Newsletter

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May Newsletter

Dear colorful and renewed customers:

May arrives, and all New York blossoms, both on the trees and in spirits. We love NY spring, and what it does to us (forget the allergies!).
Due to amazing weather and numerous tourists, we have been extremely busy making and planning, hanging and ironing, and all just for you. The summer dresses in new patchwork stripes, floral skirts and ruffle necklines are floating out of our store with refreshed and joyful shoppers. New versions of the canvas and felt utility bags are attracting attention on our webshop.

Our merchandise universe keeps expanding, and we welcome the HapticLab Project Quilt. The first issue of the Williamsburg quilt is in, digitally printed and hand- finished. Architect-trained Emily Fischer has been addinng neighborhoods and towns to her collection since 2007.

Go Global bag designer Erika Lively has 2 new summer-urban styles in bright canvas and the classic duffle now in stained denim. All in the perfect perfect size and materials, trust me: I have carried her bags for many seasons already. Style after style they are great and durable and people will envy you!
Los Angeles-based Designer Racquel Honore sends us ANKH by Racquel Jewelry Collection MMX>2010, the collection is comprised of metallic glass bead sculptural pendants and necklaces inspired by the Newton's cradle, white, gold and silver chain constructions and penny and key charm necklaces emblazoned with graphic patterns.

And we have renewed our supply of the same old great stuff:
We did get more YourSecretAdmiral books in our Bedford Ave store and in the arts&craft section of the webshop
Yet another collectable trash-à-porter NEW tunic re-Dress, designed by Maria in our atelier in bold stripes and very "decollete" neckline, ideal for belting or wearing over leggings,

A Sense of Place: the Mushmina Coop space
Lots of new merchandise by the sister duo based in New York City and Morocco. All beautiful texrtures and shins. Mushmina now has its own space within nydesignroom, for their designs.
A new trunk-show is coming soon, and we will keep you posted.

Our Windows Are for Show(s)
April/May: Lulaland’s PIC-NIC style.
Prop stylist Lula Aldunate has created a temporary environment in our project window, featuring her soft blankets and victorian pillow cases mixed and matched to exquisite vintage finds and nydesignroom merchandise.

ICFF /design weekend May 14-19
Please come and see our new soft furniture pieces at VOOS, The Dreamers exhibition opens May 7th and will be open till the 23rd.

Welcome back Vivi, we missed you a lot, and your latin lunches!
hechoencasa.blogspot.com

And don't forget to vist our GRASSROOTSFUTURES with news about things that happen in Willliamsburg and notes by Frances Chapman who occasionally casts her eyes on the Bedford Ave L train platform and renders a judgment on the fashion on parade there.



thx for reading!
GGrippo

The nydesignroom has always been about reaching out to the many fine artists and designers in the Williamsburg—and the world—community. Our space has exhibited painting, photography, and other fine arts and displayed other designers’ lines through trunk shows and consignment arrangements.
We believe talent deserves a space on the Bedford Avenue main drag in our arts community. Please check www.nydesignroom.blogspot.com for updates.


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Opening Saturday May 8th.

NEW Felt soft furnishing at VOOS Furniture

nydesignroom different looks

Want Lots, Waste Lots

As a follow up to the previous post about destruction of unsold clothing by retailers, we also have Alex Pasternack’s witty account of scavenging through Urban Outfitters’ discarded merchandize, labeled “Broken Glass.” (That cover is blown; what’s next “Radioactive Waste”?) And Jim Dwyer at the New York Times stokes the outrage with a report that our tax dollars are now going toward the practice of destroying usable clothing in the interests of preserving private “intellectual property.” Indulge a brief rant: I’ll acknowledge there is something sordid about idea thieves profiting off someone else’s creativity, but most of the truly creative people I know seem to take this in stride and nourish their creativity rather than spend energy defending their turf. Also, there is something truly wasteful about walking down Canal Street near Pearl Paint and realizing that this business is now the only thriving one for a whole block on the south side of the street. While the “creative classes” worry about profiting from the next big trend, real artists—even applied artists--just keep coming up with innovative ways to keep themselves afloat and their vision moving forward. The current city administration follows up its failed economic policy of supporting Wall Street, real estate, and tourism with support of the fashion industry’s sclerotic and hypocritical model. Do we really need to promote businesses based on continuous outsourcing of production for the lowest labor costs, high markups, marketing waste, and in the case of H&M and Urban Outfitters rapid, high-volume cycling of merchandize that inevitably leads to waste.


