| comments/feedback | |
Thanks to EVERYONE for shining light from new angles. I'm continuing to learn so much from all of you!
I hereby reveal that, in an effort to minimize my daily screen-time, I am no longer updating this page . . although I do continue to get interesting emails from around the globe. Please enjoy the comments!
Messages - January 2007 Hi Alex
I was blown away with your project. I
remember my mother shopping 'Thrift stores' during the
depression. She brought home clothes and set
the ironing board up in the yard and with cotton balls
and carbon tet....cleaned them, repaired them and
was always the sharpest dressed lady in the neighborhood.
I bought a sweatshirt at Yankee stadium in 1950
and have worn it ever since....yep 57 years and if anyone
ever took it from me....I would track them down
and kill them !
CJS
Did you make it through November…December….2007? Any scraps of clothing remaining? Sassy shoes still intact? Ari’s curls getting longer? Please….we’ve been waiting so long….. L sniff, sniff
Alex,
This project is so refreshing. As a child from a small town lower middle
class working family, this means a lot. I spent my life growing up not having what I
wanted and watching others in material delight. My parents insisted that higher
education would afford me the things they could not provide. Now in my 30's living
in a master planned community in Phoenix, Arizona my ideals have changed. My husband
and I are college graduates working as professionals. All I see are name brand
purses, clothing, luxury vehicles, vacations, etc, etc. This environment has let me
down, been a dissapointment if you will. Adults acting like middle school children.
Homeless and hungry children nearby and our kids have clothes for their stuffed animals.
Most of us with credit card debt and mortgaged to our eyeballs.
I appreciate your project and feel it may bring attention to the much needed
consumer trap. Women need to think for themselves and look at other areas of their life
for fullfillment. I am still dealing with this lack of inner satisfaction and
finding a balance. Great job, love the insight.
J
I just wanted to say that I am a middle class woman who stumbled upon your website by mistake. I have to say that you really made me stop and think. I just wanted to take a moment to say good luck in 2007. I commend you for your strength- not all of us have that but, you make me what to dig deep! S Way to go! I hope
by your example we all will take a second look at how our I hope I may be so bold as to address you by Alex,
I applaud you! I happened across your story while browsing MSN money, and
reading the article "Get off the Spending Treadmill." I must say that you
are my hero! Your web site is simply charming, and more important
your message is powerful. I was so impressed by reading your journal and
viewing the photos that I emailed your web address to everyone of my gal pals encouraging
them to visit. We all relate to your feelings and appreciate your bravery
in demonstrating exactly what makes you a great person.
I just wanted to send you a note to wish you the best of luck with your new
recycling project (I will be following your progress) and to let you know that you've got
fans out here!
Respectfully,
T
Alex: LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!!
What a great story!! I have felt exactly like you for many, many months
now. I am so sick of all these stores pushing junk into our lives (Target comes to
mind...how many sets of Christmas dishes does one need to buy in a three year span,
Valentine's Day towels, Halloween wall hangings...need I go on?) Anyhoo, I
absolutely respect on every level what you are doing and applaud your efforts.
Like you I am a Mom of three young boys...I think that really started my trend
toward not buying. Why buy and wear nice things when you are carrying spewing babies
around? And with every child we managed to move to a less "high
maintenance" place...San Diego, The South, and now thankfully Alaska...where no one
gives a moose head about what you are wearing. Most people wear the same parka for
six months in a row anyway. I have gotten off the consumer train and I could not be
happier. Maybe it is just because I have gotten a little older, or became a mom, or
move to a great place...whatever the reason I glad it came to pass. Thank you for
setting a tremendous example. I am forwarding your website to women that I know will
be on board. The others need to come to this conclusion on their own. Think of
all the great places we can take our kids because we did not get that handbag, costume
jewelry, etc. The list is endless and I apologize for the rambling. I just
wanted to say that you rock!!! Keep up the great work. I will keep checking in to
see what other neat ideas pop up.
Take care and have a safe and healthy New Year!!!
K
Hi Alex! hello,
its sure good to find someone who thinks like I do.
I love to recycle stuff.
I make alot of things from recycled stuff. one of my favorite is
room screen panels . I have made and sold several . My husband makes the frames from
recycled wood, or sometimes rebar. which I paint and panel with recycled fabrics. I
even had a little shop for a while in the SKY Village Marketplace in Yucca Valley
California where I sold mainly recycled stuff. When people found out what I was
doing I was literly bombarded with stuff to recycle. I have done decorator pillows ,
stuffed with those little sewing scraps. Lots and lots of aprons infact the apron business
paid the rent on my shop. Pocket purses are a favortite of the kids here . You can fill
them with popuri or jewlery or ????, skirts from pants or pants from skirts. My
favorite skirt I have had since 1992 , I made it from fabric I bought at what was then
payless drug store for 4 yards for a dollar. I also am an avid dumpster diver. I just
found two very nice wood rocking chairs . When word got around the sky village market
place that I like to recycle, a woman gave me four great 1930's double bed head boards
that had been water damaged and the veener was peeling a little. I painted them pale
yellow with lavender and pale blue accents and use them for backboards for outside benches
that I made from pallets. I can send you jpegs if you are interested. any way recyleing I
love to do it.
I have a great wind thing that I made from a bent up car
radiator fan that someone threw out on the desert. I painted it bright orange, and it
works as a weather vane The desert is a treasure trove of stuff to recyle
,yesterday on our way home from Las Vegas we passed a hot tub that someone had
dumped . If it is still there tomarrow I will take my truck and see how much of it I
can drag home .... I think the cedar from around the thing will make a great fence for the
yard where we keep our travel trailer . I am also working on some yard
fountains powered by solar energy from junk.
Hi, I am 35yr old guy, I want to
tell you, your "Brown Dress Project" is so so cool, it inspires me to buy
less clothes and do more recycling. I hope your project inspires lot of people. Hi Alex,
I am totally in agreement with you about not shopping for things that you don't
need. I am a divorced woman with three grown kids, on a very limited income, but
have managed to hold on to my house, and have three years left to pay off my car. I
retired in June for the tranquility of home and peace of mind. I was employed with
the Johnson County Environmental Department for almost 17 years, so I know something about
recycling. Part of my job was to come up with a new environmental fact every month
for our fax cover sheets. But I can add to a lot that I didn't use for that fax
sheet. I recycle everything from aluminum foil (blackened cookie sheets that most
yuppies would throw away) to empty Starbuck's coffee containers (they make excellent
mailers) which I use for mailing Christmas cookies to my kids and grandchild. That
is my one extragavence that I will not give up. I'm planning on growing my own
vegetables this summer; the prices at the store are abhorrent, and most fresh fruits and
veggies are sprayed with chemicals, and God-forbid spinach with e-coli bacteria. I
will also reap the rewards of toning my muscles, and getting some very good vitamin
D. Because I have always been active my life (I also danced modern, ballet, and tap)
I probably look 25 years younger than my counterparts.
Anyway, I'm thrilled to know that there are other people out there who are not
falling for the media sales pitch of what makes a person beautiful.
Keep up the good work, and your daughter will grow up healthy and be able to
survive anything on her own.
I have a son who lives in Seattle and he knows very well how to make it. He
did not have a car for almost five years after he arrived out there, but he was lucky to
land a job with Microsoft.
Take care,
C
Hi, Congratulations
on wearing your 'little brown dress' for 365 days. You are an inspiration. I
have a son and stepson in their last semesters of college - starting tomorrow.
Luckily both my husband are VERY frugal. However, as this last semester approaches - I am
even MORE frugal and you are inspiring me to NOT SPEND ONE PENNY other than what I have to
- all of 2007...I already pretty much DO this - but you are helping me to do it even with
a greater vengeance!!
I already have a very detailed 'budget' and a plan to become a millionaire
(common these days) by the time I retire (not counting the equity in our house and not
counting my husbands savings) - as long as my job survives (computer programmer). ..
and that's only calculated in a 5% interest rate. My husband had to pay about half
of his income to alimony and child support for many years, then we totally put his 2 sons
through college and mine (last 2 graduating in May 2007 Lord willing) - we also believe in
tithing to our church. Our house I paid off in 2004 and aggressively save 33% of my gross
even though I tithe the 10% also. So many people live beyond their means - we still
have the original appliances in our kitchen (bought the house 19 years ago) - my husband
has fixed the oven 4 times but I keep using it!
Anyway you probably don't want to hear all about me - I just wanted to let
you know that although I cannot wear a dress every day as you have, now I will not feel
bad at all about wearing my clothes this year and not buying anything at all.
I keep my clothes clean - and I 'rotate' them in my closet - wear them
from left to right in the closet and that way I wear everything and don't think too much
of 'what should I wear today'? cause it's all set up.. I also take the bus to work to save
on my car and gas as I get a deal at work to take it. (lets me read an extra hour a
day too)
Well - God Bless You!
Thanks for the inspiration!
L
Dear Alex, Alex- I absolutely love your
idea. We just moved from Sammamish, WA (back to Colorado) and I have to say-
the absolute air of materialism there was suffocating. We knew shortly after moving
there we didn't even have the Alex,
Wow, what a concept! I love that you did this even when others were
negative about it. You've made so many statements about our society by doing this
project. I love it! I look at the people around me and how they tear through
new cars, clothes, furniture like there's no tomorrow. People forget about what is
really important.
I would challenge you to go a step further...not use leather or animal products
in your clothing, be cruelty-free. We can easily get by without harming animals,
especially when it comes to clothing. I understand the negativeness you've
encountered. I've been a vegan since September when I saw a short film by PETA
called "Chew on This." Well, I couldn't watch the whole thing, but I
listened to part of it. It changed my life forever in a wonderful way. In
order to get the proper nutrition, I have turned into a bit of a health nut. Meat
and dairy are so bad for us. This country has been fooled by the meat and dairy
industry. I just wish I had raised my daughter the way I'm eating now. Also, I
buy organic whenever possible. But family members have gotten furious at me about
it. And I don't preach to people around me. When they ask questions, I answer
them. I'm careful not to offend anyone.
Anyway, I really admire you for this. It kind of makes the people who drown
in excess look, well, silly!
Oh, and I also love to dance, although I do make much time for it these
days. The dancing bug kind of runs in our family. So I definitely identify
with that.
Best wishes on your endeavors!
S
Alex,
hi
alex Messages - December 2006 Hello
Alex,
I just read your article about your brown dress project, and realized that
you did what I've been doing for the last 10 years.
I stopped buying new clothes to myself about 5 years ago and
just wear whatever I have in my closet. Some clothes are already so worn out,
that they tear apart like a napkin. Well, then it's a sign to use it as a cloth for
cleaning and find something else in the closet to wear...
It's very convinient and I don't spend so much money on unneeded items.
Thouhg, my teen kids don't share my view...Maybe one day they will...:)
I don't think other people care about what I wear every day. As you said
in your web site , they care about their own image.
It's great that you made a web site to tell others about your
project.
Thanks.
N
Alex , My leg warmer secret. Take an old holey sweater and cut along the shoulder seams. this makes a great line over the knee like a boot. Now you also have a sweater vest or you can cut under the arm pit seam straight across, this will make a great mini to wear over tights or jeans and will keep your fanny warm!!! if it is a turtle neck this becomes a head band. If you would rather a hat, Then cut a circle out of the left over material and sew it to one side of the the turtle neck voila, you have a hat. This is what I do to recycle my old sweaters that have been worn past a second life at sally alley. Good luck with your new project. S Loves Clothes and they don't have to be new to feel fresh. I think I’m not grasping the new project. Why make new
underpants out of tee shirts if you still have old underpants you can wear out?
MEA (who has worn homemade knickers all her life, as did her
mother and grandmother (and I assume, but you never know, great grandmother). . . and
think using up what you have is a great idea – all my aprons and nightdress were made
out of something else worn beyond the point of using for the original use.
You
are my hero! Truly a woman of respect and wit. I feel inspired to do something
similar. Soothing to a girl who is struggling with an obsession over fashion and outward
beauty.
Interestingly enough, I came across your site because I was searching for
an explanation on why it is a fashion crime to wear the same dress as an another woman for
the same occasion. I went dress shopping recently with a good friend of mine. Our
tastes couldn't match each other more, and when we wear each other's
clothes we nearly don't remember who's is what afterwards, and of course, we don't
mind. So we're in Ann Taylor Loft and see these cute but not too formal dresses on sale.
