notoday&fasfem ring
And that moment arrives. You had an idea, a plan, a dream. You have already begun to make it happen, in real life or in your imagination. Doesn’t make big difference in which one of those. But here we are now, and bumps appear in your road. Things get harder, your feminine side, the softer one that helps you feel and create, is being bullied. You don’t need this. You ‘re thinking about giving it all up.
It is understood. No one wants to be treated like that. But you keep forgetting something. This side of you that feels like keeping you behind, is actually your super power. Malleability. Yes, you are malleable. Remember all you have been through. How many times were you told you should give up, that there’s little room for you here, that your sensitivity is a fault, your ideas a utopia? More than few.
But you are still here, aren’t you? You bend but you don’t break. Just change shape, get sculpted and polished and beautiful. Yet, your essence remains…
You are like a jewel.
We, Maria and Ioanna, are so much aware of this. We really know and get you. So we have decided to become a reminder for you. With a piece of silver. Maria sculpted it and Ioanna infused her symbolisms in it. And metal became ring. A ring to wear in your small finger, with your feminine power graven on it, made of silver, tough yet malleable.
To look down at it and remember. That we all are in this together.
Now move on…you ‘ve got this!
The notoday&fasfem ring has been created as a love song to femininity and with a strong belief in gender equality. So we have decided to donate a part of the money you will pay for it to Diotima Centre as a support to their cause.
* By donating to Diotima Centre, we help women and femininities, who lack the financial and social resources necessary to live a life free of gender-based violence.
** You can find the ring at notodaystudio .
Fasfem meets Fårö
I was ecstatically watching The Matrix Resurrections new trailer and travelling back to 1999, when notifications occurred...Leda had created the seminar event. I was pushed fast forward, back to present day and I was full of joy!🎈
Because I thought about this girl I used to be back in 1999, who felt like an outcast in her studies field, was seeking something not available at the time, secretly reading and writing about fashion and feminism...I would like to let her know that all of this would flourish in the future. It would become writings and images and sounds. Incredible people would believe in it and together we would create new realities ..
So we would be delighted to see you at our fresh from the oven seminar at @faro, inspired by fasfem geek stories, to explore the way the powerful female expresses herself through the dress. How much does the dress influence in the way personalities are created and communicated? Let’s explore it together...👗📚
Marvellous illustration of my dreams by Jalex Noel
You can find details about the seminar - which will take place in Athens and be in Greek - here and here.
Can ethical consumption exist in fashion?
I was preparing an Instagram guide the other day with several things I wish to own in the near furure. Things I thought might interest fasfem’s little community. While picking up staff, a feeling of frustration began to take over me. Because I was making the guide with the goal of ethical consumption in mind…But what does that even mean?
I paused the guide and did what I do most of the times when numb and indecisive. I googled.
Ethical consumerism: practiced through the buying of ethically - made products that support small scale manufacturers and local artisans, protect animals and the environment.
Yes, that was actually what I had in mind. To buy from brands that actually try to make things better or buy second hand. A form of BUYcott where I support those whose actions align with my ethics. A form of action through my wallet.
It is not unusal for a consumer nowadays to expect companies to have a purpose. According to the 2017 Weber Shandwick’s research, The Company behind the Brand: In Goodness We Trust, 46% of global consumers are increasingly buying from companies or brands that make them feel happy and good, and 30% are increasingly buying from companies that have a social purpose or strive to make a positive contribution to the world or market they operate in. You see consumers are in need to rise up and fix a broken world themselves. They also look up to brands who make a strong effort to be part of the solution. Because even when investors seem to decrease when a brand chooses the clear path, sales do not.
I am not alone for sure. As a woman, I even belong to the part of the consuming force who are more empathic and willing to buycott. So why don’t I feel like I am making an impact most of the time? Because I actually DON’T. There so many issues that remain unresolved in fact and in my mind.
Big supply chains, where the origins of goods are somehow lost until they are delivered, could be the first. Sometimes it is impossible to know who made our clothes and under which circumstanses. Brands on the other hand who claim to support charity have been exposed to use the cause as another form of marketing strategy. A strategy that can be enhanced by the smart use of social media platforms. Which surely I am not against at when it actually makes a difference. But in many cases the support is just a very pety amount of money in comparison to the actual profit from a product being labeled as ‘ethical’.
And then there is the paradox of higher prices. Due to raw materials quality, transparency in manufatcturing and distribution and small scale production, most of ethical choices are more expensive. I get it. But I can’t stop thinking about the fact that people of lower income are excluded from the so called ethical consumerism because they just can’t afford it. Is ditching a coat from ZARA in order to buy from a smaller sustainable brand just not possible for some? How can we reverse that just by changing shopping habits?
