#i bought it on ebay when i was in college

[rosepompadour]

War and Peace (Natasha at Otradnoye) by A. Nikolaev, 1977

#i have this on a postcard! #i bought it on ebay when i was in college #it came all the way from ukraine and it was well worth the wait #war and peace #leo tolstoy #literature #art #*

[gowns]

one of my "special interests" in the past couple of years has been exploring fast fashion vs. slow fashion. it has been a long journey trying to find clothes that actually 1) fit me 2) look good 3) are made from material that is not actively shoving plastic in the ecosystem 4) involve ethical labor, fair trade, fairly compensated, etc

before i did this research, i really had no clue about fabrics or fashion brands. i used to think i had zero interest in fashion, in fact.

i grew up wearing walmart and thrift store clothes, and when i went to college i bought clothes from target and asos. something started to shift a little bit when i found vintage resellers on etsy and ebay... those clothes were so unique. but a lot of the vintage clothes were polyester blends, stiff, and would fall apart as easily as my asos clothes. i would leave them hanging in my closet and never wear them. i would wear the same old t shirts and jeggings every day. i felt like it was impossible to ever wear comfortable clothes, or ever feel good in clothes, so why bother?

it started with linen. linen is very comfortable and pretty sustainable. i was amazed that i didn't feel the urge to rip my clothes off when i wore linen. lightbulb number one.

a friend let me borrow a nooworks dress, and i went to the store and got some overalls. wow. overalls. lightbulb number two. holy shit, you can wear overalls. you know how people say "not binary or non-binary but a secret third thing." that's overalls.

i realized i loved the bonkers prints that nooworks had, and all of it was soft, and made ethically. it was a higher price point than i was used to, which gave me pause. but then you realize: we're not supposed to be buying dumb clothes every other weekend. and isn't a slightly higher price point for soft clothes that you won't want to tear off your body worth it?

so i started my research. i made a spreadsheet. the prices can be all over the place across brands, so i made a column for prices. sizes can be all over the place too -- people always ask me "where is the plus size slow fashion?" it's there. just look at the size column. people say "isn't it better to buy secondhand?" yeah, it is. i have many links to secondhand sources.

if you have any suggestions or additions please let me know, it is a living document.

#slow fashion

[froody]

Hey! The bowls come from a company called Trade Winds. They're called the 'Expressions' range - not as cheap as they used to be thanks to us nostalgia nerds, but still reasonably easy to get hold of.

THANK YOU SO MUCH! Thats awesome. When my mom got super sick in college her (now deceased) aunt bought her this exact mug

along with a matching bowl. You know, sick day soup and tea. It was a staple in our household growing up. My mom recently broke the mug and was lamenting it and now I can keep an eye out on eBay for a replacement.

#ask

[asyastudieskorean]

9/20/2023 — Hello, studying world. Today I start my journey of learning Korean with my first university Korean class (online). We didn't have any work on the first day, so all I did was read the syllabus (the most basic, non-informative syllabus I've ever read, ha), set up my new desk space, and updated my student bio on Canvas. I haven't been a college student for about 3 years, so it felt like I accomplished a lot. When the readings and assignments start coming in, I'm sure reality will hit.

I've always wanted to learn Korean, and my goal is to reach a near-fluent level, but I know it'll be hard, especially with my full-time work priorities. Eventually, being able to teach and work in translation is my goal. FYI, Chinese, Thai, and Japanese are on my list, too, but I'll be realistic and focus on one language for the foreseeable future.

Last week, as it so happens, I had to move from my family and childhood home, and I am lacking in the positivity department rn, so I think having a place to chronicle my studies and the progress I make will be good for me. I tend to start a new blog on here when I'm having a hard time, and it helps.

So, the plan is to take two full academic years of Korean (that's 3 quarters per year at my university). That's just how much Korean the school offers. I graduated in 2020 from this same university with a BA in English with a focus on professional and creative writing, and I really enjoyed the overall experience studying here.

I spent a whole lot of time obsessing over grammar, reading new and old literature, trying to understand poetry, and just enjoying the inner peace I felt when writing fiction. It was maybe my most happy time because I had no other real responsibilities or worries besides school. All I did was read and write.

Anyhow, fast forward to now, after pondering different language learning options (which are limited in my area), I decided to take my Korean classes at the university level because the classes will show up on my official university transcripts, and I imagine that will be best when I apply for future Korean-related jobs. I am also hoping that by taking university-level language classes, they will have some sort of superior level of... intensity? accuracy? efficiency? Something like that. Granted, this route isn't the best for my finances, as there is no aid for non-matriculated post-grads, and the cost of a single class is quite ridiculous. But alas, here I am, with an empty wallet and hope in my eyes.

Upon reading the syllabus today, which could basically be summarized as "TBD," I realized the textbook I bought, the textbook I waited over a week for, the one listed on the online course materials list, is, in fact, not the correct textbook.

And, icing on the bitter cake, the correct textbook appears to be a rare Pokémon that isn't available anywhere except the dark corners of eBay, where shipping will take at least 2 weeks. Like how did other students get this? Did they order it two months in advance? Meanwhile, I have my first assignments and readings due Monday.