We try them on and we love them. We ask a sales person to put them on hold for us. She
looks at us in disgust: "You what? You want to buy the same dress, and wear it
to the same occasion?" I look at her in stupor, and have no clue what's wrong:
"Yes, of course, we're great friends and this would be great fun." The sales
clerk roles her eyes and stomps away, holding the two dresses an arm's stretch away from
her body, maybe so she wouldn't catch cooties from the dopes who saw nothing wrong with
buying and wearing the same item of clothing and enjoying it...
M.S.
Hello,
Just found out about your project and read through all your journal
posting.
Thanks for doing these projects and thanks for sharing your story with the
world through your internet site.
I found some of your entries to be insightful and all of them sincere,
refreshing.
Its acts like little brown dress that change society - slowly but with
permanence, 'cause change that sticks, happens not by laws or force or preaching but by
small individual consistant acts.
Little brown dress and recycled cloths were perfect examples of small
individual consistant acts. Without pretense and possibly without intent you have
influenced an unknown number of other individuals who will carry on where you leave off.
Clitchish but its like the metaphor of the beating of a butterfly wing in
China changing the weather in Florida.
Carry on girl!!!!
S
I think what you did is very cool. I pretty much do the same thing. I have a couple jeans that I use over and over and just change my top. I don't like brand labels displayed on my clothing either. I try to look for things that don't put their label plastered everywhere to been seen. I like them to be hidden. After all they are not paying me to where their clothing. Every piece of clothing I have would fit in a small suitcase. I don't like to pay big bucks to where a logo. I just find it very hard to spend an arm and a leg for something as simple as clothing. Sincerely,
C
Messages - November 2006 Dear
Alex,
I found your site after a recommendation from Sara Scaturro, a friend in
NYC, and I really like your projects and writings. I am a swedish PhD-student in fashion
design working on hacking and subconstructive practices in low-level fashion. Engaging in
it both practically and in reflection (making a series of cookbooks on how to remake the
clothes that are dying in the back of the wardrobe. it is now forming a small pdf
"recyclopedia" - at www.selfpassage.org) some texts on my research is also on the website if you are interested.
I just want to send you an encouragement and best greetings and wishes. I will continue to follow your works with great interest!
all the best wishes and regards from Otto.
Hi Alex!
My friend linked me to your site last night, and I've just read the
whole journal for your Little Brown Dress year... what an inspiration! The past six months
have been a small revolution for me, I've been really questioning society's valuation of
people based on their belongings. I've gotten rid of half of my "Stuff", I've
had awful moments where I realise that I identify some things as being Me. "I am
Because I Own"... it's confronting letting these things go, to realise that ME,
MYSELF and I cannot be quantified, commodified, bought, tamed, simplified or
easily understood. It opens my eyes to life in all it's terrifying entropy and
uncertainty. I think maybe that is the same identification people have with their
clothing? You have certainly made me muse on my own relationship to clothing... especially
at work (I am a receptionist for a government agency). I did note this morning that the
first thing I went to say to my boss was "I like your jacket"...
I thought you'd be interested in this: http://www.lintrezza.com
It's Linda Cockburn's website, she and her family decided to try and live
for six months without spending any money...
Sorry for the blither, you've sparked off many ideas...
- S
Hi.
I live near Palm Springs, California. I grew up in L.A. County though. And this area
out here in the desert, is one of the most superficial places I have ever lived. I love
your brown dress idea and the fact that you actually went Hi,
Alex,
I ran across your site about the Brown Dress while looking for
instructions for making a doll dress pattern. I admire your sense of adventure
and willingness to go out on a limb to prove a point, if only to yourself! I'm often
criticized for going to war over a principle and I'm soooo glad to know you're out
there taking the same heat. It's important to stand for something and I will
think of you whenever I'm chastised in the future for standing up for an ideal.
n
Dear Alex,
Bravo on the little brown dress project.
Hopefully you will inspire more women to examine
their compulsive need to shop for more new stuff. I am 55 and remember
the painful years of being self-conscious for wearing the same garment for more than two
days in a row at work and never two years in a row. Big city east coast
girl at the time.
In addition to the above madness, I as well as
many of my women friends spent thousands of dollars and became deeply in debt to credit
card companies just to "keep up".
Debt = another form of imprisonment.
Debt is a very sobering
experience and once out of it, I had no wish to return. Also I had a very thorough
look at the fashion/advertising industry.
I rebelled in my 40's and started up a wardrobe
that I referred to as "uniforms". This consisted of
functional, presentable, and very cheap clothes to wear to work. My
theory, at the time being that work was to earn money - not so that I had to spend money
to be presentable for work. I had better things to do with money. I
came up with about 5 outfits, coordinated to mix and match. Hmm, cheap,
uncomfortable (polyester!) and very ugly stuff.
Gratefully, I hung on to many of my clothes from
the 80's and 90's that were beautiful albeit perhaps no longer "fashionable".
But oooooh the lovely fabric. You have inspired me to
revise my thinking and use the fabric in these clothes for alternative ideas.
Putting my sewing skills to use, I now own a
beautiful black silk skirt (the original dress had those ridiculous sequins sewn in at the
neckline - HA!). New queen size bed required new sheets, old sheets are
now lovely pj's and nightgowns or used for kites and on it goes. I will check you
website often. You have some delightful ideas!
You have inspired many women with your philosophy
and shared your knowledge.
Thank you,
A
and your site and the message...
I wish you would have more pictures of yourself dancing....
they are the best............. UP the ARTISTIC element so women can bridge the
gap!1
I applaud YOU.
THANKS
D
Dear Alex, I am enjoying your site: funny, intellectual, challenging. I was searching for brown shoes and found ‘brown dress”. I am a lover of “The Goodwill” (kind of like The Ohio State University J )but searching in vain for flat, brown shoes which is so out-of-character for me. My right-brained-ness has taken over and I was skimming/reading your journals out of order. I am fascinated by your life, lifestyle and way with words. In my quick perusing I did not catch where you live. Love your projects and that you will allow yourself to be so vulnerable. Really love the idea of recycling clothes!!! Mostly just wanted to write and say that I love your site. A
I
have a comment about your little brown dress project. Interesting. However,
after viewing your photos, it seems you still practiced some form of fashionable
expression. Socks and sweaters. I am curious to know if you purchased or
created any new clothing in that year. Also, how did you feel at the end? Is
consumerism still something you feel has no value?
Messages - October 2006 Dear Alex Martin, A friend told us of your projects and directed us to your website. We are two
theatre students in the third year of a degree at Dartington College of Arts in We are currently making dresses out of household items such as dusters and
tea towels and shall endeavour to wear them for the duration of our project. We will let
you know how this turns out! It would be really helpful if you could answer a few questions for us. Would you consider the brown dress project to be a feminist work? We have
found in ourselves a lot of conflicting attitudes towards feminism. Would you for instance
describe yourself as a feminist? Before you began your brown dress project, had you found that other people
were thinking similarly in regard to the economic system and image that is pushed onto us?
If so, why do you think people are considering this now more than ever? Is this because of
a negative vision of the future that people can see, as the world becomes even more money
driven? It seems to us that there is a general feeling of concern in society about
the way that we are living. There seems to be a lot of fear amongst people about where we
are heading in regard to war, climate change and social changes. We are finding, through
this project, a lot of people and organisations trying to instigate small changes to get
back to a more simple and community minded state of living. Has any of this been a consideration for you in your work? Do you feel there
is a general feeling of a need to make changes? What do you feel the brown dress project has achieved? Was it a simply a
personal project, or has it influenced others to consider different ways of living? I hope these questions are not too hefty but it would be really good to hear
your opinions. Hope to hear from you soon and we will try and send you some pictures of our
dresses when they are finished. E and A
Hello
Alex, Dear
Alex: D & A I've had fantasies of doing the same thing. I'm an at-home mom of a two year old now, after having been in the "professional" design world. I find that women, especially when they congregate (groups of moms- in my case) can be exceptionally judgemental of each other. Sadly, I found myself doing the same thing. What is she wearing? Where did she get that bag? How are her kids dressed? Oh my god! I've mentally decided to "opt-out" of the competition several times and maybe because I grew up wearing a uniform in Catholic school; I've adopted an ad-hoc uniform of my own. I do applaud your persistence and dedication tho! I'm constantly swayed by the cute little fair isle sweater in the catalogue! Alex, You
are right about the commercialism and fashion. I do realize I like many other women
have more clothes than I will ever wear. Although I donate I still find I still have
too many clothes. I
really admire what you are doing. Thanks for helping us to remember we do need to
simplify our life. J. Marion, NC Dear Alex, I was delighted to read and learn about your little brown dress project! Very nice! Looks like you are living my life . . . of a limited recycled glorious wardrobe! Continued success, E Hi, I just discovered you site and found it quite fascinating what you did with your brown dress project. I really like your new project as well. With that I can really associate. I have been doing that for a while (although not neccessary exclusively). You probably know about this, but I just wanted to let you know in case you didn't. There is a blog http://www.wardroberefashion.blogspot.com/ where many ladies including me post our refashioned things. It's great to get inspired! So, in case you are not part of it yet, I wanted to invite you to look at it and consider joining. We would definitely benefit from your ideas. N from Serbia Hi
Alex, Dear
Alex Hi Alex, I think you project is great! I wish America's were less wasteful and would wear and remake things with what they have. I have never been one to keep up with fashions, but try to buy things that would not go out of style. I would still have things that are 30 plus years old, if I hadn't changed sizes. Love your ideals and keep your projects going. J from Valparaiso, IN You are GREAT. You are sending the right message to kids and adults alike about excessive consumerism and waste. Thank you for your efforts. Just wanted to let you know there ARE like-minded folks out there. Take care, M what are you doing on a website / advertising if you care so much about the environment, you are an opprotunist Messages - September 2006
Well done Alex! hello alex...interesting project...i also limit my consumerism...i don't shop...my friends think im just cheap, but, really, i've spent the last ten years downsizing...everything in my life, no car, hence, limited work availabilities (downsized from the tv/film industry hair dept to grunt labourer and i walk to work and every where else...will use transit to visit my successful cheap friends who won't pick me up and live just outside the city limits...no cable tv...i abuse the internet and the pc stand is my table...my wardrobe is limited to comfortable safe grunt work and it is my fashion statement...i only purchase nutritious bev/food products for optimum health benefits as i am over 50...i cringe when co-workers suggest checking out the $5.00 racks in ladies fashion dept. wearing my thread bare purrfect fitting denim shirt...i have one glass and on and on...basically if i cant kick it out the door, i don't want it...when i heard the "little brown dress" news brief i traveled to your site...thanks for listening...i luv your dress...did you knit your socks and make all of your accessories? you go girl interesting press you are getting b, north vancouver, bc Hello Alex, I saw a piece about you in my local Recycling Newsletter and I was curious to check out your website. Your little brown dress was an excellent idea! I commend you for doing such a good job protecting our environment. If I lived closer to you, I would pay you to make me clothes! I like your website and what you stand for so much, that I hope you don't mind I sent an e-mail to Ellen Degeneres in Burbank, California to have you on her show because you are such a good influence...a role model, in fact. I hope to meet you someday and if Ellen contacts you, I hope to be on her show with you! I will continue to support your website and I'm so glad to know there are people out there like you! Thank you! A Bethlehem PA Alex:
Hi! I am a student in New York and in my Theory for English majors class this morning, my professor mentioned a book Not Buying It by Judith Levine and your Little Brown Dress Project. We had been discussing Carl Marx's determinist ideas about how we are conditioned by material circumstance and even if we are conscious about the fact that the material defines us as individuals, we cannot easily, if at all, rise above this. I am not sure I agree with this; I haven't thought about it long enough to decide what I think. We talked about the idea of department stores and how that concept nearly abolished the idea that you go to a store to buy a specific thing. Instead, you go to a department store to wander around and buy what you like. People expect products (clothes, iPods, etc.) to "speak to them." You go shopping without knowing what you want and then when you see an item, the desire is created. Marx talks about use-value (a table is valuable because you can sit and eat on/at it) and exchange-value (a table is valuable because it is a certain company's brand, with a certain style such as rustic, or rich-looking). We shop at department stores and malls where the exchange-value "calls to us," inciting desire, basically buying and consuming items in extreme excess. Anyway, my professor mentioned your LBD project and I decided to check it out. I thought it was really interesting in relation to this morning's lecture in my class because you were eliminating the desire for , in this case, clothes. I would like to do something similar, was the first thought that came from my young, idealist change-the-world mind. I thought of scenarios that would make it difficult to wear the same dress... internship interviews, my catering job with a uniform, some active things (hiking, snowboarding, etc.) and to live the kind of life I lead, it would certainly be a sacrifice of sorts. Or maybe just a challenge. I wonder if i am strong enough to try it. One other consideration came to mind. This spring I am supposed to be studying abroad in Beijing, China, and although I could easily wear the same thing (and have the identity - the weird american with the same ratty dress on :) ) i find myself thinking, well maybe i would wait until i got back home to do the dress thing, or the recycled dress thing (i do sew). but then i thought, well if i am making exceptions, maybe i need to do something like this to sort of free myself and my mind from the constraints of consumerism and buying to excess and worrying about physical apperances. Maybe I would want to try to continue this in China. It would add another dimention to it, while being in another culture i can compare the responses etc of the two cultures/countries. I hope I am explaining myself well enough.
