The Gok Effect and Real Women

Since Gok Wan returned to Channel 4 with his new Fashion Fix series, it has been refreshing to see real women on the small screen again – the sort who may not be a size 10 but who still want to wear their wardrobes well. Heavens above, even one of the models used for the high street versus designer catwalk competition seemed to be sporting Spanx control pants!

Gok has a way of making women feel good about themselves, regardless of age or body shape, although he is humorously unforgiving about their dress sense or lack of it. His formula is simple: shop for your shape, buy less and wear it more. Spending your hard earned money on expensive mistakes may be lucrative for the fickle fashion industry, but is profoundly damaging, both for your bank balance and your self esteem, so don’t allow yourself to be dictated to by the fashion Stasi, who may declare harem pants a must have on Monday and a faux pas by Friday.

Meanwhile, the Susan Boyle phenomenon has fuelled worldwide debate over how women of a certain age, size and shape have been so effectively marginalised for so long. If we are honest, we all expected to witness ritual humiliation when Susan appeared before the ‘beautiful people’ on the panel of the overhyped Britain’s Got Talent show simply because she was an ordinary middle aged woman who dared to declare a professional singing ambition. What we got was one of those emperor’s new clothes moments that have become such a rarity in a society whose collective consciousness has been so successfully brainwashed by the mass media.

Writing in The Times, Gillian Bowditch sums up the prevailing sentiment in relation to Susan Boyle, describing her as having “toppled the tyranny to which British women have been subject for so long.” Perhaps the tide is turning, and perhaps as Gillian claims, it is the triple whammy of economic recession, the obesity epidemic and our ageing population that has precipitated our long overdue reality check.

Whatever the reason, or combination of reasons, let’s begin to celebrate the Zeitgeist.

Happy Tartan Day 2009

There was some distinctly 14th century frockery in evidence at Arbroath Abbey today as hundreds turned out to watch the Scribe’s Tale, a re-enactment of the signing, on 6th April 1320, of the Declaration of Abroath.

The Declaration is the most important document in Scottish history and is said to have influenced those who drafted the American Declaration of Independence.

King Robert the Bruce and entourage

Members of Arbroath Abbey Timethemes regularly bring Scottish history alive and never fail to delight visitors and locals alike with their re-enactment events.

King Robert, pictured above with some of his royal entourage, wears a particluarly fetching full length velvet cloak, but that helmet can apparently cause some serious neck cricking. Chainmail could well be the next big thing – or not as the case may be!

Cool in a cardigan, Mrs Obama

Michelle Obama has certainly raised the First Lady fashion stakes in London this week with her effortless elegance and unique, often quirky, style.

For the ‘first wives club’ visit to the Royal Opera House and on a later visit to a  girls’ school in London, Mrs Obama wore a fab teal dress by Jason Wu topped with an unusual but stunning asymmetrical cardigan by designer Junya Watanabe, which caused something of a stir among cardigan lovers and haters alike!

Indeed she has worked the cool cardigan look all week , sporting a sparkly cream number by J Crew over a mint green pencil skirt for a visit to Downing Street and, for meeting the queen, a black  cardigan (reputedly by Azzedine Alaia) over a sophisticated Isabel Toledo dress with white bodice and black skirt.

As our regular visitors will know, we are big fans of the humble cardigan and are glad to see Mrs O raise its profile so stylishly. Only the other week we were in full cardi praising flow on our Frockery Talk update, and we have a wide selection  in  stock in all colours, shapes and sizes.

Like Michelle  we love the cardigan, not only for its its versatility but for its comfort and practicality. Cardigans are now cool, it’s official!

Desperately seeking Kilspindie knitwear

The Frockery has had a call from a nursing home where a staff member has accidentally shrunk the favourite jumper of one of its elderly residents. The staff all feel so bad about this mishap that they have taken it upon themselves to try and find a replacement.

Although we do stock Kilspindie knitwear from time to time, we have nothing suitable at the moment, so we thought we would put out an APB for a jumper of this description: size L, navy wool, V neck with cabling, and contrast green and red stripes around the neck, hem and cuffs.