I quite literally just sent an email to my professor and asked what I should do, so we'll see what she says, but I really wasn't hoping to be that one student, emailing the professor about an issue on day 1.

Since this is my first post here, here also is a tiny bit about me:

My name is Asya ("Asia"), and I'm a 24-year-old English grad based in Washington; no, not the one followed by DC, but the state with a lot of rain and trees. Twilight? Starbucks? Amazon? Yes, that one.

Since graduating in 2020, I've been a freelance editor and writer. I'm taking Korean both for passion and for work purposes, and I really should have started sooner. But I guess we're all on our own timelines.

I've been on Tumblr for a long, long time, but I've never been part of the studyblr sector. I'm glad to be here. :)

#student #college student #back to school #university #korean #korean language #language learning #korean classes #studying #studyblr #study blog #washington #washington state

[saleintothe90s]

489. General Foods International Coffee

(eBay seller dreamofthepast)

We all know thee lil cans. Some of them were probably out first forays into coffee, maybe our mom let us have some instead of hot cocoa on a cold day. No wait, this seems more like a drink your Aunt Patty n Selma would have at their house and drink every day. She let you have some to feel grown up.

Or maybe you shared a cup with your new Gothy roommate in the 80s?

Even the boys who played football enjoyed it!

and just maybe you sipped French Vanilla Cafe with your friends and joked "who was that waiter's name in Paris?" "JEAN-LUC!" like in the commercial. (yes I'm aware of the Mad TV bit)

Although in an article about annoying commercials that ran in the Rocky Mountain News in 1992, reader Dennis Lancaster said of the ad: "The ad that really bugs the heck out of me is that General Foods International Coffee ads with the two ladies there and the French cafe coffee or whatever it is. I wish they'd have stayed in France." 1

lil samples of Irish Cream Cafe was given out at Black Friday one year at Target!

I noticed that General Foods would advertise their instant coffee a lot in college newspapers in the 1980s.

See, even Corky on Murphy Brown dank it.

Before we had frappuchinos, there would always be the same recipe every year for a frozen or a cold coffee drink, just with a different flavor each year, it seemed.

(eBay seller dreamofthepast)

See what I mean?

(commercial)

In the late 90s, they came out with the Cappuccino Coolers drinks, which I adored back then. It was powder that you mixed with milk -- so yeah, gotta be near the bathroom when drinking those. Maxwell House just discontinued these this year. By then they were called iced lattes.

(commercial)

My all time GOAT when I was a teenager however was the Kahula flavor. I miss it every day.

(commercial)

Anybody remember the variety packs? They were like, half a serving! Enough for a mouse! The Suisse Mocha design always reminds me of the Murder She Wrote logo.

(commercial)

(commercial)

General Foods International Coffee debuted in 1973 with these three flavors. Looks like Cafe Au Lait became Cafe Francais shortly after. You walk into the store today, and guess who is still there almost every time:

(Maxwell House took over around 2011)

I bought all three flavors in the last month and yup they all taste a lil watery. Maybe 'cuz we're just used to stronger coffee in 2023.

Related:

Maxwell House International Coffee Still Missing General Foods, Jean Luc

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ABBOTT, KAREN. "'FEMININE' PRODUCTS SPARK MAJORIOTY OF READER CALLS." Rocky Mountain News (CO), March 12, 1992: NewsBank: Access World News. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view? p=AWNB&docref=news/0EB4D9FC6ACBBE66.

#coffee #general foods international coffee #Maxwell house international coffee #Maxwell house #1980s coffee #1990s coffee #old commercials #1980s college

[larsnicklas]

anon bcs I am too shy to ask directly on the post but-- how did you find nicke's dynamo jersey? bcs I had half a mind of buying one of his jerseys, and that one is beautiful, but I wouldn't know where to start looking. thank u so much and sorry for the silly question ^^""

haha no worries!! i am always happy to share jersey tips ♡ so the dynamo jersey was kind of a special case — if i had bought it while he was playing, i could have quite easily gotten it from lutch usa, which is the best source for khl jerseys! but during that lockout i was like. in high school and had no real disposable income so on and so forth so it’s just been on my wishlist for ages. i had an alert set on ebay and i did check fairly regularly and just got very lucky!!

if you want just a nicke jersey in general, my favorite places to purchase jerseys new are hockey authentic, coolhockey, and jersey baron! but those are quite pricey — i try to wait for sales when i can for the first two especially. jersey baron is an ebay store so fewer sales BUT also a good place to look for junior and college jerseys. for shl jerseys i’ve heard good things about this store — i haven’t purchased from them yet so can’t fully vouch for them but i do plan to buy something from them at some point, especially since they offer to help find pretty much any shl jersey if they don’t have it!

i also like snagging jerseys secondhand when i can find them in good condition; mercari and ebay are good places to find authentic jerseys at a cheaper price point. i recommend avoiding fanatics branded jerseys if possible — they’re lower quality and much harder to resell for a good price if you ever want to do that! i always look for reebok or adidas secondhand, and sometimes there’ll be even older jerseys in good shape, starter and mitchell & ness and the like! :)

#i hope this was at least somewhat helpful ♡ it’s a silly hobby of mine but it does spark joy #my running bit of wearing a different team’s jersey to stars games is going to be SO funny next year when i split season tickets with my pal #anyway if there’s anything else i can help with or more specific questions please let me know!! #meg.askbox

[romanovsonelastdance]

I think very hard about your blog sometimes.

