//Everybody is por somebody//

These days, everybody is por somebody.

Kicking off with Stella McCartney por Target, Versace por H&M is coming soon and so on. “Por”-ing for a brand is far better than just being “for” them. Some marketing girl decided this.

And now ... Josh Goot por Asos. Check it.

Always a fan of Goot – and a fellow countryman – I wanted badly to be on board with this affordable capsule collection for the online giant Asos.

Purchased this number [left] and waited patiently ...

So.
Freaking.
Upset.

The fabric was like tissue paper (not in the good way), the print was fuzzy (not in the good way). So I have to ask: Josh, Asos, why not spring for a higher quality jersey and pass the additional £30 on to me, the consumer? When we’re talking access to a designer who is otherwise inaccessible (+£400) do you really think consumers would refuse to pay the extra £30 to ensure that the fabric quality in some small way does justice to the design? Other collaborations have shown that “por” doesn’t have to be poor.

Returned it. Told them why on the form. Not expecting to hear back, but I hope there is an LED flashing on the control board somewhere at Asos HQ.

I rarely blog in anger (in fact, you may have noticed that I am rarely blogging at all of recent – sorry, lots on, back online properly soon), but this was such a lost opportunity. Por shame, Asos. Por shame, Josh.

FIG to your heart's content ... online

Regular readers (Hi Dad!) will remember my adventure at the Fashion Illustration Gallery. Well, FIG just launched their online platform. 

FIG for everyone!

Tanya Ling: Louis Vuitton Bunny Ears: 2010

57 PROTAGONISTS

57 PROTAGONISTS 

02|06|11 - 11|06|11 

Central Saint Martins Second year Illustration show

SW1 Gallery, 12 Cardinal Walk, roof garden level, Cardinal Place, Victoria, SW1E 5JE

//Reverse dye//

Yes, still on a dying spree.

It occurred to me that perhaps I could look at the dying process from the other end ... perhaps I could R E V E R S E dye?

Grabbing a faithful black cotton-blend midi dress (mink pink) that had seen better days, I used synthetic string to truss the old girl up as if I were about to tie-dye her. It's important to fold the fabric like a concertina [otherwise you will get two big clumps of colour on either side and nothing in the middle] then tie the string in crossing loops as tight as possible. Then -- and this is the good bit -- I submerged the dress in a mix of 2-parts laundry bleach to 1-part water for a few hours.

Now, I know: bleaching can be risky. But, if you have something dark [black, as here, but a chocolate brown, forest green or navy would also work] that has need of radical revamp or will shortly head to the charity shop then why not give it a shot? As the pics below illustrate, you'll never get a bright white in the bleached sections -- from black, I'd describe the bleaches sections as very mikly coffee coloured. Of course, this is for natural fabrics (cotton, silk); the higher the synthetic content the poorer the result.

I was tres pleased with the results, and it's given me something appropriate to wear with last summer's clogs.

xo Linds.

//Spring greens//

In 2009 I purchased a cream flamenca-style shell top to wear to a friend's [lovely, joyous] wedding, and the top performed its duties on the day admirably. But … what next? Sartorial exile in clear-walled prison of a dry-cleaning bag? The bin? Or … rehabilitation?

My cream flamenca-style shell top had spent almost 2 years Anne Frank-ing it under my bed when I extracted it to prove that the rehabilitation of wedding guest wear is possible; that you can have fun with a one-off look and later massage it into an item with wider application. Or, at the very least, you can try.

The job was a two-part-er:

//Task 1: De-ruffle-ification// Having carefully unpicked the stitches anchoring the parasitic ruffle to its host shell, a few hand-sewn stitches were all that was need to give it a polished finish. What struck me working with this gorgeous silk shell (I wish you could touch it, dear reader), was the fabric's ability to "heal" itself; punctures in the fabric closed up hours after the violent stitch is removed, and by the end of dying process they were completely gone.

//Task 2: Re-colour-ification// On a roll after my Coat Therapy post, I dipped back into the Dylon collection and, taking inspiration from the season unfolding around me, selected a dye called Rainforest Green.

I couldn't be happier with the result. It's got pop and wearability and the rebirth of this gem is what Spring is all about.

xo Linds.

[nude belt, asos]

... the original ...