If you or anyone you know can help match a suitable Kilspindie with this delightful elderly gentleman, please contact us and we will put you directly in touch with the nursing home. We know it would make both the elderly gentleman and the nursing home staff very happy!

Blog neglect

This blog has been seriously neglected for far too long so we thought it was time we remedied the situation!

Our excuse is that we have had a hectic time at the shop and we have been kept very busy sourcing new stock to meet customer demand. We have also been experimenting with new social media, including Facebook and Twitter, where we have already run into quite a few of our customers.

As The Frockery approaches its second birthday, we are planning a redesign of our website and would therefore welcome feedback from visitors and customers on how we might improve its content and functionality. What would you like to see? And what would you not like to see? Answers in an email, please, to info@frockery.co.uk.

Fast fashion for men

Fast Fashion is something the men in our lives do well.

They enter a shop, usually the first one they come to, look quickly through the rails until they find the type of garment they need in what they consider to be an inoffensive style/colour and in their size, pay quickly (sometimes muttering “how much?” under their breath) and leave.

None of the “does my bum look big in this?”, or wasting time and effort trying things on, let alone making a considered decision as to what might suit them. It’s simply a chore that has to be completed as painlessly as possible when their best jumper gets felted or all their shirts have turned a murky shade of pink after they have inadvertently left a red sock in the washing machine.

It can of course be worse when they make a determined effort to be fashionable and their ‘trying too hard’ results are in evidence on high streets everywhere. Unlike the majority of women, however, they don’t lack confidence and have far fewer hang ups about the way they look, which can only be good.

With apologies to all the many fashionable and style conscious men out there, some of whom shop at The Frockery!

You can’t go wrong – or can you?

 

“You can’t go wrong!”, exclaimed Lorraine Kelly on GMTV this morning, positively salivating over a white tiered dress from trash fashion outlet Primark costing just £9.  Her male stylist sidekick, who was smugly showcasing it as ‘Primarni’, naturally nodded in simpering agreement.

 

Just when we thought the media sentiment was turning – and it seems to be thus over at the BBC, whose online magazine Thread actively promotes ethical and sustainable style - LK has to go and spoil it all by encouraging us to pick up a cheap frock at a fast fashion joint before jetting off on our summer holidays without a care in the world and, clearly, without a care for the world.

 

Lorraine isn’t the only journalist who is promoting cheap-as-chips fashion one minute and bemoaning the environmental impact of transporting goods halfway round the world the next, all the while sympathising with the plight of overseas workers, many of them children, who are paid a pittance for their labour. These issues are all inextricably linked, and as long as we continue to support an industry which is founded upon the exploitation of both people and planet, we are all very much part of the problem.

The end is nigh for trash fashion

 

Yes, the end is nigh for disposable ‘trash’ fashion. Well, it must be true if the BBC are telling us that cheap chic (an oxymoron if ever there was one) is on the way out. Have they been reading our blog, we wonder?

 

For the past decade or so, fast ‘fad’ fashion has dominated the high streets and supermarket aisles. A new t-shirt costs less than a bottle of wine, with the result that binge buying of cheap clothes has become something of a national pastime. Meanwhile, consumers have been largely content to enjoy the fruits of someone else’s exploited labour, or else remain blissfully ignorant of the workings of the global economy.

 

However, there is evidence to suggest that the trash fashion trend may be stalling. Rocketing oil prices are taking their toll on the all important bottom line, which means an inevitable increase in the price of throwaway clothing for the consumer. Let’s face it, garment prices couldn’t come down any further without becoming ‘giveaway’ fashion!

 

The credit crunch is now biting households hard across the country, which has meant a sudden and significant rise in the cost of living. As we all struggle to meet the escalating costs of life’s necessities like food, fuel and mortgage payments, we are becoming far more discerning consumers. Increasingly, we are looking for best value based on quality rather than price alone, all of which adds up to more bad news for the fast fashion industry.

 

There are also signs that the mass media’s love affair with ‘fast’ culture is coming to an end. Even the BBC are now acquainting consumers with the reality of how and by whom these cheap garments are produced and how far they have to travel to reach our high streets and supermarkets. All so that we can wear them once (or not at all) and throw them away. We reckon it amounts to collective insanity.

