I spent Labor Day weekend in a cabin in the woods. My only connection to the online world was via a phone line, so absolutely zero blogging got done. Instead, I spent a lot of time climbing around in the Cascades.

Off the beaten track, near Deception Falls, Washington.

The boot trend definitely worked in my favor on this trip – those rocks were not easy to climb, and the water is very, very cold!

What did you do over the holiday weekend (or, if it wasn’t, just…the weekend)?

The End of Summer? No! The Beginning of Awesome!

For the past week I’ve been listening to Cee-Lo Green’s fantastic send-off, F@#* You, and little else. At the same time I’ve been reading a lot of the hand-wringing in the press about bloggers and whatever are we going to do about them, along with our responses both here and on our blogs. And the two have combined in my head to form a single determination – bloggers need more swagger. I don’t mean anger, of the you-don’t-respect-us variety, or apologetics, of the we-are-as-legitimate-as-other-media variety. I mean swagger, the kind of swagger that comes from doing something well and knowing you’re good at it. So whatever other themes might knit together this week’s links, they all share that important characteristic – swagger. Step up to the plate, knock it out of the park.

Join us at IFB’s Evolving Influence Fashion Blogger Conference @ NYFW

Links à la Mode: September 2nd

• A la Modest – The Mystery and the Magnificent Monki
• All Tumbled Down – Fancy Style File
• Any Second Now – My Fashionable Heritage
• A Pretty Penny – Fashion Fitness and Floggers
• Awakened Aesthetic – To Covet: Cold Comfort
• Beautifully Invisible – The Corset: The Sexiest of Sexy Shapewear
• Beyond Fabric – Size and Fit: Shirts
• Bright Lights, Big Style – Losing Style in Fashion
• Chic Steals – Long-awaited Interview Outfit
• Fashion Cents – When to Alter Your Clothing
• Independent Fashion Bloggers: How Blogging Changed My Life
• My Closet in Sketches – Outfit Sketch
• Oranges and Apples – Thinking About Aging
• Ramblings With Rin – Before Meets After
• The Coveted – Design Your Own Shoes With Jeff Silverman
• The Demoiselles – Millenials: We Are the Revolution
• The Fashionista Lab – The Emmys: Red Carpet Recap
• The Lingerie Addict – Is Expensive Lingerie Worth the Cost?
• The Pursuers – Cheer Up, Margot
• The Sunday Best – Let Them Eat Bread
• What She Should Have Worn – Copy Cats

SPONSOR:

New at Shopbop - JNBY - Wildfox Couture - Kirrily Johnston - Graham & Spencer

I can never sleep before a trip.

This morning, I’m off to visit the TJ Maxx flagship store in Boston, Massachusetts.  Though I’m wasting tons of energy by flying from Seattle, I’m – at the very least – taking a “greener” cab to and from the airport.

I’m being sent to Boston as a representative of Broke & Beautiful.  (As most of you know, I’m a writer and sometime editor over there.)  However, I’m hoping to bring back not only some good deals, but also some new “green” information to cheer us all up after that Target debacle.  C’mon TJ Maxx (and Marshalls): we need some good news!

Keep your fingers crossed for a safe, smooth trip, and I’ll see you all in a few days.

To: Matt Zabel, Vice President of Government Affairs, Senior Public Affairs Officer;
Timothy R. Baer, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary;
Gregg W. Steinhafel, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

Regarding: Your Public Policy and Support of Candidate Tom Emmer

I was recently informed that, in accordance with a 2010 Minnesota court ruling allowing corporations to fund political candidates and influence elections, Target has funded a television ad run by Minnesota Forward supporting the gubernatorial election of Tom Emmer.  The ad is in support of the local economy, a decrease in government spending, and an increase in job growth throughout the state.

What the ad doesn’t mention are Emmer’s sociopolitical leanings, which include the fervent support of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, or that Target’s choice to fund Minnesota Forward and, in turn, Mr. Emmer, goes directly against its public support of the gay community.