I know this is a long email and you probably recieve many a day, but I wonder what your thoughts are on the studying abroad thing and/or anything that came out of my rambling mind onto this page. I would greatly appreciate even the smallest response if you can make the time.
Thanks!
J
I am reading your
journal about your year in the little brown dress. I am at the point right now where
you mention seeing a homeless man on the side of the road, and how you realize your family
would never let that happen to you. And I can’t help
but think how incredibly lucky you are. To have that, and more, to know it. To
have the freedom to make choices, to wander, and know you would never fall off the face of
the planet. Thank you for sharing
parts of your life with me, through just sending your best wishes out there. Take
care, and consider this a virtual hug. J A friend I think that you came up with a great idea. What i think is interesting how
people thought this to be so different. Wasn't in in the 1800 and early
1900 that people wore the same thing everyday because they could not afford to buy
more colthes. If only teh rest of the world would get on board. I like how you
changed the look by adding different colors and different articles of clothes. I
have one question. How much money do you think you saved buy not buying any
clothes?
J California
You are awesome! LOL
I hate to shop, could care less what the
fashion trend is and probably own maybe one good week's worth of "work"
clothes to my name and refuse to pay the high prices to get new ones. When I do buy,
I buy basic.....black and brown slacks. I have basic shoes in same for summer
and winter. I wear them all year long, each season, every year until they
cannot be mended any longer.
I work in an office environment and we are
required to wear business attire. So, the slacks are worn every week and I
have just enough tops to mix it up enough to where no one really notices.
I look forward to keep up with your newest
project.......
Who cares what everyone else thinks!
Hi Alex! You' re an inspiration!..I'm sending the link to my sister, a friend, and my 3 kids, and, since my husband Steve is scared of computers, Ill print it out for him to read. Have you ever heard of "Buy Nothing Day" - it's always the day after Thanksgiving. My son Ian (he's 21) goes to the mall every year on that day and pushes around a shopping cart advertising it. It's pretty funny..the security guards always end up making him leave, but they are always really nice about it ... Pope John Paul thought America's biggest symptom of a spiritual crisis was our massive consumerism. You can actually feel it when you're in a 'buying' frenzy, at least I can, which is why I know that you are on the right track. Anyhow, I'm probably your mom's age (51) and for the last few years, expecially since 9-11, Steve (59) and I have both felt like we're in our teens and 20's again. We can't stomach the news anymore... certainly not to watch repeat after repeat after repeat of 9-11.. It was bad enough that day. Move on.. Anyway..didnt mean to ramble..best of luck to you, and thanks for the inspiration! With Love, L, Grand Junction, Colorado Your ugly brown dress makes me actually remember why I liked consumerism, you
make wasters say, see, hippies are dirty and think their so cool. LAME. But
thats not ther point of making a spectacle and parody of yourself is it? True
sacrifice is to learn to connect to those who are far away from your mission, find your
commonalities, bring them closer to the truth, let the middle ground be found a foot
closer to you than it was before, and it is soon just commonality. That is true
sacrifice. To compromise with the enemy, to let yourself remember what it is like to
be lost in ignorance, to be without a light spirit because of the crap like consumerism
and waste that hangs around your neck like a dead cat! stinky and sad. You
have to remember because its how you can relate to them so you can connect and then they
recognize themsleves enough in you that they can imagine another way for even
themsleves. The brown dress is so transparently ego based/ holier than
thou, even in its awful design and blatant rebellion against the staus quo. You
wont sway them, you will solidify their course. quit trying to prove your special
(how much more decadent in effort and self centeredness than the average wasteful fool is
it to take a picture of yourself everyday and think about the BROWN DRESS PROJECT! than to
say, blindly buy a latte everyday. Let yourself in on your secret that your not,
then you can have a function, not just a self serving purpose. Its easy to be
obnoxious, difficult to be teachable (humble).
Let's see. Brava. I find your
projects admirable and emulatable. Personally, I sew and knit because I like doing
it and I would like to save money and natural resources, but I still like shopping at yard
sales and (shame) eBay and I think that is a shopping addiction. Working on
it. I have found $50 worth of yarn and needles at a yard sale for $5, so there. Hi Alex, I am a reporter in Vancouver, BC. My Dad pointed me toward your website. As a self-described fashionista, cursed with a love for good quality but blessed with a conscience, I was blown away by your Brown Dress project. It has inspired me to re-assess my own habits of consumption, (something I've gently started doing in the last couple of years since amassing a ridiculous credit card debt). I have decided not to buy any new clothing, shoes or accessories for a year. A much milder version, but one step at a time! So far reaction has been unlike anything I'd have predicted....I can only imagine how people reacted to your much more dramatic statement! Can I interview you for a piece to run on the radio station I work for in Vancouver? It would take less than 5 minutes over the phone....the station I work for is News 1130. If okay, there' s no big hurry -- sometime in the next couple of weeks would be great! Sincerely, T Hello Alex Your project is over, but I am just hearing about it today. Reading comments, can't help but notice the ideas for sustainable, renewable project. I sew, not enough, but have altered from fabrics I love from clothing I have purchased in order to not have to throw away a memory. Another useful tip from my family of Scots women was to save all the buttons from things being thrown away or consigned to the rag bag. That was always one of the main reasons for purchasing in the first place: details do count. Hating to shop (I could have been a man's brain on this issue) I find myself living out of my 30 year old closet, and loving it. So I was happy to see that others have the same feelings and I'm not so freak-y after all. It gives one intense pleasure not to do without, as it is from within. Good luck, enjoy your time - it is too short. One final thing: www.freecycle.org Keep it out of the landfills. j Hi, Alex, Was thinking of your camping trip. Did the recycled items pretty much cover the activities you wanted to do? Any new interesting recycled items added to your fall collection? Thought you might enoy knowing that on the Simple Living site a couple of people are starting a project of recycled and/or homemade clothing. The group enjoyed your brown dress project as well. So it seems like more people are enjoying creating or re-creating their wardrobe. On the SWAP sewing plan, the addition to the 2007 challenge will be that one of the 11 items needs to be reversible. I was thinking about that with regard to your project. Probably if if one item was a multi-large size, and another was a size or two larger, the largest item would work as a sort of reverse-lining if it were used more like yard goods with the slightly large item setting the size and providing a bit of seam allowance. I'd be interested in your ideas or anyone elses about how to do a recycled reversible item. S
Hi Alex, But I haven't done anything with
clothes, fashion, make-up, jewelry, etc. yet. It's difficult. At times I want
to devour an August InStyle mag, but mostly I'd like us all to be less consumption,
fashion and celebrity oriented. Brava for you!!!! I am anxious to see what
else you do with this concept. You should write a book, don't you think?!
Messages - August 2006 For your project for this years with the focus on turning old into new or transforming old clothing I was thinking that a couple of themes match the process. One is process by which caterpillars turn into moths or butterflies. Some names from that might be any of the following words plus Project. Cocoon Chrysalis Butterfly Name of one of your favorite Moths or Butterflies (Audubon id books could be useful for this or some websites) http://butterflywebsite.com/gallery/index.cfm http://www.whatsthiscaterpillar.co.uk/america/index.htm http://www.whatsthiscaterpillar.co.uk/ The second theme I can think of is a phoenix rising from the ashes and being reborn/transformed. Names that come to mind for that are Phoenix Textiles Phoenix Wardrobe Project The thrid idea that comes to mind is Rumpelstiltzkin in which straw is turned into gold. The name that leads me to is The Straw into Gold Collection I also thought about how nature transforms the landscape with the seasons. I couldn't really think of a good name from that though other than perhaps Winter into (your other favorite season) Textiles. S
When you're cute, you look good in anything! Which you do. What about me, fat, old and a "boy"? How about a pattern for me, but in black? taanks, m
Can't remember how exactly I happened on your website but it is fascinating. Probably was when I was reading the Seattle news website. What a statement to make about our society. We are so spoiled and wasteful and I am right up there with most everyone, although I try to recycle and consume somewhat responsibly. Anyway, congratulations on what appears to be a very successful protest against rampant consumerism. I started to say American consumerism but I think it is somewhat world-wide. Your recent comments about spending too much time updating the beast
hit home. I love communicating with people and recently have found myself
caught up with all the options available on the internet, rather than working on the
simple communication with those I already know (home, small local community - they just
are not EXCITING anymore - at least that is my rationalization) Guess I
will have to work on that - the sustainability of local communication!
Anyway - enjoy your writing and observations. Keep everyone
thinking!
Sincerely,
S
Tensed, Idaho
just wanted to say
you rock!! my friend sent me the link, who got it from her friend, etc... UK Alex,
This morning my husband showed me and
article about your brown dress project. I would like to know why you took on this project.
We have just moved to an exclusive area in southern California where they are filming the
show on Bravo called The real Orange County Housewives. It seems to be a very
materialistic world that we live in. I am the mother of five, 3 of which are teenagers. I
have been thinking about your project all day and have read most of your journal. I was
wondering though if you could please explain better to me why you choose to do this. I
think I may have a very valuable lesson for my kids and would like your input. I have
spent the last hour in my closet and have come up with a black dress and a black skirt
that I think I could wear everyday for a year. I look forward to your response.
Thanks
T
I just heard about your project and I love it! I feel the same way about consumerism / spending as you do – but I’m not quite as radical – but I do have my ways LOL – like I refuse to pay 5 dollars a day to park my car – so I walk a mile getting much needed exercise and have quiet time to myself - also I try to buy clothes have more than one purpose; ie clothes that I can wear to work and also play in. In fact recently I was dating someone and he looked in my closets and he said – you don’t have many clothes at which point I felt proud of myself! D Hi,
Alex,
Hope you are having lots of fun with your new wearables project.
I've been thinking some about your brother's comments about your overall
project. I do agree some about how people can spend so much time on the web
that they don't connect to people in their community. However I think for projects
such as this, balance is the key. For people who are leading with interesting ideas
and projects, I think it helps if they connect some with the greater world to help spread
useful and interesting ideas. A good example of this is the PathtoFreedom website
where a family is growing over 6000 pounds of organic food a year in their very small
yard. They spend most of their time working on their projects, a small bit of time
doing local events, and media projects, and an occasional bit of time posting about their
adventures on their website.
The other thing I have seen is that when a business or web project does
take off and become successful that often friends, relatives, acquaintances, and
faux-friends will try to make the successful person stop or slow way down out of
jealously, resentment that the person is no longer spending every possible moment with
them, embarrassment over an innovative project, or the belief that women should be seen
and not heard. It does bother me that whatever the case, you seem to have accepted
this and been effectively silenced on your new project. So I thought I'd offer some
support toward the value and appreciation of your thoughts and projects for the greater
community.
S hi,
I may be living on the other corner of the earth away from
you but I think you are doing quite an astonishing work. I must say that your passion and
originality really impress me and give me a lot to think about my whole life as well. Our
belief and the way we see things around us are so much influenced by the people
around us that we have totally forgotten who we are.
I just want to say thank you to you for after reading
your littlebrowndress article, I have suddenly realsed so much thing about
myself.
