8/8/13

Help End Puppy Farm Cruelty (Content warning: upsetting image & descriptions of animal welfare conditions)

Posted by Inspired at 5:33 PM No comments :
The cute puppies frolicking in the window of your local pet shop seem happy. But there is a grim story to how they came to be there.

Victoria’s puppy farms are cruel places. So cruel that the Victorian Coalition government went to the last election promising drastic improvements to the laws governing puppy farms.

But the government’s revised Code of Practice for the Operation of Breeding and Rearing Businesses actually reduces animal welfare standards.

Dogs and cats are sensitive, intelligent animals who feel pain, extreme temperatures, hunger and fear just like humans. Yet in Victoria’s puppy and kitten farms they exist in conditions we wouldn't condone for the most ruthless criminals. This is not the behaviour of a civilised society.

If the revised code becomes law it will worsen the current horrific conditions and appalling situations for dogs as well as cats. The RSPCA’s verdict is damning: ‘this code legalises some of the abhorrent conditions and practices regularly seen by our Inspectors at puppy factories’. (Ironically, Victoria’s premier, Dr Denis Napthine, is a veterinarian by profession.)



Recommendations in the revised code include the following: 
  • If litters of puppies are included, the ratio of carers to animals could be as little as 1:500 outside business hours.
  • ‘Humane’ methods of death aren’t defined, and the minister has said they could include shooting or a blow to the head, causing incredible suffering.
  • There will be no requirement to provide cooling and heating, leading to the possibility of extreme temperatures.
  • Maximum litter numbers for females will be increased while males will have no maximum number.
  • There will be no maximum breeding age or period that an animal could be bred from, so these animals could potentially spend their entire lifetime confined to farms.
  • Breeding between second-generation related animals will be acceptable.
  • Tethering is allowed (except for some categories of breeding females). RSPCA Victoria advises against tethering.
  • The code will allow working dogs to be housed in small raised pens with wire floors.
  • Breeders, rather than vets, will be able to declare an animal fit for sale. Not only do breeders lack the appropriate qualifications to do this, but this may also mean that neither the animal nor the buyer will be protected from post-sale welfare or return issues.

The campaign for animal welfare standards in breeding farms is being spearheaded by RSPCA Victoria – more background can be found here.

The government is calling for feedback on the revised Code of Practice, and the deadline is 9 am on Wednesday 14 August.

Sign the petition!

I’ve created a petition on this issue through GetUp! Please sign the petition to demand that the Victorian Minister for Agriculture, Peter Walsh, include in the code of practice the minimum animal welfare standards recommended by the RSPCA. (It would be great if you could sign before 14 August, but the campaign will continue after this date.)

Please also share the petition on Facebook and Twitter. 

You can also write to the Minister directly and to the Premier, Dr Denis Napthine.

Ultimately puppy and kitten farms should be abolished, and this is the aim of the Oscar’s Law campaign (and RSPCA Victoria). But  in the meantime breeding dogs and cats must be legally protected by meaningful animal welfare standards.

Pet shops and puppy farms

Another way to stamp out cruel puppy farming would be to make it illegal to sell dogs in pet shops.

Dogs in the windows of pet shops encourage impulse purchases from people who have little idea of what looking after a puppy actually entails, and dump them when it gets too much. Hundreds of thousands of companion animals are abandoned each year in Australia. In 2011-12 the RSPCA rescued almost 37,000 dogs and more than 50,000 cats Australia wide; around 38 per cent of those dogs and 50 per cent of the cats were ultimately euthanised.

In other words, many animals are being bred in the prison camp conditions of puppy farms only to ultimately die after being abandoned by their owners.

 Petition reminder

Just to remind you, the petition can be signed here.

Please share this far and wide using the social media buttons below.

Until next time!


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8/4/13

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Uniquely Melbourne: Alternative Carlton

Posted by Inspired at 6:43 PM No comments :
Carlton is one of Melbourne's most treasured suburbs. On the fringe of the CBD, it is the city's Italian quarter but is so much more than that. Settled by the Jewish community in the early twentieth century, discovered by Melbourne's bohemians and uni students in the sixties and seventies and treasured by the masses for his pizza, gelato and macchiato, the suburb's foodie headquarters is Lygon Street.

While Carlton is long gentrified, it continues to provide rich atmosphere, authentic Italian fare and shades of its older, scruffier self.

The council has ensured that Lygon street retains its essential character and the high-rise public housing, students from nearby Melbourne University and strong Italian presence keep the street buzzy and lively. The Nova Cinema in the plaza and the iconic Readings bookstore ensure a constant stream of hipsters and progressives.

So, do Carlton and more specifically Lygon Street retain some of the excitement of the sixties, seventies and eighties? The answer is yes, but you have to look for it. I went in search of old Carlton and unfortunately the battery of my camera died, while some of my photography efforts veered towards the abstract! Where was my beginners' luck when I really needed it?

But fear not, your intrepid reporter has managed to supplement her own pics with those provided by kind vendors.

