by mackenzie marchy
Are we losing our personal expression to design that is prepackaged and sold by the room? Who needs to experiment with their own taste when there are aisles of Kinda-Famous Designer Guy’s taste calling your name at the local Superstore? Oh, and it’s all in the ad this week. That’s right, 15% off and right across from the paper towels. On sale and convenience to boot! In a busy, work-centered life, it can be hard to foster our sometimes neglected creative side. The ease of shopping for style by the room or catalog spread has perhaps made us lose touch with, and lose confidence in, our own personal style. We begin to question our judgment if we’re drawn to a style or design element that isn’t in the latest 200-page-mother-of-all home décor catalogs. Stand up! Have a say in your own personal expression. If you haven’t noticed, making things yourself is the new shopping for things at the mall. It’s the handmade revolution. It’s back in a big way, and it’s super easy to jump on the wagon and start making the things you like; the things that make you and your home an expression of yourself.
There are endless resources on the web to inspire and help you; from tutorials and general information, to community, supplies and friendship. Blogs are a popular way for crafters to share ideas, projects and processes. Craft and sewing lounges are popping up across the country, dedicated to providing the community with a physical place for classes, assembling and inspiration. Challenge yourself to be inspired and try something new. Make things yourself and you will develop a relationship with them. These will become the pieces that really make your surroundings rich, meaningful and distinctly you.
by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
Each time we make a design decision, each time we decorate our homes or choose to look at a particular website, we’re modifying who we are, who we want to be, and how we choose to see the world. Of all the design decisions we make in a day, our personal design seems to have the most impact on our everyday lives. Personal design includes the clothes we wear, our hairstyle, piercings, tattoos, jewelry, accessories and so much more. No other aspect of design declares so fully: “This is who I am!” and sometimes even, “This is what I believe.”
If you can make your own items, make them. If you can create the look you envision from scratch, there is no better way to express the you that is actually you. You can’t express your true self through Lucky Jeans, Coach purses, or anything that throws you into an enormous group of people that are trying to keep up with the largest trends. So if you don’t have the time or inclination to create your personal design from scratch, at least find items that have the character that you want to endorse. It is easier to find yourself in items you can believe in than in items that the magazines say you ought to like.
Of all the possible fashion choices, it is the printed T-shirt that makes the boldest, most declarative statements. Printed Ts and hoodies are a popular choice for local designers such as Bean Dip (beandipclothing.com), Paper Root (paperrootclothing.com), Rosa Loves and Two and Fro (myspace.com/twoandfro).
Two and Fro is a Jacksonville company (re-opening on 45 East Adams) that primarily features printed tees, a smattering of vintage fashions and a few clothing lines. It was launched by Erin Battle, a young, local African-American woman who hand draws all the designs before tweaking them in an illustration program. Her first big hit was a T with the slogan “Know Your Worth,” which has gone through several re-prints.
“The more I say I’m not going to re-print it, the more people ask me [to].” says Battle.
She plans to modify the design of the slogan in a less legible eye-chart form, which Battle says will “make you think more about the concept” than a straightforward, easily read slogan.
Another popular design in her collection is “Mother Sister,” a design of a woman either shouting out with joy or just having a good time. Battle named the design “Mother Sister” because it signifies any woman—your mother, your sister, your best friend, as symbol of power in femininity.
“They’re buying because [the T-shirt] represents something they believe in or that they’re a part of…I do believe that it is personal.”
Fashion design has always existed as an indicator of social movement, but in the case of the St. Augustine-based label Rosa Loves, it’s not just an indicator, it’s meant to be an inspiration; a “design for good.”
One of the creators and designers of Rosa Loves, Mike Fretto, was inspired by a trip to New Orleans, just after Hurricane Katrina. Fretto describes how he felt during his visit:
“When I approached the city, I remember how I was silenced as I witnessed what looked like a war zone. The interstate’s shoulders were sprinkled with debris, and metal highway signs were folded like envelopes. While there, I realized that all of the media coverage on television and on the Internet I had seen up to that point could never possibly convey the destruction and loss that was, and still is, in many peoples’ lives. During my visit, I met newlyweds, elderly and children that lost everything. Side by side, working in teams like assembly lines armed with breathing masks and crowbars, we did what we could to help in the rebuilding...and the recovering. It was that trip to the Big Easy that transformed the way I thought about my life and people in need. While we were there, I was overwhelmed at the enormous need. I was in New Orleans, a city with people who needed so much, and there I was stripping moldy drywall from just one house. But I came to realize that my team and I really were affecting change - perhaps not on an enormous scale, but rather in a more tangible way.”
For Fretto, design is a tool that can accomplish change, making people more aware and convincing them to act on that awareness, even if that design is incorporated into fashion rather than traditional art. He and his team create their designs with the idea of making the world a better place. Each design is not just empty aesthetics; it signifies a person or an organization that needs help and hope.
Those who buy their designs in T-shirt form have the opportunity to look like they’re into graffiti-inspired, indie-style graphics, with a warm glow of social consciousness. Every time a person puts on one of their shirts, they know that they’ve helped a poor fisherman to buy a boat or helped a grandmother rebuild her fire-destroyed house. More than that, consumers buy the story connected with the shirts, so that every time someone says “cool shirt,” the wearer of the shirt has a story to tell.
“Visual communication has the power to compel a diverse audience to believe, consider, or act. On the other hand, I believe it can be used carelessly and manipulatively. Tired of seeing the misuse of communication, I dream of using it in a more simplistic, creative, and effective way.”