Hi Alex I’ve only just heard about your “little brown dress” exercise. I know it’s a bit late – but well done! I heard about your story from a very interesting site we have her in Australia – a couple who have spent 6 months trying not to spend a dollar – living off food grown/made on their suburban block, using solar power, composting toilets etc etc (I actually work for a company that makes a no-flush composting toilet – ideal for our water starved country). Anyways back to Linda and Trevor and their son Caleb. It’s a great story and Linda wrote a book about it, as well as a diary type blog. Their new adventure is building a straw bale home with minimal materials that contribute to co2 emissions etc. Take a squiz (which is aussie for “look”) at their website www.lintrezza.com – imagine not even being able to go food shopping, not just clothes shopping?!?! No retail therapy anytime!!! I am really enjoying your “story” – so thank you for sharing it with us all. I been finding it very entertaining, as I am sure you will find Linda, Trevor and Caleb’s adventure. Cheers & thanx for sharing your fun. Linda -- How about making clothes from non-co2 emitting fabric, or fabric that hasn’t used 20 zillion gigalitres of water to produce? How about instead of making a non-fashion statement only you could also make a statement about how much it costs us environmentally to produce goods that emit hazardous chemicals and the cost to the earth water wise, fossil fuel wise etc etc. The fabric required will be Hemp! How about you grow some – make it into fabric and then make your clothes? It’s only a thought When do you wash the dress ? And how often ? We want to start something like this at work. (little brown suit ) A
Dear Alex, Congrats on your brown dress experience and also for sharing it with
others. You hit a nerve with thousands of women who are tired of this fashion/consumerism
nonsense. You are causing me to examine what I can do without, and for that I thank
you.
God bless,
J
Alex, Thank you so much for doing this project! A fellow "thrifty" mom
directed me to your blog, and it's such an inspiration! I'd never thought of going as far
as you have, but I can, and have, reduced my wardrobe at times to what I needed to go a
week without washing, and most of that was purchased second hand. My daughters had
very few new clothes growing up, I dressed them in second hand and remade clothes and
clothes made from fabrics I was given. At 21 and 16, they both are amazingly free of the
fashion obsessions of their peers. When they do shop, they buy (secondhand) for quality,
durability and versatility. My older daughter has built a future "work" wardrobe
for less than $5 - 3 pairs of neutral pants, 2 neutral jackets, and 4
blouses. Her only "fashion" expression is in hats, and all of those are
ones I've made for her, and I think she views them more as art than fashion. Her sister is
much the same, though with a distinctly personal flair in her clothes.
We wear clothes until they're worn out (I have shirts and jackets over 10
years old), then I get them to remake into shopping bags, hair bands, quilt blocks,
etc. Our annual clothes spending for the three of us is, I think, about $170,
and most of that goes for shoes, work clothes and underclothes. I need shoes with special
support, and those actually account for half our spending alone. My sewing skills
aren't up to suit jackets, but I get very nice, washable ones from thrift shops for
$5 - $8 each. I'd never thought of making our own underwear, but I think we'll now be
looking at that as a use for old t-shirts.
Our reasons are complex, - thrift that has most of its roots in
environmentalism, and economic and feminist ethics. I don't believe sweat shops benefit
anyone in the long run, and I don't want to benefit by such a system. And I believe
"fashion and beauty" expectations limit women more than anything else in
the US culture, and do more damage to their self-image.
Thanks again, and I hope you find time to post at least some updates on
your new project.
R. in Austin
Hi! I just learned about you today, and I'm partly thrilled and partly annoyed at the universe for showing it to me (yay!) so late (boo!). Nonetheless, that was very cool and appeals to my specific type of nerdery. See, I am seriously addicted to sewing and thrifting, so I can very much relate to your thrill of having control over your clothes. I have sewn so much stuff over the years, that hardly a day goes by where I don't wear something I've made. Usually it's several pieces. And what I didn't make, I either thrifted or got from a "real" store six years ago. I can't remember the last time I shopped at a "real" store for something other than clearance leotards and tights for ballet (and trust me, several leotards are cut out and in queue!). So yes, serious applause from me! It's so normal to me to either dream up my clothes or go treasure-hunting for them. Once on a LiveJournal craft community, a girl wrote that she had a very vivid dream and she remembered all the outfits she wore. So she made them! I sadly don't have the link anymore, but the clothes were cute, like a skirt with felt elephant cutouts going around the bottom. Might be a fun idea in the coming year! I've also suceeded in making my own underwear, and I wear it all the time. I swapped around the tops and bottoms from a few different swimsuit patterns I had to find the perfect combo. Doesn't take much knit fabric, so I cruise the remnants pile like crazy. Lastly, for underwear, I cannot recommend a certain book enough, which is "The Undies Book" by Nanette Rothacker. Dirt cheap at the link because it is sadly out of print. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684146053/sr=8-1/qid=1154750599/ref=sr_1_1/103-4034483-4104611?ie=UTF8 And now I will stop gushing, but sewing clothes and knitting makes me SO EXCITED! I hope to sew clothes for a living someday. It's like my language. Happy Sewing!! Sincerely, A Alex – I’ll miss your updates. I’m sorry you’ve taken this step but I understand. It does make perfect sense. I was (am) dying to see a home-made swimsuit and hear your further reviews of those flimsy shoes. Please consider monthly (or so) updates - at least, to let us know how it’s going (or IF it’s going). I hope it goes well for you! I’ll be interested to hear what you learn from this year. B
Alex, I found out about your project(s) in the Utne Reader digest that comes
weekly via e-mail. I found it very inspirational and thought provoking (in a good
way). I printed the pattern and if I can scrape together some time I think I will
make the dress out of sustainably producted hemp fabric.
I read your opeing and have a comment or question - I'm not sure
which and I'd like your thoughts on it, if you have time. If you don't I understand.
I am a working mommy, too.
In the FAQ's you state "But on a feminist note, let's stop
agreeing that the best way for women (in particular) to "express themselves" is
by purchasing new wardrobe items and putting together daily outfits."
Ok, I agree - COMPLETELY. The emphasis on appearance is
nothing but a method of oppression. However, in the photos I noticed how you layered the
dress for colder weather, certain events, etc. (Some of the outfits were great.)
While this is practical and neccessary, is it not also a method of expression? How can it
not be? I understand that who you are is not defined by what you wear (contrary to popular
social constructions), but you still have to put together what you wear each day if for
not other considerations but the weather and your planned activities. This in turn
is expresses something about you as a person.
Perhaps I am thinking too much. (I have been accused of this
before.) Lately I have begun to question that I have perhaps simply
replaced mall shopping and mainstream fashion with Goodwill and urban anti-fashion, which
is now a fashion itself. Afterall, I am still expressing myself with my attire and
appearance. It is just that now I wear no makeup, refuse to do anything with my hair other
than put it in a scarf or bandana or hat, wear the same practical shoes and bag daily,
etc. But this is very definately a statement of who I am and what I believe and the way I
construct the outfits is definately a creative outlet for me. At the very least, it
expresses that I walk a lot and don't work in a "professional" or
"business" environment.
So how do we escape? Can we? If we all ran around in little
brown dresses would we simply have replaced mass consumerism with standardization? Would
that be any less oppressive? Would it be any more sustainable? Your thoughts?
Thanks for doing your project. We need people like you to push the
boundaries and question the norms.
Thank You, L
How to make undies out of Tshirts, and especially to utilize the Tshirt design while doing so. S Messages - July 2006 Hi
Alex, Alex I think your little
brown dress experiment was fabulous. Deep down in my soul there is a minimalist
that, like a prairie dog, pops its head out once in a while. I have 3 grown kids who
I tried to raise simply against a cultural backdrop of excess. They turned out OK
and on the simple side. Not easy. Anyway we are glad it
wasn’t the ‘little brown pants’. We all think you have great legs.
A friend
posted your link on hipmama.com. I really enjoyed looking through your photos and website.
I'm curious whether you have a pattern for the undies you made. I would love to make my
own. I generally only purchase stuff from the thrift store but I buy all my underwear and
socks new. I would love to just make my own instead. What a great idea! I have oodles of
fabric that I keep to make quilts to donate so I'm sure I could rustle up enough for some
underwear. If you haven’t
thought of a name just yet, since you keep saying they are pre-fabbed… why not
go with that and name your project “Pre(T)-fab-ulous?”
I love this! I too sew a lot of my own clothes and many of my kids. I love the saying "the intentional wardrobe" and think it would make a good name for your project. Maybe you could turn it into an Intentional Wardrobe Movement. If so, I'd be happy to jump on the bandwagon. Thanks for something great to read.
J
Hi Alex It must be strange to get mail now from other crazies you don't know.
Just a couple of quick things
1. congratulations! great concept and you followed it through, guess that's a
dancers persistance & training
2. you are also a young mum (me too) double congrats
3. you are inspiring, without a doubt
4. i hear your message loud & clear and feel supported by your actions
5. i am an australian, 36, married to a CA boy, two kids, own busines, love life
6. i am coming your way for a two week family visit to Vashon Island. first time
up to WA. hope to see a bit of seattle
7. good luck with the new project. i am loving it!
sincerely
M
I so admire the nonconformist in this concept. I wish I could be tenacious
enough to do something like wise, but alas..I'm a big coward.
D
Alex, thank you....for making us all think about our individuality. I find the fashion clones wandering about the globe to be ever so boring. Here in Oz, nearly every female TV presenter is a Jennifer Aniston lookalike, when it comes to hairstyle. And everybody seems to be raiding the same wardrobe for clothes. Love the idea of making your own clothes....what fun!! I can't sew a stitch, but shall give it a go....the gaps in the seams should at least add to the individuality of my style!! :) L in Oz.
Ceud měle fŕilte!
Alex, Greetings Alex from Melbourne, Australia's fashion capital.
I'm delighted you've now had the Aussie 'exposure' for your fabulous LBD
project...
If you hadn't been in Seattle, I would have suspected you were from Canada, where
silliness is legendary.
Of course, our businessmen wear the same dress every day, but its dull old
suits... while business women are forced to dress up. Of course, they emply duplicates not
the same garment... so well .done.
As a member of Slow Food and someone who wears the same shirt (blue R M Williams)
every day (well, I've got several of them), I appreciate how liberating the whole
experience must have been for you.
Also, as an event director in USA and Australia, a tv chef, wine producer and
author, (www.tasting-australia.com.au,
www.australiaweek.com, www.consumingpassions.com.au, www.convivium.com.au), I much admire your
imagination - and persistance.
You have an Australian fan.
If ever you're planning to do anything Down Under, get in touch with your
new fan,
Bliss wishes, Ian
Alex, do you think
you could make a project out of learning to use the apostrophe correctly? You have plenty
to spare so you could recycle them. M
Hi, just wanted to say that I found your site hilarious.
Good on you. Loved the photos.
What a great thing to do.
As a wearer of vintage recycled clothes myself I have found a kindred spirit,
besides they always fit better the second time around.
Good luck with the next project.
Kind regards,
H
Hi Alex, Actually you have the same name as my daughter! I heard about your site on local radio (ABC891) this morning and having a look at lunch time. Must commend you on your thought-provoking project. I must forward your site details to some of my friends and rellies. Best wishes for the future, Greg Quilliam Alex, My Aunt Donna
shared your site with me and I think your brown dress project
was brilliant. I agree, I'm outraged about the price of clothing, the pressure to
purchase to keep up with style, and the exhaustion of composing daily outfits. I
sometimes go years without purchasing anything new but socks and underwear. Hi Alex, learned about your "little brown dress project" from NWCN (cable news)......loved your performance and your idea of developing (or you may have already) a clothing line based on recycle garments. I've worked in fashion as a designer, stylist, and patternmaker. I still engage in doing creative things for my family with recycle, reuse and reinvent. I applaud your creativity. Keep me posted of your going ons, I currently live here in the NW. I 'd love to pass it on, and view your stuff when I travel to Seattle----- as sustainable living is now and for our future. In Portland and the South I've heard clips about designers who are putting together cute stuff reusing cloth, I feel your art is a part of our environmental salvation. Thank you for being as creative as you are, T
Hi Alex, just read your article in the Times Local section...very interesting turn of events to your very original idea of "The Little Brown Dress". I will enjoy watching the updates of photo's from the road trip. Good luck recovering it...you'll probably have to go on some clue filled treasure hunt to discover it's location. Regards,
W
I listened to you
on our local radio station this morning, CKNW, Vancouver, BC Canada. I have just
been exploring your web site and will be forwarding your URL onto all my female
contacts. I hate the way the fashion industry dictates what to wear every
year. Clothes are very expensive and trying to find something that fits properly is
very time consuming. What you have done will make a change in the fashion industry,
hopefully.
