at the bottom of European stats). But I think that’s changing radically.

what do you think is next in terms of fashion? perhaps something
that is currently flying under the radar, but could be really cool an
popular later, or perhaps something amazing you’d like to see more
of that needs to come back or be the new thing?

Basically, if you haven’t seen it in a while, it’ll be back, that’s the law of fashion. Shoulder pads, acid wash, dropped waistline, you name it.

I would love to see the comeback of quality. Even if you get bored or change your styles often, that doesn’t mean you should buy disposable clothes. Someone else might still get use of things you abandoned.

you are super creative with your clothes! share a creative tip or
idea about a way people can remix/style their clothing in a fun or
innovative way.

This is a very general advice - but if you want to express yourself via your outfits, then you will need to turn inwards first. Ask yourself what is it that you want to express? Yourself, right, but be more specific - what kind of person are you, and what things about yourself do you want to communicate to others? After the inwards turn, you’ll be able to use outwards influences in a creative way, make them work for you and your style.

I think it’s always better to concentrate on the positive. Don’t disguise what you don’t like; emphasize what you do like. Be open. If I find myself hating something fashion related, I ask myself, geez, why? When did something positive come out of negative thinking? Forget it, or learn to love it

As I mentioned earlier, I like the idea of working with your own “don’ts”. If you think a colour doesn’t suit you, try it in a different colour combo, explore the different shades of that colour, or start with something small, like a belt or a necklace.

style icons: do you have any?

None that I can name. I don’t follow anyone’s style that consistently.

how did you come across wardrobe_remix? why do you post there? What do you like about it? has anything positive come about for you as a result of posting to the community?

I was googling for street fashion sites and came across wardrobe_remix. I started posting after just a few days of lurking, it seemed totally like my thing! I really love that there’s a community of likeminded people. wardrobe_remix is inspiring fashion-wise, but also gives food for thought. It’s a very friendly and positive group too. I certainly notice that I’ve gotten (yet) more confident about my style, and about my love for fashion in general; I’m now convinced that putting outfits together can be a very intellectual process indeed, and not just about vanity and things like that.

other favorite wardrobe_remix(ers)? who, and why?

I enjoy seeing a variety of styles, and also how people’s styles evolve in the course of time. I don’t want to single anyone out, there’s a ton of fabulously stylish people!

anything else you’d like to say?

After all it’s only fashion, even though I admittedly think about it a lot . It’s not to be taken too seriously.

thanks liisa-maria!

if you have any intelligent questions you’d like to hear wardrobe_remix(ers) expound upon or wardrobe_remix(ers) who you’d like to see revealed, feel free to send those suggestions my way! thanks!

i’ve recently come across two superb san francisco-based street fashion blogs, which prove that the city by the bay (the city i live in) has superb style:

hrm, strangely, i haven’t been scouring the ‘net much for fashion-y things of late. i guess my mind has been occupied by other things! probably better for my wallet that way! but, of course, there are a few little favorite finds i wouldn’t mind snatching up, of course, if money was no object…

i love these plywood, geometric brooches by british artist bethan laura wood:

i never thought of myself as much of a laura ashley fan (in the past i found her stuff sort of country-froofy), but some of the pieces from the newly-revealed laura ashley archive collection are rather lovely. so my mind has officially been changed:

i think what makes them appealing to me (besides the fact that they are made with organic cotton) is that they feature nice medium-scale prints and of the moment hues that would look amazing paired with bright colors (the ones i favor, dontcha know). for instance, i could see the brown dress over a turquoise tee, and the yellow one over a red tee (being busty i can’t wear a sundress/halter without a top underneath…big old granny bra straps are ugly as sin!). i stand by the notion that both would be mighty fine with chartreuse green heels. mmm.

dolce vita has been making some great shoe styles the past few years, that are on point and at a reasonable price range. this jazz-style shoe is nice; it has a girlishness roundness to it that veers away from the traditional jazz style shoe:

it’s funny, though…when i see these and ponder over their relatively conservative, old-fashioned sort-of feeling, i’m often reminded of what my parents used to say about similar shoes (though they were a tad more clunky back in the ye olde early 1990s) i tended wear in my teens: “why are you wearing those old lady shoes??!??” love you mom and dad, but i still stand by my unyielding love of the old lady shoes! you know what they say, you can take the girl out of her teens, but you can’t take the old lady shoes away from her. (or something like that.) ha.

about to go out to brunch with stephanie of anti-factory in/near the dogpatch. took a quick snap before i headed out the door…so ’scuse the funny angle (o’ my head).

speaking of heads, i went back to red (hair). i missed it. i think i jump back and forth every year. next time i’m going to go a bit more vivid with it, a la some of my old w_r photos.