I know that there are no right or wrong anwers sometimes. There are a lot of things to take under consideration and lots of systemic issues to be examined further. I have decided to think things through on a personal scale. What is there possible for me as person to do in order to help? Educate myself better. Try and shop by people whom I look up to. Small scale businesses whose products are made with love and lots of effort. People I actually know personally sometimes. According to my income with no guilt. Take part in actions that lead to change. Support causes each way possible. Just do the best I can. Hope that in the post pandemic era the lessons are actually learned. And allow myself to take some joy while purchasing..
For some interesting views about ethical consumerism you can read here, here and here. For data about ethical consumerism in pandemic here. I leave you to go and finally finish my reading on Fashionopolis…
Credits:
Photographer Craig McDean captured the above picture for British Vogue February 2019. Styling by Grace Coddington.
Helmstedt
As long as I can remember myself obsessioning over fashion, one thing has never ceased to amaze me; artful expression on the textile. There is something thrilling on watching plain canvas to transfrom into a wearable piece of material.
There is a creative lady up in the North who uses her brushes and fingers as magical wands. Whatever they touch - be it paper, clay or fabric - gets transformed into poetic version of matter. Matter we can use. Matter - in case of fabric - we can actually wear :
This fairy of a designer is Emilie Helmstedt, creator of the awarded brand Helmstedt.
In her Copenhagen based studio her collections coexist with papier -mâché sculptures and poems. As you can she from the gallery above her creations are unexpected sometimes yet so delightful! All prints are handpainted by her before transported onto fabric. Dreamy dresses, every day objects and huge sculptures are giving us an optimistic view of this world, world where we:
“Take care of not only ourselves and each other, but also cherish the environment.”
Emilie is only 27 years old and already highly recognized in contemporary fashion scene as a very creative and talented disigner. Here you can she the cover page she created for ELLE Danmark January 2021 edition. It has a message of hope and creativity hidden at the center of it…can you spot it?
Yes, Emilie is bringing a child to this world this April…
What I find really hopeful in the development of Helmstedt is that one of the brand’s main interests is stable growth and a humanist approach to the way they do business. For example, due to covit pandemic situation, they created the line ‘Staycation’ last August with reduced prices so as to be more affordable to all brand’s lovers worlwide.
I will leave you now to enjoy Emilie herself describing you the way she finds inspiration and creates:
Les Fleurs Studio
Captured by the thumbnail picture above? I myself need a few moments to pause and inhale its beauty…That’s the way I feel every time I get into Les Fleurs Studio universe. The colours, the light on the pictures, the music background on the videos, the curation of the editorials…yes Maria Bernard has made an entire universe all by herself.
A universe where diversity and the environment are well respected and celebrated. A celebration you definetely want to be part of. Les Fleurs has a collaborative nature and it evolved from a marketplace for products Maria has herself designed, to a collaborative social and retail platform. Designers and Maria are provided with visibility in order to communicate their sustainable message:
“ We don’t produce.
We reuse.”
Usage of pre existing materials, reconcepting the vintage tailoring and curating edits of archive and vintage are few of this brand’s actions that pave the way to reclaiming the term sustainability. Here is a small collection of their products to pure enjoyment of your senses:
I find what Maria does so promising in addition to its artistic allure. Here we have a gorgeous 25 year old lady with a huge following on social media. She could just relax and enjoy styling her selfies wearing the tons of free staff that influencers of her magnitude receive every day. Instead she chose to leave Madrid - Maria is Spanish - move to Paris, design her on line and create a space for real aspiration and connect with her peers, giving them the oppurtunity to reach out to a bigger audience. People who are true artists and have strong work ethics inspite of their smaller following on social media…
Would love to see more of that in the next years in fashion world, especially in my country Greece, where so many talented young people - women ever more maybe - remain in the shadow. It reminded me one of the reasons fasfem was created in the first place. Do you agree with me?
Riot pant project
Manspreading…
the practice whereby a man, especially one traveling on public transportation, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seats.
Did you even know the existence of such word?! I googled it allright… But the actual feeling that goes with it is quite familiar to me. This pressure when a man is sitting next to us and taking up our vital space; physically or/and socially.
Mina Bonakdar and Elena Buscaino decided to do something about it. The fashion and graphic designer students at Universität der Künste Berlin had a great idea for a quiet yet effective riot against toxic masculinity. They invite us to choose our favorite pair of pants and give it to them to print the following messages :
STOP SPREADING
TOXIC MASCULINITY
GIVE US SPACE
…….on the pant’s crotch!
