Identity

I have officially come across the most depressing quote ever:

"If you are not in fashion, you are nobody." Lord Chesterfield

This means that my identity is linked to (a) being fashionable and (b) what others think of me.
That is so sad, especially as you get older. Yes, ther are always some older people that stay on top of fashion and dress stylishly, but for most, there is not a lot that they like or can wear. I have reached that point in my life, where everything I see in the shops is either boring or there just is nothing I like. Often things also don't fit me any more.

So, the older we get, the more we bocome nobodies and fade away from a society seriously obsessed with "the new". We should celebrate age like real milestones, like we do for children as they grow up. Treat age as a rite of passage, instead of casting the elderly to the side. We are commanded by God to care for the elderly and if the Pharisees were reprimanded for they treatment of their parents (read MArk 7:8-13), then what about us?

My identity is NEVER liked to something as transient as people's opinion or fashion. It is linked to what God thinks of me and how much I have grabbed hold of that. It is linked to contentment with who I have become and who I want to be.

Lies the Runway tells us

It's been a while since I posted. Been kinda busy with wedding dresses, marking and the like.

Today I want to show some lies from the runway, relating to clothes, cuts and patternmakign issues, but also the way the fabric will mould ot a body.
As a patternmaker, I know that there are things that look fantastic on paper, but once the fabic / garment is put on a moving body, there are things that can be done, and things that cannot be done.

Let's look at some examples:
Open backs - there are two things that happen when a back is cut below the bra line. ONE, there is gaping towards the curve of the spine that will show up, no matter how hard one tries to make the fabric lie against the body.
Here is a stunning example from Julien Macdonald, where it is very clear that double-sided tape was used to give the illusion that the fabric is lying snugly and flat agaisnt the body. (click on picture to enlarge)

SECOND, there is nothing that holds the fabric over the shoulders from slipping off, especially if there is a sleeve. This example from Elie Saab shows the gaping again, but also the shoulder seam teetering on the verge of falling off.

Next example, when designing a low front, the same gaping happens around the curve of the bust, and some extra help is needed to shape the fabric around the curve, as can be seen in this example of a lacy number, that clearly has had to have some help either with double-sided tape or with Photoshop.

Onother problem my students always encouter is when a corset is done without a back or with a very low back, that the corset will stay stiff, but the body moves, and thus sometimes extra help is needed when walking down the runway, like strategically placed hands, that make the corset move with the body, or even sometimes just keeping the dress up, like in this example:

All in all, these are minor things, but very frustrating when trying to explain that what is put on paper does not alwyas relate into reality the way we envision.

If, then, we are lied to on the runway in this way, you kinda wonder what else the industry is not telling us. Let me not even get started on body image... The problem is not necessarily that there are some things that cannot be done without some external help to make the item wearable, but the fact that these things are needed at all, rendering the garment completely impractical for normal, daily use. This is probably why these problems only are evident in evening wear.

There is only one Designer, then,who can get what he designed EXACTLY right, with no additional help to keep things in place. In His designs every piece is placed exatly right and what he put down on paper, fits into and onto the world exactly like He planned. As you probably can imagine, that designer is God Almighty and He does not need any help in designing. I mean, if you think about it, He SPOKE the world into existance, He did not even need a piece of paper to plan it all out....He did not need a "prototype" world to test out His ideas and no "back to the drawing board" for Him. He never encountered any problems with anything He ever designed, and even Jesus' death all fits perfectly into the plan. He never lies to us and His word is for daily use and utterly, utterly practical.

The greatest critic of ourselves

That would be us. We criticise ourselves more than any other person. In light of how beautiful God has created us to be, here is a little bit of truth from Dove (no, they did not pay me to say this). I found this video online.

So, in order to celebrate the beautiful person you are,

Impossibilities and Possibilities

No matter how hard I try, I will probably never be able to do this (my back will not bend that far)

  or this

  or this

 or this for that matter (Maybe 25 years ago, yes. But definitley not now)

or ever look like this.

BUT I know that I am able to do immesurably more than the average-average human being and that I am immensly blessed in the life I live.