I think it's cool that you left the dress on the stage at the end. It reminded me of the U.S. wrestler left his shoes on the mat after beating near-overwhelming odds it at the 2004 Olympics: Great job.
Hello, Your Little Brown Dress project was fascinating, and I'm intrigued by your
recycled project.
What I am wondering is whether you are going to completely remake pieces
of clothing, or just modify them? (I.e., if you have a second hand pair of pants, would
hemming them or changing some slight aspect of their apparance count, or would you need to
do something more radical, like transform it into a skirt or a hat or whatnot?)
Also, if I may be so bold as to ask: How are you making your underwear?
Thanks!
C
Hi Alex,
Another (right-wing,
conservative Christian) mom told me about your site yesterday and we’ve been having
big fun talking about it to ourselves and to other people. What an amazing
year! I can’t wait to see what all you do this coming year. I was telling
my daughter about your new project yesterday as we were grocery shopping and we had an
interesting discussion about what consumerism means, what it means to be a woman in this
society, and how to simplify our lives more. It was delightful to be able to share
something with her that tickled me and have her take on it as well. I guess all this is to
say that I think the ideas you have about your wardrobe are interesting and fun and
I’m so glad you shared them with the world via your website. It’ll get a
lot of people thinking and talking…apparently more people than you thought would be
interested. Please don’t count us weirdos out of the picture just because we
live different lives than you do. Best wishes, hey alex, Hi Alex Just wanted to let you know, I think your project is fabulous. Our society really does need to recycle more, and consume less. I understand that many years ago, clothing was passed down from generation to generation. Talk about making something to last! I was especially intrigued by your leather slippers. Great concept. S Hi Alex, Alex, Excellent work.
Please keep us all updated on your next project. P.S. Please don’t let Walmart start selling the dresses! ;-) Alex, You were part of the topic of our pastor's sermon yesterday. Fascinating idea you had. I am inspired to clean out a closet in your honor. Fondly, S Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church, Austin, TX
(you might listen to the sermon on-line...it was wonderful)
Alex, Please give my LOVE to Freya and
Ari. Alex - I love it. I love the ending
and can't believe I haven't heard of the whole project before now. Hi, Alex, Thank you for sharing your brown dress project with us. Looks like it was a
fun adventure!
Do you have any thoughts about a garment or outfit that would be even
more versatile than the brown dress after experimenting with that design for a year?
Some things that might be helpful to your new project:
1) There's a wardrobe strategy for having a small versatile collection of clothes
that can be used in many different ways. You can see the article and pictures that
started it all here
(keep in mind that examples, while somewhat classic, are about 10 years old
or so by now)
and some results from this year's challenge here
2) One thing that seems to help a lot with organizing the colors of wardrobe
choices is the Color Me Beautiful Book. (Am I right in guessing from the pictures
and your choice of rich brown for your year long project that you are an Autumn Season
person? It's hard to tell as sometimes I wonder if you are a Winter. If not an
Autumn, colors I suggest in examples would need to be swapped for other colors.)
3) A useful jacket might be one in crazy quilt style using a) 2-3 neutral
colors from your color season.
b) Or you could do one that uses pieces from a whole bunch of solid color woven
fabrics that are going into your other clothes.
c) Or if you'd like a really dressy one, you could get scraps from people who
make or alter evening dresses and bridesmade dresses.
4) Sweatsirt cardigan/jacket: Another fun jacket is one made from a classic
sweatshirt one size larger than you'd normally wear. You stabelize each side of the
center front. Then cut off stretchy neck and hem fabric and sometimes the
stretch cuffs too. Cut open center front.. Then add neck facing, button
placket and buttons(or separating zipper), cuffs and bottom band.
At the moment I can only find country examples, but it gives you the idea
5) One book I've been having a lot of fun with lately is
Generation T: 108 ways to transform a T-shirt by Megan Nicolay She has all
sorts of ideas for turning shirts into more interesting shirts, tanks, club shirts,
skirts, leg warmers, hats, hand bags, wraps, wedding dress, headbands, scarves,
jewelry, strips for knitting, and a number of non clothing items for the home. The
book is wonderfully inventive. And a number of the ideas would work, I think, to
transform woven shirts and sweat shirts. The one thing I like to do differently than
Megan usually does is to finish and stableize seams to help garments last longer.
6) T shirt dress. Take a long loose t shirt one or two sizes larger than
you usually wear. Stabelize the hem of the shirt so it won't stretch. Then add
on a gathered skirt (sort of like a long ruffle) of a woven fabric. This works with
short sleeve or long sleeve T shirts or tank tops. In the summer, a print with one
of the colors being the Tshirt color looks nice. Try pinning things together
before cutting to get the proportion of the Tshirt and skirt right for your height.
I like the tshirt to be like a tunic with a short flirty skirt. T shirt to waist and
skirt to tea length also looks good..
7) Friends who knit suggest unraveling machine made sweaters to get yarn for
other uses.
8) Cardweaving or tablet weaving might be a fun way to create trim
-S
Hi Alex… Congrats on the completion of your first project! I had a great
time following the progress. I am wondering…with this next project, would it be
possible to enlarge the photos a bit? The tiny photos are almost impossible to make out.
Even just hosting them on a different page so we could enlarge the thumbnails?
pretty please? S in
Hello, I just finished taking a little look at your website, and I must say that
you put a smile on my face. Your site was part of my Yahoo weekly pics that they send me
each week. Your fun fashion social experiment is very clever and brave. I once made
it a week wareing the same clothes before I was forced to change
outfits by my friends and family. I might have been able to go longer if I
had showered and shaved. I guess hygene is more important then a limited wardrobe.
Anyway, I thought you looked lovely everyday in your brown grocery
bag. Maybe it was your charming smile that you wear. That's a fashion accessory that
you can put on every day, and will never go out of style.
Take Care,
S
Dear Alex, B
I found you through Rev Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping site. Great job you're doing! Too bad you never made the news - did you try to? I love your idea. I know work for a clothing store and BAM, a new wardrobe in the few months I've been working there. Gee, how did I ever dress before now?? Thanks for the inspiration. I
will continue to follow you and let others know!
S in CA
Congratulations
on your determination, and good luck on your next project. Please don’t take
the following paragraph as an attempt to belittle your efforts. I am one of those
people who do lesser things but hope some day to see a broader impact (I challenged myself
to record 6,000 kilometers in a calendar year on my bicycle, just in case I need some
credibility… exceeded it, too). B Alex, Brilliant work. PLEASE
PUBLISH THE PATTERN!!. Can't wait to make my own. Hola: No hablo el Ingles pero sí entiendo un poquito.
Te felicito por tu buen carácter humorístico; no entiendo “ni jota” de qué se
trata tu asunto en las fotos que expones; tampoco se si éstas sólo son de referencia de
alguien que escribe respecto de ellas pero, por si acaso, espero no equivocarme, quiero
dejar claro que el motivo de este mensaje es para expresar mi admiración de la mujer que
aparece en todas ellas, ˇ Es preciosa, me encanta su figura! ˇQué paciencia de llevar
registro de todos esos actos mensuales! A propósito: ˇ Me fascina la foto que está en
la nómina del mes de Febrero, la del salto y las piernas al vuelo! Se ve que practica la
danza. Si eres tu misma quien expone todo eso, te motivo a seguir adelante, quiero ser tu
amigo, ˇah! Por si acaso, te ruego busques quien te traduzca este texto y que esa misma
persona escriba en idioma espańol alguna respuesta. ˇNo te cuesta nada mandarme unas
cuantas líneas, aunque solo sea un ˇhola! O, ya por último, el rechazo merecido o un
insulto por mi atrevimiento! ˇLo que sea, lo necesito! Fue pura casualidad haber
ingresado a tu Web-site. Tu admirador, M Hello,
I am thrilled to have stumbled upon your project and story. Good luck with the next project and I will read on! B Peace Corps Volunteer Albania
Hello,
Alex. M Ok, I just read about
your year with the little brown dress, and realized, "hey, I've met Alex several
times over the last year or so (I sang with DISH at the soup-r-bowl fundraiser, etc), and
that's *right*. She *was* wearing that same brown dress each time!" I never
even noticed; I had no idea you were in the midst of this project. Wild.
Thank you for bringing awareness as you have. I am a mother of a beautiful thirteen year old girl and when we go shopping I am very frustrated with the styles...everything she tries on is so tight in the bust and low cut- pants fit tight etc. I have to always get size large tops for her but that size sells out fast..she's only a size seven! I wish the fashion industry would bring back the "80's" when everything was looser and modest!!! A waiting mother...
C in Vancouver
Just listening to the radio interview.
You rock, love the idea. Need more
people like you in the world. Enjoy the summer, A. in B.C. So, may I may please be one of the first to ask...What are you wearing today? LOL! I just discovered your site this morning and I think your project is/was
quite interesting. I am a full-time working mom with a young son, and I
quickly got caught up in thinking how EASY it would be to grab the same item every
day. You "accessorized" with colors I would not have considered to
"go" with brown. But your pics are visible proof that pretty much any
color goes with brown denim! I applaud your tenacity to stick with it for a
full year. I know I'd be sick-to-death of that thing and probably want
to throw a wild BURN PARTY today. Or perhaps you've become somewhat attached to
it and will "frame it" on a mannequin for posterity? So, what will you do
with the brown dress?
Thanks for opening my eyes a little, and giving me a smile this morning.
N in Milwaukie, OR
Thank you Thank you THANK YOU!
The Brown Dress Project finale was stupleflourifyingly delicious.
So pleased to be there!
K I invisioned a brown dress similar to yours in 1962. It was a time of rebellion against the status quo. My parents were materialistic & I wasn't. I was 100% on my own at age 19 & wanted to spend my hard earned money on things of value, not fashion & wanted a brown dress. Mine would be made out of leather & would last longer or forever. But I ended up an art major so started creating dresses out of "recycled things from the Goodwill"... mens tie dresses, reknitted & redyed wool sweater things, TV recording tape hats, etc. Some of those things are back in fashion, redesigned & put together on the assembly lines in China. The point of individual creativity & innovation lost altogether. So sad to see the FAKE HIPPIES these days. They haven't a clue. But I love your little bown dress!!!! Hey Alex,
I think that it is cool you are doing this project. I am an artist and and
an Historical Interpreter, (I hate the term reenactor, as we rarely reenact
anything). One of the questions I ask children when the come to a program is,
"Do you have more than one outfit? More than two? Of course they all say yes
which gives me an opening to the fact that in the colonial era most people had only one or
two outfits, one for everyday and a good one. Only the rich would have had more
clothing. Now everybody has clothes they don't wear they they have had for years
thinking one day....
I love the idea of your project. I know you will most likely be glad to not
wear the brown dress for awile, but there will be days you miss it. I hope you
preserve it with the other documentation from your show. As I live in GA I certainly won't
be there, but Happy 30th and all the best.
Quite Sincerely,
A
Allenhurst, Georgia
Hi, Just read your
article in the Times and was amazed at what interesting things people come up with.
My take, being a guy, is that wearing the same clothes every day (washed occasionally, of
course) is no big deal, but I cannot imagine my wife doing that and I think that is your
point. B, Kenmore, WA.
i just found your site today and i
thought i would send you the link to a website that i found a few months back that details
how to make a pair of leather boots that are of a what appears to me celtic style. I hope
this would be a help to you in furthering any projects you might might undertake. http://design.seamlyne.com/footwear/footwear_index.asp -C ..and nice to know that someone who shares my birthday (49 today) can be as big a
lunatic as I am...after all, I wore my tiara at work all day today..and I work for the
department of licensing!!
happy birthday!!!
M
Hello Alex: I enjoyed the article in the
Times today and applaud you for creating fun, thought provoking art. I have attached a
song by Tim O'Brien called Less and Less that has some relevance to your project. I
thought you might enjoy the sentiment and hopefully, the music as well. Have a great party
tonight! Hi Alex, Hello, Alex, This is so funny. One of my student colleagues
back at Newport High School in 1970, for a psychology class project, wore the same skirt,
sweater, blouse, knee highs and shoes for the whole year - just to keep a journal on
people's reactions. It was great. After awhile, she became this constant in our school
lives and we stopped noticing the outfit all together. She delivered messages
from the office to students and teachers so was very visible. I wondered what her summary
notes said.
