Analogue Chic

Archive for the ‘Literary Aspirations’ Category

{UPDATE: This post is now an entry in the Blog Off at What Designers. Vote for me!}

The standing joke among we handmade artists is that any  money we make from selling our crafts goes into feeding our addiction for pretty supplies and cute things made by friends.  In that spirit, a few months ago I treated myself to a Grace Napoleon original, a pink, ruffly wrap sweater.  But seriously, these purchases and the bonds we make in our raucous real-life meetings and in online forums are an important conduit for exchanging ideas and business advice.  In an effort to record this movement of self-employed women artists, and to preserve the lessons and inspiration I glean from them, I am beginning a project of interviewing women who have inspired me as an independent fashion designer. 

I met Grace at a meeting of our local new-wave craft club, and watched with admiration and curiosity as she handstitched her woolly holiday projects.  I finally sat with her on a recent evening for tea and dessert to talk about her evolution as a textile artist.

Grace is a Danbury, CT-area artist who designs and creates women’s clothing made from clothing– that is, she deconstructs secondhand clothes and re-assembles them in unexpected and charming ways.  Every new seam is stitched by hand.  She offers her clothes and other fabric crafts, along with vintage housewares, in her online store at Etsy.com and at regional craft shows and flea markets.

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I am looking for a man in a gold-sequined cap. He was last seen around 11:30 this morning, standing outside of a Main Street bakery, smoking a cigarette, and talking to two other people, at least one of whom was a woman. As I said, gold sequins adorning a newsboy-style cap, black leather jacket, mustache, perhaps a goatee. Anyone with more information about this man, or his hat, should contact me immediately. Or, if he is in your immediate vicinity, please distract him until I arrive on the scene with my camera. Fans of street-fashion photography everywhere will thank you.

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