a dress.  This is so problematic in so many ways.  With all my talk about "making do and mending" and the absurd expectations placed on us by the fashion and beauty industries, I can't believe I've allocated any brain space on the beautiful item.  Most breathtaking is the fact that the dress costs $340.  I've never spent that much on any piece of clothing, shoes and coats included.  And still I've been trying to arrange and re-arrange the various extra little amounts and overtime I've earned in the last couple of months to rationalize the price tag.  Then there's the "new" thing: this particular dress can be justified by Fix rules - more on that in a sec - but the fact remains that buying it would give me the delicious rush of bringing home a gorgeous new thing.

A little more about the dress: it's part of a project by artist Andrea Zittel, a big hero of mine.  I saw it at a Chelsea gallery last Thursday, and it set in motion a whole chain of ideas that both totally violate Fix and are oddly in line with it.  I told myself I was going to look at art and I knew in advance that the dresses were going to cost $250-350 -- out of the question.   According to the smockshop site:

"A smock is a simple double wraparound garment designed by Andrea Zittel. These versatile garments are both attractive and utilitarian - each garment is one of a kind, and is sewn by an artist who reinterprets the original design based on their individual skill sets, tastes and interests.

The smockshop generates income for artists who’s work is either non-commercial, or not yet self sustaining."

 After pathetic lingering and admiring, I decided that just trying one on wouldn't hurt, and I chose an orange canvas utilitarian model with an unfinished neckline and a navy cotton dressy one by a different artist with a hot pink lining and contrasting embroidery.  While the orange one was very punk rock and looked good, it was the embroidered one that chose me.  The smocks are amazing on - they have a great line that I imagine would flatter anyone; the minimalist yet feminine aesthetic feels exactly my style.  Of course I love the idea of wearing the same thing every day, I practically do that anyway.  Andrea Zittel has been exploring the concept of the uniform for years, with criticisms (implicit and explicit) similar to mine about fashion and expectations; all of her work, the uniforms included, is concerned with utility/functionality and explores the surprising connections between design and the patterns and requirements of a person living in space.

As I tore myself from that beautiful dress, I couldn't help but think,  "I guess I'm not an emerging enough artist to get an Andrea Zittel pattern..." Does that mean I'm such an emerging artist that I'd consider scraping all my money together to buy one?  Or maybe I'm just a groupie...or a latent fashionista...

I find it troubling that the smocks are a commercial enterprise - of course an artist has to make her money, and she's giving "most of the profits" (according to the gallerist) to the emerging artists.  At the same time, I'm not sure many, if any, of buyers are going to: a. wear the smocks as uniforms, i.e.: every single day, for every purpose; or, b. inquire into the challenges these smocks present to the fashion and art industries, as part of Andrea Zittel's body of work.  My guess is that the people who can afford the price tag also buy lots of other beautiful clothes and want to wear those, too.  And if they're spending all that money on fabulous clothes, they're probably not very critical of fashion.  As an art object, the dress is unbelievably cheap - but it wasn't exactly made by Andrea Zittel; if it achieves its art-object function in performance, as a uniform, it is clearly not an investment as other art objects might be - it will wear out very soon.  Maybe I'm just bitter because I can't really afford it and I'm doing this project where I don't buy anything new...

As a Fix transgression, the smock might be justified as buying an experience (something I'd commit to wearing all the time not at work or cleaning or dancing), a one-of-a-kind handmade art object (still a thing, though!), or as a quasi-donation to an emerging artist (but the gallery - and Andrea, I imagine - will still get their percentages).  On the other hand, I've seen the pattern, and it isn't complicated.  It would take me a couple of tries on less-nice fabric to get to a perfect shape and technique; I even know how to do the hand-stitched neck and embroidery.  I would have to clear the space in my office for a borrowed sewing machine, and get that machine fixed.   To be quite honest, these details could potentially take me months, and by that time, this bee in my bonnet might be gone...

Cool things going on this weekend in New York City.  Check out these lectures about sustainable/green building through Open House New York.

1.  Megan,
Since you are on a reuse/recycle kick, do you know where I can recycle my nalgene type water bottle? I am switching to the much-publicized aluminum SIGG and want to get rid of my old plastic bottle in a nice way...
-A

A -
This is a great question.  I don't know the answer,
let's pose it to the blogosphere...

mgm 

2.  Can we make a market for this product?  I just bought one with a cute green handle, and I can totally imagine heading back to Whole Foods in a couple of months for new blades and finding that the company's gone out of business because no one was interested.

From the Recycline website:

"Preserve’s new triple blade razor brings high-performance to the environment-friendly razor product line. Preserve’s triple blades are polished and coated to give a close, comfortable and smooth shave. Our patent-pending handle is made from recycled materials and is completely recyclable*. Package is made from renewable wood sources and is reusable as a travel case. Replace the blade with Preserve Razor Triple replacement blades– just squeeze the arms, pop off the blade cartridge and press in a new blade!