Target has, for many years, made a name for itself as a company that firmly supports gay and lesbian civil rights.  Not only does Target offer health benefits to couples in domestic partnerships, but it has also supported many gay pride events throughout its company’s home state of Minnesota.  Throughout the past two years, it has received top ratings in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index (both 2009 and 2010), been listed as one of the Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality, and received the 2009 Rainbow Families Award and the 2009 Lavender Pride Award.

It is no secret that Target’s reputation is one of inclusion and support for the gay community, so it is no surprise that the company’s recent contribution of $150,000 to Minnesota Forward in direct support of Tom Emmer has caused confusion – and shock – in the same group that has for years applauded its progressiveness.

Your company’s defense of its support of Tom Emmer, a candidate so hostile against gay civil rights that the otherwise progressive Minnesota right wing calls him the most conservative GOP gubernatorial candidate in decades, is expressed in this statement (emphasis mine):

“Target supports causes and candidates based strictly on issues that affect our retail and business interests. In fact, Target’s Federal PAC contributions year-to-date are very balanced between Republicans and Democrats, and we work collaboratively with legislators and officials at all points on the political spectrum.

Target fosters civic engagement through a wide variety of nonpartisan efforts aimed at enhancing team member and citizen participation in the political process. We encourage team members and citizens to engage in civic activities in the ways that are most meaningful to them, as we believe that engaged communities are healthier and stronger communities.”

[Cut for length; read the entire statement at TheAwl.com.]

Your own Corporate Responsibility Report for 2009 agrees with this statement:

“Contribution criteria — Before any contribution is made,
we determine that it is consistent with our business interests
and, under the circumstances, is an appropriate means of
advancing our public policy position. This determination is
made either by our vice president of Government Affairs
and senior public affairs officer, executive vice president
general counsel and corporate secretary or our chief executive
officer.”

In short, Target’s position is that its support of gay advocacy – of the Twin Cities Pride Parade, of health benefits for gay and lesbian couples – is not related to its business interests or its stance on public policy.

And yet a major corporation’s social advocacy – or lack thereof – cannot help but affect public policy.

I understand that a corporation’s number one goal – the goal of its shareholders – is in its business interests, in making money.  However, I cannot help but wonder at your decision to favor a potential tax break  over a community you have supported, and that has rewarded you publicly for that support, for so many years.

As a corporation, your choice to offer health benefits and event funding to the gay and lesbian civil rights movement is a vital step toward civil equality.  To then fund a major political player that wishes to undermine the very basis of that civil equality negates those choices.  It undercuts them.

I’d like to think that the major players in the decision to fund Tom Emmer’s campaign were not aware of the inconsistencies the funding would create.  I’d also like to think that, with light being shed on Tom Emmer’s stance on gay civil rights, and how that stance flies in the face of Target’s practices of inclusion and social responsibility, that Target will issue a statement of its intent to reform its corporate responsibility guidelines and political contribution criteria to avoid this kind of errant funding in the future.

I’d like to think that I can continue shopping at Target, not only as a supporter of American companies and my local economy, but as a supporter of gay civil rights.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Nicole Gray
jen@awakenedaesthetic.com

***To send a copy of this email to Target, along with your own comments of support for the gay civil rights movement, please fill out and send the form below.  [Image via Target.com.]

[contact-form]

Oh, Brave New World…

Edited by: Ashe Mischief of Dramatis Personae

That has such bloggers in it! From a ballsy and confident “I Like Being Fat” at Return to Sender to Awakened Aesthetic’s post on greenwashing & buying American to Cake Not Coke’s expose on Venus Williams’ controversial courtside fashion, fashion bloggers are brave and bold. Just the way I like them.