C
Congratulations on your victory. You finally made it the 365 days of this year
that passed well I just wanted to congratulate you on setting a goal and keeping it. they
say that Washington is a very windy state and you have standards you set them and
conquered every-ones doubts. Happy Birthday too. May all your wishes be what you want and
you get out of life what you want. Today is July the 7th and it is a full year to the
day... Good luck on your future goals and may you get what you need.
Lots of Love,
A
Fresno, California
I just read about your project in the Seattle Times. What a great idea! I
had a German teacher in the early 70's in Seattle. She was from Germany and wore 4-5
dresses all year long. They were high quality wool dresses. When some of the students
questioned why she would wear the same dress all week and then wear dress #2 the next
week, etc. She replied, "In Europe, women buy a few high quality items that will last
years. The quality is more important than variety." Further rude questioning revealed
that daily sponge baths, perspiration guards, and spot cleaning took care of keeping
clean and odor free. She also told us the custom of bathing and shampooing daily was not
good for our skin, once a week was enough. She was always well groomed and never smelled
bad.
I've often thought that woman would be better off if our
attitude about clothing were more like that. Men in office jobs can live like that. Buy
several slacks, white shirts and ties. You have a uniform that works, is not costly, and
you don't waste time thinking about what you're wearing.
I love your pictures!
C Hi Alex! Alex, First of all, let me say that I am 61 (the "new 40??") and got such a kick out of reading the article about you today---I too am an artist and a seamstress, in that I have been doing both all my life. I paint now, and don't sew as much, but your project resonated with me especially today because you have succeeded in combining your two art forms into a great composition! I love that you did this project with consideration for bigger issues as well as for your own personal challenge, and I hope you keep having fun with this. Happy Birthday! M Wow. You should be very proud of yourself. I commend your statement and your perseverance. I have teenage daughters who are struggling with buying into the system. Advertising all around them. What you must do and wear and be to be accepted and confident should not be dictated by magazines and billboards. I applaud your insight and you. : ) MR
Hello!
My name is Anna and I have just
read about you in the paper today. I wish I would have found out about your project
sooner, as I have had the same thoughts as you and have been doing my own mini-version of
the "brown dress project." (My birthday is August 7th!)
My big clothing revelation
started when I noticed that my closet was so full I couldn't manage to hang all my
clothes in it without completely crushing the clothes. I honestly got to the point
that I couldn't buy and put away another piece of clothing without having to
throw away clothes which were still perfectly good. Like you, I saw the wasted
clothing going into landfills.
Even when being absolutely
frugal and buying clothes second-hand, I was still costing my family hundreds of dollars
to keep up with a fashion world that kept telling me I "must have" three-inch
high, open-toed sandals while living in a city which rained 9 months out of the
year. Why? Why do I have to look like Mary-Kate and Ashley? I am a
woman in my 30s. I have my own life. I asked my husband if he honestly noticed
or cared what I wore, and he honestly said "No." In fact, my clothing bill
was something he quietly resented.
So about a year ago
I pretty much stopped buying clothes. I didn't make a brown dress, but I
wore what I had and stopped running to the mall every time I felt down or bored.
Like you, I have been more than able to keep up with my life without consuming so
much and I still have plenty of clothes to choose from after a year. A neat thing
which I have learned from this experience is that I do have the power to say
"no" to ridiculous trends and prices. I can even say "no" when
something is priced right. I don't need it, so why buy it?
Anyway, this is getting long,
so I will sign off!
Good luck, and all my
best!
A
I love what you have
done! We have been watching Little House on the Prairie lately as a family. They always
wore the same clothes! Why can’t we? Why not have the whole country wear only 1
outfit for a year and send the proceeds to R Hi!
What an exciting and
fun event last night – thank you and hope you had a great birthday! Really enjoyed
your performance and surprised myself by how moved I felt by it. I had not seen you dance
since an Onion Twins preview … loved the whole brown dress project and your new
outfit was beautiful … I have a length of very nice bluish-purple patterned fabric
that my husband brought home from Thailand years ago in the hope that I would make a
sarong skirt with it … since I have never sewed and never will and it has sat on a
shelf since that trip, perhaps you can use, if it qualifies? I can send it to your studio
in case you can. Recycling is one of my most favorite things … Congrats to you, E I
can’t say why but I think it is really cool. But *washing* your clothes every once in a while –
there’s an idea, huh? I always feel funny standing in the shower fully dressed. So I
don’t bother. If it’s a big
success you can start your own little brown clothing line – little brown dresses with
matching little brown hat, gloves, shoes, ski boots, etc., etc. And let us not forget
little brown chocolates, designer coffee, potting soil …. You can get rich and buy a
little brown Hummer and park it in front of your little brownstone McMansion. Seriously, I think it
was a neat idea, intelligent, low-key, subversive. Very clever. And the execution was
flawless. E PS Is the baby yours?
We have one about the same age.
I applaud your efforts to raise awareness of overconsumerism, and
I was tickled pink to learn of your project. Hi
Alex,
Thanks
for writing to me about your project. It looks interesting and reminds me of
Andrea Zittel's work. I am a little backed up right now, but will try to post on it
when I get a chance.
Thank you also for mentioning my blog in your journal. While it
isn't about "not shopping", that has definitely come up and been written about,
as well as why we may shop.
In fact, I participate once in a while in a buy nothing thread at
SuperNaturale. I guess my thing is trying to make thoughtful purchases in general
and raise awareness around the environmental impact of the apparel business. I am
trying to not buy anything new that isn't environmentally friendly in some way. So,
far this year my purchases have consisted of reused items bought off of ebay or at the
flea market or thrift store; an armful of t-shirts from environmentally friendly fabrics
made in a geothermal factory; and three "new" purchases (two of which were meant
to be returned, but I passed the date by accident!). My monthly recycled projects
implicitly comment on waste. Mostly, I've been too busy to shop and would rather sew
something at this point. While I applaud your efforts, I found it interesting that you said you had to tell people you were wearing the same dress everyday b/c they didn't notice. So, in some ways, that goes against the statement that there is a notion that we need great clothes to make us good, attractive and interesting, if people weren't noticing what you were wearing. However, I certainly wouldn't deny there is too much emphasis placed on what we wear. I am against needing the latest "it" bag and keeping up with all the trends, but I don't think that means you have to sacrifice style. The blog Style Tribe has the tagline, "Fashion is shopping, Style is being" and I couldn't agree more. While some women likely find it a chore to shop for clothes and dress themselves, to others it is fun. I actually enjoy shopping to a point, and when I reach that point I stop. But I tend to hunt more than shop. I don't mind if people want to spend money on clothing and get joy from
dressing, but I do wish they would do so in a more conscientious manner. Actually,
it would be nice if we started to think about all of our purchases in this way. I am
behind anyone's personal choices to make a statement as you have, but, even considering my
reuse and recycled projects, I don't see these as answers for the masses. What I see
is sustainabilty adopted by big businesses and sold to consumers in attractive
products. We absolutely need to start thinking about revolutionizing our industry...
and it is happening. When Wal-Mart begins adopting sustainable practices, at a
billion dollars in business daily, that has a huge impact.
I realize we are focused on different issues. While
I'd like people to be more thoughtful about consumption in general, specifically
pertaining to the environment, I don't think we will stop consuming. So how can we
find a better way to consume? The statistics on cotton production alone I think show
that changing what we wear and what it is made out of can have real meaning for the
environment.
Cotton uses approximately 25% of the
worldÂ’s insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides (including herbicides,
insecticides, and defoliants.).
Cotton pesticides can enter the human
food chain via cotton seed oil used in processed foods. The meat and dairy products from
cows fed cottonseed meal, trash from cotton gins and cotton straw may also contain
pesticides that were applied to cotton.
Eighty-four million pounds of pesticides
were sprayed on the 14.4 million acres of conventional cotton grown in the U.S. in 2000
(5.85 pounds/ acre), ranking cotton second behind corn in total amount of pesticides
sprayed.
Over 2.03 billion pounds of synthetic
fertilizers were applied to conventional cotton the same year (142 pounds/acre), making
cotton the fourth most heavily fertilized crop behind corn, winter wheat, and soybeans.
The Environmental Protection Agency
considers seven of the top 15 pesticides used on cotton in 2000 in the United States as
“possible”, “likely, “probable” or “known” human
carcinogens (acephate, dichloropropene, diuron, fluometuron, pendimethalin, tribufos, and
trifluralin).
It takes roughly one-third of a pound of
chemicals (pesticides and fertilizers) to grow enough cotton for just one T-shirt.
(via paporganics)
Since starting this project I have come across conceptual projects around
these issues and I think it is great. In some ways parts of my project are more
conceptual as well, but I am very focused on bringing some of those concepts to reality
for the masses. I wish you the best of luck with your project. I am wondering
if there is a way you can reach some young people with your message. Maybe you could
do a presentation at a local highschool and beforehand the students could write down their
feelings about clothing. That might be interesting. I have also thought of
doing some mathematical stuff like what are the least number of items I can have that will
produce the most number of looks.
Okay, I could ramble on for hours with this stuff, but just wanted to get
back to you. Thanks for sharing your project with me and best of luck.
Jill Danyelle
perusing the
crossroads of style and sustainability
Messages - June 2006
BRAVO!!!!!!!!!!! to you for bucking the system! I have been a conscienscious dessenter all of my life; in high school
I had people comment on my lack of variety in clothes; at work I had a small
wardrobe; when I stayed home with kids I wore the same thing day after day;
and now that I'm retired I wear the same clothes for long periods of time with lots
of washes and a clothesline to dry.
None of the criticism meant anything to me! And I was much more liable to
be complaining about the consumerism I witnessed around me. I mean really, how many
pairs of pants, shoes, tops etc. does one need.
I'll have a toast to you this evening - and I can afford it because I haven't
spent all my money on trash!
- m
london, ontario, canada
Dear Alex,
You are wonderful, what a great idea! Thank you for this worthy effort and for all the reasons you have stated. Thanks also for the photos and sharing your life in this way. At first i thought of religious nuns and others who wear only one or two outfits
regularily. Then i thought how much clothing i have compared to the third world. So
cleaning out cupboards and committing to less is more. Hubby happy too. Thanks you Alex
for showing a new way and that living with less can be done.
Yeah, from Wendy of Woodberry in Australia.
Hi there,
I just came across this website on the internet today while browsing through the
Mothering magazine discussion site. I just want to applaud your statement. I
think it is an awesome idea. I agonize over the cost of clothing, the way it's
manufactured, the planning of what to wear every day and the way we are expected to dress
as women in this society. Your project addresses all of these concerns and
more. Bravo on taking the initiative!
We also live in Seattle and have a toddler. Hopefully we will be able to
make it to your 1 yr celebration, it sounds like fun!
Thanks for making a positive statement and being an inspiration,
L
Your dress is not what I imagined when you were on the cbc radio discribibing it. Thought it would be more shike. -S
Dear Alex, I am fascinated with your project. I just found out about it through a
friend of mine. We are going to attend your Undressing ceremony. This is why I love living
in Seattle. People like you constantly amaze me and make me think outside the box even
further than I do now. Your project brings up a lot for me as a woman who has been
fighting her weight and frustrated with body image & fashion.
It also reminds me of a time when I was in the Peace Corps and lived in a little village in the country of Burkina Faso. One of my African sister s was amazed at the number of clothes I had when I unpacked. (and this was nothing compared with the number of clothes I had in storage at my parents' house in the U.S.!) My African sister helped me unpack. She also washed my clothes by hand and tried to teach me how to wash my own clothes. I could never get them as clean as she did. When I left the village to come back to the U.S., I left my African sister most of my clothes. You should have seen the look on her face. I'll never forget it. You are doing a very good thing. Can't wait to see the performance!
Best,
A
. . . I feel like
your dress really looks like . . . claire mccardell (sp?) american sportswear designer
from that time or a little later (1940s). she was big on functional stuff-cotton
evening gowns with pockets-that sort of thing. some of her stuff is very pretty/elegant in
a casual/timeless sort of way. obviously, that sort of thing was "in fashion"
during the depression/ww2 so i guess she wasn't making much of a statement. but then that
makes me think, how big does a climate change (no pun intended) need to be to change our
attitudes towards consumption? First of all many
many congratulations are in order to you on the little brown dress project! Not only
did I love your OTB performance and my sweatshirt that everyone comments on now, but I
just visited your site and I see that now you're getting MAD MAD press! Totally
awesome and from the sounds of the blog also overwhelming. But so cool! -M Hello Alex, Wow, I love your
project... i've been a magazine
publisher, writer, mom, artist.... whatever labels mean.... but just when you think
you've seen everything, i find you on a great blog. thanks for being an original....
i wish i would be in your area for "the end". i'm sure it's just the
beginning of whatever your next "thing" will be. congratulations on
inspiring what i'm sure is many.
