Fasfem reads : The Book of Delights
So what if you decided to silence negative Nancy in your head and created this every day ritual : note one thing that made you delighted every day for the remaining quarantine time!
Ross Gay kept this commitment to write a small essay about delight every day - almost - for a year, beginning from his birthday. Resulted this marvelous book of small essays that make my every quarantine day…
Here is an extract from the ‘Joy Is Such a Human Madness’ essay, my favorite so far :
I dreamed a few years back that I was in a supermarket checking out when I had the stark and luminous and devastating realization—in that clear way, not that oh yeah way—that my life would end. I wept in line watching people go by with their carts, watching the cashier move items over the scanner, feeling such an absolute love for this life. And the mundane fact of buying groceries with other people whom I do not know, like all the banalities, would be no more so soon, or now. Good as now.
Feels like striking a chord right now, doesn’t it?
*Sanitized
I was trying on giving meditation a chance the other day. It seemed like a sane thing to do during this maddening period. So I joined a facebook group Marije - one of my favorite creatures of this world - has recently created. It was a live meditation session guided by her. When asked to journal about what would make us utterly satisfied, I found myself writting down with every tiny detail what would a day at a fasfem studio would be like. I saw the colours, I smelled the air, I felt at home. Marije was impressed by the vividness of this visualisation. I was impressed!
You see deep down there, at our core, our truths hide. Our truest truths. The ones that have nothing to do with others’ expectations of us. And now that we spend so much time with ourselves more than ever, those truths finally find the crack to emerge from.
Times are unprecedently hard. Beyond every wild science fiction scenario. Because the scenario has a writer who knows how to end it. COVIT-19 pandemic story has no such thing as a creator - even though conspiracy theories keep trying to convince us otherwise - to reveal the end. All we have are the facts.
People getting infected rapidly is a fact. Number of deaths augmenting day by day is a fact. The tremendous need for social distancing is a fact. The extreme danger the elderly, the sickened and the poor of this world are facing is an absolute fact. Domestic violence increasing numbers another fact.
But a fact also is that scientists all over the world work non stop to find ways to deal with this. A fact is that clothing brands - from collosus to small businesses - create and donate tons of face masks. A fact is that our neighbours started checking up on us. We started checking up on them as well. Nature started to breathe, to be heard of even in big cities, to get clean. I mean squeky clean. Like our hands are suppose to be every time we wash them.
To be sanitized.
As if I was trying to exorcise the conspiracy theories, I came up with my own theory. Maybe this is the time to clarify. To clean up the mess. Don’t get me wrong. I am not about to overwhelm you with productivity and self - optimization tips. During such times all of these feel superficial. And futile. What I mean is that it might be the time for humanity to gain its…humanity back. We have lost so much of it along the way. We worship emptyness and vain in some people. We marginalize other people. We stick to patriarchy and all it’s abnormities. We overconsume and exploit surroundings in unsustainable ways. We keep inventing wars. Our system is rotten and feeds off its own rotten flesh. It has to change.
To be sanitized.
As ourself needs to. You can’t clean the outside when the inside of you is still infected. So give yourself the time to think. To slow down and evaluate the situation. What weighs more in the scale of your soul? How does it make you feel? What has your current way of living offered or deprived you from? It is right there inside of you. The people you adore, the one’s who uplift you, the places you wish to live, your values, your emotions, your ethics, the things you wish to create, to offer. The life you deserve to live. Pouring out of you. So pure. All you have to do is to let it rise. To get rid of the unnecessary.
To be sanitized.
How does your slogan tee affect gender equality? Get informed. Be courageous. Wear your truth. IWD2020
Brands who push for change, who decide to donate ALL profit to gender equality cause, who commit to sustainability goals, who respect and treat women equally…these brands deserve your support.
Fasfem is dedicated to introduce you to these brands and make you feel empowered enough to live as your female gaze demands, without fear. So we fully support Fashion Revolution’s campaign :
This International Women’s Day (8th March 2020), Fashion Revolution will stand up for the millions of women and girls around the world who make the clothes we wear. While the big brands introduce collections, slogan tees or marketing campaigns centred around female empowerment, we’ll dig deeper into the people, factories and mills behind this feminist merchandise.
For more information click.
Bleach
When sun rays soften the bright colored cloth, when time passing let’s the underneath light shaded surface show, when the cocoon is fading getting ready to reveal the butterfly, when everything is getting bleached. Ready to show what lies beneath. Regenerated. Then you know it’s spring time.
Bleached denim, Proenza Schouler White Label
Let’s talk about Copenhagen Fashion Week
What is the first thing that comes on your mind around fashion weeks?