Links à la Mode: July 1

• Awakened Aesthetic: On Independence Day, we’re told to “buy American.” This eco girl is telling you to think twice.
• Bonne Vie discusses online auction sites; Are they frauds or a fair gamble?
• Cake Not Coke: Venus William’s Daring on the Court Fashions…
• Dedicated Follower of Fashion: Interview with Actor/Activist: Adrian Grenier & TV Producer: Peter Glatzer creators of SHIFT, and eco fashion media platform.
• Dramatis Personae: What’s so Dazzling about Shoe Dazzle?
• fête á fête: Atelier Cologne – new French luxe fragrance house.
• Grechen Blogs: do you read blogs about blogging? do you find the helpful? are the relevant to the fashion blogging community?
• haute.halifax: A review of several collections inspired by women of the G8 by local Nova Scotian designers
• (IT Hunter): ‘Alice Springs’ pseudonym used by June Newton, Helmut Newton’s wife, to sign her photos first international retrospective
• Miss Jones & Me: Boyfriend Booty
• Ode to Awe: After months of being unable to locate them online, Japan’s Transvestite brand is found
• Oranges & Apples: Is it worth buying more expensive nail polish?
• Pixie in Pumps: My take on jewelry storage, creative but not cluttered or tacky.
• Profresh Style: Daily Makeup Routine!
• Retro Chick: The meaning of Vintage
• Return to Sender: I Like Being Fat
• Speak Femme:While rummaging around in my grandmother’s sewing room, I found the most amazing guide to sewing and style, courtesy of Vogue.
• Sugar & Spice: To Friendship
• The Coveted: Pull up a chair, we’re flipping through Elle’s Music Issue
• The Curvy Fashionista: What do you do when your shoes do not fit? Opt for a custom pair with Jen+Kim Shoes!

via A Softer World.

I cringe a little each time I hear a local fashion boutique is closing.  People lose their jobs, local designers lose their outlets, and the city loses a sense of self that Nordstrom can’t match…and I lose a chance to shop somewhere local, if I could ever get off the computer.

Blogging about fashion for more than a year has made me so much more wary of paying full price that it’s eaten into my locavorian, sustainable sensibilities.  Instead of picking up a book by a local author at that kitschy bookstore, I’ll hit Amazon.com to check its sale price.  Instead of buying a gorgeous dress by Lekkerlife at one of the many Seattle boutiques they’re housed in, I’ll wait to see if something similar comes up online.  (Important note: nothing ever does.  Lekkerlife is crazy unique, well-made and amazing, so I always end up buying directly.)

Cotton AE dress with adjustable ribbon straps.
Image c/o Lekkerlife.com; also avail. at Velouria.

I don’t play the blame game like A Softer World suggests – I’m not about to get incensed that a store not making money closes – but I do feel a little sad each time it happens, and I know I’m not part of the solution.  So I think I’ll use this comic as an excuse to get out shopping a little more often.  (Pocketbook: watch out.)

Do you do most of your shopping online, in major department stores (that’s okay too!) or local boutiques?  Where would you shop if you had the extra money or time?

While waiting for a table at Wild Mountain Cafe, I heard an interesting conversation between two (also waiting) customers.

“I was thinking about buying a Prius.”
“Noooooo!  Don’t buy a Prius!”
“Why?  Have you read something?”
“I just can’t stand the idea.  No more tree huggers in Seattle!”
“Oh, you’re not a…tree hugger?”
“No.  I’m sick of them.  I like my German cars.”

First of all: can’t I like German cars AND be a tree hugger?

Secondly, tree hugger?! Is this 1969?  Can’t I be called something more up-to-date, like an electricity-eater or a solar-energy-cuddler?

Whatever.  My biggest gripe with Anti-Trees Pro-German Cars Girl isn’t that she’s behind the times (in so many ways); it’s that she had such a negative impression of the sustainable movement in Seattle.