What I can do, is this (plus the trumpet and the recorder)

this (tatting)

this (knitting)

 this (sewing)

and restoring my old dresser to this

and a few more (go here)

I love working with my hands and although at times I don't FEEL like it, I still enjoy it when I do. I know that my talents have been nurtured by my mother who single-handedly renovated two flats, and an entire house, who was always busy sewing and knitting and crocheting and cooking and baking and ensuring that we (my brother and I) were taught skills that were beyond what schools taught. (I know my brother can knit and crochet, weld and repair electronic equipment, do carpentry and programme a computer). It ultimately is not in the skills you posess, but in HOW you use them that matters. How serious you take those gifts and whether you try to better yourself in doing these things.

Yes, our parents matter as do our teachers, but what we do with those skills we are taught is up to us.

If God has gifted you in any way, use the gifts. Don't wait until they are perfect, but practise them, because only practise will ensure that you become good at things. The 10 000 hour rule applies in all instances - it takes 10 000 hours to become an expert in anything. The earlier you start, the better you become. Even if you never are paid for the talents you have, it is the use of them that matters, not the reward.

Awesome!!

Found this amazing article on Christian music. If you haven't heard, TobyMac is on number 1 on iTunes and in the top 200 on the Billboards. WOW what a witness!

It makes my heart sing, and also shows that people are tired of hearing the mainstream stuff (well, up to a point).

Technology fatigue

We all suffer from it, right?

We comment on facebook, retweet tweets, pin like crazy on Pintrest, Instaram, use our phones to receive emails, catch up even on the weather and the news. The latest gadgets are advertised and off we rush to get into the latest craze.

George Orwell's book "1984" is nothing compared to how we watch each other, we do not need a "Big Brother" to do it for us. We monitor the ones we like (and dislike at times), we seek their approvals and measure it by the amount of comments and likes on whatever status update / post / link we have put out there. Often this also comes with deep hurt if we are critisised ever so slightly for what we believe in and stand up for.

Media is all around us and unfortunately shapes our view of ourselves, in addition to shaping our view of the world, since we do not know how to think for ourselves any longer. The thinking is done for us in more ways than one. Pity, since we have been given a brain to test theories, test arguments for truth and validity, yet we hardly engage our brains.

With all this technology and fear of missing out, comes a busier and busier lifestyle than ever before. We deceive ourselves if we think that technology makes our lives easier or even gives us more time to things. The fact is rather, that every spare moment is spent catching up on the latest tweets and what our "friends" are up to. In the process we forget how to breathe and seek for peace which we so desparately ae longing for.

Needless to say, the faster technology becomes, the faster we live our lives. Thus we "live" for the weekends and holidays like these:

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In some cases we even live for the next adventure, chasing down the next adrenalin rush, thinking it relaxing - haha

So, what is the solution to all this? Well, peace cannot be found in this upsidedown world without some spiritual context. However, the only spiritual context that will bring true peace, is found in the Bible - seriously! There is no way to attain peace in meditation if you do not know WHAT to meditate on. There is no peace in nature if we cannot look at it through God's eyes. There is no peace in the fast pace of life if we don't stop for a while to think about what really matters.

God created us for peace - to live in it and to show it to others. Let's find peace in this crazy world by praising Him and worshipping Him and in the process extending soem of that peace to others.

On: selling out to corporate sponsorship

This post is a bit of a venting (sorry it also contains a lot of links)

On Saturday I had the priviledge of seeing Switchfoot live in Cape Town!!

(sorry, pic stolen off their website)

What an experience. I LOVE the band, LOVE the songs, LOVED the performance, even LOVE the (now not so) new album. There is, however just one thing that really bothers me, and here it is:

As a Christian band, selling out to corporate sponsoship (they are sponsored by Hurley - see this link and scroll down to "donate" or even go to the tab "bro-am") will have an effect on what you can and cannot say at concerts, in your music etc. Lyrics like "Restless" clearly show that there is a tension between what they can say and what they want to say. Because the "you" they sing about could really be anyone, not necessarily God or Jesus. Compare this to one of their earlier songs "I turn everything over" or even "Something More (Augustine Confession)" where thier faith is expressed a lot stronger. Even on their album before this, for which they won the Best Rock Gospel Album Grammy, there is already that sense creeping in, except perhaps in a song like "Hello Hurricane".