http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/digging-into-urban-outfitters-perfectly-good-trash.php?campaign=daily_nl
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/nyregion/13about.html



Now, on a positive note On my way to dinner in the city, I spotted on the Bedford Ave. L train platform a woman who defied all the “rules” of fashion. (The rules of fashion have as much to do with real style and taste, as the “rules” of courtship have to do with love.) A strawberry blond with a creamy complexion, lips glossed with a peachy tint, she was nearly in the plus size range and maybe well in it. She was wearing an orange outfit. No coat. Just a thick, over-the-head, fuzzy leisure sweatshirt top in traffic cone orange topped a slightly more reddish orange skirt. And yes I can top that! She further embodied her concept of orange as a monochrome neutral with an orange boa in the frankly synthetic spiky fuzz popular in the down market about 5 years back and athletic shoes with (you guessed it) an orange racing stripe. This woman, readers, is a fashion hero of mythic status. All the slim twenty-somethings safely betting on black down coats and the odious and ever-present white knit helmet caps suddenly became wallflowers in the subway car as it sped into Manhattan.

Special Trash Day

Economists chatter dispassionately about ‘creative destruction” most people (including many of economists in their role as human beings) recoil from the spectacle of the destruction of useful goods to eliminate “overcapacity.” Journalist Jim Dwyer and Cynthia Magnus, who goes to the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, started some destruction of their own with Dwyer’s column in the New York Times last week. His reporting exposed H&M’s deliberate cutting up of discarded clothes to make them unwearable. The damage quickly spread from the ruined clothing on 35th St in Manhattan to the reputation of the mass retailer itself via the Internet. It quickly rose to the number 2 spot on Twitter.

If you haven’t heard, Magnus discovered this practice and first complained to H&M in Sweden to no avail, then contacted Dwyer. (Although Wal-Mart discards similarly damaged were found a few doors down, the Arkansas corporate bad boy did respond promptly and promised an investigation.) H&M eventually came forward with a statement that they wouldn’t do this anymore.

Some folks in the long comment space did see why a retailer would not want people scavenging the clothing to bring the items in for returns or sell it; others vowed “never” to shop at H&M again. One post “revealed” high-end retailers had been destroying left-overs for years to protect their “exclusive” merchandise.

H&M along with Zara and Top Shop have imported their “fast fashion” approach as aggressively as McDonalds invaded Europe. The trend to “fast, fast and damn the torpedoes” approach has been reversing in domains of life such as investing, food, and building. Slow Food has become a lot more fashionable than Burger King.

The downscale march of designer clothing has missed an element of haute couture that made it special—taking the time for quality construction and craftsmanship. Instead, merchandise is cycled at breakneck speed, bringing runway “looks” to the masses. Here, at GrassrootsFutures, I enjoy spotting new trends myself, but just because I see them coming I don’t like to see what should be a thoughtful tasting plate heaped too soon with supersize portions.

This blog makes its home on the nydesignroom Web site. In the nydesignroom showroom, GGrippo will often be able to unearth a version of The reDress he did a half-dozen seasons ago, carefully stored and looking as fresh as the day it was first displayed in the store. He has been executing slow fashion at a measured pace since he opened the store. The fresh, ahead-of-the trend clothes he sells are for savoring. Although designs are retired, there is continuity from season to season. Patchwork, as in The redress, almost a signature theme, may change from overstitched primary color sports t-shirt pieces to a fabric mosaic of cashmere in shades of gray, but the theme stays around, like the memory of grandmother’s homemade quilt.

Aesthetically, Grippo draws from found object and assemblage. The redress and his upcycled cashmere sheaths, re-created from discarded T-shirts and sweaters, recycle designs but dramatically up the stakes. On occasion he will even remake a well-worn and well-loved garment into a new design for a client. “Here,” Grippo assures a client, “we respect clothes.” Oh, and in case you were wondering, the fingerless cashmere gloves were made that way. Great for fumbling with keys to get out of the cold.













http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/nyregion/06about.html
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=48640
http://www.prrockandroll.com/2010/01/who-fell-asleep-in-h-pr-department.html
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/hm-says-it-will-stop-destroying-unworn-clothing/
http://www.slow-architecture.com/English/English.html