When the time comes

“A person should be buried only half a meter, or two feet, below the surface. Then a tree should be planted there. He should be buried in a coffin that decays so that when you plant a tree on top the tree will take something out of his substance and change it into tree-substance. When you visit the grave you don’t visit a dead man, you visit a living being who was just transformed into a tree. You say, “This is my grandfather, the tree is growing well, fantastic.” You can develop a beautiful forest that will be more beautiful than a normal forest because the trees will have their roots in graves. It will be a park, a place for pleasure, a place to live, even a place to hunt.”

-Friedensreich Hundertwasser http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/94/holy-shit.html

I think I have just found a meaning to life.

I highly recommend you take a look at Adbusters. I really agree with the sentiment of the magazine: “Adbusters is a not-for-profit, reader-supported, 120,000-circulation magazine concerned about the erosion of our physical and cultural environments by commercial forces…

We are a global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society…

Our aim is to topple existing power structures and form a major shift in the way we live in the 21st century.“

Eye for Detail is an echo of these thoughts. Fashion is seldom not seen in a light that portrays it as a useless industry, something only the wealthy can afford and have a care about. But I don’t see it like this. To me, fashion is just another form of art. I don’t think fashion is about the materialism, the constant “I want this, I want that.” Haven’t you noticed how after a long day at the mall, everything starts to look the same? Honestly, it saddens me when I go shopping. When I step into a commercial mall, all I see are the racks beyond racks of clothing produced. Is there enough of us to want to buy all of that? Do we need this? And for what? So everyone can have a copy of the same style? So we can perform as an amorphous blob, a society without individuality? We can adorn ourselves with as much as we want, but it will eventually become poison to our own bodies and to the Earth. At the end of the day, who really cares if someone has the new “it” product? Who’s dreams are filled with comparisons of dresses and shoes? I embrace the fashion that evolves, the fashion that is not a product to be sold, but a feeling to be carried. I don’t support the mass consumption of whats hots or cool. I don’t see the point of buying clothes and throwing them away, and buying a very, very similar piece ten years later. After all, trends recycle. But creativity, innovation and individuality is what keeps it alive.

It just makes one wonder, when is it all going to run out?

Canada Goose and the use of animal body parts in clothing

I remember first spotting these logos in Yorkville last winter. (Funny thing is, Canada Goose has a “Yorkville Parka“!)

Now it’s impossible to go on the subway and not see at least five of these. Whether plastered on red jackets, grey parkas or black vests, they pop up in every corner.

It’s not hard to see why the Canada Goose brand is now so popular. The company was founded in 1957 under the name “Metro Sportswear.” It’s heavy-duty parkas have been worn by the Canadian Rangers, the Ontario Provincial Police, various city police departments and the like. Their designs have appeared in movies such as blockbuster hit “The Day After Tomorrow,” “National Treasure” and the latest “Whiteout” featuring Kate Beckinsale. Emma Watson of Hermione Granger fame has ordered a custom-made blue jacket. Arctic/ Antarctic/ Mt. Everest/ (insert cold place here)  explorers have turned to Canada Goose to provide quality insulation. A surge in parka sales occurred in 2007 when the company celebrated its 50th anniversary and in 2009 when Canada Goose became available in its 40th country worldwide. Plus, did I mention that they’re hot? Literally.

But here comes the negative side to every story. Yeah, I know, what a party pooper.

First of all, a coat costs more than $400.

Also, Canada Goose uses beaver pelts in their hats, coyote fur on the hood of their jackets and geese down to stuff their apparel. ANIMAL, ANIMAL, ANIMAL! However, on the FAQ page of their site (under DOWN POLICY), they guarantee that the geese down feathers they use are never live-plucked. Under FUR POLICY, you can find the “Canada Goose Policy on the Humane Treatment of Animals” where it states:

“Canada Goose is deeply committed to the preservation of our global environment and the humane treatment of animals. As an authentically Canadian company, the environment and ethical treatment of animals are central to our values…From the beginning we have closely examined and considered the use of these products from both an ethical and conservationist perspective… We use Coyote fur only as absolutely necessary, and exclusively for functional purposes…Today we are able to use as little fur as possible, while maintaining the critical functionality of this sort of product…Absolutely no endangered species are used… The fur that we do use is acquired in the most humane ways and we adhere to the guidelines of the Fur Council of Canada that governs fur use in our country…We are proud of the principled, responsible and humane approach that we consistently take in making our products.”

But does this change the fat that fur/ feather is still being used? That animals still die because human bodies are useless in terms of keeping themselves warm? (Don’t make that face, you know its true!)

This is the debate that I, along with many “ethical fashionistas” (I actually used that word), face when dressing up. My mom recently brought a vintage angora scarf (“It was on sale!”) and I thought of wearing it on Friday. Then I had that moment in TV cartoons when a red devil sits on one shoulder and a white angel with a halo sits on the other and they yell at each other. Except this time the lines between good and bad were blurred. How can you justify wearing animal body parts? Does it matter if they were secondhand so that you won’t be contributing to harming more animals/ the environment? And what if the animal was raised in a humane atmosphere? Would it be better if the animal was painlessly put to sleep instead of slaughtered? Also, could we possibly, efficiently use as many parts of the animal as possible, e.g. it’s flesh for meat, fur/ skin for clothing, bones for buttons/bone china/ etc.? But more importantly if none of the above are just, can humanity survive without using animals? (WHOA IMAGINE A VEGAN HUMAN SPECIES!)

Leave a reply in the comments- I’m interested to see what you think about animal body parts in fashion!