I don't think you realize just how very cool I think you are /gen /p

I would always love to hear more about your little hobby (I'm assuming it is a hobby and not a job, but regardless, it's very cool)

Like how did you get started in collecting? How long have you been doing it? How do you store everything? Do you scan/photograph everything yourself? If you had to choose what are some of your favourite pieces?

Thanks so much! I'm really glad people enjoy this blog; no one in my off-line life is all that interested in my postcards so it's a lot of fun for me to share them with people who DO enjoy them and understand why I get excited about, say, an OTMA 1916 postcard or whatever!

I've been interested in the Romanovs since I was a teenager, and I used to check eBay regularly for 'new pics,' but I didn't really have the money to BUY any of them back then. Likewise in college I didn't have any money to spare, either! I only bought a few things here and there that were cheap. I probably had like, maybe 10 items total from that era.

But a few years ago I moved in with my brother to help with childcare for his new baby, and part of the deal was that I didn't have to pay rent since I was helping take care of the baby. So suddenly I had money and I started to buy some of the postcards I found of my history people.

At first I intentionally avoided NAOTMAA because I a) understood they were more expensive and b) I knew myself well enough to know that I would get REALLY invested in it. But then I bought an OTM 1901 card because "well it's really cheap." And THEN I found a Maria and Anastasia 1914 card. I had seen the pic before in books and online, but when I got the card in hand I was shocked how CLEAR the postcard was and that was the end of of my resistance! It's SO COOL to have nice, clear images of these pictures I was used to seeing as pixelated jpegs on the internet. That was about six or seven or seven years ago?

Now I have FIVE binders full of postcards. I recently had to divide my NAOTMAA stuff into two of them, and then one for Other Romanovs, one for the Greek Royal Family and one for Other Royals (mostly British, Romanian, and Belgian, with a decent handful of Italian and Swedish).

I moved out of my brother's place awhile ago because 'the baby' is now old enough to go to school and they don't need me to babysit as much, but I also got promoted at work (I'm a librarian, FYI), so I still have some money to spend on my little hobby. I hadn't been buying as many things because I already have so many so that it's harder to find ones I don't already have. . .

. . . until a seller on eBay started selling off a mainly OTMA collection, and now I'm buying too much a lot again!

#postcard collecting

[gay-sin]

crocheting yarn is praying to god

i have spent a good amount of my free time lately thinking about yarn. i won a bid on ebay and bought some white mohair from a seller in florida for a great price. today i spent a very long time trying to get to a yarn store in cambridge. i had a lot of transit complications and had to walk a long time in the rain. i got there with my jeans and belongings soaked. my phone is in rice at the moment. it was worth it though because the store was amazing. it had so many kinds of quality yarns. i went around feeling them all for what must have been an hour. i tried to intuit what worsted vs woolen yarn was. there are so many things i don't know about yarn. all of the plastic yarns were very cheap. some wool yarn was cheap but the cheap wool felt very scratchy. i wanted soft yarn. i got two balls of 100% merino wool in bubble gum and rococo pink. i think i will make leg warmers with them. i'm not sure yet. i spent a long time feeling the alpaca yarn. i let myself splurge and get a $20 skein of 100% alpaca yarn in a muted blue color. the tag said that the yarn was "non-mulesed" which i read as non-molested. turns out mulesing is "a painful procedure that involves cutting crescent-shaped flaps of skin from around a lamb's breech and tail using sharp shears designed specifically for this purpose." i looked up photos but i don't recommend that you do.

as an artist, there are always so many factors to consider when choosing materials. i have always preferred trash/found materials as they are the most affordable. there is so much that ends up in landfills so why not use these things to make art? i love the poetics of things that were thrown aside being given new life. i've always preferred thrifting clothing, yarn, fabric. but what i have realized with yarn, though, is that it is very hard to find quality yarn like that. most yarn is mixed with acrylic or polyester. before i took a class on fibers in the spring, i had no idea what my clothes were really made of. now i think about it a lot. i'm trying to train my senses to decipher these things. i had no idea that clothes could even be made out of plastic and now the thought that most clothes are made with plastic really disturbs me. if you can't tell if yarn is plastic, you can burn it and tell by the smell. i'm becoming a detective, trying to find the imposters in a world where the plastic version is so goddamn convincing. it makes me uneasy. it feels very metaphorical.

in my fiber arts class, we read chapters of books written by anni albers. she was an artist that co-founded the black mountain college. i want to go back and dive deeply into these things that i only had the time to skim in school. i wanted to reread this article we had to read of hers from class. it is called "tactile sensibilities" but i needed an institution login to read the whole thing. i hate academia.... i could access the first page though and it had the main points. i wanted to use them to discuss yarn. so here are a couple quotes...