-black enamel earrings: thrifted
-black cat pin: a.p.c. store in paris, france
-handpainted wooden pin with flowers: thrifted
-gray tee: american apparel
-chambray dress: buffalo exchange, williamsburg, brooklyn
-black acid wash jeans: UO
-black leather ballet flats: the gap (!!)

THE WARDROBE_REMIX(ER) BEING REVEALED:

name: Rhiannon
flickr handle: liebemarlene
age: 26
location: Chicago area, USA
website: http://www.myspace.com/liebemarlene (her eBay store’s Myspace page)

DEEP(ER) QUESTIONS:

what do you do for a living? or, if you are a student, what are you
studying?

Right now I’m working a 9-5 office job and selling vintage on Ebay on the side. But by September I’m planning to go full time with the vintage clothing business.

what are your passions/obsessions?

For the past 7 years my biggest obsession has been fashion. I almost failed out of college because I was always on Style.com when I was supposed to be studying and I think I read fashion magazines during class, because I really didn’t learn much of anything. Other than that I’m hooked on old movies and classic Hollywood.

what inspires you?

I’m inspired by old movies, different eras in fashion (right now it’s the ’60s and ’70s and the way teenagers dressed in the ’40s), magazines like Nylon and Lula and Another Magazine, and street style blogs (especially The Facehunter). The music I listen to inspires me, though I don’t necessarily have musician fashion icons. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of ’70s glam rock and i love the way that artists like David Bowie and Marc Bolan made their costumes such an important part of their stage performances and their personas as a whole.

how do you define “style”?

I think a person’s style has to do with not only how they dress but how they carry themselves, how they talk and the kinds of gestures they make–some of it comes naturally, but a lot of it comes through conscious planning.

how would you describe your personal style?

I’d say that in general my style tends to be colorful, fairly girly, a little eccentric and sometimes busy.

how does your background (personal history, passions, culture,
nationality, etc.) come through in the clothes you like and wear, if
at all?

I really wasn’t interested at all in fashion until I was in college and going to a small, fairly strict Christian school in Indiana. For me, dressing differently than the more conservative girls around me was my way of rebelling without getting kicked out of school. I’ve always been a little bit afraid of being like and looking like everybody else around me, so in college I probably made lots of fashion faux pas in order to shock–never anything inappropriate; just a lot of ’80s colors and neon high heels and bad haircuts.

choose one item in your closet that you feel completely expresses
your personal style and/or aesthetic. describe it. what is it and
why is it “you”?

Actually it would have to be a dress I bought only last weekend–a blue seersucker and lace sundress from the early ’60s, nipped in at the waist, with a full skirt ending above the knee. Lately I’ve been really into pretty dresses that are simple enough to be really accessorized.

do you collect anything? if so, what?

I collect vintage jewelry and scour flea markets and antique stores in search of quirky pieces from the ’30s and ’40s. Brightly colored Bakelite is my favorite–I would rather wear Bakelite than diamonds!

what are some of your favorite places to shop when you want to add
to your wardrobe? online? locally? anywhere in the world? why are
these places favorites of yours?

Just about all the clothes I wear are vintage, so I mostly shop at thrift stores and flea markets in the area and some vintage stores. If I’m looking for something specific I go to Ebay, but I find that if I go thrifting often enough I can usually come across what I’m searching for. Target is great for basics like tights and shirts for layering.

does your location (where you live) affect your style? if so, in
what ways? describe what your city is like in regard to fashion.

I live in a small farm town in the Midwest where fashion isn’t a priority to most people. But vintage is relatively easy to find here, and I’m definitely inspired by the rural landscape, all the old barns and white fading farmhouses . . . I think it’s beautiful! Since moving here from Minneapolis I’ve found that my style has really changed–I wear more skirts and dresses now, and a lot more vintage than I used to. I like the idea of the eccentric fashionista living isolated in the country, like little Edie Beale in Grey Gardens.

what do you think is next in terms of fashion? perhaps something
that is currently flying under the radar, but could be really cool an
popular later. or perhaps something amazing you’d like to see more
of that needs to come back or be the new thing?

Perms! Though tastefully done, of course. I would love to see really big hair make a comeback for women.

you are super creative with your clothes! share a creative tip or
idea about a way people can remix/style their clothing in a fun or
innovative way.

Well I love how back in the ’30s and ‘40 women were more creative about making their fairly small wardrobes go further, and would invest in quality pieces that they could wear for years and years, altering the appearance a bit when styles changed by hemming or taking out the hems of skirts or by switching detachable collars and cuffs. I wish that shoe clips were still made today! Mass-produced clothing today really isn’t made to last like that, but I try to keep my clothes as long as I can. Sometimes when I get bored of a particular piece I’ll make a quick alteration–adding colored buttons to a shirt or dying a dress can make a big difference.

style icons: do you have any?

