Posted on the unposted

Incase I have any avid fans who are crying alone, 'why why is there no new post!' I am making lots and lots for christmas, and I can't post about that just yet, or maybe not at all, so I am hibernating for winter. 

Beth Sprouts; Find me Flamboyancy!

Where are all our eccentrics?

We have entered a global, international, digital age of, well, blandness.

Last thing I can think of which was reasonably creative and expressive was our love for Harajuku kids.

Then we stopped reading books, and starting looking at blogs/social media sites/online retailers, and our individualism has drained away slowly down the plug hole.

It feels as if we cannot separate ourselves and sit in our own heads for a while anymore. We are thoroughly overexposed and overstimulated, and appear to be in constant demand of this. Is there too much choice? Growing up in small town North Wales I was thoroughly underexposed to exciting looks and styles. I reveled in 'The Clothes Show' and magazines. But the choice of mags were limited too, as it was small town Wales. You could develop your own style from snippets of things you have seen, and things you could afford, and generally things you could find.

I wonder if this caused more outlandish eccentric fashions and subcultures to develop. They could brew in their own good time. Now we would all be well aware of these, they may be documented and visible to all and many worldwide.

Now it is possible to trawl through mountains of images and select what you like, so we don't have to make many truly new and innovative decisions ourselves. And if someone has made this decision, we can all have a go.

Is it thus hard for new designers to break boundary's? Can they do this?

Where are we going? Ach, to go live in a log cabin with a few magazines subscriptions...

A selection of flamboyants for you. A lot of these developed their styles in the late 70s and 80s, was it important to be subversive in the time of Thatcherism. We are leaving a recession now, could this be a time of development for new eccentrics?

Adam Ant

Anna Piaggi

Boy George

Zandra Rhodes

Grayson Perry

Vivienne Westwood

A nice comparison, the late Isabella Blow and Lady Gaga.

Well done Gaga.

Beth Sprouts; The Tides are Turning

Ooh Interesting. Things are changing. We are only at the start mind, so who knows where we will end up. But we soon shall possibly be - educated consumers. No more questions on 'why is this so expensive' compared to something else. We will know exactly why! We will make more informed choices about clothing.

I took a short course this weekend; starting your own fashion label at UAL. Golly, it was so nice to be talking about and listening about something you are actually interested in.

Our lecturer highlighted the label honest by. the first transparent company. This means when browsing the site you can take it at face value, orrr look in detail at each product. You find out the cost of the thread, the mark-ups and reasons for these, the carbon foot print. The carbon footprint shocked me, it is mad how much energy goes into making one garment. Think of this, and then think about chucking something you have worn once in the bin - maddening!

You then have to think - how on earth did my t-shirt cost me £2. Where have they cheated someone? I have heard that large retail companies can take 95% of that £2 - so what on earth does the 10p do?

Another interesting label with a similar manifesto has just been on style bubble. So have a read of that and then maybe have a look at the online stores.

If you can't buy, at least you can learn.

I'll have a go now. 

Fabric - £12/metre - used 1.5 metres

Thread - Cath Kidston, free as it was a christmas present

Design, pattern cutting - free as it is me, but can be charged in the industry £22.50/hour - 4 hours 

Seamstress - free as it is me, but can be charged anywhere from £8-£18/hour - 2 hours

I can't comment on much more, but it could be room rental, electricity costs etc

So my outfit = £124 - good grief! 

Mark-up for retail X3 = £372

There we have it; matching top and shorts, yours for £372 

I can see the customers rolling in!

Beth Sprouts Trend; i can't breathe

Che che che che che che check it out. Carven is getting all nineties, 1997 to be precise. Why did I throw mine away!

Beth Sprouts Purchases; Africa! Africa!

I busied myself with Brisfest last weekend, the new version of Ashton Court Festival. Went last year and drank too much cider and it is known in our household as 'Fightfest'. Nuff said.

On the Sunday I was taking things easy, my head was a little heavy, so to make myself feel better I did a little retail therapy. A shop called The Feather Tree had a stall there, I think they mainly aim to sell their feather hair extensions at festivals, but they also had lots of lovely simple pieces made from African fabrics. Well, you gotta love an African print, and it is more accessible these days with things like ASOS africa etc. They work with a guy in Kenya, buy the fabric second hand and then pay him for each piece he makes, so that he can benefit directly.

I'd check it out because at the moment tops are a tenner...but obviously I am not supporting cheap cheap clothing, but still you can't deny a bargain!

P.S there are boys clothes too!

Beth Sprouts Handmade; diory me!

Look Look! Raf must be an avid Beth Sprouts reader after seeing my rendition of his paisley excellences. Dior SS14 - featuring a 'curve shirt'. As seen here in May 2012...you heard it here first right? 

 Photo courtesy of style.com

Beth Sprouts; How Now Brown Cow

Fixed in my memory of childhood disgust was the 80s VW golf with the odd bug eyed headlights. Boy it seemed so very dated. Funnily enough I now find them uber-hip and would love a soft top. I digress, the other cause for complaint as a 7 year old was the - brown car. Much like below.

Mmm tempting, no? Dunked in poo. 

That's what we thought anyway. 

Well hold on to your hats general public - you will soon be coaxed into the new generation of sewage coloured vehicles! Yippee!

The above fiesta has now become.....

 

Ooooohhh Aaaahhhh I hear you cry.

Well here's some more eye candy for you wide eyed fans. A new world has opened for you hasn't it?