"No wonder a faculty that is so largely unemployed in our daily plodding and bustling is degenerating. Our materials come to us already ground and chipped and crushed and powdered and mixed and sliced, so that only the finale in the long sequence of operations from matter to product is left to us: we merely toast the bread." "We touch things to assure ourselves of reality. We touch the objects of our love. We touch the things we form. Our tactile experiences are elemental. If we reduce their range, as we do when we reduce the necessity to form things ourselves, we grow lopsided."

i spent a long time wanting to make pointless art, just art for the sake of art. i still do sometimes but i have been very invested in fiber arts. they are the opposite of pointless art. it is so practical, ancient, useful. i have found a deep love for it that grounds me in ways i didn't even know that i needed so badly. i think there are so many things about the way we live now in such an industrialized, hyper-individualist plastic world that we are completely unaware the harms of.

i am very interested in religion and ritual and i love how this intersects with fiber arts for me. crocheting feels like a prayer. it feels like healing. i don't really like to crochet with plastic because it feels like it cuts me off from the cycle of it all. yesterday i started my day by crocheting for a long time before work. it put me in a beautiful mood and i felt patient and at ease all day. i have been needing that. i've been in such a bad mood for awhile, so tense, always in a rush. the yarn was wool and it sorta looked like the yarn that i had spun when i tried to spin yarn. it was thicker in some spots than others, making it feel real. i could imagine someone spinning it. spinning is such a beautiful process and i respect it so much. i hated it because it was so hard. it requires so much balance. i love the look of a spinning wheel. it reminds me of fairytales. i guess that just shows how far we have come from doing these things with our hands.... but anyways, i could imagine the sheep that grew the wool, the person that sheared the sheep. the yarn was probably spun by a machine, not a person, but i like to imagine it was spun on a wheel by a person. then, i crochet with the yarn. my crocheting is not a work of individual artistic genius, but the finishing step in a long process of labor and art, across time, species, places on earth. i'm employing techniques used for such a long time before me by so many wise and beautiful human beings. techniques i didn't invent and that i am still a humble beginner at. i make things that i can feel, touch, use, give. they can be used to keep me or those i love warmer in the winter, to hold my things, to make me feel more like myself. then, the things i make with these fibers can be reused or reworked when i no longer use them. when they fall apart, they can be reabsorbed into the earth, maybe they will become soil that will grow grass, that will be eaten by a sheep that will grow wool... the process continues. i am a small participant. that is a prayer to me. that is god to me.

this is what we lose when we don't make things with our hands, when we don't know where things come from. these are the skills that are deemed frivolous and inessential, not fast enough to turn profit. i think that these things are legitimately essential to being a person. most of fiber arts is historically women's work, based in traditions of indigenous people. it is not taken seriously in this culture and it is a shame because i really think that this is having grave consequences on everyone's wellbeing.

i was talking to my roommate's dad about how he had a maid when he lived in africa. he paid her very little but he said that it was still more than the norm. he said she could go get an education and "better herself" to get more money like him. it was a long conversation and there are so many layers to that mentality that are fuckedddd. but i just really don't understand how people actually believe that doing busy work for a corporation on a computer all day does anything of importance or requires any real intelligence at all. how is that "bettering yourself"? to alienate yourself even from your own space, never even touching the things you live with except to use them and toss them wherever for someone else to clean up?? the countless skills that come with cleaning are baffling to me. i have so much respect for cleaners. i am always learning the importance of cleaning and trying to do it well. i am naturally terrible at it and am currently trying my best to be better. to me, an office job is the place most void of intelligence. it's not at all the sort of intelligence that really matters to being alive or understanding what that means. whatever.

anyways, i made a bunny hat last weekend and i haven't been able to stop wearing it. it makes me so happy. i am very content with the idea of it getting colder because i will stay inside and crochet things. i will get to wear silly hats. i have been wearing the hat to work and the kids love it. people on the streets smile at me more. lots of people compliment me on it. for some reason, it makes me feel more like myself. maybe i'm a little bit of a furry. i made it with acrylic yarn because i had bought some awhile ago but i still really like it. maybe i will make one out of mohair. i want one with bigger ears. i want a collection of animal/monster hatwear.

here is a photo of me in the bunny hat and a drawing that one of the kids drew of me in the hat. i let the little girl that drew the picture try on the hat. it was so big on her little head. she is 5 and i love her very much.

#fiber art #yarn crafts #crochet yarn #yarn #wool #alpaca yarn #anni albers #god

[moonjxsung]

Ugh I had to stop reading your story because the pendant reminded me of a Tiffany one. I always hoped I would get one one day from someone I love, never did (they always picked what they liked, and it was never my taste) so I’m emotional now. I need a nap (with Chan) a hug (from Chan) and then I’ll be back because it was so sweet. I also have these pendants saved on Vinted and I’m considering buying them myself anyway but it wouldn’t be the same

I AM VIRTUALLY SENDING YOU A TIFFANY NECKLACE AND CHANNIE HUGS ☹️💓💓💓💓🫶🫶 this is so funny bc I would have loved to get one from a significant other too but I wanted one for the aesthetic and I’m too impatient to wait until I’m in love so I bought one off eBay and it fully has somebody’s random initials engraved on the back 😭😭 I even had someone ask me in college once who I was dating and when I was like??? They said “oh, just assumed the new Tiffany was from a boyfriend or something” PLEASE. Whoever “E.M.N.” Is please know that I am taking good care of your necklace 🤸‍♀️ sometimes you just gotta treat yourself !!!!

