Last winter I embarked on a No New Clothes Initiative in which I didn't buy any new clothes for six months, instead only buying thrifted or otherwise repurposed or recycled clothes. After that project ended, I allowed myself to buy some new clothes (buying mostly basics--jeans, tank tops, tights--and a couple of splurge items) over the summer.
Now, though, I'm ready to take on the No New Clothes Initiative again, this time with an additional rule: no ebay.
The project has already unofficially begun, so I'm going to count the start date as September 27th, just like last year, so that the end date can be my birthday, March 27th.
I do this in part to save money, in part to diminish my environmental impact, and in part because I simply like the challenge. I'm looking forward to this. Part of my love of fashion, after all, is wrapped up in the thrill of finding the perfect item in the midst of all the not-perfect stuff at the thrift store and in the excitement of discovering something wonderful I'd never dreamed of. For me, those joys can't be matched by buying new, mass-produced clothing.
[All outfits featured in this post are fully thrifted.]
I've just listed the first of several vintage pins/brooches for sale over at my etsy shop. I really actually like all of them a lot, but I have quite a few pins already and I just don't wear pins that often, so it feels like to keep these would be a waste of great vintage jewelry.
Of course, I've also posted several vintage aprons, skirts, and skirt suits so far. Keep checking for new stuff!
I've been following the election coverage here in the U.S. closely lately, especially the coverage of Sarah Palin, John McCain's vice presidential running mate. His choice of her as his running mate is fascinating (and horrifying), not just from a broad political perspective, but from a feminist perspective.
The most recent twist in the ongoing Sarah Palin saga is one I want to comment on. As reported by several feminist blogs that I follow--including Feministing, Shakesville, and Feminist Philosophers--CNN's Campbell Brown has called for the McCain campaign to loosen the reins on Sarah Palin, to allow her to speak to the press, and to treat her like an equal rather than like " a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment."
Brown says,
Let her have a real news conference with real questions. By treating Sarah Palin different from the other candidates in this race, you are not showing her the respect she deserves. Free Sarah Palin. Free her from the chauvinistic chains you are binding her with. Sexism in this campaign must come to an end. Sarah Palin has just as much a right to be a real candidate in this race as the men do. So let her act like one.
I am pleased with this on two counts. First, as a feminist, I want to see Palin treated fairly and treated as a potentially qualified candidate for the job of vice president, just as a male candidate would be treated. Second, however, as a Democrat and someone who hopes that McCain and Palin are not elected, I cannot but hope that if she is given a fair shake we will all see how unprepared she is to be the vice-president of the country--not because she is a woman but because she is the wrong woman. No, she is the wrong person.
However, I would amend Campbell Brown's statement in one major respect.
It is not just that Sarah Palin "has a right to be a real candidate in this race" but that she has an obligation to be a real candidate in this race.
being a public feminist can still be hard, and colluding with antifeminist men who will reward you handsomely for it can still be extremely attractive to any woman, no less an ambitious one whose objectives will be much more easily realized if she doesn't insist on being treated like an equal.
It's obvious why Palin chooses to play this role; it still sucks nonetheless. And it chaps my hide but good that she would happily betray the feminist women who are out here doing the dirty work to ensure that her daughters will be adults in a world that much better than the one we've now got.
Palin calls herself a feminist—but if she were an actual feminist, she would insist on taking up the same gauntlet as would be expected of any man in her position.
This is an important point. Palin, in her eagerness to let McCain & Co. treat her this way is proving herself to be, at the very least, nonfeminist, and, perhaps more accurately, anti-feminist.
But she doesn't just owe other women her presence as a real candidate in the race; she owes the nation her presence as a real candidate in the race so that all of us can make an informed decision about who we are voting (or not voting) for. To wind up in the White House--"one heartbeat away from the presidency," as people like to say--without having made an appearance as a real candidate before the nation is not only anti-feminist because of what it says about the treatment of women in the campaign; it is also anti-democratic.
For those of you who may not know, I'm studying for my Ph.D. comprehensive exams in English. One of my exams will be in feminist theory, so not only am I reading lots and lots of feminist theory right now (particularly focused on contemporary feminist theories of the body and associated science studies) but I am also always looking for ways in which my feminist theory reading can be made relevant to other parts of my life.
Like fashion.
I'll be writing more soon about my personal relation to both fashion and feminism as well as about the connections between fashion and feminism more generally in the future, but for now, here's a short but fascinating tidbit from today's reading.
This afternoon I was reading Sandra Harding's The Science Question in Feminism and came across this description of the way gender roles have been constructed and perceived through clothing:
Lillian Faderman writes that what to modern eyes would be regarded as relatively amateurish efforts at cross-dressing, at transvestism, were rarely detected prior to the popularization of Freudian theories and androgynous clothing styles. Dress was taken as a clear indicator of sex: "If a woman craved freedom in a pre-unisex fashion era, when people believed that one's garments unquestionably told one's sex and there was no need to scrutinize facial features and muscle structure to discern gender, she might attempt to pass as a man."
In other words, before the lines between mens' and womens' clothes were blurred even as much as they are now, people identified the gender of others in passing not by making constant judgments of their hairstyles, body types, level of makeup, or bone structure but by simply looking at their clothes. Dress? Woman. Pants? Man. Simple.
This is a great reminder of the fact that what seems natural to most of us now (e.g., the assumed ability and necessity to immediately judge someone's sex or gender by their physical attributes) is not at all natural. Sex and gender have in the past not been defined so clearly as absolute elements of one's individual identity but instead (at least in part) as an assumed costume or role.
What would our world be like if we still read gender in this way?
As of this evening, my etsy shop is up and running. I listed four vintage skirts tonight and will list more tomorrow throughout the day to get the shop started. Then over the next few weeks I should be adding a couple of new items per week at least until I've got my current collection all listed, at which point new listings will depend on how often I find stuff worth listing.
Welcome to my new blog (better than the old blog): Squirlaraptor!
As I explain in the final post of my old blog, Fashion Explorations, I was just done with the narrow focus of that blog and wanted to be able to write about a wider variety of topics. So instead of trying to turn Fashion Explorations into something it was never meant to be, I figured I'd just get a fresh start with a new address and a new name.
And what about that name? Squirlaraptor is a word I made up as a nickname for my kitty, Sophie. She is a little bit squirrelly in coloring and she has a mean raptor-style kick with her back legs. So: Squirlaraptor.
When I decided I wanted a new blog and a name for an etsy store I'm developing, something more inventive than my usual handle (cmt2779), I couldn't think of anything better. Ultimately, it really does describe some key elements of who I am. I don't think I look squirrelly, but I do have a curious nature and a tendency to hoard. And I don't think I'm particularly mean (and I haven't tested my kicking skills lately), but I can be fierce and I have a real love of the hunt. Well, I love the hunt for awesome clothes and new ideas, anyway. (Since I'm a vegetarian and am concerned about issues of environmentalism and animal rights, I don't so much love the kind of hunting that involves guns and death.)
So this is just to say hello. I hope that if you're reading this post today you will come back for more later and that you will check out my new etsy shop, too, as I get it started over the next few days.
I am a teacher, grad student, writer, voracious reader, photographer, singer, feminist, and thriftstore fashionista. In no particular order.
I am Squirlaraptor. This name was originally created for my kitty to reflect her squirrel-like fur and her raptor attack skills and has recently been adopted by me to reflect my own curious nature and tendency to hoard as well as my (sometime) fierceness and my love of the hunt (at least, in terms of shopping and research--not so much in terms of killing and maiming, vegetarian that I am).