And I promise to return and take some photos of the lovely architectural details that adorn the stores of Lygon and surrounding streets.


First stop: the famous Tiamo at 303 Lygon Street, a cafe and restaurant that has been providing authentic Italian fare and oozing bohemian credibility since the year dot. I used to come here for mushroom tagliatelle as an undergrad at Melbourne uni and the decor is still reassuringly the same.


On my latest visit I found sitting at the front counter the distinguished gent above. He is Bibi Succi, the owner of Tiamo, which he purchased in 1977 when Carlton was the centre of Melbourne's counterculture. He now co-owns the cafe with Giancarlo Massini, below. Giancarlo is pictured in Tiamo 2, Tiamo's sister restaurant next door, with Grace Cacopardo (left) and his niece Teresa Tron, who conduct cooking and serving duties.


This is Tiamo's interior, complete with flyers and posters on the wall and the timeless tables and chairs that I remember from uni days. My pic's not the best, but it has an artistic blurriness:


This is a clearer view of the interior:


Next door to Tiamo 2 is Readings bookstore, a Carlton icon. I still remember the original, much smaller store, which was over the road at 366 Lygon Street. On Sunday afternoons Readings is a place to linger, browse and jostle the many customers soaking up the atmosphere. Nowadays Readings also has stores in St Kilda, Malvern, Hawthorn, the State Library and the Brain Centre.

On 10 August (this Saturday), Readings is celebrating National Bookshop Day, with all-day events at the Carlton, St Kilda, Malvern and Hawthorn stores. The store has a long tradition of philanthropy, with 10 per cent of profits going to the Readings Foundation each year, and crucial funds are also raised from individual donations by Readings customers. The Foundation supports initiatives that further the development of literacy, community work and the arts.

Photo: David Collopy
Just up the road, tucked away in a hallway at the end of Jimmy Watson's pub on Lygon Street, is Hobo clothing. As owner Anna speculates, this may be the smallest store in Australia and is a fantastic use of space. Hobo sells an eclectic combination of vintage and secondhand designer gear. The store has been operating in Hawthorn for 15 years and this new branch brings a touch of modern bohemia to Carlton.


Not far away, on the corner of Drummond and Elgin streets, is Cafe Lua. It's a relaxed hangout with the retro chrome-and-vinyl kitchen chairs and tables so beloved of alternative types since the early eighties. It's a light-filled place with a laidback feel.


Behind these coffee sippers at Lua is the exterior of Lygon Court, the site of the old Pram Factory, which housed a bohemian theatre troupe in the seventies:


On the other side of the road, at 194 Elgin Street, we find Make, which sells objects from around the globe that combine strong design with aesthetic appeal, many with green credentials. The light-filled showrooms beautifully showcase the design objects:




Further east, at 134-136 Elgin Street, is Yooralla op shop, a Carlton institution. Selling a range of pre-loved clothing, books, household goods, jewellery and other items, its profits fund Yooralla's work supporting people with disability. The shop also provides vital employment training for people with disability.



Retracing our steps down Lygon Street towards the city, we find the treasure trove of the Poppy Shop at 283 Lygon Street. It's a reminder of the variety of retail stores that were available before Melbourne store rents skyrocketed.


This small store is packed with imaginative toys, puzzles and games from around the world. Owner Pat Knox, who has been with the store since 1967, once sold secondhand furniture but changed the store's direction to gifts in 1972. You won't find chain store toys here, but diverse, original items like felt bags from Tibetan refugees, fabric squares from Japan, Kenyan knitted animals, puzzles from Belgium, dolls from Spain, and Russian babushkas.

Continuing down Lygon Street towards the city, we come to Borsari Cycles at 193 Lygon, another Carlton institution.

Nino 'Cavalier' Borsari had already triumphed over severe childhood poverty to become Italy's top professional cyclist and an Olympic gold medal winner before opening up his first bike shop on the corner of Lygon and Grattan streets in 1941. As well as doing cycle repairs, Nino operated as a secondhand dealer. The Borsari name can still be seen on this corner:


His business soon expanded and in 1961 it moved three doors down, to its present location. Borsari has sold thousands of bikes over the years and the current owner, Fabian, provides cycling advice to many satisfied customers.



That ends our visit today, but I will be back, camera in hand, to snap the historic architecture and street scenes of this inner city treasure trove.

Until next time!



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7/23/13

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Why Do I Overspend When I Have No Money?

Posted by Inspired at 5:06 PM 1 comment :

I’m going through a quiet patch at work at the moment. It’s always like this in July, presumably because of the end of financial year. But it makes me a bit panicky – part of me thinks the slow pace will never pick up.

Yet I’m noticing a tendency to spend as if the quiet patch wasn’t happening. On a logical level this doesn’t make sense. If there is less money coming in, it should be easy to spend less, right?

Wrong. Humans are emotional creatures, and it’s for emotional reasons that we overspend. I was curious as to where my own urge to keep spending came from, and came up with a few theories. Along the way, I thought of some other motivations that can lead to overspending just at the very moment when you should be pinching your pennies. I’ve listed them below.