#ask

[fruitchouli]

apologies if this has been asked before which im sure it has but i am so curious - when did u first develop an interest in fragrances and where on earth did you start with purchasing them? did u make do with samples in the beginning? i have no idea where to begin! this world can be a bit overwhelming at times. ty and have a lovely morning.

i got into perfume with my friend in college! luckily at the time i lived near quite a few big department stores with bountiful perfume departments so i was always there sniffing and bothering the employees for samples.. and i would always ask for samples at sephora.. i can’t tell u how many weekends i was there asking for them to make me another sample of gucci rush… i was in school for fashion and i found fragrance really scratched a lot of my itches.. i loved the history of it and how powerful a tool of personal expression it can be.. like isabella adjani said changing ur perfume can be more powerful than changing ur hair.. and i loved people like katie puckrik on youtube who made fragrance this dreamy intellectual artsy eccentric cool world.. i wanna be just like her when i grow up. i only bought fragrances from ebay then, i would scour the auctions and find random ones for cheap that i didn’t know anything about. but i never had many fragrances until years later. i remember when i placed my first fragrancenet order i thought i was so freaking cool like omg i just spent 50 dollars on a tester bottle like no one can come close to me 💯💯💰😤🤚

[justzawe]

Zawe Ashton on embracing pre-loved fashion and finding your authentic style

The actress completely changed her relationship with shopping – now she’s on a mission to inspire others to do the same

Zawe Ashton was ahead of the curve when it came to shopping secondhand. After spending her formative years on the high street, as most teenagers did, the actress discovered a passion for pre-loved fashion when she went to college in London in the early Noughties.

“Secondhand pieces of treasure were the currency,” Zawe Ashton tells me over the phone, reminiscing about those college days. “Vintage was suddenly cool and we spent our time putting outfits together from different eras and scouring vintage and charity shops.”

This fascination with shopping secondhand only intensified when she later moved to Manchester, and found endless inspiration from the city's vibrant Northern Quarter. Ashton worked in one of the area’s biggest hubs for vintage shopping, where she sourced some of her favourite gems to-date and started to experiment with her style.

“As a young drama-school student, I was really beginning to experiment with roles and started to find characters in the vintage I was buying,” she recalls. “I was finding some really precious stuff that I still have today – a vintage Eighties cheerleading outfit that would probably take me a while to wriggle into now,” she laughs. “Another special find is my Jimmy Choo clutch bag. At the time, I'd been nominated for a British Independent Film Award and back then loaning clothes was so new to me and I didn’t have a stylist, so I just relied on the kindness of fashion houses and designers that I formed personal relationships with.” Having borrowed a dress and shoes from a brand, she needed the perfect bag to go with it: she found the dream Jimmy Choo clutch on eBay and picked it up en route to the red carpet. “That was a special pre-loved moment,” she recalls. “It made me realise you’re ultimately in charge of dressing yourself for these events, so you can be more imaginative.”

Being an early champion of secondhand designer fashion made the actress the perfect fit to front eBay's campaign for its new authentication process, which ensures any bag over £500 will now go through rigorous checking in a bid to build consumer confidence.

Following previous successful projects to authenticate watches and sneakers, as of this month, eBay is now working with a team of authenticators who will physically inspect luxury handbags by hand, as well as using specialist machinery. Any designer bags for sale will first be verified by an authenticator, checking that it matches the listing and inspecting the quality, from the stitching to the zippers. All bags will then get an Authenticity Guarantee card to prove their status, and sellers who offer returns get the same verification protection as buyers – allowing users to both shop and sell with certainty.

“I’ve definitely bought a few dud designer pieces [in the past] and I wish I’d had some kind of guarantee to help with that, especially when shopping secondhand online or for the first time,” says Ashton of the partnership.

Of course today, buying pre-loved fashion and contributing to a circular fashion economy is more commonplace than ever before, as we all seek to live more sustainable lives.

“Trends turn over so quickly now,” she says. “You can start to get carried away with it, rather than taking the time to explore what your own sense of style and expression might be.

“The younger generation are really targeted by these fast trends. So if there’s anything I would love to say to that generation, it’s to take a moment to find your authentic expression through how you dress and, while you’re doing that, you could also really be helping the planet that you’re about to inherit.”

Currently, the fashion industry is the second most damaging industry to the planet. The sector accounts for about 8-10 per cent of global carbon emissions and nearly 20 per cent of wastewater. Alarming statistics indeed.

Ashton is all too aware that being more eco-conscious with our habits has never been more vital – and that challenging misconceptions around secondhand shopping is key to promoting mindful purchases.

“Trend cycles have sped up in the past 10 years and we are conditioned to use that as a way of staying relevant,” she says. “Sometimes people are hesitant to step away from the crowd, which I totally understand, but it’s OK to break away from that.”

Celebrities wearing vintage on the red carpet has done wonders for the reputation of secondhand clothing; these are pieces with character, history and a uniqueness that's just not possible to replicate when buying new. But, with so much out there, where should vintage newbies start?

