Enjoy life journeys, but leave no tracks.

Feather Hand Bag -Price $0 - Manly Council Swap March 2010

This feather handbag looked like brand new, even the smell. It shows like it has been never used before. I'm not a 'handbag' girl as I do not have a clue what to put in a handbag!! A phone and my wallet I can fit in my pockets or I use a small satchel when I wear a dress. Or I leave my phone at home and put just money in my pockets. Which people find annoying as they say they can not reach me. As I have sort of disappeared from the planet you would think! I am always amazed what the average woman carries around in her handbag. And I always wonder what this daily 'baggage' tells about a person. Many magazines have done editorial issues about women and the content of their bags. I just ooze a WOW if I see all that stuff. Same for modern day nappy bags I see young mums carry around. When my children were little I just used to chuck a nappy (forgive me this luxury) in my bag and that was it. How complicated have we made life by carrying a daily 'backpack' with stuff? The feathers on the handbag remind me of the native Americans and I have dedicated this blog entry to the last of their ten commandments which says 'Enjoy life journeys, but leave not tracks.' I f you like to read all ten of them, you can by visiting www.art.com where you can buy the wonderful poster with the full commandments written on them. Reading the words every day does something to your spirit. By the way I use the bag as an art piece, I just love the look of it! and I have stuffed some winter socks in their too. It's handy storage space for at home. I wonder what the original buyer from this bag had in mind when pursuing this piece. Can you tell me?

If the shoe fits, wear it!

Cara Shoes -Price $0 - Manly Council Swap March 2010

 

'If the shoe fits, wear it'! The fun thing with the Swap is that you never know if it will fit you, as there are no other sizes, only the one unique pair. So I guess I was lucky once again in finding this beautiful pair of shoes. I guess i've got 'average' swap feet. The shoes are branded Cara and it's a company from the UK - www.carashoes.co.uk The button on the top is adorable. The low heal is easy to walk in. And I wonder why this pair of shoes has ended up in the swap. Someone must have got bored wearing them. I love to hear your story about this pair of shoes. They are now my fancy shoes and I when I wear them I get wonderful remarks from women about the shoes or maybe it's my legs...just kidding :-)

Tea Dress

Tea Dress -Price $0 - Manly Council Swap November 2009

 I call this 'my' Tea Dress. I thought it very fancy when I picked it from the racks at the Council Swap. It's beautiful fabric with hand stitched flowers on top looked adorable to me. I felt like a lady ready to go to a tea party. Something I normally never would wear. The truth is - I never wore it outside of my bedroom doors. As I discovered it's just not me. That's the fantastic thing about the Shop to Swap, it does not matter if you make a shopping mistake. Who cares as the price tag is $0 anyway! Many women make fashion faux all the time and end up with dresoirs full of clothes which they can't part with. Mostly because of the price tag they know they once paid for it. It's the mantra of 'yes one day I will wear this'. In shops we are swayed away by 'dreams' which will come with the clothes we wear. Truth is dreams don't come you just make your own story happen or not. If you do not feel comfortable in what you wear, it will show. If you feel happy in a potato bag, you will look fantastic. If you show unhappy in a designers dress, you are! Nothing will fix this. So why kidding yourself? The Shop to Swap are like a gigantic library of clothes. I you don't enjoy it you just return it. By the way I kept the beautiful shawl which came with the 'tea dress'. I drape it around a singlet and go for a stroll, it covers my shoulders on a hot sunny day. As such I still feel like the girl in the tea party, only more real and more me and free.

Crochet Fashion

Crochet White Shirt -Price $ 0 - Manly Council Swap November 2009

I adore crochet and it's see through look. The handmade feel of a piece of clothing is wonderfull. It reminds me of the many times my mum used to sit my down to learn me the 'art of crochet'. The only art i ever learned while growing up on the farm in the Netherlands as young girl. It fascinated me as I actually could create something out of a ball of string. After our whole house was full of curtains and table clothes I started to make mobile hangings for friends and families. I am remembered as the 'silly creative' in my extended family in the Netherlands. Knowing to do needlework in the maze of a fly catcher as a birth present for my aunties son. Who as an adult told me about this unusual present which he always had adored. I had totally forgotten about this piece of my past creation. I just always wanted to create (and still do) and having no art materials as such available I used what I could find around the home. I still do I guess as an artist in my 'creation life'. Though this crochet white shirt is actually machine fabricated it still gives this lovely happy sweet sixties/seventies beach look. It's such a winner as you just can chuck if over your swimmers and you are ready to go, always looking stylish. I love how it will show my freckles skin. I adore looking through magazines and photographing styles i'm connected too (as this oozy sun hat girl in the mag). So in this way it's easy when I come across a piece to put the style together in my mind. As my head is an endless library of creations. The shirt was a bit too big and I actually had to put pins on the shoulders to keep it from falling off. Not visible is it? So this piece will go back in the June 2010 Shop to Swap in Manly. It's story might continue with you and give you many lovely summer (to come) vibes and great memories. I would love to hear them!