Once you know what’s really going on, you don’t have to beat yourself up about spending. Instead you can deal with the source of the problem, not just the symptom. For this reason I’ve provided some suggested solutions to the different reasons for spending when money is tight.

Scarcity – If you’re telling yourself you don’t have any money, that alerts your brain to a fear that you won’t have enough. Your unconscious may decide that it’s better to spend what you’ve got, and to ‘stock up’ on consumer goods because there’s no more money coming in.

Solution: Sooth yourself. Tell yourself that you’re in charge, and that you’ll do your best to spend wisely the money you have access to, even if it’s limited.

Giving up – if you’re already in debt then it’s easy to think ‘one more little thing won’t make any difference’. Your financial situation feels so hopeless that you may as well spend that little bit extra.

Solution: Start a budget, so that you know where your money is going. Keep checking it, and try to stick to it; if you go off track, simply adjust the budget and get back on the wagon again.

Treating yourself – If there’s not much work coming in and you’re worried about the situation, it’s tempting to spend in order to feel better and give yourself a mood boost.

Solution: Treat yourself with things that don’t cost anything, like a nice warm bath, a walk in the park, a nap on the couch, or just sleeping in on the weekend.

Boredom – If there’s not much work coming in, or you’re simply at home a lot, life gets boring. You may find yourself browsing your favourite shopping sites, or going to the mall, seeking visual stimulation; the human need for novelty is a classic reason why people shop.

Solution: Plan your time so that it’s quite structured. Include activities that are mentally stimulating and challenging. Seek visual stimulation in ways other than shopping, like going to a gallery or listening to some music.

Guilt – if you’ve been an overspender for a while, it’s easy to slip into a vicious circle. You feel guilty for overspending, and the guilt makes you feel bad about yourself – so you go out and spend in order to feel better.

Solution: Practise self-love, even if you don’t believe you’re worth it (you are!). Seek the support of a self-help group for overspenders or a therapist who specialises in spending issues.

Power – Not having much money can make you feel powerless. In contrast, finding a bargain, or choosing a tasteful bag, can make you feel very powerful. Ironically, this kind of spending is also disempowering because it’s preventing you taking control of your finances.

Solution: Look at ways you feel disempowered in your own life, and fix them. Work on your budget, and look at any issues you are having with self-discipline, motivation and changing habits. Learn assertion skills to use at work and in your personal life. Join a community group that works on a social issue you’d like to change.

Drop us a line!
I hope this helps. I’d love to hear of any experiences you have of overspending when you’re broke, and how you keep your spending in line. Meanwhile here’s a couple of resources if you have serious spending problems.

Help for overspending
Online discussion group: Shopping Addicts Support
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/shopping_addicts/

Debtors Anonymous
http://www.debtorsanonymous.org/

Until next time!
If you enjoyed this blog entry, you might also like Things You Get for Free: Making the Most of Free Events in Your Area and Three Frugal Tips So Obvious You Probably Haven't Thought of Them.

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7/18/13

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What Can I Recycle? An Inspirational List

Posted by Inspired at 2:08 PM 3 comments :

When I first investigated going green, I truly believed I knew it all. Boy, was I wrong. Since the last time I’d investigated recycling back in the nineties (I know, I know), there’d been a transformation in the services available. There are now hundreds of social enterprises, and government and private programs, recycling everything from tin foil to computer keyboards.

There are also programs that collect and dispose of toxic items in the most environmentally responsible way possible.

You’d never know this if you relied on the mainstream media alone. Sadly, they aren’t that interested in recycling. A lot of interesting developments are going on behind the scenes, but unless you search them out on the internet, you probably won’t hear about them.

Even local councils, who offer many recycling services, don’t always do a great job of promoting them.

The following is a list of items that are recyclable in my local area, Malvern, in Melbourne, Victoria. It’s mainly meant as inspiration for you to seek out services in your area, because recycling services tend to be localised, often at the local government level. However, a few of the services listed here are Melbourne or Victoria-wide.

A great place to start if you’re in Australia and want to search out recycling services in your area is the Recycling Near You website.

Of course, these kinds of recycling services are no substitute for government action. As well as doing our bit, let’s tell our MPs that the excessive packaging and over-reliance on plastic has to stop, and that recycling toxic items like batteries must be mandatory (as it is in Europe).

Recycling is better than throwing out, but in the case of plastic especially, it’s equally important to try to use less in the first place, and there are some tips for doing that here.

The list below isn’t exhaustive. This website provides information on items that can and can't be recycled throughout the UK, and it runs the gamut from spectacles to eggshells. Also, I haven't included paper and cardboard because unless you've been living on Mars you will know about these.

Batteries

My local council, Stonnington, runs a battery recycling service. Malvern Library has a box on the loans counter where you can deposit batteries for recycling.

Another option is Batteryback™, a free service run by the Victorian Government that recycles old and used household batteries. The batteries can be dropped off at some Bunnings, Coles, Michaels Camera and Officeworks stores. The list of stores can be found here.