I, for instanse, develop mixed up feelings and thoughts. This hasn’t always been the case…you see I used to anticipate fashion week months, especially the January shows ( I love winter style! ). I felt so lucky to live in the era of on line, live presentations of fashion shows. To be able to become an actual viewer of this creativity parade while it was taking place. Then scroll down the street style photos for tons of inspiration. And follow insta stories for a sneak peek from backstage or the aftershow parties, dreaming to be part of all of this someday…yes I got excited. Some times I still do. For a moment or two. And then it hits me…
Alongside colourful textiles and extravagantly embodied designs walk some tough to consider issues. Fashion industry is known to have exploited badly human labor and the environment. Technology and globalization has led to an enormous growth. But in terms of fast fashion and profit gaining this translates to abuse. On people and the planet. We are ‘in dire need for an entirely new human-scale model’ as Dana Thomas claims in her investigative book Fashionopolis.
So how could an affair like fashion week fit into such new model? The tons of waste, the carbon footprint from all the travelling, the exploitive business plan that most of these brands respond to, the encouragement to overconsume, the peacocking around the streets alongside homeless people… . Can this on going game of seasonal presentations be sustainable?
People behind Copenhagen Fashion Week believe it can. They actually came up with an action plan to help push the industry to accelerate necessary and comprehensive sustainability efforts. The plan has two parts :
Part 1: innovation of the event in order to minimise climate impact.
Part 2 : sustainability requirements in order to push for change as the brands who wish to participate in 2023 affair would have to meet 17 standarts and their work would be guided by three main pillars :
Reduse
Innovate
Accelerate
Those pillars are created according to The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 12, 13, 17 which reflect standarts and agreements on human rights, environment, climate and sustainable development.
As Cecilie Thorsmark, CEO of Copenhagen Fashion Week, eloquently points out :
Fashion weeks are a symbolic, cultural focal point of the fashion world, a platform where new visions, trends and talents emerge. I therefore believe they hold tremendous potential to drive change and, if we dare to be bold, we can change how business is done.
All of the above have been unveiled in 28 January 2020 as the new Sustainability Action Plan 2020-2022: Reinventing Copenhagen Fashion Week – Reducing negative impacts, innovating our business model and accelerating industry change. Just before fashion week began…
As all of this sounded promising and hopeful, we, here at fasfem, decided to follow @cphfw. We were very happy to see Carcel do the opening show of the Copenhagen Fashion Week AW20 and brands that promote upcycling clothing, like Rare Review, thrive. Moreover, food provided by Cofoco Food throughout the events was sustainable, vegeterian or even vegan. And klar delivered a range of sustainable cleaning products to all brands backstage.
Not much you think? Well, it is a start. A fine one as far as we are concerned. Whether the plan will reach its goals at the given timeframe is remained to be seen. For now let’s explore CPHFW AW20 from our point of view….
Here are some fasfem approved trends for AW 20 which one could replicate at home with what one has :
Scarf as a top coat
.
By Malene Birger
Layers of trench coats.
Henrick Vibskov
Denim embroidery.
Ganni
Huge bows.
Lovechild 1979
Wear your
blanket.
Rare Review
Matchy bag-outfit colours.
Stand
Waterproof overall.
Rains
Net bag worn alongside a micro leather one.
Little Liffner
Not inspired enough? This is Babba C Rivera, fasfem’s CPHFW AW20 street style crash :
Fasfem gives : the Daffodil beret
You have this female figure in your life-we all do. She is delicate yet strong. She likes to wake up early in the morning to daydream but knows exactly when it is time to get out of dreamland and conquer the world. You admire her, who wouldn’t?
So what would be the perfect gift for this queen ? (Or you who wishes to become one?) A headpiece, embellished and protectively warm like the Daffodil beret. It would make her look like a fairytale come true…
Fasfem gives : the Barbs pump
The nights demand for partying. But our feet demand for comfort as well. Do yourself or your party companion a favor and get those beauties on! They sparkle enough for New Year’s Eve but they will treat your precious toes like a pair of slippers.
Fasfem party shoe checked!
Fasfem gives : a ticket to Orlando
So this is Christmas! Days are shorter but lights are brighter. We all tend to smile, to go out and about, to receive. At least those among us who are fortunate enough to do so…
But the most importand act that derives from all of this festive spirit is the act of giving. Here at fasfem we decided to dedicate the next few posts in ideas about what we would love to give to those who are important to us, including ourselves. Female attitude tends to nurture everybody except from herself. Personal fullfilment though is of huge importance for the nurturer… one can not drink from an empty cup!
First and foremost in our dream gift list is a ticket to "Orlando", the most fasfem themed opera we could wish for..let me explain.
"Orlando" is the first work by a woman to be performed by the Vienna State Opera. Olga Neuwirth’s adaptation of the Virginia Woolf novel of the same name carries the story into the present and deals with topics of gender fluidity, dispensing with the 1920s ending in the novel. Her director, Polly Graham, and libretto collaborator, Catherine Filloux, are women. Among the stars is the queer cabaret artist Justin Vivian Bond. And - drumroll - Rei Kawakubo has designed the exquisite costumes!
History is being written in Vienna so we would love to choose our companion and be part of it - wouldn't you?