“Pre-loved doesn’t have to be a chore or a slog – it just means you’re authenticating your own journey of consumerism,” says the actress. “You can become more authentically yourself when you think more consciously about our planet, which goes a lot further outside of just shopping.”

“Finding inspiration is a really great start,” advises Ashton, who takes her own inspiration from a variety of sources – from stars whose style she admires, like Alexa Chung and Grace Jones, to the Punk Era or French cinema. “There are so many apps and sites to browse images of different styles and eras and see how people have put together different pieces.”

Aside from shopping secondhand, Ashton makes an effort to be more eco-conscious in other ways. The British actress loves to support sustainable brands and make her existing wardrobe work harder, by mending older pieces that might need some TLC.

“I’m also trying to just buy less and just have a more conscious approach,” she says. “I know it’s really hard to do that, as we are all different heights, dress sizes, and different physicalities. But often you can get pieces tailored. It’s about changing the psychology around shopping; those who previously loved fast fashion might now just be investing in one or two pieces they know will last. That’s the mixture I’m trying to get behind, as well as rental and re-wearing stuff on the red carpet, as that really sends a message.”

When it comes to repeating outfits, A-List stars such as Cate Blanchett and Emma Watson, and even royals like the Duchess of Cambridge, have been known to regularly re-wear dresses to big events, highlighting the importance of making the most of what we already have. So does Ashton feel a sense of responsibility to lead by example?

“We’re really on code red right now and everyone has a responsibility,” Ashton says. “Everyone has their part to play. I think you can’t get away from the fact that if you have a public persona or profile as part of your work, you can’t deny that there is a faster way to spread that vital message. I’m a work in progress; I’m really enjoying the journey of working out how I can work these parts of my job in a different way for the better.

“There’s also a lot of responsibility on big corporations, as the individual citizen can only do so much. I hate the way you can feel unbelievably guilty if you slip up and end up spiralling and feeling bad for your own impact. But you have to remember that huge corporations are actually still so responsible for the majority of issues that we’re facing.”

While things are definitely improving and we’re thankfully seeing more brands prioritising the planet, there’s still a long way to go. “It’s up to the fashion industry to answer the questions of its own accountability,” agrees Ashton. “It’s great to see that the access to rental has improved, [as well as] the quality of rentals, the businesses offsetting their footprints, and the scope of brands available. This will only encourage more people to go down that route. I really hope that continues to grow.”

As for Ashton's own personal journey? It's all centred on mindset. "It's about changing my psychology and helping to change other people’s. I turned an old pair of tights into a headband the other day,” she laughs. “It’s amazing what pops up on your radar when you start to change your psychology. Once you start to think about the terrible landfills, toxic chemicals, and the people who are being used to make these clothes in the most atrocious conditions, you’ll rethink everything.

“It’s really a work in progress that keeps evolving. If there’s a panic-buy you make last minute for a holiday, wedding or interview, you can offset that by buying pre-loved next time or opting for rental. Rewear the garment or tailor it so it becomes a forever piece. This isn’t about making the individual feel guilty, because there’s enough of that. I’m really not perfect and certainly don’t have it all figured out yet, but know that my mindset is really changing and that’s the most important thing.” We couldn’t agree more. (x)

#zawe ashton #harpers bazaar #interview #article #fashion

[gar-trek]

OKAY TO BE REAL THO.... my spirk journy:

When I first started watching star trek, i did not know spirk existed... HONEST!!!! i was like 13 and i wasnt really active in any star trek fanspaces... just existing in pure bliss and enjoying the show for what it was.... den... as i kept existing through life i was peripherally away of spirk but i never even had one thought about it and if i did that thought was probably like "oh thats kinda weird and funny" THEN... a year before i started my tumblr account, i went to an antique store and found a star trek zine. It was not a spirk story, just a little bit gay. this was during my first year of college when i had yet to make any friends. I found that zine and showed it to some aquantences who thought it was pretty funny, and we all spend an afternoon reading it together, laughing, and speculating if it was supposed to be gay (it was not k/s, but it was still a little gay)... one of those people turned out to be my now very close friend austin (HI AUSTIN) and perhaps this moment shared between us helped our beautiful friendship grow. Either way this was one of my best memories from my shortly lived pre-covid college experience... this made me associate good feelings with star trek zines, and when i went on ebay to check out more i was extremly amused to find that a lot of them were kirk and spock... this is what me and my friends had joked about with the first zine... but for realsies this time... SO i went on ebay and bought some authentic K/S zines and this coincided with me making my tumblr blog.... in January of 2021 i began yet another rewatch of tos... and i was enjoying it so much.. but i wanted someone to talk to about it!!! so i joined tumblr,,, ALSO since i was intrested in zines, RIGHT before i started my tumblr account i looked it up and found that people on tumblr were STILL making spirk zines, which i had become obsessed with, SO I SIGNED UP TO CONTRIBUTE MY ART TO A SPIRK ZINE.. which i did and it was physically printed like 6 months later. anyway i made my first post on january 15th... and by januery 18th... i had reblogged my first spirk post.. then that same day i posted this... as i struggled to come to terms with the fact i shipped spirk