The list of batteries they recycle is impressive, and includes batteries for:
  • mobile phones 
  • video cameras 
  • digital cameras 
  • hearing aids 
  • cordless phones 
  • portable electric shavers 
  • cordless power tools 
  • laptop computers 
  • palm pilots 
  • remote controlled toys 
  • portable video games 
  • portable disc players. 
Recently ALDI supermarkets teamed up with Planet Ark to offer a free battery recycling service in every store. There is a dedicated recycling bin located at the front of every ALDI store where you can drop used AA, AAA, C, D or 9V batteries, both rechargeable and non-rechargeable.


Hard plastic

Local councils differ in the extent to which they allow you to put plastic in the recycling bin. I’m lucky in that my local council recycles plastic, but I had no idea the kinds of hard plastic I could throw in my recycling bin. I knew I could recycle yoghurt containers, but apart from that I was pretty ignorant. In fact, I can put in my recycling bin:
  • pen cases and lids (not the ink tube) 
  • takeaway containers 
  • plastic bottles for household items – eg, cooking oil, shampoo, vinegar – including the lids 
  • bits of hard plastic that often come with groceries, eg the plastic clipper used to secure plastic bags on bread. 
It’s important to wash thoroughly any plastics that have held food, shampoo etc. before you throw them in the bin.

If your local council doesn't enable plastic curbside recycling, pressure them to provide it!


Floppy disks

I managed to find somewhere in Melbourne that would recycle my obsolete pile of floppy disks! I had to search around a bit, and as the group I found were a volunteer outfit I happily gave them a donation of five dollars. They are Computerbank, based in Victoria Street, West Melbourne, a not-for-profit group that refurbishes donated computers for low-income people, students and community groups. If you have a laptop you’re ready to let go of, speak to them first.

Plastic bags

Most of us know that supermarkets recycle plastic bags but this is still worth a mention. My local Coles and Woolworths have bins in which you can place plastic bags for recycling. You can recycle supermarket plastic bags and the heavier store bags, packaging film (eg plastic packaging for paper towels, toilet paper and junk mail), as well as drycleaning plastic. However, cling wrap, compostable bags and prepackaged food bags, including frozen food bags and prewashed salad bags, normally can’t be included. Remember to ensure the bags are clean before you put them in.

If you like to shop at supermarkets other than Coles and Woolworths, individual IGA stores seem to do their own thing when it comes to recycling, so you may need to contact your local store to see what they offer; my nearest store, Ashburton, doesn’t provide the option of recycling plastic bags.

(While ALDI doesn’t appear to offer plastic bag recycling, it’s only fair to mention that they are the only supermarket not providing free, single-use plastic bags to customers.)

Food markets may also have their own sustainable plastic bags policies. Victoria Market, for instance, is phasing out free, single-use plastic bags. Alternatives include biodegradable bags, ‘green bags’ designed for multiple use and paper bags.

Computers, televisions, printers and computer parts 

When it comes to e-waste, there are a number of options available to me.

My local council offers its residents free recycling of whitegoods, TVs PCs etc, if dropped off at the waste transfer station (or ‘tip’ as we used to call it!).

Borondoora Council, a few suburbs away from me, runs a free e-waste recycling service at its Riversdale Recycling and Waste Centre (they wouldn’t take my floppy disks, hence the previous search). Items that can be dropped off for recycling free of charge, for non-residents as well as residents, are:

  • televisions 
  • personal computers 
  • laptops, notebooks, palmtops and tablets 
  • computer monitors 
  • computer parts: hard drives, motherboards, cables, internal power supplies, DVD and CD drives 
  • computer peripherals: mice, keyboards, joysticks, game-pads, scanners, web cameras 
  • printers and scanners. 
The e-waste recycling service is a free scheme, but the Recycling and Waste Centre will also recycle the following items for a small fee:
  • game consoles 
  • video and DVD players 
  • radios/stereos 
  • power tools 
  • kitchen and household appliances 
  • whitegoods 
  • universal power supplies.

Printer cartridges, mobile phones, light globes, car batteries and car parts, scrap metal

Stonnington Council specifies that light globes can’t be put in the recycling bin. However, the waste transfer station does recycle light globes and fluoro tubes free of charge if you live in Stonnington. They also provide free recycling of car batteries, automotive oil, scrap metal, car parts and mobile phones and batteries if you drop them off at the transfer station. Contact your local council to see what they offer.

My local Officeworks store has a drop-off bin for recycling old mobile phones and printer cartridges.

Garden waste

My local council offers the option of hiring a green waste bin, emptied every two weeks, for around seventy dollars a year. They will also provide free recycling of garden waste, including tree branches, that is dropped off at the transfer station.


Cans, tins and aluminium foil 

Some local councils, mine included, offer curbside recycling of aluminium, aerosol and steel cans and tins, as well as aluminium foil. Contact your local council to see if they do.

Cansmart is an Australia-wide industry body that promotes the recycling of steel. This page has a guide for preparing tins to place in the recycling bin.


