I went back to the gallery three times before I actually bought it.  I've been wearing it as a uniform, every day, which is having powerful effects.  I'm waffling about the office: I've worn it all day there though I haven't been quite brave enough to wear it every single day - my boss even gave me her blessing.  I've been telling myself I need a little separation between work and not-work and the clothes that I wear there (which are so limited they are like a uniform, too) help me do that.  Any energy I spend thinking about other clothes - dance clothes, bike-riding clothes, which of the work uniforms to wear - feels like a complete waste.

I've failed Fix in that I bought something new, something that I charged to my credit card - which I haven't done all year.   At the same time, Fix is about exposing the connections between buyer and seller, getting out of the conventional mode of commercial exchange, and challenging expectations about consumption.  This purchase reiterates all of the nasty things of shopping with some important differences: with a little effort, I can email the artist who made the dress and talk about the process; the gallery that sold it and earned a commission is part of the art market but not part of the fast fashion industry, trying to convince everyone that they need this now but not next week; and, the amount I spent on this little item and the ideology behind it ensures that it won't go into the landfill after a couple of wears.  Let's say I bought a really expensive prototype; I'll make the next one.

I'll leave you with the press release for the smockshop show, which helped convince me that Andrea Zittel wasn't kidding herself about the smocks.  She knows that they're fashion; she's trying to get a little art in there too.