The other thing was that I was missing at the concert was a true sense that it was a Christian band. The opening act was more explicit. They at least sang about Jesus and they were pretty good too. Pity they did not have back-up singers or second voices.

I am not saying that every song should contain words like Jesus, Christ, being saved and the like, but I want to know that faith and Christian living has not been compromised. I do read whom the bands thank (always) and I expect there to be something about God in there, because cleary they have not done this on their own or achieved any of it by their own strength.

I'm also not saying that I will stop listening to them, because I really like thier style and can interpret their songs from a  Christian perspective.

It is just sad to see that money is drawing us away from what we believe and the more we sell out to it the more peole will notice. I am so grateful to other bands like Reliant K and artists like TobyMac who, although they are doing well have not compromised on the Gospel message. In every song, in every interview you will hear it. I appreciate that more than compromising and being more subtle in lyrics. We need to ge the message out there that there is ONE Lord and there is only ONE way to Him. That way cannot be found in corporate sponsorship and money.

Other witnessing

What a tesimony this is.... "You cannot sell your face"

An article I read

A friend sent me this article.
Their range lookd fantastic and I am sure that this could be the answer to my extreme sense of being exposed when I go swimming in the sea. However, in a swimming pool? I'm not so sure.

What a witness!

Just thought you would like to read about a supermodel (!) who took a stand. I like it that she feels that her body belongs to her husband.

Go to the link here.

Embroidery - or Paint-by-numbers with thread

Lately I have appreciated the art of embroidery. It is one of my many "needlework" related hobbies, but I have always followed a pattern designed by others. For example this number (from a while back)

The pattern IS from a magazine, so there will be copyrights....

That being said, in essence, an embroidery, whether cross-stitch or tent-stitch (petit-point) or more elaborate stitches, are really Paint-by-numbers as can be seen in this picture (since all threads come coded with a number DMC 7402 for example):

Although both examples are fairly recent, embroidery has a long history, that according to some websites dates back to the Iron Age. I am more intruiged by the use of embroidery in the Bible, where gold-thread was used for the robes of Kings. I wish I could see an example of this type, just simply because embroidery is so fragile and does not usually last. I can find only historic military uniforms embroidered with gold thread that would give me an idea of what it looked like.

The veil in the temple also was embroidered with blue, purple and scarlet (all very expensive colours - as blogged about previously under the series of All the Colours of the Rainbow). How fitting that no expense was spared for God's temple.

But jsut like an embroidery takes shape, so our lives are taking shape as God forms and transforms it. Often the analogy is that our lives are a tapestry that we see from the back, where things seem quite messy. But, when we are with Him in heaven, we can see the beautiful picture that He has created from the mess of this world. An example - the same embroidery (tapestry) seen from the back and then from the front.

This shows, that no matter how messy our lives get, He can create a beautiful picture.

An apology

My dearest readers (and followers, and searchers)
My humble apologies for not updating for such a long time (well, in the blog-sphere at least). I was busy with writing a Masters Thesis and that does take quite a bit of time.
New post to be up by the end of the week (promise)

A Right Royal Wedding

Everyone is talking about it. The date is almost here, and just like in the 80's, every woman is going to be glued to a television screen to watch Kate walk down the aisle. Discussions are going to be held about the dress, the shoes, the accessories, the veil, the kiss and somewhere Prince William is also going to get a mention.

Let's backtrack a bit. Royals used to be the trensetters, so much so that peasants were not allowed to wear certain items or fabrics or styles. The most famous princess of the 20th century was Princess Diana. She carried herself with poise, grace an feminity that caught the attention of the world. She set a trend for cerise pink and red to be worn together. And who still remembers her "black sheep" jumper? But most importantly, her evening wear set trends for many a prom dress (matric-ball) and many a bridesmaid and bride found herself dressed in puff-sleeves and bows. Althought the Brittish royals are in the media, they have not managed to set the trends since Lady Diana.

If we go back to the beginnings of kingship, it becomes clear that what we see as Kingdoms today are nothing more than one in name, not one in power. A King was considered to be the most powerful person in a country and got to rule often by taking over territories from others. Waging war was part and parcel of their lives. In exchange for protecting their subjects and gaining land for them, they were obligated to provide him with produce of the country. Yes, admittently, this was also often abused and either the subjects rebelled or someone within the king's household usurped the throne by assassinating the king.