My first instinct was to blow her off – she’s just a priss who is more interested in whether people can tell her bag is made by Coach than whether we’ll all be able to breath in a hundred years – but that just perpetuates stereotypes, doesn’t it?  She keeps thinking I’m high-minded and pretentious; I keep thinking she’s superficial and snobbish.  Lose-lose.

Instead, I’ve decided to take a step back and remind myself that my cause is just that: my cause.  I’m passionate about it.  I’m incensed when it’s ignored by our elected officials, by corporations.  I’m saddened when it’s given a mere thirty-second spot on the news before a fifteen-minute cuddle fest about that cute puppy whose owner taught it to say “I love you” and turn off the stove when she forgets.

It’s my cause…and it’s my decision to do something about it.

You may be new to eco-friendly choices, or you may be an eco-superhero that eats locally, buys everything organic and rides a bike to work.  You may be somewhere in between.  Wherever you are, though, I’d like you to know that I’m not judging you.

We can’t do it all, and we shouldn’t be judged for doing only what we can.  For trying a little harder.  For taking that next step.

Ethical living is a process.  Nothing more.

You, Only Better

Edited by: Ann Colville Somma of Holier than Now

It’s a strange culture we live in: we’re always told Just be yourself!, yet the bestseller list is chock-full of self-help books and memoirs depicting radical change. Finding the balance between total transformation and chilling in our pajamas is difficult, but that’s why I love the blogosphere. Here, inspiration is served up one manageable bite at a time. Want to save the world? Start with vintage beachwear – the purchase benefits disaster victims. Hoping your man evolves into a sharp-dressed diaper-changer? Let’s begin with a chic- and sustainable- Dad’s day gift. Looking for your dream job? Take baby steps by revamping your work wardrobe and taking notes from inspiring entrepreneurs.

Links à la Mode: June 17th

• A la Modest A Uniform Response to Chaos: Janelle Monáe
• Amateur Couture Art-inspired looks
• Awakened Aesthetic Men are notoriously hard to shop for… these gifts are all sustainable.
• Despising Life is So Passe A reminder that no gain is found without work put forth
• Dramatis Personae 10 Things Carrie Bradshaw Taught Me About Fashion
• Fabulous Finds Karl Lagerfeld says the crowd at AMfar is real and Oscar fashion is fake
• Fassonaburu Vyque looks back at five months of trying to follow strict fashion rules
• Grit and Glamour Meet Amanda of Amanda Deer Jewelry
• Holier than Now Rethinking a previously rejected look
• Hundy & Undy Casual doesn’t have to be so casual
• Market Publique Market Publique & ModCloth auction vintage beachwear to benefit disaster victims
• M.I.S.S. Interview with IFB founder Jennine Jacob
• On the Racks Finding summer outfit inspiration in the strangest of places
• Style with Benefits Father’s Day stylish gift guide by Esquire’s Best Dressed Real Man in America
• Stylish Thought How to ban boring business attire from your work wardrobe
• Tale Teller What famous designers said about fashion
• The Greyest Ghost Art meets fashion at the Whitney’s 2010 Art Party
• The Seventeen Magazine Project One high school senior lives by the dictates of Seventeen Magazine for 30 days
• Tog and Trappings Les flâneurie: How observation of life can inspire creativity

I’ve been doing a lot of “what I want” lately.  I hope you all don’t mind the quiet too terribly much.

One of the things I’ve been doing is making food appear out of nowhere by carefully watering and (naturally) fertilizing my garden.  I now have my first self-made food: a radish.

I almost have enough greens for a salad, and when I do, it’s ON.  Success!

In other news, sitting on my doorstep yesterday afternoon was a pile o’ nail polish – well, a box, to be more accurate.

Using Zoya’s Earth Day Polish Exchange, which is going on through the end of this month, I traded nine of my old, toxic nail polishes for brand new, non-toxic ones.  (From left to right: Penny, Sam, Loredana, Robyn, Ginger, Goldie, Nicole, Posh, and Jo.)  But what’s that over there…

…a second Penny!