Nature of Turquoise

Turquoise Tee - Price $0 - Manly Council Swap March 2010

Turquoise is my favorite color. It makes me calm and peaceful. It reminds me of when the ocean is at it's most beautiful with a spectrum mode of a blend of blue and greens. It's the depth of the deep ocean attraction. The color turquoise has a sweet feminine feel. So I was lucky to find two beautiful pieces at the March Swap to Shop with exactly the same shade. Normally tee's and singlets are not allowed as swap pieces at the Council swaps as it has to be 'quality' items of clothing. Some pieces slip through the nets as they are a bit more sophisticated. Such as this singlet with it's green embroidery around the neck line and the waste. Turquoise is also named 'teal, ultramarine, blue-green, aqua and aquamarine. My advice to anyone feeling a bit of limits try on a turquoise piece of clothing and it truly lifts your spirit.The label on this piece is Lilly White. I can't find any fashion brand with this name except for a girl with her website www.lilywhitedesigns.net whose pieces of clothing are all inspired by her love for Jezus. 'Every item is made by our own hands with love and prayer'. Though it does not look that 'my' piece is from their stable. I hope the previous owner of this piece can give me more insight information of where this singlet came from.

Speaking is Silver, Silence is Golden

Quicksilver Sweater with Zipper- Price $0 - Manly Council Swap March 2010

Manly is well know for it's Surfing Culture. Our local shopping strip is full of Surf Shops with big names as Quicksilver, Billabong as Ripcurl. I'm happy to find a 'winter' Quicksilver Jacket at the swap. I love the knitted look and the letter stitching which is used by many popular surfbrands. It gives that street etchy look. The details in this jacket are amazing till the metal logo on the zipper. I've always been amazed since my arrival from the Netherlands to Manly in 2000 how every body can dress more or less the same locally. Being from Europe, I believe our style is so much more individual, than the surfy look. I also wonder how people en masse love to become walking advertisement for brands. I personally would love to be paid if I had to walk around with a piece of clothing which has largely written their logo on front. But no way, every body is happy to fork out lots of money for actually just that! Quicksilver was founded by Alan Green in the seventies in Victoria - Australia. It operates now around 6000 stores around the world. I'm happy for Alan to have been such a great ozzie fashion succes from sewing board short on the kitchen table in Torquay to a multi billion surf empire. Read about the amazing journey of some surfer dudes  in creating this large empire in the Australian Age's article 'Turning Silver Gold Into'
For me personally I wore the jacket once to the beach and have passed it already on to my 'hubby', a surfer fanatic, with a love for all the surfer brands. I guess I do not like to blend into a mass and the truth is the labels on the inside always say 'made in China' anyway. 

Red Dancing Shoes

Dada Supreme Shoes - Price $0 - Manly Council Swap March 2010

The moment I saw these red shiny shoes I fell in love with them (luckily they were my size -as with a Shop to Swap there is only one piece and one lucky grabber!). The shoes remind me of the American diners of the fifties, rock & and roll and outdoor car cinemas. I thought they were very funky, till an elderly lady in jogging pants tapped my on the shoulder pointing out they had belonged to her. WOW!! I thought ..isn't that amazing I would think they had belonged to a young girl, a fitness person of sort or maybe a dancing queen. The lady told me the shoes were special and came from Europe. To my surprise researching the shoes under their brand name 'Dada Supreme', I figure out they are actually a style of hip hop shoes and very popular in this genre. Featured at websites as the  http://www.hiphopgalaxy.com/-Dada-Shoes-.html
I learned that Dada Shoes actually began  as a hat and T-shirt company in 1993, which was aimed at urban basketball youth. The company quickly converted to marketing athletic apparel and following a deal with Daviano Antonio Bruno, President and CEO of Structure International Clothing Company, the DaDa Footwear line was launched providing shoes for basketball, running, and casual wear. 
I wonder where the elderly lady got her fascination from for these shoes. In my imagination I see her doing a dunk at the basketball court or as a back up dancer in a new Hip Hop MTV clip. I hope you 'elderly lady' can tell me your previous story about how those shoes came into your life. 

Manly Council 'Swap to Shop Clothes Swap'

Come along to update your wardrobe for FREE at the ‘Swap to Shop, Clothes Swap’ event! Do you have clothes in your wardrobe that you like but you just don’t wear anymore? Brighten up your wardrobe, save money and help the environment by ‘swapping’ instead of ‘shopping’ for a new wardrobe! At a Swap to Shop event men and women bring along up to eight clean, good quality items you no longer want (including shoes, bags and hats) and hand them over to the staff or volunteers in exchange for a token. Your items will be assessed for quality at the registration desk. You then browse through items brought by others, swapping your tokens back for items you want. Swap Parties are fun, free and green! By swapping, you help save water and energy, reduce greenhouse gasses and keep valuable resources out of landfill.  Location is Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club Inc, North Steyne.

NEXT Swap to Shop  Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th June from 11 - 5pm at Manly  Location: Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club Inc, North Steyne

Why Blog 'I am YOUR Fashion'

I am fascinated by people's stories and connections with their fashion. How come women and also men often let fashion dictates who they are? I am not an average woman as I do NOT like shopping. I get claustrophic in shopping malls and I do not understand why people want to spent their time in such artificial environments. I feel good the way I do and it does not matter to me if I am in or our of fashion. I love browsing in second hand stores and picking out 'pre loved' pieces. Women often ask me where what I wear comes from? As they think they are so 'cool' and I look so great. I tell them mostly they come from a 'special' shop! As many people do not understand why you want to wear 'others' peoples clothes! Though I guess the secret is not the $1 dollar dresses I sometimes pick up and my artistic eye in doing so..but simply ME feeling great inside! ME being healthy, active and shiny.
Since November 2009 Manly Council's Green program has started with a quarterly clothes swap event! It's terrific as now I can start my idea about tracing down YOUR fashion I am wearing. I love to hear your stories and your responses to your clothes I am wearing on my body.