• Triple blades provide a smooth, close shave
• Handle is made from 100% recycled plastic, including 65% of recycled Stonyfield Farm® yogurt cups
• Innovative, one-piece handle design reduces resources consumed in manufacturing
• Ergonomic handle with contours and gripping regions enhances performance and control
• No animal testing

* Handle is completely recyclable in communities in with #5 plastics recycling or with Recycline's postage-paid mailer, available at stores or from Recycline."

Corn and Tomato Chowder, courtesy of Vegetarian Planet

Get the corn and tomatoes (and onions and jalapeno) from the farmers' market, and voila!  The Best Soup Ever.

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups chopped onions

2 teaspoons garlic

4 ears of corn (cut off the cob)

3.5 cups of whole milk

2 tablespoons tequila 

3 tablespoons cilantro

1/2 jalapeno

2 ripe tomatoes (chopped)

1/2 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

heat the oil over medium in the soup pot.  cook the onions and garlic for five min, add the garlic a little later if you've used a press.  add the corn and cook for five more minutes.  add the milk and simmer for ten minutes.  add the tequila, cilantro, and jalapeno and cook for five more minutes.  remove from heat.  add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper.  serve.  YUM. 

Thanks to Alyssa for filling in some of the details.

----- 

I will also leave you with a link to Barbara Kingsolver and Krista Tippet's conversation about Kingsolver's year of "good" eating, described in her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. 

I simply had to spend $1.83 on a little plastic disc to stop my tub drain.  The mechanism never works when I want to take a bath or soak something in the tub but miraculously functions the next time I take a shower.  And I was too frustrated to wait three weeks for the super to mess it up more.  Funny, I hadn't been inside a drugstore in a long time...

Hi, lovely readers.  I'm sorry I've been gone so long.  This blog thing is hard: with a struggle I can get 1-2 entries up in a normal week; when I've got a project going on, everything goes out the window.  This month's projects have included a film shoot and a massive reorganization of my office.  I've been taking the (four years' worth of!) white paper to the office where they say they recycle because I know for sure my apartment building doesn't.  I will investigate this in more detail during the Trash unit later this year.

The "patio" tomatoes are still chugging along, producing golf ball-sized fruit at the rate of 4-5 a week.  They are flavorful, if kind of an awkward size. I'm still not sick of BLT's, and I've been having fun trying the different kinds of locally-produced bacon from the farmer's market.  The beefsteaks, on the other hand, had some kind of trauma while I was away and never fully recovered.  The few that came off without blossom end rot were delicious, far better than the patio ones and quite a bit bigger.  Now the plant is doing this weird thing where it's producing new growth and flowers but the older leaves are turning hideous shades of purple and yellow.  It looks terrible and seems unlikely to produce more fruit.

I've run out of a few more things: mascara and mints.  The mascara is no big tragedy - I rub my eyes a lot so it ends up looking bad anyway; just an eyelash curler is serving me way better.  The mints I was trying to justify as a food item, but then I found some promotional Listerine tape thingies from a million years ago.  I'm sure that they could survive basically anything, so I'm not too worried about it.  When they run out, I'll have to make sure to carry my toothbrush with me.  And then it will be time to see the dentist, who is very generous with free toothbrushes.  All this stuff makes a lot of packaging and trash.

Now that the year is two-thirds gone, I've been fantasizing about the items I'll buy in 2008, things I think I need or that I really want.  Which makes me think this whole thing is kind of ridiculous: did I just put off my buying to Dec 2006 and Jan 2008?   Should I extend the experiment even longer to see if I can determine where/when it breaks down for me?  Maybe it already did - I've been lax on the food thing, and some art project materials and gifts have provided a little pressure valve.  At the same time, I really won't be that much better off financially (especially since I think my rent will be going up astronomically), so I won't even have the means to buy a lot of stuff at once.  We'll see - I'll do the numbers at year-end.

Oooh, temptation! I recently received some gift certificates to a clothing store.  A clothing store with no "organic" or "sustainable" options.  The giver (from work) keeps asking what I've purchased.  I was thinking I'd craftily put off answering until Jan 08, but now that seems silly and difficult - I mean, I'm still thinking I'll use them, right, so why not get it over with?  The funny thing is, I have a cold and I'm grouchy, and still I think new clothes will make me feel better.  Feeling better will make me feel better. 

But new clothes would be fun.

Guess where the tomatoes came from?

Two things I've been waiting for in one week!  A coworker and I rescued some bamboo from the weekly flower arrangement; when he found out I wanted it to stake my tomatoes, he brought me tomatoes and cucumbers from his Staten Island garden.  And a corporate thank-you gift included a nice long-handled bath brush, something I knew would be hard to make and unthinkable to buy used...

I harvested the first tomato this evening!  It was a little small and a little tart - maybe not ripe enough? - but waaaay better than a supermarket tomato.  The picture didn't come out so well...more coming soon, I hope!