Probably Iris Barrel Apfel, who I first read about in this blog [bitsandbobbins.com/journal]. Her personal style is completely her own–she follows fashion without being a slave to trends or without trying to please others. I love how she mixes expensive designer pieces with flea market finds and her own creations. Even though some of her outfits may seem a little far-fetched to most people, you can tell that each one makes perfect, logical sense to her.

how did you come across wardrobe_remix? why do you post there? What do you like about it? has anything positive come about for you as a result of posting to the community?

I learned about wardrobe_remix when I first started reading this blog over a year ago, but I didn’t start posting until this last fall. My favorite thing about the group is how nice and positive everyone is, and I love that there is a real emphasis on thrifted and refashioned clothing. Since I’ve joined I’ve met a lot of great people in the group and have had the chance to have some of my outfits featured in this blog [bitsandbobbins.com/journal] and N.E.E.T. magazine. I’ve also had a fashion designer write to me about doing some personal vintage shopping for her, which to me is just proof that people in the industry are looking to sites like wardrobe_remix for street style inspiration.

other favorite wardrobe_remix(ers)? who, and why?

There are so, so many inspirational people who post to wardrobe_remix, but some of my favorites are lebonbonmulticolore (she always looks like she just stepped off the pages of a good fashion magazine), bitsandbobbins [ed: heh, thanks!] (has such a knack for making thrifted pieces look very high-end), sjwhidden (always so fun!) and electrikb (so creative and innovative). There are so many new stylish people joining every week!

anything else you’d like to say?

My favorite Diana Vreeland quote, re: taking fashion risks and and the fashion mistakes that sometimes result from them: “A little bad taste is like a splash of paprika. We all need a splash of bad taste–it’s hearty, it’s healthy, it’s physical. I think we could use *more* of it. *No* taste is what I’m against.”

thanks rhiannon!

if you have any intelligent questions you’d like to hear wardrobe_remix(ers) expound upon or wardrobe_remix(ers) who you’d like to see revealed, feel free to send those suggestions my way! thanks!

one of my favorite things about the wardrobe_remix project has been “meeting” or becoming aware of intriguing, stylish individuals from all around the world.

when a person posts a photo to the wardrobe_remix community, we (meaning viewers/fans of the group) get a visual taste of someone’s personality, and of course, a sense of their personal style. but a picture doesn’t always tell the whole story, you know?

so, being the hyper-curious sort, i always have tons of questions when i look at these super awesome wardrobe_remix(ers). i want to know who they are and why they do what they do, and in turn, wear what they wear. i want to critically dig beneath the surface and the superficial aspects of a person’s personal aesthetic expression and get to the substance, perhaps even the science of it all.

why? well, clothing is not just clothing. i believe that it speaks volumes about who a person is: where they come from, what they love, what they value, their politics, their class…so very many things. there are a myriad of internal and cultural forces that compel us to express ourselves via our clothing and other adornments.

so in an effort to learn more about these superbly stylish wardrobe_remix(ers) and celebrate their amazing creative ensembles, i’m starting an ongoing feature on the bitsandbobbins.com blog called remix(ers)_revealed!

each week, i will be posting an enlightening interview with a few select wardrobe_remix community members, that will be illustrated with a small selection of the photos and looks that represent that individual and their phenomenal style.

stay tuned!

(p.s. i will (of course) be continuing the wardrobe_remix(ers) o’ the week posts as well.)

it just keeps getting better and better, people! what keeps getting better? wardrobe_remix, of course!

4300+ strong and growing. yup, we’ve pushed well past the 4000 mark. i’m still shocked at that. honestly, i’m always shocked at the numbers, which is why i gasp at it every week in this post! i still can’t believe people post over there, and that more join by the day. it’s pretty cool, to say the least.

but getting back to that first point, why does wardrobe_remix keep getting better? because YOU are a part of it. because you have confidence, and push limits, boundaries, taste-levels. because you’re creative and thoughtful! because you craft your own look, nay-sayers and trends be damned. because you take great photographs! because you are a compellingly fascinating person, and you live an interesting life…and that comes out in the way you mix up your clothes. *YOU* make it what it is. you “GET IT”.

there’s so much goodness this week. i present the evidence of such goodness here, for your weekly perusal:

La Meow Vintage:


danny.voicu:


Mavenhaven:


loveloveloveus:


Jaana-Mari:


verhext:

remember: you can click on the photo of any of these terrific wardrobe_remix(ers) to learn more about their photo or outfit, and explore their flickr photostream. all of the photos are owned by the awesome people who are depicted in them, of course!

join us over at wardrobe_remix and show off your awesome EVERYDAY trendbusting and trend-SETTING personal style!