Chemical and hazardous waste 

Detox your Home is a free service for householders to dispose of potentially dangerous household chemical products safely and easily without harming the environment. It’s run by Sustainability Victoria in partnership with local governments.

Victorians can take their household chemical products to a Detox your Home drop-off point at a permanent site or through the mobile service. The Detox your Home mobile drop-off service accepts a wide range of household chemical products; check the webpages for details. However, I rang the information number and they couldn’t tell me which hazardous chemical products are actually recycled.

Pharmaceutical drugs Pills and medicines that have been sitting in the cupboard too long pose a potential risk to children, and can cause harm to the environment if flushed down the toilet or poured down the sink. The Return Unwanted Medicines (RUM) project enables consumers in Australia to take their unwanted medicines to their local pharmacy for safe disposal in an environmentally responsible way.

Until next time!
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7/11/13

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Latest Thrift Store Finds - Jacket City!

Posted by Inspired at 2:15 PM 1 comment :
I was going to call this blog entry just 'latest thrift store finds', then I realised that most of the finds recently have been jackets! Which is just as well, because Melbourne has been going through a chilly winter; the days are often pleasantly sunny but it's freezing.

First in the parade is my ten dollar birthday jacket below. I found it on my birthday in the Vinnies store in Ashburton. It is doublebreasted so I was a bit doubtful at first as it seemed too fitted to be comfortable when buttoned - but it's fine, and looks great buttoned up. Love the cherry red colour. The label is Just Jeans and it is surprisingly good quality considering.


Still in need of winter clothes, I found this trench coat in the Don Bosco store in Sydney Road, Brunswick. It's not particularly warm though, as the fabric is cotton drill, but I feel like a fifties detective in it. I must to something about the right lapel, which flops a bit.


I picked up the retro-style jacket below only yesterday - by far the best bargain I've found in a while - for fifteen dollars, it's Jigsaw no less! I found it in a little op shop in Caulfield that I peruse frequently, but am rarely lucky in. The woman who served me said she had had her eye on it - I don't blame her! It's quite formal, but may be useful for meetings with clients:


I wasn't really looking for another jacket because half an hour earlier I had picked up this little beauty from the Vinnies in Auburn Road, Hawthorn, for the same price:


Just to vary things a bit, I pounced on this amazing pair of trousers - eighties if the incredibly high waist is anything to go by - a couple of months ago at the Brotherhood store in Bentleigh. They are warm and in great condition but the waist is just a tiny bit small, and I don't know how people put up with those high waists - quite uncomfortable! For $1.50 you can't complain - they were on the bargain rack, which is unusual for a store that is usually aware of vintage trends:


I would dearly love to buy more sweaters and trousers from thrift stores, but good quality items in these categories seem harder to come by. Perhaps the quality of jackets is higher because jackets tend to be sturdier and don't get washed as much, and possibly people tire of them before they become worn out.

What do you think - do you find jackets easier to buy at thrift stores, or do you have any tips for buying sweaters and trousers?

Until next time!



If you enjoyed this blog entry, you might also like Great tips for successful op and thrift shopping.
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7/6/13

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Chipped Thrift Store Treasures: Celebrating the Beauty of Imperfection

Posted by Inspired at 8:38 PM No comments :
Do you ever buy chipped things? I used to have a horror of anything that wasn’t perfect and whole, but now I embrace the odd chip, scratch or dent as long as it doesn’t detract from the look of a piece.

Herewith, a showcase of some chipped things I love.

I bought this large ceramic vase for ten dollars at my local thrift store / op shop. It’s very heavy – it’s  been fired in a kiln, and has a lovely glaze. I’m not sure of the level of skill of the person who produced it – there is no identifying signature at the bottom – but the glazing and colour are very soothing. I discovered there were chips on the inside of the rim when I got it home, but they’re not that visible so I’m not too worried about them.


I bought this decorative vase from an op shop for about ten dollars, but didn’t realise the sculpted flower on the top right was chipped; it's difficult to notice. Still I love the detail so much I don’t really care.


This cement (I assume) pot was bought at a garage sale for a couple of bucks – I really should keep some sort of record of prices I pay for things – and the sculpture that makes up the rim is chipped. It’s really supposed to have a plant sitting in it but instead it sits happily enough in the corner of my bathroom to the right of the vanity basin, slowly accumulating black mould (which I recently scrubbed off it so it’s not looking too bad). It has a kind of decadent Roman, neoclassical feel to it.


I bought this picture from the Brotherhood op shop in Bentleigh. It was very shabby chic when I bought it (shabby being the operative word) but is now even shabbier after a piece of the frame on the lower left-hand side fell out a few months ago. I suppose I could mend it with suitable glue – I tell myself the missing piece simply adds to the olde worlde appearance.


This little birdie sits on my front porch. Because its tail was already chipped it cost about four bucks at a local garden centre. It sits precariously on narrow little toes and I chipped its little beak once, when I tipped it over accidentally. I feared it would be useless but somehow it still retains its birdiness.


It’s easier to accept imperfections in something that has always been imperfect. When a possession we’re invested in gets chipped or dented, it’s as if the ego itself sustains the injury.