then on febuary 7th... i made a spirk post that got 1.5 K notes... my first taste of spirk clout...I would say my main spirk era lasted untill i started watching tng, which i did in may of 2021. In may i also made a post that likened spirkies to johnlockers, and although i did not say anything negative about spirk shippers, but if i was compairing them to johnlockers i must have been growing wearing. i must also note that during this period, i used to get a lot of random anons that were just like "i love your blog! your content is so funny!" or whatever... and this was like kind of a regualr theing. this really did stop when i started posting about tng more and probably started acting a lot more mean and now i just get anons asking me if i have a gas leak in my house.. just saying. I enjoyed a summer of tng content, and slowly started to realize that i could like a trek that wasnt tos... THEN .. by septerber.. i made my first negative spirk post... a disturbing trend that would be repeated

i was very wearing about saying something negative about spirk, as i knew a lot of my followers and friends LOVED spirk.. but it has began to really grate my nerves. then it was all down hill from there!! anyway, i wont lie. i used to get the spirk feels man. i even read a couple fanfics man!! drew some fan art!!!! idk. i moved on to greener pastures. i used to say sappy things about spirk!!! i think that... me ... shipping spirk and liking that a lot is very much tied to online schooling and a time in my life when i was feeling very isolated from genuine friends. I'm not trying to say like spirk was a trauma response or anything, but its just weird how different my life was a year and a half ago, like much more different then it should have been. it was just like me and spirk against the world back then.... actually like right now writing this post im having a revelation that im probably so soured on spirk because it reminds me of a time in my life when i was a lot less happy then i am right now.. ISNT THAT WEIRD!!!!!!!!!!!! the parellels im drawing.. wow i never thought of it like this before.. okay mind blown. good night everyone

#btw it wasnt that bad a year and a half ago. #i had just stopped talking to my best friend and i wasnt close with austin yet and i didnt have my discord friends #but now me and my old friend are on good terms and our relationship is better then before and me and austin are best friends forever and my #discord friends are awesome and im back in school #and i got rid of all the bts posters in my room

[stanweirdosalliance]

Get to know me

Sorry if this is too long I really want some to understand me. Most people have hard time knowing real me not just online me.

If you see a lot of football aka soccer for you American I grew up watching it I am from Belarus but live in America. Growing up I was huge fan of David Beckham had him as my wallpaper on computer and my bro was okay with it. I am huge into entertainment, movies and music. My fav director is Edgar Wright I am taking Edgar Wright filmmaking course online it's not cheap but my mom bought me that as my early 28th bday last year. I really love him as film director even when Last Night in Soho came out and I saw it. I came home and watched his every interview on that movie. I love how his movie usually come out like 3 to 4yrs. He takes time on his movies and I see how a movie fan he is. Last year I went from just listening to pop music and soundtracks to Indie music. I cant do anywhere without my headphones I listen to so much music in public to get away from people it's part of my disability. I listen to music too much does not matter time of day cause it calms me down. All of my rock music love comes from my amazing mom. I am future Filmmaker 4yrs ago I think I wrote like 54 pages script. Truth is we need to write 100 pages but teacher had so many problems about my British character who is cop but my bro was helping. Also I am ON THE SPECTRUM that's why my teacher let me make shorter then 100 pages script. Their is a reason why I chosen filmmaking well because my whole family is medical even my aunt and for me learning it would be hard cause I wanted to be vet. Someone in new high school when we moved to new state like a decade ago told my mom I would never graduate high school and I did close to graduating community college. When I came to community college and took classes I really wanted like filmmaking ones I finally became so happy cause school was never happy for me with my disability school was hell if no one would of helped me I would of failed it on my own. If you talking to me and its not movies, music or entertainment, or football sorry I start to either freak out or I just need to leave I can't be in that room. I wish someday to see my fav band live French band Phoenix but I seen one of my fav bands last year in music festival thanks to my bro its The National. I love anything British my fav actors Dan Stevens, Gwilym Lee, Martin Freeman and Simon Pegg. My favorite tv shows are Legion yes it ended but still it was the best one, Fargo, The Bear, What we do in the Shadows, Welcome to Wrexham, loved Pose and Righteous Gemstones

Just 3yrs ago during the middle of season 4 of Fargo I started to like actor Jason Schwartzman and now I know so much about him. I own almost everything with his band he made Coconut Records only need Nighttiming Vinyl. I won Davy on Ebay for 300 dollars and in 2021 in one auction I won his red jacket from Fargo season 4. If you need to know anything about Jason just don't afraid to ask me. People make fun of me being fan of him cause i know too much but that's not my fault being On The Spectrum he is my hyper fixation. Growing up I been bullied so much even for liking some actors. People tell me on on TWITCH channel how bad of an actor he is or terrible actor. My mom recently came to terms to liking him after I showed so much videos and made her listen him talking about his kids. She says he is a great person and dad. If ever asking one of my fav Jason videos it has to be Sesame Street Memory: Jason Schwartzman | #ThisIsMyStreet cause part of it I relate knowing his one daughter is autistic and special needs. Talking about Jason sometimes annoys my mom.