So whenever you decide to stretch your legs a feminist message is revealed. A great way to make yourself visible, your annoyance communicated while having a sence of humor as well. The pant itself becomes a means of protest. The place of the print is radical and two dimensional; you can choose either to hide or reveal it however you feel like. Even when hiding it, a sence of empowerment kisses your genitals….
In a world that denies equal rights to womxn and queer since forever and in an industry that lacks ethos and representation, projects like that are really promising and refreshing. Fashion has the power to transform and is radical in its core…so why not become a tool for activism?
"I want a wife"
I belong to that classification of people known as wives. I am A Wife. And, not altogether incidentally, I am a mother.
Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene fresh from a recent divorce. He had one child, who is, of course, with his ex-wife. He is obviously looking for another wife. As I thought about him while I was ironing one evening, it suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife. Why do I want a wife?
I would like to go back to school so that I can become economically independent, support myself, and, if need be, support those dependent upon me. I want a wife who will work and send me to school. And while I am going to school I want a wife to take care of my children. I want a wife to keep track of the children’s doctor and dentist appointments. And to keep track of mine, too. I want a wife to make sure my children eat properly and are kept clean. I want a wife who will wash the children’s clothes and keep them mended. I want a wife who is a good nurturant attendant to my children, who arranges for their schooling, makes sure that they have an adequate social life with their peers, takes them to the park, the zoo, etc. I want a wife who takes care of the children when they are sick, a wife who arranges to be around when the children need special care, because, of course, I cannot miss classes at school. My wife must arrange to lose time at work and not lose the job. It may mean a small cut in my wife’s income from time to time, but I guess I can tolerate that. Needless to say, my wife will arrange and pay for the care of the children while my wife is working.
I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after me. I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and who will see to it that my personal things are kept in their proper place so that I can find what I need the minute I need it. I want a wife who cooks the meals, a wife who is a good cook. I want a wife who will plan the menus, do the necessary grocery shopping, prepare the meals, serve them pleasantly, and then do the cleaning up while I do my studying. I want a wife who will care for me when I am sick and sympathize with my pain and loss of time from school. I want a wife to go along when our family takes a vacation so that someone can continue to care for me and my children when I need a rest and change of scene.
I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife’s duties. But I want a wife who will listen to me when I feel the need to explain a rather difficult point I have come across in my course of studies. And I want a wife who will type my papers for me when I have written them.
I want a wife who will take care of the details of my social life.
When my wife and I are invited out by my friends, I want a wife who will take care of the babysitting arrangements. When I meet people at school that I like and want to entertain, I want a wife who will have the house clean, will prepare a special meal, serve it to me and my friends, and not interrupt when I talk about things that interest me and my friends. I want a wife who will have arranged that the children are fed and ready for bed before my guests arrive so that the children do not bother us.
And I want a wife who knows that sometimes I need a night out by myself.
I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs, a wife who makes love passionately and eagerly when I feel like it, a wife who makes sure that I am satisfied. And, of course, I want a wife who will not demand sexual attention when I am not in the mood for it. I want a wife who assumes the complete responsibility for birth control, because I do not want more children. I want a wife who will remain sexually faithful to me so that I do not have to clutter up my intellectual life with jealousies. And I want a wife who understands that my sexual needs may entail more than strict adherence to monogamy. I must, after all, be able to relate to people as fully as possible.
If, by chance, I find another person more suitable as a wife than the wife I already have, I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another one. Naturally, I will expect a fresh, new life; my wife will take the children and be solely responsible for them so that I am left free.
When I am through with school and have a job, I want my wife to quit working and remain at home so that my wife can more fully and completely take care of a wife’s duties.
My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?
A 70s feminist manifesto
The above essay was published in Μs. magazine co-founded by Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes in 1971.
Judy Brady Syfers has brilliantly outlined in this short piece the labor performed at home in addition to the paid work. A labor that mostly burdens women until this very day…
Fasfem watches : Alexandria on beauty
Women in politics is something that really interests a fasfemer; we care for reinventing our realities remember?
Alexandria Ocasio - Cortez is the female politician who has embedd in her personal ways all things fasfem stands for. She claims her feminine power and stands against the culture of diminishing women while putting on her make up, as you can watch in the video below :
We care for our style and beauty because we feel like it, it makes us strong and better at dealing with our every day challenges, not frivolous as some wants us to believe…
So put on your red lip and smile…it is your right to do so after all!
Credits : picture captured by Mark Peterson for New Yorker magazine.