Then gradually the change becomes incorporated, and we stop seeing it and feeling it. It's like a tiny scar, reminding us of all the injuries, bruises and deeper wounds we ourselves have sustained. It also reminds us that imperfection is the essence of beauty, life and growth.

Until next time!
If you enjoyed this blog entry you might also like: In with the Old and Out with the New - Shopping and the Search for Perfection. 
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11/10/12

The Smock - A Classic Style that Never Goes Out of Fashion

Posted by Inspired at 7:03 PM No comments :

This year as I've browsed the chain stores – one of my favourite shopping habits – I've noticed something surprising. The smock top is back. Well, not exactly, because it's never really been away.

How long has this fashion been around in its current incarnation? Was it 2006 or 2007 that I first noticed a distinctive new, untailored style that appeared initially in the form of what was called the sack dress? It wasn't quite a smock, but was inspired by a similar concept of unstructured fullness.

Simple smock tops became huge that year. Soon everything was smocked, even short cropped jackets and sports hoodies. By today's standards the  smock tops of the mid-2000s were a bit dull, in uninspiring colours and with not quite enough gathering at the seam running across the sternum.

The smock evolved gradually from its 2006-07 incarnation, with a number of variations, from the peasant style to the flowing top with lots of gathering at a scoop neck. Present incarnations continue to play with gathering and draping, and have been influenced by fashion's move to stronger colours and abstract patterns; the peasant version is still prominent. 

But some things don't change: there is always something leisurely about the smock that perhaps harks back to its rural origins, and makes us imagine sunning ourselves in rustic pastures.

When I was researching this story, it was difficult to find examples of recent smock styles among organic and fair trade brands, either in Australia or overseas. Perhaps some of us are sick of the smock because its initial popularity was so over the top (pardon the pun) and we wore our smocks to death. Yet there are ethical styles out there - the smock above, from nixie clothing,  is made from vintage silk scarves. The gorgeous smock dress below is by 3Fish:



And this extremely cute smock top is from odd molly:



But the beauty of smocks still being fashionable – or at least not unfashionable – is that you can dig your old ones out from the back of the cupboard and brighten them up with up-to-date neckwear. And because they are a relatively recent style they're easy to find in op shops and thrift stores.

Of course, there are still lovely vintage specimens around from the 70s, like this one, from shinyredthings on Etsy.



I'm not a sewer but I imagine the smock style would be relatively easy to make as it's less tailored than conventional shirts and doesn't have a collar.

This enterprising blogger refashions men's work shirts into smocks by cutting off the collar and gathering the neck, and replacing the original sleeves with a puffy sleeve in a contrasting fabric. The results have a distinctive crafted elegance.

History of the smock top

Early smocks were worn by male peasant farmers in rural Britain from the early eighteenth century onwards. They were made from heavy wool or linen, and were more or less dresses – some a kind of 'shirt dress' with buttons down the chest, as per the example below – or coats, with buttons all the way down. Embroidery was added to the design in the nineteenth century (all of this illustrating that gendered fashion is a cultural construct!).



The male smock had in turn been inspired by the chemise, a loose undergarment worn by both men and women in Europe from the Middle Ages onwards.

Yoked cotton smocks were popular with pregnant women from the 1940s (and possibly earlier), and of course there was the popular swagger-style coat of the 1950s, which was loose and untailored.

But smock tops for women really hit their stride from the late 1960s as part of the first wave of hippie chic. Hippie, or 'gypsy', chic was inspired by traditional folkloric dress and smock tops were originally embroidered peasant blouses, often made from cheesecloth and worn with blue flared jeans. Hippie fashions like the peasant blouse were sometimes worn in direct defiance of corporate culture.

Kirsten Dunst shows a modern take on this look below (though I suspect she is making a fashion statement rather than a political one!).



As for the smock dress, brands as different as Mary Quant and Laura Ashley made it their own. The Mary Quant example below is something I'd be glad to wear today with a bit of fake tan on my white legs.


But I completely fell in love with this vintage smock dress, of unknown brand:


Back in the 70s (I am in fact quite ancient) my first smock dress – or chemise as we used to call them – still creates a feeling of fashion happiness when I think about it. It was made of cream calico, with puffed short sleeves and brightly coloured embroidery on the chest. On the cusp of adolescence, it made me feel like a fashion star. I adored myself in it.

The beauty of the smock dress is that you can belt some versions of it. And you can also tuck your smock top into your jeans for a blouson effect.

Not only that, but Alison DuBois from the hit TV show Medium convinced me that you could wear a smock top under a jacket for a more tailored look while solving the odd murder. Perhaps she was also psychic when it came to fashion!



Until next time!
If you enjoyed this blog entry, you might also like Wanted – An Annie Hall Look for the 2000s or  The Tuck-In – A Versatile Look for the Frugally Fashionable.