 

In reality, there is no need to stay a fast fashion clone when you can so easily and affordably set your own style with the textiles that are already in circulation. We are delighted that the BBC and style gurus everywhere are at last catching up with what we’ve known all along. It is heartening to see them embracing The Frockery’s own eco-fashion tips with such enthusiasm! 

 

Frockery Focus on Louis Féraud

 

In our latest Frockery Focus section, we have chosen to feature French master couturier Louis Féraud, whose fashion career spanned more than four decades until his death in 1999.

 

Just as “Féraud adore les femmes”, it is undoubtedly the case that “les femmes adorent Féraud”. The Frockery does too, and we can never resist this particular label!

 

We currently have the following examples in stock:

Louis Féraud Little Black Dress  

Louis Féraud white linen mix jacket 

Coffee pussy bow blouse (Louis Féraud)

Landfill Fashion: what a waste

 

We are becoming increasingly fed up of living in a society which seems hell bent on creating ever greater mountains of unnecessary waste. From plastic bags in their billions to fast food packaging, cheap promotional items that no one wants or needs, and even shrink wrap covering for supermarket  cucumbers, we are drowning in the stuff.

 

Textiles waste is a particular bugbear of ours. Did you know that in the UK alone, we throw out in excess of one million tonnes of textiles every year, most of which ends up in landfill sites?

 

Far from being harmless holes in the ground where we can conveniently bury anything and everything we no longer want, landfill sites cause significant environmental damage. In the case of landfilled textiles, garment dyes and bleaches can cause toxic chemical seepage into the ground and water courses. As the material decomposes, the build up of methane gas presents further hazards.

 

Although environnmental issues have been gradually nudging their way up the political agenda, there is no evidence that our throwaway society is ready to take responsibility for its wasteful behaviour. We need a sea change in attitude and, while there is some great work being done to reduce textiles waste through reuse and recycling, the clothing industry remains awash with cheap ‘fast’ fashion which is likely to end up in landfill in a matter of months if not weeks.

 

So how can we as concerned individuals make a difference yet still stay stylish (and solvent!)? Well, we have put together a list of simple ‘RE’ ACTIONS  to the relentless pressures of the fast fashion industry, and we hope the following top ten tips on working towards a greener wardrobe will be useful for waste aware, eco-friendly fashionistas like ourselves.

 

THE FROCKERY’S TOP 10 ECO-FASHION ‘RE’ ACTIONS  

 

1.  RESIST temptation. Don’t buy it if you don’t need it! Your wardrobe is probably already bulging with impulse buys, many of which you have never worn, so you know it makes sense.

 

2.  REJECT fast fashion outlets and cheap imports which have been transported halfway round the world, may have been produced by an exploited workforce, including child labour, in dangerous conditions, and will probably fall apart after one wash.

 

3.  RETHINK your buying habits. Support ethical, fair trade businesses and ‘home grown’ designers.

 

4.  REUSE clothing and accessories. Buy from vintage, second hand or charity shops, car boot sales and auction websites – or swap clothes with friends.

 

5.  REDISCOVER the back of your wardrobe and the darkest corners of your attic which may well harbour some long forgotten outfits that are yearning for a new lease of life.

 

6.  RESTYLE your current wardrobe. Get the sewing box out, refashion a dress into a top and matching bag, add a few embellishments, chop off some sleeves, or just shorten a hemline or two.

 

7.  REFRESH your ‘old’ clothes by adding belts, scarves and complementary accessories for an instant style update.

 

8.  RECYCLE the clothing you no longer need. Drop it off at your local textile recycling bank, freecycle it, or else donate to charity.

 

9.  RESELL your unwanted clothes on one of the internet auction sites or, if you don’t want to do it yourself, through a local or online dress agency like The Frockery.

 

10. RESEARCH environmentally friendly fashion alternatives which combine style with sustainability. We recommend Kate Fletcher’s Lifetimes project as a great starting point for both information and inspiration.