I admire your project
tremendously. Few people outside the military are willing to live what they
believe. It’s the little compromises that are a cancer on our psyche. The
fashion world would like us to adorn ourselves like peacocks and certainly there are
clothes that are more flattering than others but sadly too many people attach their
self-worth to how well they’ve decorated themselves on any day. Congratulations on
challenging others to rethink their value system, D Hi, just found your little brown dress site and I really like what you've done and totally agree with your principles. I wear clothes until they fall off my back and I hate "fashion" - just an excuse to make us buy what we don't need over and over. It's the shallowest thing ever. I buy what I like (usually from charity shops) and wear it as long as I can, often adapting it as time goes on (turning dresses into skirts etc). Best wishes, M
PS. I spend the money I save on sponsoring a child in Ethiopia - www.worldvision.org - only Ł18 per month.
Just wanted to let you know I love this project! I've been wearing a uniform consisting of various combinations of four or five pieces of clothing almost every day for about the last twelve years or so, and I have to say -- I don't see myself ever going back. I started doing it when I moved and decided to get rid of everything that wouldn't fit in my car ... and quickly realized how much freedom I'd been giving up in order to take care of all the things I'd gotten rid of! I learned about your project from a
friend who supports my, um, "way of life" and sent me the link. I'm looking
forward to reading the rest of your website. In the meantime, congratulations on
approaching the one year mark, and best wishes in whatever's next. I just stumbled upon your site, and
perused it thoroughly, impressed with your creativity! I seriously understand your and
appreciate your reasons for doing this, and am happy to hear that the people important to
you have been generally supportive. This is fantastic! Keep it up – you’re almost there!!!! P.S. I am trying to
convince my sister, whom lives in I just found your web site and for the first time today smiled. Today was one of those, stay-at-home-mom-that-has-nothing-good-to-wear days and then I found your site. It just makes me realize how my wardrobe has so little to do with what life is! I never realized my wardrobe was controlling my emotions! Thank you! By the way, brown is one of my favorite colors to wear and it looks great on you, day in and day out!! Bravo! -S
I applaud your efforts! If I could wear
the black pants I have on today every day, I probably would! - C :) My blog: www.itchywool.blogspot.com
Hi, I just wanted to write you a short note to let you know that I think the brown dress project is fascinating and wonderful. I found out about you from the metafilter post (http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/52414) the other day. I'm a bit of an aspiring artist/fashion/painter type person myself but I've been very put off by performance pieces and lifestyle choice statements for the past couple of years. Your brown dress project is one of the few ideas in that vein that I've seen and loved, so congratulations! I like your idea for the next year of wearing only things you have made yourself, but it doesn't seem at all feasible to make things in time for the upcoming weather, especially shoes and hats and such. Perhaps you should take a year off and go back to having no personal restrictions on what you wear to compare and contrast to the previous year? And at the same time, you can be making your own garments (and figuring out the hard stuff like shoes and umbrellas) for the *next* year. That way you would be informed and prepared, and if it turns out to be totally unfeasible you will know ahead of time and be able to think of something else just as interesting. Oh dear, I meant for this to be short.
Good luck in all your endeavors! I just found out about your Little Brown Dress project. On behalf of women everywhere, thank you. I'm sure you've raised awareness about the recreational shopping and endless thoughtless buying that entraps many in our culture, where we are trained to be consumers instead of citizens. Some of my happiest memories involve periods when I was able to wear clothes without being particularly concerned about my "professional image" (translated, that means my employer was watching to be sure I appeared to be spending enough money on clothes and other consumables to "need" the job). As a child, it was wonderful to have just one or two outfits that were worn all summer and were comfortable and fun. I hope you will be able to offer a pattern for the dress--your design is very versatile. And do you have any plans to continue your artistic statement by recycling the good parts of the dress into a handbag, backpack, rug, or quilt when your project is done? hooray hooray for your experiment!
i've always had the "depression era" mindset about how consumer-ish our society
is. yet it is hard to not get caught up. for example, i've ALWAYS wondered why
it is that girls need a whole lot of shoes to "match" outfit when guys have two
or three pairs they wear with whatever. then a guy friend put it this way to me:
boys wear clothes, girls wear outfits. A link to your site was posted on the About Frugal Living forum and I found the idea fascinating. I too share a birthday with you only my birth year is 1950. On the 7th, I wish you a very happy birthday and will be anxious to see your “Un-Dressing”. As a child clothes were very important because my Mother had grown up with 2-3 dresses; one for school and daily life and one for good occasions. She was the last of 11, so many of her dresses were hand-me- downs. While one dress was worn for the week, the other was in the wash. Like all parents, Mother wanted more for her child, so I had “more” clothes. All my clothes were bought on sale or sewn by Mom, or later, by me. Mom impressed upon me that homemade clothing was better constructed and made a very personal fashion statement. Most of my friends were jealous that I had such a coordinated and varied wardrobe. I believe I did not have a lot of clothes, but it looked like more because of all the coordination options. For many years I sewed my own wardrobe, but as the fabric has increased in price it has become less expensive to buy off the rack. Also I have found the fabrics are not of the quality of the past. I still shop Goodwill and sales, as I do not adhere to being in fashion, but go for comfort. Some time in the last years being in fashion is a lot less important, which is a statement I am hearing from many women my age. Recently I have had a weight loss and have gone from a 12-14 to an 8-6, so have gone thru big wardrobe changes. Since I am living frugally a lot of thought goes into what I buy. For the last 2 weeks all the big clothing is in bags in my car trunk waiting to go to Goodwill. I have been entertaining the idea of altering all my big clothes, but am thinking of all the time it would take apart, recut and resew all my lined pants. Some of them I am rather attached too, as I have had them for years! Maybe that is why they are still with me? You mentioned using what you have in your sewing studio to make clothing, which made me chuckle, as my double closet is full of fabric… all decorator and upholstery! Maybe I could do a Scarlett OHara thing and make a dress from the drapery? I am looking forward to seeing what your next project will be! I applaud you and have enjoyed your journal. Thanks for sharing your life with us. Prairie Floozie Alex
Well, it is a nice dress you made.
You look
"knock-out-good" in it.
In addition to your looks, I like your writing. You also look like a loving mother.
So based on all the above, I think you should maybe get married in that
dress. I would volunteer.
However, I don't live
in Washington and I am too old for you.
ps...Oh, and I don't dance.
Hi Alex, Hello there.
Someone brought your work to my attention, perhaps because of this latest entry to my
site-- http://www.dianablaine.com/2006/06/shop_til_you_deny.html.
I am not really sure, but I am sure glad he did. I think the project is fascinating
and important and valid and revelatory and zany at the same time. I love that you
are someone with fashion sense, which makes it all the more powerful that you are willing
to suspend this aspect of your self, recognizing that it inevitably zaps precious life
resources! Hi Alex, I just
learned of your project today and am so impressed by your spirit and the statement you are
making by doing this one little thing. Hey folks, I'm excerpting a few things here from the On the Boards blog after my performance - go to www.ontheboards.org to read full "Blog the Boards" postings for Northwest New Works Festival! - love, Alex "I love the idea of drawing anthropomorphic associations, directions, emotions, tones, etc. from a garment, and the little brown dress Martin’s been wearing for almost a year now is uniquely suggestive. (No, not like that, you dirty people. You probably only liked this piece ’cause she duct taped her boobs, hunh.) I mean it. The A-line dopeyness of the cut, the pockets, the brownie-mix color… All of the dress’s forthright, impish economy seeped into the performance itself. The fourth-wall stuff wasn’t pro forma—you don’t go to a party in a dress like that and spend your time backed up against the wall refusing to interact with anybody. That dress was made for dancin’ and talkin’ and cartwheelin’. This dance, and the trigger spotlights Martin asked audience members to wield, made me think, also, of Khaela Maricich (of the Blow, and NWNW last year): that faux-naiveté that certainly (in Maricich’s case, at least) owes a debt to riot grrrl, but is drained of riot grrrl’s aggression and spiked with an fascinatingly alien earnestness. Anyway, loved it." -Annie Wagner (on Blog the Boards) "Hooray for Alex Martin, the standout performance of the evening, in her homemade little brown dress and her adorably hopeful gaze. The transparency she brought to her dance-slash-theater piece was fresh and funny and completely endearing. Martin's levity and frankness had audience members from the get-go, when she cued composer Mark Clem by suggesting, "Let's try that fast thing." What made this casual approach work, of course, was the fact that Martin can really, truly dance, and in a way that shimmers with the confidence of remarkable talent. Martin's fourth-wall-foiling comments were very funny ("I think this is a good time to take a break"), especially balanced as they were with her original, at times fascinatingly spastic, always compelling choreography. While her attitude was very "this modern dance thing isn't such a big deal," the skill and emotional depth apparent in her movement was ever-present. Add to that the fact that she duct-taped her breasts on stage and let audience members control the lighting of her performance, and you've got one helluva show." -Brangien Davis (on Blog the Boards) "Ms. Martin is nearing the end of a year-long performance art experience called The Brown Dress Project, during which she has worn the same, plain brown dress every day during the past two hundred forty-some days. She has also kept a blog and done performances related to the project, of which this dance performance is a kind of report from the front lines. There was some very nice dancing, some casual conversation, a little explanation, and some genuinely funny improvisational movement that all combined into a surprisingly authentic and interesting kind of discourse and disclosure. Ms. Martin is doing something quite original and compelling, and the explanations and explorations she gave us by way of her body's movement seemed to me quite eloquent, and her state of being particularly well-dressed." -Jerry Kraft (on Blog the Boards)
AND - a mention in our local alternative weekly paper - by Brendan Kiley in The Stranger http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=37619 Dear Alex, Hey!