spread the word!

and see you there!

two in-process projects: objects to beautify my home.

these blocks will be the beginnings of my first-ever quilt. i’ve been yearning to make one for years. patchwork is actually an old friend of mine, but i have never turned it into a quilt or something for my home, choosing instead to usually put it to use as clothing.

i am starting with a simple string/strip quilt, using old and new fabric from my scrap pile. some of the fabric was thrifted, or salvaged from thrifted clothes or linens, while others were left-over bits remaining after much of a piece of fabric was turned into clothes. there’s even a bit of hand-tie-dyed fabric (the orange slice on the bottom left) that i dyed myself many a year ago. i am loving how the fabric looks together, and how they form a chevron. something about it feels very beachy to me…it sort of reminds me of florida, where i lived for much of my life.

and my first ever afghan, of crocheted granny squares. i have a huge amount of bulky-weight lamb’s pride taking up room in my supply closet, so i figured i would put it to some use and make it into a blanket. each square will have a goldenrod colored final row, joining them all together. then i plan to felt the whole thing, so it will sort of muddle together some and be less fuzzy (the mohair is a bit nuts when it comes to shedding). it’s been fun playing around with the colors, to say the least.

other inspirations and obsessions of late:

-cherries
-mojitos
-pour-pourter and shiny squirrel (blogs following intelligent fashion design)
-granny square afghans (making one at the moment)
-medical texts
-cacti and succulents
-wearing skirts over skirts or dresses over skirts or dresses over dresses
-disparate patterns worn together
-folk wear
-doilies
-drop-waist dresses
-dyeing everything i own, buy or see
-denyse schmidt
-just about everything shown on apartment therapy
-living in a loft again
-sunshine
-recycling
-making new friends
-taking a silkscreening/screen-printing class starting saturday (something i have been meaning to learn for years). so excited!
-green tea for breakfast
-old boots
-craft in america

here comes another installment of …reviewed by me, for you, as yet another book has been added to my (severely clogged and nearly sagging) bookshelves!

the cheap date guide to style by kira jolliffe and bay garnett: i first read about this book in a blog entry written some time ago by miss susie bubble of style bubble.
of course, susie being far more eloquent than i could ever be, describes the book to a tee:

After I read through the whole thing in about an hour, I concluded that for me, the book would be better named ‘Style Affirmation.’ The book, far from adopting a ‘Do this, don’t do that’ methodology is about encouraging a unique personal style, cultivating eccentricities and really putting your own stamp on things.

in other words, this ain’t your typical style guide…it’s a completely different animal, one that celebrates realness, quirkiness, risk-taking, and being offbeat, if that’s your way. or really, whatever your way is, if it’s really *you*. it’s probably not for those people who need a lot of help trying to figure out who they are, but rather, a little mutual-admiration for those who already embrace the beat of their own style drummer and create their own look or looks.

the book has an imperfect, scrapbook-like, teen-magazine-in-the-80s-sort aesthetic, and is filled with loads of photographs that have a flash-lit, harsh, “i took them with my little old point-and-shoot film camera” style, i.e. the whole affair is not a high-fashion glamorously glossy and perfec production, and is thus approachable. it’s more grassroots, like an anti-fashion fashion magazine in the form of a book. inexplicably, in it’s realness, it takes on a magical chicness and honest glamour.

(fyi: bay (a british-born stylist) and kira are hard-core thrifters from way, way back, and together they penned a style zine called “cheap date“, which apparently focused heavily on secondhand shopping and gained a sizeable cult following. the book is a result of that zine’s success, from what i can garner.)

one of things about the book that really makes it for me are, as susie also mentions, are the quotes peppered throughout, from the authors, and from other style mavens. here some words from the book i quite like. in fact, they are sentiments i am forever beating to death in this blog and over at wardrobe_remix, ad nauseam:

“Stylishness is elusive, yet everyone is innately stylish. It boils down to confidence about your appearance. One things for sure: there’s no specific type of dressing that’s more stylish than another….style - to state the bleedin’ obvious - is in you. It’s not something you can buy.”

“For anything to be stylish, there has to be an honesty behind it.”

i love this quote by the recently deceased eccentric british stylist isabella blow:

“I think thinking is stylish. Looking is stylish. Culture is stylish. I think you need to be inspired by something in order to look good…I think style is about a person recognizing what their best features are.”

when asked what inspires him, karl lagerfeld said:

“Everything. Inspiration comes from having open eyes.”

and when anna piaggi was asked the same thing, she said:

“I take inspiration from myself.”

“Being stylish is a way to project whatever we like, to be who we want to be in our fantasies and to manipulate reality.”

“There are no rules…By listening to your own opinion, the possibilities are endless.”

“style affirmation”, indeed.
thanks, susie.