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9/19/12

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Hoarding and Decluttering: The Temptations of Memory

Posted by Inspired at 1:50 PM No comments :


A while ago I wrote a blog entry about whether the two mega-trends of thrifting and decluttering were compatible. Did a love of thrifting inevitably lead to hoarding, I wondered. Could a scourer of op shops (like me, for instance) actually lead a minimalist lifestyle?

My preoccupation with hoarding comes from the fact that my parents display totally opposing tendencies in this area.

My father is a hoarder of sorts. This trait took years to fully reveal itself, and remains limited to a few rooms in the house because my mother is a tidiness freak. 

While I was growing up my dad’s hoarding hardly impacted on me – except as an exemplar of untidiness – apart from the garage and garden shed, both almost unusable because stuffed with useless junk, including a canoe that to this day hangs upside down from the roof of the shed like some bizarre art installation, and is purported to have a hole in it. Oh, and my dad's huge glass-topped mahogany desk, whose surface was even then obscured by papers, that my mum had to suffer in their bedroom for many years. As she's gotten older, it's become harder for her to control my dad's messiness.

When we kids grew up and moved out of the house, Dad inherited a bedroom that became his 'office'. He used to complete his watercolour paintings in there, but it's so full of junk now, apart from a small space cleared for a computer and chair, that he’s abandoned it for this purpose. With its boxes of obsolete papers, discarded canvases, painting materials and plastic bags of electrical cables taking up most of the floor space, and the desk obscured by nests of manila folders stuffed with papers, it's a safety hazard.

Ominously my father has been 'given' another room for his painting, a tiny room at the back of the house that was formerly a spare-cum-sewing room. So far it's sufficiently free of junk that my dad can paint again but I predict that in a few months this room too will be unusable. He will occasionally create messy outposts in the rest of the house – for example, spreading his tax return documents around the dining room table, completing a painting project in the sunroom – but these are always temporary and are soon shooed back into the general chaos by my mother.

Dad is in some ways not a typical hoarder. Hoarding is often associated with compulsive shopping; Dad hardly ever shops for non-necessities unless he has to. Nor does he actively accumulate material objects in other ways (although he used to buy the odd broken-down car that he would tinker with on weekends). It's the past he hoards: religious pamphlets, old copies of journals, financial and administrative documents, and anything to do with his political battles with his teachers union, the local council and government bodies. He still has papers from at least fifty years ago.

While hoarding didn’t impact much on my childhood, its roots were present in subtle ways. For example, I knew one thing that would always garner my mother's approval (the usual things didn't really cut it with her): 'cleaning the kitchen' at night. What this meant was not just doing the dishes, but sorting, filing and taming the accumulations of junk that regularly spread themselves around the kitchen benches (this wasn’t just Dad of course – we are a family of seven). Organising this assortment of mail, torn pieces of envelope with phone numbers written on them, tiny miscellaneous toys, coins, sets of keys and so on, and creating sweet if temporary order, was something that my mother and I could both rejoice in.

Has Dad passed down his hoarding tendencies to me? Not at first glance. I'm a tidiness freak and I like to think I’m a great declutterer, but in that regard I’m fooling myself. I'm good at getting rid of some things but not others.

I hold onto clothes for longer than many, but I can get rid of the most treasured garment once I’ve made the decision; I actually enjoy the process of weeding out my wardrobe and dropping off a bag of goodies at my favourite op shop. Once it's time for a piece to go, I don't give it another thought.

But the fact is I do have my own hoarding weakness – books. I have five bookshelves if you don't count the one in my office that is stuffed with folders of edited educational materials.

I find it very hard to let books go. I have thrown the odd few out, but my decisions are extremely conservative. And I still have many books that I won't read again and that bear little relationship to how I live my life these days. Do I really need my secondhand copies of Emotional Intelligence and Steven Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People? (These books were both written before the financial crisis – if they were so influential, why didn't their sage advice for corporate types stop the Goldman Sachs executives plundering the USA and destroying the world economy?) To me the knowledge these books hold represents security, and a link with past versions of me, and I can’t let them go, not yet anyway.

Another thing I hold onto is appointment diaries. Mine go as far back as 1994. I keep them in my bookshelves so it doesn’t feel as if I’m hoarding them. I tell myself they’re useful as primary sources for memoir writing and so on, but they’re really just another link with earlier versions of my life and myself. In the rare times I go through one, trying to discover when some long-ago incident occurred, I’m strangely comforted by the mundanity of the various lists I was so fond of making. Whatever my emotional and material struggles, I continued to go to the supermarket, have my hair cut, drop my books back to the library and pay my rent.

Flyers relating to arts and cultural events – exhibitions, readings, films, plays – are another weakness. It’s so easy to forget the details of these experiences, and while there’s enough room in my filing cabinet, I can’t bring myself to throw away anything that jogs my memory.

In fact, the things I hold onto suggest that I’m like more my father than is comfortable to contemplate. Like him, it’s reminders of the past that I cling to. In the absence of a photographic memory, these refugees from my past testify to my changing life and the things that continue to sustain it.

Do you find it easier to let go of some things and not others?

 Are there mementoes of the past that you struggle to throw out?