#jason schwartzman #get to know me #dan stevens #indie music #movies #edgar wright #fargo #what we do in the shadows

[doctorguilty]

Extra vent

And my grandpa is being weirdly cheap with me like he's not with the rest of my siblings?? Even the one who works and has her own income? Like he buys groceries for literally everyone but me he just keeps being like, are you getting food stamps soon and I'm like I am trying I am trying so much but I had to start over because of THEIR fuckup and it's a slow process, before he left he was like, "I bought you cherry granola bars but they're the Walmart brand instead of Aldi" as if the Aldi brand is premium shit??? The Walmart ones are so dry and flavorless I couldn't finish eating just one, the Aldi cherry bars are one of my fav snacks like ok thanks that I don't deserve the 25 cents or w/e extra for those I guess.... like I really don't understand but it makes me feel like utter shit, I spend more on cat food than I do to feed myself, he also likes to be like "well how's your sales" and I'm saying bad they be been bad since the inflation jump. "How's your commissions" I'm not taking any wtf are you talking about???? I am not making more money than I am spending on pet supplies and necessities for myself, my savings are still deflating since my move, I am digging in the DIRT for bugs to attempt to breed and sell, I am taking stuff out of the trash to sell on ebay for a few extra bucks, I'm halfway through a disability application which THAT will be a months long battle when I finally submit that, if it's a not doing enough around the house thing we'll I'd be able to do a lot more if I was putting calories in my body instead of just a stream of caffeine, there's also the disabilities y'know like keeping me from working a job like I've been saying, oh and all my resin crafting is on hold because of smog

I've always been the most worthless out of everyone it seems, I've already deserved less help, and I don't know why, like I know everyone's disappointed in me for being a loser but nobody wants to be accountable for ruining my life during my upbringing and abandoning me in college to starve because I didn't even have savings, idk I just break down a lot when I go hungry cause it's like boy I wish I was as loved as everyone else. But I get the less good generic brand granola bars

#seth speaks #neg

[thehubby]

Anime Stuffs for Auction

Are you part of the Venn diagram overlap of people who [A] like anime; [B] like rare items; and [C] have spare money? Then boy have I got opportunities for you!

As part of my continued desire to pay for college, not default on my mortgage, piddling stuff like that, I am putting up some things for auction that are not merely video games or soundtracks, starting today with two items of interest (bolded texts link to eBay):

Item 1: Sailor Moon R Black Lady Model Kit That's right, a genuine, authentic 1:8 scale model kit of Black Lady from Sailor Moon R. This is certified ultra rare. I purchased this 25 years ago when I thought the character design was cool and wasn't entirely aware of some of the hashtag-problematic elements. It was hard to find then, and it's impossible to find now. I wouldn't be surprised if there were only a handful of these kits left in existence. I never had the patience, skill or guts to try and put this together, so it is still in the same condition which I originally purchased it.

Item 2: Bubblegum Crisis t-shirt, circa ~1996 Yes, I am selling you the shirt off my back, although it hasn't been on my back in many years. I bought this something like two and a half decades ago, have worn it very sparingly over the years and always washed it very carefully. It is an old friend, but one that I'm prepared to say goodbye to. You know from this blog how much I love this anime, and here's an opportunity to show your love for it too. Although it's not as crazy a find as the Black Lady model, these shirts haven't been produced for at least 25 years, so getting one in this condition is no small achievement.

Thanks for your time, and good luck bidding!

#Sailor Moon #Sailor Moon R #Bubblegum Crisis

[murasaki-rose-art]

A Sorceress and her Knight

“.... you see, growing up I was never really big on being a princess. I wanted to be a sorceress. ^_^v

The dress was sewn by my mother, with the materials picked out by the two of us, using a fantastic pattern from Burda. (I HAD to have sheer flowing sleeves, just had to. They're so much fun!) My mom also made my 2 sisters' dresses, my niece's dress, and her own. All done in a medieval style. She even designed and assembled our bouquets! (Except for the toss bouquet.)

My husband Andy's outfit, the groomsmen's and the ring bearer's outfits all came from Armstreet.

My girdle belt and my husband's chain were made by my husband. His knight chain wasn't going to arrive in time so, having taken a jewelry making class back in college, decided to make his own and do an amazing job of it too. Then, when I was having a nervous breakdown over my belt (The one person I had finally found that did custom orders wasn't contacting me.) my husband-to-be did the most amazing thing; Using pictures I had drawn and ones of existing belts, he made my girdle belt. All I had to do was find the cabochons. @_@ Thank god for ebay. I found a jewelry seller that was clearing out their stock and bought them out of the purple cabochons we used for my belt. I cannot remember what type of stone they are. ^_^;

He also made his belt, along with the belts of his groomsmen. Genuine leather and sturdy metal, they aren't just beautiful, they're made to last.

My headband and bracelet (which you can't see very well here.) were made by the talented artist behind Thyme2dream.

My staff was made by one of the talented artisans from the KC Renaissance Fair. I can't remember the name of the booth as I bought the staff before Andy and I even started dating!

Andy's sword also came from the KCRenfest. Again, I can't remember the booth it was bought at, as it was bought a couple years before the wedding.”

.

Photo from our wedding reception:  October 2012

Close-ups of the chain, belt, and the custom coat of arms Andy made under the read more.

#medieval #cosplay #medieval costume #jewelry making #wedding