And so, in the summer of 2005, Mike Fretto had an idea about a company that would create and sell T-shirts and give a percentage of the profits to charity. Each design is directly inspired by a charity organization or a specific person or group of people who have a need. Each shirt on their website, rosaloves.com, has a story attached to it, about a Christian Ministry in Africa that gathers kids from the war-torn, AIDS-ravaged area to surf, or about a motherly woman from the Westside of St. Augustine who needed a new walker. Some of their projects are large, and the needs will never be met from T-shirt profits, but others, like “Glenda’s New Walker” have a satisfying “goal met” banner across the corner of the design.
Most companies that donate a percentage of their profits do so by giving money to an organization, like the Red Cross. Unfortunately, much of the money will go to the administration costs of the organization before finally trickling down to help those in need. Those shaping the vision of Rosa Loves, namely Mike Fretto, Chris Lewis and Jeremy Dean, decided, in some cases, to give directly to individuals in the community. They liked the concept of personalizing donation. As Chris Lewis put it: “Rosa Loves is less about charity and more about awareness- awareness that we are all part of something greater and are therefore joined by common threads. I believe that accepting this truth means accepting our place in the community, and more importantly, accepting responsibility for each other.”
Whatever you believe or want to say about yourself, it’s certain that there’s a print T-shirt out there just for you.
Perhaps the best-known label to come out of Jacksonville is the high-fashion stuff from Love Brigade. Their inspiration for design comes directly from the world of music.
“We’re a musically charged fashion line…it’s one part music inspiration, one part trend inspiration.” says Alyssa Key, one of the head designers of Love Brigade.
The design’s ideas can come from the uniform of a specific music movement, what a specific artist wears, or even the lyrics of a song. “A lot of artists…describe clothing in their lyrics, so we’ll take cues from that as well.”
As they design and actually cut fabrics, they play the appropriate music that they’ve chosen as an inspiration. Music and fashion trends are combined to tell a story through the clothing line.
Designing ahead of trends is a design concern for most labels. That’s the case with Love Brigade, as it is with the smaller St. Augustine label of Luna Myst. Part of the design process is about guessing what’s next; otherwise the designs seem stale and trite, not edgy. Misty Estes of Luna Myst uses her intuition to stay ahead of the curve with her retro-yet-cutting-edge line. Estes looks back in order to look forward.
“Bold and Bright vintage floral fabrics inspire me to create halter top dresses, baby doll tops and bell bottoms. That was three years ago and now they are everywhere; the pages of Vogue, Glamour, the runways and discount department stores.” says Estes, when asked about her sources of inspiration.
The process at Love Brigade, because it’s larger, relies on the collective mind of the Love Brigade team. Everyone comes with ideas to the table as far as trendsetting is concerned. They look at trends that are beginning to appear in the media, even colors and shapes that aren’t necessarily fashion related. They then take “what we have noticed…that will eventually lead to a trend that we’re forecasting.”
Those that wear the clothes of Love Brigade get to wear high-fashion, high-drama outfits that are different from what everybody else is wearing and yet still up-to-the-moment, trend-setting pieces. A customer of Love Brigade, if they’ve researched the label, will know that they’re buying not just a piece of clothing, but an idea rooted in the love of art, music, line and color.
In the case of Luna Myst, consumers get a funkier, retro-style look and the satisfaction of wearing something “green,” often using out-of-print vintage fabrics, ensuring originality and eco-sound design.
“Some of my designs are completely biodegradable and I use organic, fair-trade or vintage recycled materials. Eco-Friendly garments are the goal… My designs end up on the backs of like-minded people who want to contribute to the greater good by voting with their dollars.”
The best clothing lines, like Luna Myst and Love Brigade, are selling more than just a look; they’re selling a philosophy you can keep in your closet.
In the local Goth-punk scene here in Jacksonville, you’re apt to find some of the most extreme fashions and hairstyles in the area. For people who are part of an extreme scene, a sign of dedication to the scene and the scene’s aesthetic are more permanent modifications of the self, such as tattoos, hair and piercing.
Blue, magenta or cotton candy pink hair says to the world “I am not part of the corporate machine!” as do large gauge piercings. It might say so less loudly than it did ten or twenty years ago, when such a thing was less common and more socially risky, but the statement is still made with these choices.
“We live in a time that grants us a lot of permission to explore with our image,” says Hair Peace stylist Bruce Musser.
Choosing a hair design is often a mix of what can be practically achieved on a daily basis and what you dream your hair can look like.
“A good relationship with a hair designer is a must. Bring to your designer clippings from magazines, or email an image to the salon in advance so that the designer can muse over and fully prepare to help you achieve that look,” advises Musser, on where to begin when trying to find the perfect style.
But hair can be more than just looking beautiful. A change in hair color/cut can be transformative therapy because, unlike our clothes, we wake up with it and see it in the mirror. If, when you get your cut, you decide that it signifies something to you, whether it’s a newfound independence or a just-discovered sense of spunkiness, you get a daily subconscious reminder that you’ve changed something about yourself. Those outer changes seep in and get us to be that different person we’re wishing to be.
Nancy Baker, a stylist at Tania’s Personal Hair Design, sees her hair designs as therapy that helps people deal with life changes. Says Baker “They come to you looking for answers…They like to look good and that makes them feel good…There are many people who come in that are going through something and they feel like if they sit in your chair, that it will change their outlook, and it really does.”
Her sentiments are echoed by Musser, who explains the feelings behind the post-divorce ‘do: “And yes, most women do want to go blonde after a divorce. It is an expression of independence. There is nothing more energizing than a makeover. After a makeover, you have the ability to shift a little bit, see and be seen in a new way.”
The hair design you sport really can be a state of mind, helping you to express who you are, whether it’s a new you or simply a bolder expression of yourself.
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