Dear Alex, Lovely project (and great dress!). i did a similar thing in 2004 and wrote about it: Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping (judithlevine.com). Too bad I missed you in VT, where I live half the time; rest of the time in Brooklyn. I'll look out for you in the future. cheers, -Judith Alex: I would do this in a second. Not for art but merely because it seems like a good thing, a snarky but sly way to confront the fashionistas and consumerists. I want to buy your pattern. Are you selling it? If not, could you give any tips on making one for myself? My husband just told me that a Mrs. Bede in his mom's high school wore the same dress every day for a school year, then got a different one and did the same thing the next year, ad infinitum. You go girl. Have you ever visited the fug website, as in "go get fugged." You might like it. -K If you decide you're going to knit and you want a low-cost, low-eco-footprint way to get yarn, go to Goodwill and buy used sweaters...unravel them for the yarn. Ripping out the sweater is way fun. There are several websites that'll walk you through picking out good candidates, and how exactly to deconstruct. I cannot bring myself to buy and rip out an obviously home-knit sweater, though. It's funny. I've got too much respect for the work of the individual (as opposed to the machine-knit mass-produced). And it always makes me a little sad to find those home-made castoffs. I like the idea of not fixing the broken button because it catalogs something that *happened*. I used to carry scraps of stuff in a raincoat pocket; whenever I was just standing around, I'd finger things and think "London farecard" "BlueManGroup crepe paper" "why do I have a band-aid in here?" I kinda miss that pocket. Glad you're still having fun with the project. --mms Alex, Messages - April 2006 Hi Alex! I posted about your project today. http://fiftyrx3.bogspot.com Alex.. just got your brown dress email.. I dont know that we know each other.. I am a SF based choreographer. Wanted you to know how much I appreciate reading about your project.. and to let you know I am mounting a live billboard this fall.. with dancers suspended inside the billboard design... we are dealing with beauty and where one's content and beauty really reside in the body.....exciting to read that our ideas resonate.. best to you with your work, Warmly, -J Hi, Thank you for
sending me this e-mail about your little brown dress project....I am not sure how you got
my e-mail ...I live in Asheville, NC...but maybe you were at Centrum in Port Townsend
where I was for their residency program... Alex,
ALEX i MUST TELL YOU ABOUT A DREAM i HAD!!!!! A few weeks ago. Someone put a plain brown dress on me And I saw myself in it. No mirror. The dream was so real that I tried to figure it out to no avail. It nagged at me. Now I am happy to know about your little brown. Your free flying creativity is so totally original. Being a bride in The Onion Twins was a highlight of my Port Townsend dance career as an older dancer. EVERYONE was so REAL. You are so present while keeping your choreography in mind. FUN TOO... Wishing you the very best, -P
Messages - March 2006 Hi Alex, I learned about your project from Rebecca Christian's column in the Dubuque paper. Wow! I love it! There are so many things I could say about it (I'm a writer) but I'll try to keep this brief. First, I have to say that I love the dress itself. It looks exactly the color and fabric of my Brownie uniform. (I'm 53 so it's been a long time since I wore it, but I will never forget how special it was.) I don't know if anyone else has made that connection. When I saw the pink sash you wore in one of the pictures, I was looking for the badges . . . I also love that you made it yourself, from your own design. I grew up wearing clothes my mother sewed for me. She spoiled me by altering patterns so they were just what I wanted. To this day, I get annoyed and sad when a jacket -- like the one I'm wearing now -- or a pair of pants doesn't have pockets. Hello? Women need pockets just as much as men do! I wish I could sew, but I'm all thumbs. I have tried, but tend to have one side of the dress inside out, or the armholes get smaller and smaller as I try to fix the seam. Not a happy experience. I work at a place where clothes are ridiculously important. I used to work in academia, where the staff wore fancier clothes than the faculty. I won't even go into that, but the thing is, when I came here (a hospital, where I am not a nurse) I noticed that my coworkers, some of them anyway, dressed to the teeth just to come to work and sit at a desk. I tried to withstand the pressure, but ended up caving in. I will never forget the day my coworker looked me up and down and said, "Hmm. I guess they dressed pretty casual at the college." I was wearing a light green sleeveless tank (big chunky knit) and a pair of closely fitted dark green knit pants. I guess the knit pants did it. I mean, they had a comfortable elastic waist, for heaven's sake. One just doesn't dress like that for work. So I thought, I'll show her. And I went out and spent a small fortune on suits and jewelry and shoes. (Luckily, I have weird feet so it was hard to find more than a few pair of shoes. I refuse to walk around in agonizing shoes, no matter what kind of glittery noisy heels my colleagues are sporting.) Then my favorite store, Petite Sophisticate/Casual Corner, went out of business. I went berserk buying as many things as I could before it was too late. Now I have a closet (and then some) stuffed full of fancy work outfits. Oh, how I wish I had stepped back and thought for a minute or two. How I wish I had said to myself, Let's get a grip on this. Let's find a costume, a uniform, we can look good in yet not spend a fortune on. Let's wear our favorite outfit (short black knit skirt + long burgundy sweater + a simple necklace I bought in Paris) every Monday. And a pair of well cut black KNIT PANTS every Tuesday. And so on. But now I feel it's too late. I bought all those suits, and they can't be returned because the store went out of business. And I have to admit, they look fine and they make me feel professional. But oh, if I could do it over . . . So anyway, I didn't mean to whine, just to air some of my extremely mixed feelings about clothes and women and life. Even my husband wishes I would dress down more often and expend less angst over What to Wear to Work every morning. Poor him. He knows better than to enter the room when I'm trying to choose my daily outfit. Outfit. I like that word. What an outfit. What kind of outfit is this? How are you going to outfit yourself? Thanks for your project and the thinking it's inspired. Take care, P Hi Alex * * * What do a
traditional grandmother in the Midwest (that would be me) and a young gay performance
artist in Seattle have in common? Plenty, I found out, thanks to a website my darling
daughter Kate turned me onto: www.littlebrowndress.com. The site is tended with insight
and humor by Alex Martin, a 29-year-old dancer and choreographer who had a little idea
that turned into a big project: starting last July, she would every day for a year wear
the same dress -- a simple dark brown denim shift with shell buttons down the front that
she made herself. -Rebecca
Christian I love the brown dress. I made a vow (written with a witness!) a year ago September not to buy anything to put on my body for one year (other than yarn for knitting). It was amazingly freeing, although I've since bought some new things. I think a lot about how much is self-expression from an aesthetic or creative perspective and how much is cultural and ego-driven. Don't have an answer! L
Messages - January 2006 When I saw you after the performance, I thought to myself...how (I can't think of a better word) cute you looked. And that I didn't remember seeing you sport such a garment before, but it's perfect. So...then I go to your website, and what do you know! Love it! This fits you exactly in so many ways. Consumerism...I'd love to talk with you about it. xo -L I'm enjoying getting to know you thru your photos and writing and looking forward to seeing how it translates into your piece. I often wish I could make my ideas for clothing and shoes materialize. I like the idea of having a few clothes that fit well, look good and last for years. Its amazing to me that someone with such a great bod would have negative thoughts about it. But that's what alot of us do. My husband says, " If you could only see yourself through my eyes..." - M PS: Enjoyed the Onion Twins! HI Alex! Just thought I would visit your website and say hello. How are you???? Kudos for the cool concept, it inspires me too and reminds me. But I have to say I find your brown dress very cute, too cute, perhaps, to be totally unfashionable. But nothing wrong with self created fashion! Hope you and the family are well! I would like to come to your undressing if I am in town. Will you be getting naked? Just curious in terms of performance art. love, - P Hello there Alex
-- Messages - December 2005 Alex, I heard a report about this guy
that has traveled the world making balloon hats for people. It was on NPR and you may
have heard of it. Anyway, it sounded incredible and I think a balloon hat
would be a perfect complement to the dress. ;) http://www.balloonhat.com I love the little brown dress
project and your online journal. Messages - November 2005 I love your project even more than I loved it when we were all sitting around talking about it last June, after that wonderful meal of mussels, pasta, and coconut ice cream with fresh raspberries...I love the pictures and the many many variations you bring to the brown dress. I also love just the dress itself, because I have a dress that looks so much like that one. Got it at a Salvation Army somewhere in the 50's in Manhattan -- a sample dress from the manufacturer -- I've had it for seven years, and every time I put it on, I can't believe how good it still looks -- just the right hang, just the right cut. So I feel a special affinity seeing you in "my" brown dress... What would a man wear if he did this project? seems to me it is actually easier for a woman to wear one catch-all piece of clothing than a man, by nature of our propensity to wear...dresses! love to you, Freya, Ari! C hey girl. i have been watching your progress on the site and been meaning to email you since you launched it. when i first went to the site, i was humbled. i admire your musings of the bigger picture- thinking of our culture and our consumerism. and your doubts about how much wearing a dress for a year will really change anything. it sparked a great convo between me and george (my girlfriend). unfortunately, i can't remember much of it, since it has taken so long to write you. i have been a sporadic clothes shopper in my time- satisfied to wear the same overalls and tshirts for years before breaking down and going to goodwill for something new when everything starts to look too ratty for work at the museum. then i go in a frenzy and shop like crazy for a month or so to replenish my supply. i, too have the luxury of privledge- my comparatively sparse wardrobe is a choice not a necessity, and it doesn't make me feel closer to the folks who really don't have the money to buy new clothes. i have been enjoying your philosophical thought process about the project and am especially grateful to be included in a little slice of your life. keep up the good work, dear-
alex: you are
brilliant. i love that you are doing this and taking the time to document it so
well... have you done any press spots related to the project? i think NPR should do
a spot on you or even better... a one of those news shows that report on exceptional
people and happenings.. **I'm serious!!! what you are doing is so rich on so many
levels!! -S Messages - October 2005 Mim and I also want to comment on your
little brown dress website. Your posting for
October 20th was really a thoughtful and affirmative statement on your family
– and made us feel that we just might have done a decent job of parenting! We love your writing style and your ability to
come across with clarity. We are continually
SO PROUD OF YOU AND FREYA and all that have done, are doing, and will do with your lives. It’s a pure joy to know you both (and Ari,
too), and an incredibly wonderful gift that we are related (!). With maximum love and peace, we honor you from
afar…. - J Starting to be Fall and cold here too. Dealing a little bit with the cute factor. Gorgeous child, who I do not want to become a fashion opportunity. People are not display mechanisms for clothes. This is a weird fucking thing about this culture. Cute refers to material draped over our bodies. Basically we're bags of water with waterproof coverings. We're not worsted and polyester or even nice silk (rough or smooth). So I dread the coming winter a little because there are so many opportunities for clothes choices involved. -P Messages - September 2005 Clothes, fashion,
covering, costuming, armoring, disguising has been a hot issue with me since I was a
little boy. I won't go into my whole story right now, but I want to say how engaged with
your thinking I am already. You've opened great questions and are exploring important
lines here. I grew up in LA, the capitol of obsession with surface. Here's one story (of
millions): Hi, don’t usually
write to strangers like this but my wife and I caught your performance as part of The
Onion Twins tonight at Arts West, and out of curiosity visited your Little Brown Dress web
page. It sounds like you have
heard a lot of reactions to your project and we just wanted to add one of our own, which
is brava! That’s
easy to say because we’re not doing it. Anyway,
we think the questions you are asking in doing the project are important and sensible and
we admire your pioneering spirit! Good luck, we will
check in on your experience from time to time until next summer. One of the best times in my life was when I was living in a 16' trailer and only had a few favorite items of clothing. It is great not to start the day with too many choices. We are inundated with too much from underwear to breakfast cereals. It is exhausting. I'm thinking this could be a great trend. Pick your favorite dress and wear it until it falls off. I'll be checking in to see how you are doing. -C Alex, you should know that my host, Julie, was in Filene's basement yesterday on the verge of buying a new outfit she didn't need when she thought of you and your project and walked out of the store... she considers herself in retail therapy and you are her inspiration! ha! -S My degrees are in sociology and women's studies. I'm currently the assistant director of the center for women's studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. I think your project is fascinating (on so many different levels and from so many different academic perspectives). As a feminist, I'm very drawn to and supportive of the cultural and political statements you're making about women's fashion and consumerism. As a sociologist, I'm intrigued by the exercise in interpersonal communication that you're undertaking with this project. It will be very interesting to watch your project progess and unfold over the next year. I hope you don't mind that I shared the information about your website with several of my colleagues. I think they'll find your work quite intriguing. -K I am so excited about
this project, hooray for super smart you! If anyone Brilliant. I love
it. I should do it, and have thought about it, just to -H I didn't know you were doing this - funny. I mean, I realize now I'd seen the dress a few times but it never occurred to me to notice that you were always wearing it. Of course I don't see you all that often. Anyway I think it's a very cool idea. What did people think was wrong with it? I'm always thinking about how up until the invention of the washing machine and mass production of clothing, most people had about 2 outfits - one everyday and one for special occasions, just like you're doing. Also I like the dress. -M Alex: I love the idea. A fight against consumerism AND fashion. I love it. Hey, I have to recommend my favorite book on the subject and feel free to ignore me, but if you get a chance, read “Survival of the Prettiest” by Nancy Etcoff. She gives a lot of valid information as to why historically looks and beauty (ie health) attracted the best mates (healthy parents breed healthy children) but that nowadays such ingrained habits don’t mean as much with our advanced medicine but we still value beauty above all else. Interesting book. It of course talks about other stuff, too, but that was one of my favorite points made. I myself am fascinated with what I call “Girly-Girls” or the ones who value fashion and looks above most else. I’ve never been interested in this aspect of being a woman, and coupled with my inherited slobbiness (I can’t go five minutes into a meal before I’m wearing it) I have all but given up on fashion of any sort and have resorted to sturdy, cheap, comfortable clothes that look good when dripped on or rumpled (I refuse to iron) or covered in the dirt of my garden or dog hair, etc. -L Hi Alex - just writing from Japan to say that I love your project. As I am living here and coming to the full realization that the US is only still in the early stages of the kind of mass consumerism that is championed here by urban Japan, I am becoming more and more certain that most "belongings" of any kind are a trap and weight and and a distraction. Just today I was wondering of I could wear the same 5 black items pretty much constantly and get away with it. Now I may just do it. -C hey alex- i actually keep forgetting that you are doing this project. you just seem like you and if i really think about it i guess you have been wearing that dress for a while now. i can't remember seeing you in anything else but it doesn't feel weird to me. i am much more concerned with other matters such as how you are doing as a parent and a partner and a business woman. so if you use your new found time to address the things in your life that matter then of course its not frivilous. and if you inspire others, by wearing your artist hat and talking about it, to refocus their fashion obsessions, then all the better. i have been inspired to let go of my fall fashion desires. its more marketing than anything else. those people need our money! thanks for saving me some cash for my travels. -A |