Because Kings were honoured by other kings, queens and rulers, they amassed treasured beyond imagination. These included clothing, spices, gold, silver, pearls and precious stones. The clothing was of the finest linen, with gold thread woven into the fabric or dyed with purple (indigo). Marriages were entered into to seal a deal with a rival or ally. Certainly seldom were they for love. What a different picture we see in the upcoming wedding.

So, what does this have to do with this blog. Many of you will already know where I am heading, so here goes.....

If we, as Christians are considered royalty, what trends are we supposed to set, and what do our weddings look like? Are we focussed on worldy rends or do we advocate something else? Are our weddings about brides, dresses and food or are they about something bigger?

Please understand me correctly. I am not saying that we cannot buy luxurious clothing or splurge on certain items from time to time. It depends obviously on your stewadship and what motivation you have in spending lots of money. Is the motivation to be different, to be sexy, to be attractive or are there other reasons? Are we drawn by the advertising of a particular brand? Ultimately we need to ask ourselves if these things affect our relationship with Jesus and whether we are still behaving like a royal family.

Weddings are supposed to be about the union between a man and a woman, who make a promise before God to live a certain way. Yes, there is a dress, there's a bride and of course there is a celebration, but these are not the most important. We celebrate these things, because they point to another relationship and an upcoming wedding which will outshine the one in April a millionfold. We will be the bride and HE the bridegroom and there will be a dress of white, fine linen and there will be a celebration so magnificent that we cannot imagine it right now.

Lyrics in line with this blog

Thanks to Barlowgirl for addressing this issue:

Clothes
Clothes aren't what they used to be
They don't seem to fit you and me anymore
Modesty is the door
Flaunting what we've got and more is in
Yeah it's in

They're saying
Don't ask why just wear what we say
You'll look like a model if you'll only obey
To get the attention, just do what we say

Pay so much for clothes so small
Was that shirt made for me or my doll?
Is this all I get?
I looked so hot but caught a cold
I was doing just what I was told
To fit in

We're saying let's ask why
Don't wear what they say
Don't want to be a model
They can't eat anyway
That kind of attention will fade with the day

Clothes that fit are fine
Won't show whats mine
Don't change my mind
I'll be fine

taken from http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/barlowgirl-lyrics/clothes-lyrics.html

The Princess Print

This is probably the only print I would buy for a little girl. I find this so appropriate  for every Christian woman. We are daughters of the KING of the Universe and thus are princesses. Do we behave like royalty?

Updates

No, none yet. I have been busy getting my Masters Proposal together and my head is filled with "Multimodal Literacy" and "Semiotic Chains" and some such things. If these terms do not make sense, don't worry, it's all about meaning-making. Actually the translation process from design to finish garment in the three major subjects in a Diploma in Fashion.

That being said, more God-related fashion-y stuff will follow soon. I have not run out of ideas yet. I am just not sure which direction to go - sub-cultures or accessories or current trends. Leave a comment and I will take it from there.

Accessories

Here is a brilliant alternative to the charm bracelet and standing up for purity in the process. Again, the story is taken from "Brining up Girls" by Dr James Dobson (2010) (for the purpose of this blog, I just want to paraphrase and not retell the entire story. Buy the book to read it. I found it to be the most touching part.) I know I did not write down the reference, for the original story, but the book was a gift for someone else, and although I read it, I do no longer have it :)


So, here is the story:

On her 16th birthday the woman, who tells the story, was taken by her parents to her favourite restaurant to officiate an agreement between her and them to being able to finally date. The agreement was that she could date any guy she wanted, and being a child of God had to agree to keeping pure in the following way:

Her dad handed over a charm braclet: Gemstone after gemstone was revealed on a silver bracelet. There were 6 gems, each diferent interspersed with 6 smaller ones in between (sapphires). The six different ones were 1) a piece of polished granite, 2) pink quarz, 3) an emerald, 4) a pearl, 5) a ruby and 6) a diamond.

