Memorial Day Reads: Slow Fashion, Gorpcore, Waste, & Me!

Much as I love writing them, I'm not always going to have time to ramble about clothing, textiles, slow fashion, and myself in my Thinkpieces. They take a while to conceive of and write, and I'm not actually sure if it's anything anyone wants to read, so I sometimes suspect they might be rather self-indulgent drivel...

Given all the great internet writing out there on many of these same topics, I'm once again going to practice the art of curation, and round up some of the most interesting and thought-provoking articles that I've found interesting of late. All such posts will all be filed under the Required Reading tag (also found above the post titles — not just for decor!) And what better time to start than right after a long weekend, when you might need a longer-than-usual warm-up tomorrow.

Enough rambling. On with the links!

• I'd be remiss if I didn't start off with Karen Templer's thoughtful post on "What makes a garment slow fashion?" which is a stronger and more admirable attempt than I have ever managed to untangle what we're even talking about. Though this blog often talks about slow/ethical/small fashion, I'll openly admit that I couldn't totally define what I mean beyond "not-fast-fashion,"  which simply isn't sufficient. 
• Similarly, Racked asks: is pretty packaging really worth the waste it creates? Personally, I prefer minimal, utilitarian packaging a la Shopbop to the fancy marbled boxes of Matches, because packaging isn't something I care about as a customer, and because I know I'm paying for the fancy packaging in some way. But thinking about the environmental toll for the fleeting seconds of a fancy packaging experience is perhaps an even more convincing perspective. 
• Normcore evolves into Gorpcore. Is it really an environmentalist statement via fashion, or, as I suspect, have we as a country fallen into a Trump-era aesthetic slump in which a cozy cocoon of Patagonia fleece seems necessary to protect us against... everything? 
• And in another moment of self-indulgence, the Business of Fashion article featuring the last Ace & Jig Swap event in Brooklyn finally came out, and Katy and I are in it briefly, talking textile and Gilmore Girls love! True to form, I am depicted in my natural state: hoarding the textiles, and wearing even more... 
• And on that note, If you're even remotely in the area and aren't sure whether you wanted to come to the next swap on June 3rd (details here), do! It was tons of fun last time, and you should come say hi to me, too, if I'm not too busy hoarding textiles again! This is similar to the welcome you can expect!