Zoya told me not to mind the mix-up – it’s not worth the shipping cost to return one bottle – so it looks like I have something else to give away in the next month or so…yay!

This has been an awfully scatterbrained post, but it does have a purpose:  I’ve realized, over the past few weeks, that I can do so much more to open my eyes without losing my aesthetic. Gardening hasn’t ruined my nails (see today’s post at The Demoiselles for proof) and avoiding chain stores whose policies and practices I disagree with doesn’t keep me from buying great clothing – it means I pay better attention to what I choose to buy…and don’t regret a trendy, fall-apart purchase two days later.

The truth is, “going green,” when done without guilt or stress, is not nearly as hard as people pretend it is.

Which stories have you been told about being socially responsible that turned out to be myths?

Fashion’s Bold Step Forward

Edited by Ashe/Mischief Dramatis Personae

To be honest, I’ve been really excited about the content on the web lately…. because each week, it seems that fashion & style bloggers are making a bold step forward. In a niche that was once dominated by runway photographs and personal style posts, we’re evolving to include daring, thoughtful, provocative posts as well. I am continually shocked and amazed by the range of posts… from wearabout’s post on androgynous Indian men and Style Amor’s post on Arab women in fashion to posts about fashion blogging as a career at Style Eyes fashion blog.

Images via The Curvy Fashionista, The Coveted, Hello Beauty, and Wearabout

Links à la Mode : May 20th

• Awakened Aesthetic – Giveaway! Enter to win a hand-embellished floral top by independent designer Eliza + Axel and take the floral trend in a different direction.
• CMYKaboom!: – New York Fashion Week Coverage: IFB “Evolving Influence” Conference
• fete a fete: – Clarins Instant Sun Light summer makeup
• Guacamole & Toast: – What makes a good fashion blog? How can we avoid turning into one of the minority of superficial fashion bloggers that everyone stereotypes us to be?
• hello beauty!: – we have a new makeup lesson video with Guerlain’s top makeup artist and a review of the Guerlain Summer 2010 Collection.
• Holier Than Now: – How to fall in love with last year’s summer essential, all over again.
• Independent Fashion Bloggers – Skills Bloggers Can Use to Get Hired
• Jewelry Whore: – Designer You Should Know: Elsa Schiaparelli
• kaKofonie Of si(gh)lenS: – An exclusive interview with Amanda deLeon, a fabulous avant garde designer from North Carolina, and personal favorite of Kat Von D!
• M.I.S.S.: – TV: Follow the Leader: A New Style Series Promo! | M.I.S.S.
• Pretty Shiny Sparkly: – Exploring the trend of resin-coated black denim, with a best of the best roundup!
• Shoe-a-Day: – How to Shop for Shoes when you’re living ohsofaraway from civilization.
• Style Amor: – Celebrating the Beauty of Arab Women & Our Diverse Culture
• Style Eyes Fashion Blog: – A career as a fashion blogger – have you considered a career as a fashion blogger? Here are my experiences.
• Stylish Thought: – The Dressing Dilemma: Who do women really dress for?
• The Coveted – Anica boutique is the place to experiment with avant garde
• The Curvy Fashionista: – Curves in the USA? A Question… The Elite of fashion magazines across the pond are fashioning the most fabulous spreads of full figured fashionista, bloggers, and models, will the US follow suit?
• The Recessionista: – Jeans: We’re Spending More and Shopping Longer Does anyone recall the moment when jeans became a luxury item?
• The Thrifty Poet: – “Why Should I Be Ashamed of My Shape” — why I think classifying women into only 4 different body shapes (two of them fruit) isn’t right
• wearabout: – The luxury of not caring – a look inside an androgynous indian male’s wardrobe.
• What 2 Wear Where: – After the fab opportunity to preview the Met’s exhibit “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity”, we looked at each of the perfectly portrayed eras and paired them with contemporary looks.