Category — Fashion Column

While this blog has been silent for some time my writing has continued to appear in some wonderful publications. My most recent article for Comment titled “Storytelling Clothes” appeared in December.

Click here to read the article in full. Here is a short excerpt:

Clothing is a topic to which we pay little mind except, perhaps, when the conditions in poorly ventilated sweat shops make the front page news. Like us, God cares about the woman behind the serger; but He also cares what we put on our backs. We seldom remember that the first garments were made by God for Adam and Eve in the Garden.

Teresa Smed, a Vancouver-based jewelry designer shared her thoughts on God’s concern with clothing.  “I definitely think what we wear matters to God. I like to think about where everything comes from. Everything has a price. If your shoes are made by a child in a sweatshop in China — that has a cost. If I can clothe me and my kids with recycled clothing — it matters. I love fashion. I love accessories. People would call me ‘fashion forward.’ It’s about self-expression, and that’s okay. But where your treasure is your heart will be also.”

The story we’ve been telling

God never commanded us to get dressed. When he came looking for us we were crouched in Eden’s thicket hiding. We chose to cover parts of ourselves up, sin revealing impropriety.

“That’s how clothes can be,” comments designer Paul Hardy, a Christian anomaly in the world of high fashion. “It can go either way. In fashion, as in any other creative field, imagination can be used as an expression of edification or can prey on the insecurities of others.”

How we live matters. What we eat. How we dress. The company we keep. The things we say.

For the past three years I’ve written for Comment Magazine, almost exclusively on the topic of fashion. It’s forced me to think about clothes theologically. My most recent article, appearing in their next print issue, is about just that: a faithful approach to fashion. I struggled with this piece. So much so that I had to rewrite it. My first major rewrite ever. And I am thankful editor Gideon Strauss sent me back to the drawing board. I had to dig into the Bible, asking: What does it say about clothes? What does it say about humanity? I searched for the bigger picture — the story God is telling through humanity and the story he is telling individually through our lives.

I interviewed Teresa Smed, a Vancouver-based jewelry designer (and single mom) whose vintage line, Dotted Loop, has been featured in fashion magazines worldwide.

“I definitely think what we wear matters to God,” says Smed. “I like to think about where everything comes from. Everything has a price. If your shoes are made by a child in a sweatshop in China — that has a cost. If I can clothe me and my kids with recycled clothing — it matters. I love fashion. I love accessories. People would call me ‘fashion forward.’ It’s about self-expression, and that’s okay. But where your treasure is your heart will be also.”

I also spoke with Dr. John Stackhouse, professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College, and designer Paul Hardy, who is currently concentrating his efforts in Africa with the Reversal of Fortune initiative.

“It can go either way. In fashion, as in any other creative field, imagination can be used as an expression of edification or can prey on the insecurities of others.” - Paul Hardy

Thinking deeply about clothing has challenged me to concentrate on other areas of my life as well. Right now I am thinking a lot about food. My new friend Victoria is a vegan. When she takes care of Madeleine she eats the same. Michael and I have been wanting to limit the amount of meat we eat for some time, in an effort to eat only free range, and as local as possible. Bowen Island is affording us this opportunity. I am learning new vegan recipes from Victoria, allowing us to invest in better local meat, raised right down the road. Watching (the fictional, but enormously affecting) Fast Food Nation this fall has also had me rethinking meat.

I am a Christian. That means I follow Jesus. He’s not physically in front of me but His words are written down to help me follow. I’m trying to dig in to the truth. I want it to show in the way I live.

Paris, 2009

Cardus, my favourite Canadian think tank and publisher of Comment magazine, where I frequently contribute, has a new online venture called After Hours. It’s a daily blog interested in ‘issues that affect the architecture of North American public life, including economics, literature, religion, politics, social and scientific innovation (and sundry other things.)’

“Slow for Good,” my first post as a Contributing Editor, went live last Thursday. It’s a bit ‘manifesto-y,’ according to my husband. I get that way sometimes. 

Anyone is welcome to contribute to After Hours. Please, fire off an e-mail if you are interested.

My latest column exploring fashion and theology is up in Comment Magazine. Madeleine was my inspiration as I considered ‘The advent of personal style.’ Enjoy!

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Also, speaking of fashion, the following invite arrived in the ‘ol inbox this morning. Paul Hardy presents at Vancouver Fashion Week tomorrow. I can’t wait! Paul’s shows never disappoint. 

I hope to bring you back pictures…

I am just finishing up my next column for Comment Magazine entitled: Confessions of a Male Model. Ironically, I get to play model today. Gaetanne Leduc, our wedding photographer, called yesterday and asked if I’d do some pregnancy modeling for her baby and pregnancy portfolio/website launch. I couldn’t be happier to have something to do with this belly and my time…

I remember the day I first encountered dawn, willingly. The slow turning of midnight to charcoal, lavender then cherry red, blood orange and, finally, the blaze of morning’s first light: pineapple gold.

God made dawn, with its flurry of colour, to welcome us. I feel the same way about summer.

Right now, from urban mainstay Anthropologie to the handmade clothing of Adhesif, the radish reds and saltwater turquoise of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s are spilling onto sunny boardwalks and into the streets once again.

Spring/Summer 2009 at Anthropologie

Old is in. This summer, the used and discarded are making a comeback. Call it recession-proofing, call it what you like, but the second-hand clothing scene is booming.

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Read the entire article here. Published today in Comment.

I am spending part of this sunny Canada Day writing my next fashion column for Comment.

I often find myself asking the question: what’s the point of writing about fashion? (Or about any topic for that matter, be it strollers, art, bike rides — just a few of the articles I have in process at the moment). And then I stumble across a bit like this that reminds me that all things in life, if seen in the right light, have value, importance, even spiritual significance.

Syliva Plath seems an unlikely source but, then again, God’s great legacy is using the broken of us, right?

“…I wrote a very clever essay ostensibly in praise of style in all its forms as a religious devotee of style, defining it is that order, line, form, and rhythm in everything from the sonnet to the whalebone corset which renders the unruly natural world to becoming bearable.” - 

Sylvia Plath in Letters Home

Happy Canada Day everyone!

I have had a long term love affair with fashion so you can imagine the glee when Comment Magazine asked me to serve as their Fashion Columnist.

My first article will appear in Jan/Feb 2009.

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Additionally, with our Toronto move only one week away, I am thrilled to be joining host and Globe and Mail columnist Lorna Dueck at the ranks of Listen Up TV where I’ll be assistant producing two days a week. While I’ll be continuing to freelance during our three month stay I thought a stint in television would be fantastic opportunity, plus it’ll get me out of our 390 square foot condo at least twice a week.  

2009 is looking bright…