All gems were symbolic: the six sapphires were there to remind her how beautiful and valuable she is to God and her parents. The granite was for the first time a guy held her hand, the quarz for her first kiss, the emerald for her first boyfriend, the pearl for the first time she said "I love you" to a guy other than her dad, the ruby for her first engagement and the diamond for the first time she will say "I do".

The deal, however was becomming more complicated. She had to remove the gem and hand it to the guy who held her had, kissed her, etc etc. She was feeling valued beyond belief, but I think her parents were very intelligent, because if she could not find it in her heart to hand over the gem, she could not give away the things they represented. She learned this lesson very fast - as quick as a few weeks later when I guy wanted to hold her hand and she could not see herself part with a piece of granite. Needless to say, she met a guy who admired her bracelet and never tried to do anything but ask her to marry him and on her wedding day she handed over the entire bracelet to him. Now her daughter is wearing it.....

Lets think about that a while - I'm not advocating we should spend the amount of money that her dad spent on her, but every cent was worth it, in the end. I do think, however if you want to make this a tradition, the stones need to be expensive and not just pieces of glass because it needs to hurt when you give the gem away.

The other alternative is a Salvation bracelet, that can also be decked out with various gems.

The colours are symbolic and represent the story of salvation (a very good talking point if people should ask)
Black: Sin, which separates us from God
Red: The blood of Christ, when He died for us.
Blue: Baptism - when we receive Christ and show our faith
Green: Our spirit grows in love for Him
White: We are made pure through forgiveness
Gold: Heaven, where the streets are paved with gold.

Modesty Part 3 (an Apology)

Apologies and corrections....

I have written previously about Pure Fashion, without actually knowing the real story behind it. I think I was quite critical of some of the outfits shown, but when I read the real reason behind Pure Fashion, I need to apologise and write it here.

I have taken this excerpt from Dr James Dobson's book "Bringing up Girls" (2010) - from the article "Standing Up to 'Girls gone Wild' Culture " by Michelle Malkin, as quoted by him:

First, let me tell you about my new hero. Her name is Ella Gunderson, and she's a student at Holy Family Parish School in Kirkland, Washington. As reported in the Seattle Times a few months ago, Ella recently wrote a remarkable letter to the Nordstom's department store chain.
"Dear Nordstrom," she began. "I'm an 11-year-old girl who has tried shopping at your store for clothes, in particular jeans, but all of them ride way under my hips, and the next size up is too big and falls down. They're also way too tight, and as I get older, show everything every time I move. I see all of these girls who walk around with pants that show their belly button and underwear. Even at my age I know that that is not modest. With a pair of clothes from your store, I'd walk around showing half of my body and not fully dressed... Your clerk suggested there is only one look. If that is true then girls are supposed to walk around half naked. I think maybe you should change that."

All it took was one little girl to speak her mind about the excesses of our "Girls Gone Wild" culture. And guess what? The market, in a small way responded. Nordstrom executives wrote back and pledged to young Ella Gunderson that they would broaden the clothes for girls. "Your letter really got my attention," wrote Kris Allan, manager of the local Nordstrom's where Ella shopped. "I think you are absolutely right. This look is not particularly a modest one and there should be choices for everyone."...

Here's the best part. She and her friends didn't wait around for Nordstrom's (sic) to change its inventory. With help from the mom and 37 of her classmates, Ella organised a fashion show to model decent clothes for girls aged 10 to 16. The sold-out show, called "Pure Fashion", drew a crowd of 250; two other clothing stores donated modest clothes; the girls got a standing ovation; and the event raised money for the Catholic Challenge Club network, which encourages young girls to stand up for their faith and their values in an increasingly secular and hostile world.

Well done!! I may have been too critical and judgmental and salute the effort of this courageous 11 (probably 13 year-old) to stand up for her faith and challenge the status quo of the fashion industry that prescribes what girls should wear.

Indigo

I have written about indigo before .... mentioning that it was produced from a marine snail, but at the same time indigo can also be obtained from the indigo plant. The entry on Wikipedia has quite a bit of information. it is a purplish-blue colour and usually quite expensive when manufactured from one of the two organic sources.

I'm more interested in the use in fashionable garb. The most fascinating use is for the traditional garments worn by the "Blue men of the desert".

