Tuesday, May 18, 2010

"My spoon is too big"

Just as I was starting to get used to the nice weather, it started raining cats and dogs this morning and continued through the day. This dampened my original plan to wear a dress and frolic but more importantly, it taught me to never take sunshine for granted again. From now on, I will try to be out doors as much as possible when it's gorgeously sunny out. Despite all this, something good did come out of my ruined outfit-plan though. The rain made me yearn for comfort and coziness thus I ended up draping myself in all sorts of over-sized things. And here is the turn out.

I've been wanting to wear my D.I.Y. boyfriend jeans for a while now but couldn't figure out what to pair it with. Since the boyfriend jeans are such a hot item, I didn't want to style it according to any of the popular trends. So I put my own spin on it by wearing them with these cute little booties and an over-sized sweater; but it's really just my natural tendency to pair everything with knit-wear.
I've been doing a lot of D.I.Y. sewing and altering lately because I've been shopping predominantly at thrift shops and occasionally American Apparel since the beginning of the year. You see, I've committed myself to my new year's resolution to not purchase anything new that has been manufactured overseas or in sweatshops. I gotta say, it hasn't been an easy journey. Since my conscious effort in trying to eliminate consumption of outsourced products, I've realized just how difficult it is to be a socially responsible consumer. Because almost everything we buy has been outsourced at some point. Thus it is virtually impossible for us, the consumers, who are only familiar with the final product to even know the processes involved in making an article of clothing or an everyday household item. Therefore, the biggest problem resides not with people's inability to boycott sweatshop goods, but their disconnect with the things they buy. Because even if one wants to fulfill his/her oaths as a "karmic shopper", sometimes we simply cannot make an informed decision to be ethical because we don't always know everything about the things we purchase. So far, I have been successful at resisting the urge to buy new clothes made in sweatshops. Hopefully, by the end of this year I would've made a small, albeit meaningful difference in the world.

8 comments:

Charleston said...

cool outfit x

http://pinstripeprince.blogspot.com

the 90s will never die said...

Those fleece-lined boots are awesome. Want!

It's also hard to be a "socially responsible consumer" because a lot of times companies are owned by huge corporations and people don't even realize that they are. Like someone once told me that Boca veggie burgers are owned by Philip-Morris (the cigarette company) Who would have expected that? And even if they don't rely on sweatshops, most companies have something bad about them -- like AA with their misogyny and messed up hiring practices.

Isabel said...

Ahh, I love that you're writing about this! I pretty much only buy from thrift stores and AA too.

Marlena said...

I love your outfit! I wish it wasn't 100 degrees over here, I'm in a sweater wearing mood! T.T (weird,right?)

I don't know if I would call myself a "socially responsible consumer".But what I can say is that most of my wardrobe is made up of thrift finds and things that I made from scratch. I try my best to stay away from places like Wal-Mart/Target,etc. Not really because I disagree with their business practices (I don't know enough about that aspect BUT I have heard some terrible stuff)For me it's that they basically sell disposable clothing. I would much rather spend a lot of $$$ on something I suppose you could call guilt-free than a $20 pair of pants that will just fall to pieces the first time you wear them.

Omo said...

did you make that hoodie/cowl?

ANDWHATELSEISTHERE said...

i think you did great in your own style. it's very individualist.

ANDWHATELSEISTHERE

SHOP

Michelle said...

I'm saving this for inspirations, the proportions of your outfit is perfect :)

And I'm anti 'fast fashion' though I'm not strong willed enough to purchase all my clothes from thrift stores (partly because most of the items in my local charity shops is filled with bad highstreet clothes already) I do try to be discerning with the things I buy, as I dislike the mentality of people having to buy into trends every week.

SC said...

i love the pairing of your booties, the oversized sweater, and the cuffed boyf jeans!

i always love your outfits because they're creative! you don't follow the "trends" because you've got your own style (:

"my spoon is too big... my SPOON is too BIG... my spoon is too big..."
hahaha i watched that vid on youtube. crazyyy