Until next time!
If you enjoyed this blog entry, you might also like Clearing Out Clutter: A Goodbye Ritual for a Loved Object.


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9/10/12

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Become a Fearless Habit Breaker - Tips for Changing Your Shopping Habits

Posted by Inspired at 2:31 PM No comments :


Since moving south of the Yarra I’ve been buying my free range chicken from the supermarket. But it’s vacuum-packed and far from fresh, and I’ve recently started a new shopping habit -- buying organic from a stall at my local food market. I made the change not just because organic chicken is healthier but because the animal welfare standards are higher.*

 In the meantime, here I am, fronting up yet again to the organic meat stall. It’s not at all like the market’s organic groceries store, which has an unpretentious, down-to-earth atmosphere. Here, the whole look and feel goes against organic as earthy and embraces organic as superior tasting, premium meat, for the comfortably-off that have long gentrified this area, and Melbourne’s army of foodies.

 The all-male staff are dressed in spiffy blue-and-white butchers aprons. On busy Saturday mornings a couple of them hover in the tiny shop floor area, which has a cash register so they’re not serving you from behind a counter.

I make my way to the stall, past the conventional slabs of meat set out on their antiseptic white trays, past the live lobsters in their tank that I feel so sorry for. The staff always ask me awkward questions, such as what I am planning to make the family for dinner (I live alone!). They sometimes overcharge me, as if so few people buy the chicken drumsticks that they’ve forgotten that they’re actually half the price of the thighs.

Still, it’s convenient and I know that if I keep at it this, too, will become routine. The market is close enough to home that if I’m organised enough I can tram it instead of driving. I’ll learn to bat off the silly questions that I know the stall managers have told the staff to ask, replying with a witty remark that will defeat their formulaic responses.

 I’ll stop feeling guilty that I’m buying the cheaper cuts. I’ll resign myself to the fact that with my frugal ways and holier-than-thou questions about the origins of the meat, I am not their target market. And a new, more positive shopping habit will become second nature.

We know deep down that shopping isn’t trivial even though it’s often portrayed that way. How we shop has massive effects on our budget, our wellbeing and the producers of the things we buy, and also reflects our ethics. Consumers make the world by what, how and how much we buy.

Sometimes we get stuck in our ways when shopping. We’re stressed and busy, and it’s easier to do what we’ve always done.

Whether you’re trying to save money, go green or simply spend less time in recreational shopping, changing a shopping habit isn’t easy. It means getting out of your comfort zone when so much else in life is uncertain. Here are some tips that can help.

Recognise how habits work. The brain is very adaptable, and habits are sticky things. It can feel uncomfortable and take some willpower to change the way you do things. However, simply persevering with a new habit will mean it eventually becomes a seamless part of life. Recognise that you are going to feel uncomfortable for a while when you change an ingrained habit, and try to sit with the discomfort until the new way of doing things becomes a part of your routine.

Don’t make too many changes all at once. This could lead you to feel overwhelmed. Make one small change at a time and see if you can stick with it.

Don’t let small slip-ups stop you. If you backtrack on a goal, don’t worry. Just try again. If it doesn’t feel right to continue with the change, drop it (this is not the same as feeling uncomfortable).

Budget for the change. If the change is going to cost more money, especially in the short term, you may need to budget for it by foregoing another expense.

Learn from the experiences of others. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. There is a ton of information on the internet about new ways to shop and live.

Don’t compare yourself with others. This is an easy mistake to make when starting to change the way you shop. Dramatic change garners attention. Social media means we know right away what everyone else is doing and it’s human nature to compare ourselves with others. People who produce zero waste, have stopped using plastic, or no longer buy new clothes or takeaway food are setting a fantastic example, but doing something, especially at the start, is still better than doing nothing. Start from where you are and use the experiences of others as inspiration for your own unique journey.

Find support. If you have friends who are making similar changes, become a motivator for each other. You could arrange to meet or talk regularly to compare notes, cheer each other on and affirm your goals. Start a blog or Facebook group, or join a group that has similar goals to yours; for instance, the Meetup website includes groups with goals of saving money or living a greener lifestyle, or you could start your own meet-up group.


 Are there shopping habits you are trying to break?


 What techniques have worked for you?

Until next time!
If you enjoyed this blog entry, you might also like Three Frugal Tips So Obvious You Probably Haven't Thought of Them.

* I’m vegetarian at heart, but because of food intolerance and low blood sugar, my diet’s so limited I have little choice but to eat meat.



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9/4/12

Get Your Copy of the Inspired Shopper for Free!

Posted by Inspired at 3:56 PM No comments :
For a few days only, The Inspired Shopper is totally free!

That's right, downloading the book won't cost a cent! Here's the page on the Amazon UK site.

You don't have to register separately - Amazon sets up an account for you when you buy for the first time.

You can also download a free Kindle reader.

Why am I doing this? I believe in the ideas in the book, and I want as many people to gain from them as possible.

I'm also looking for feedback on the book, and hope that those who read it for free might take the time to submit a short review.

This offer will only last a few days so grab it while it's hot!
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