Picture from: "Colors of Africa" by Duncan Clarke

The indigo in their clothing is not dyed in the usual way, since water is scarce. Therefore the indigo is pounded into the fabric, instead of boiled, giving the fabric a beautiful sheen (as seen in the picture above), but as the garment is worn, the dye rubs off onto the skin as can be seen in the pictures below. Because indigo is an expensive dye, it has become a status symbol amongst the Tuareg; the bluer the skin, the richer the wearer. The Tuareg have  always fascinated me and only after visiting quite a few sites did I come across the fact that the Tuareg use the indigo plant to dye their clothes.

Other African tribes use indigo for items like the one below.

 Indigo resist dye, hand-spun cotton; Dyula peoples, Bobo-Dioulasso region, Burkina Faso, 1990's
Taken from "The Art of African Textiles" by Duncan Clarke

All other pictures taken from this website

The most famous piece of indigo clothing we know, is denim (on which I will have to do another post).
Denim has been warp dyed, meaning that only the warp threads (the ones that run length-wise) have been dyed with the blue. Since the end of the 19th century synthetic dyes have replaced organic indigo, and linked mostly with practical fabrics and work clothes. Further information can be found here...

In the Bible, indigo is not mentioned by name, but whenever the cloth is dyed "purple" or blue, probably indigo was used. You can see that there are quite a number of references and each of them is found in relation to Kings, wealth or at least denoting some indication that the cloth was expensive. I have mentioned before that the "Proverbs 31 woman" is a trader in purple cloth, i.e. she is so rich that she can support her family so that they lack nothing.

As part of the rainbow, it is one of those colours that appear, but that people cannot usually distinguish from purple, or even see on the colour chart, because we divide the chart into three and then further into 6 (and not 7). Indigo sits between the blue and the purple on the colour chart and as such, is a beautiful colour, if you look at the reference in Wikipedia.

There is not much more to say.... happy browsing through the websites

Modesty Part 2

In the last few days I have come across a really good blog that shows some sewing skills and draping skills. The lady who blogs uses vintage design (mostly from the 50's) for all the outfits she sews.

Her post on a recent project seems to have sparked a lot of interest in a discussion / commenting of modesty in general. So, her post on modesty is seen from a feminist point of view and does not take into account that the survey she slates are not commands, but statements that men / boys reacted to. I think the most revealing results are the open questions that the boys / men answered which show the actual heart of Christian men and their struggles.

The one criticism that came through strongly on the sewing blog comment section,  was that women were not asked the same questions as well as questions about men's attire. I think that is a valid point, but when we think about it, women will dress modestly if men don't accept immodesty as a standard and vice versa.

What I read recently in Dr James Dobson's book "Bringing up Girls" is that girls think they are in control when they get the attention of the boys and then sleep with them, because they feel loved. However, the cycle continues if this happens more than once and the more it happens, the less loved the girl feels. The reason for this is, the boys get what they want without commitment and girls get nothing except pain. Dr Dobson makes the point that this is the worst form of male power, even though girls think that they actually are empowered.

Gertie confuses modesty with morality and religious superiority. This is something even Christians do. We can come across as being more spiritual, more moral or even show our superiority by the way we act, but in essence that is not the main point. Gertie argues that modesty is linked to religion and culture and she is correct, but at the end of the day, the question remains: Are we more moral when we can dress the way we want and even go without or entice men's minds to lust after us? Is modesty only one-sided and placed as an oppression on women? I have addressed this issue before.

I think Gertie misses the point of modesty in general - it's not only women who need to dress modestly to protect the visual minds of men, but also men need to dress modestly to curb the imaginations of their female friends. It goes both ways and mutual respect is at the heart of it - "love your neighbour as yourself" and "treat every older woman as if she were your mother and every younger woman as if she were your sister". No wonder that Gertie finds the underlying ideas disturbing, partly I think because they are religious in nature and partly because only men took part in the survey. I think her last point:

[...] that doesn't give any of us the right to demean other women for choosing to show more skin. And, above all, we deserve respectful treatment from men no matter how we're dressed.

 is on judgmental attitudes in all of us. As Christians we need to be really careful of that no matter whether it is on dress styles or on beliefs or on lifestyles.