From the Outside, in.

Hey there!

It’s been a while since i used the blog to express my ideas, i guess, I needed some time to get my head straight, a time to find myself… now, that doesn’t mean that I distanced myself from fashion. For the last year and half I’ve been studying and developing skills so I can study fashion design, but that’s a story for another time.

So, like I said, I was trying to find myself. This year has been a rollercoaster for me, and though I think it has been the best year yet, It brought a lot of challenges to the way I saw my life, and myself, for this year I discovered, much to my chagrin, that I was not a person, I mean, I am… very real so to speak, but I had no identity, I had let the world slowly shape and define me, and that was terrifying.

I had forgotten what it was like to have fun, to be different, I had dropped activities that I loved, like drawing, and instead I was investing my time in activities that people told me I liked, I had no time for anything, not writing, not fashion, I was loosing the last pieces of me I had left. But here I am, back, and stronger, and with my own identity, well, kind of… I’m still building on who I am and who I want to be.

"Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself" C.Chanel

Now in this path I’ve taken, to become a person, clothes have been a really important aspect. Just like the way you speak, or the way you move, the way you dress tells people a lot about who you are, and who you want to be, but above all, it tells yourself about the person you are and want to be.

in the morning, most people don’t think about the person they want to be, or are before getting dressed. It is all such an automatic activity, you just feel it, but I think this is not right. Fashion is much more than something you just feel, fashion is not about being easy, it is about excitement, challenge, and change. Getting dressed should be an activity that requires deep thinking, as should be buying clothes.

Do you want to be an artist? Dress as an artist, buy a couple of oversized white shirts; do you want to be a jock? Dress like a jock, buy a nice pair of jeans and get yourself a varsity jacket; do you want to be fashion? Dress like Anna dello Russo…

"You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it" Edith Head

Now I’m not saying you have to be stereotypical, rather, I’m encouraging you to be as individual as possible. Be you while you dress like you. Find your own style! Getting dressed should be a tool everyone uses to become the person they want to be, because just like being nice transforms the way you look from the inside out, dressing a certain fashion has an effect in the way you act, think, and are from the outside in, so take the challenge to dress the person you want to be.

" Create your own style, let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others" Anna Wintour

Original article posted 20/12/15

To Wear Or Not To Wear, That Is The Question

“You’re nobody until Peta either loves you or hates you.”

Harry Brant for Vanity Fair.

About two weeks ago I made my first ever work ethic decision. Yes work ethic, I may be 16, but know that however insignificant my voice may be in the word, someone might hear it and be affected by it. Now, back to the decision. I was scrolling through Facebook, when I saw what a vegetarian friend had posted on his wall. Normally I don’t even bother reading what Peta has said, or watching their short documentaries because it tortures me, I don’t want people or animals to suffer, so it hurts when I realize that I’ve been doing something that wrongs animals, I know it is a childish attitude, but you know what they say “ignorance is bliss”; this time though, I decided to tune in and watch the thing, it was Olivia Munn after all, who was talking in it, and she had been interviewed in vogue, so my fashion victim logic suggested that what she had to say was important, and it was, it was also painful.

this video is highly grafic and shows things that are inhumane,

if you are not willing to feel pain, loss and sorry for the animals that are portrayed here

i recomend you don't watch the video.

PETA fur campaign

I was shocked, and disappointed. I love how fur works on outfits, it is magic, it can make any woman look mysterious, elegant, sexy (in a weird and puffy way) and it is fun, but most of all it is vogue; yes, I recognize that in the fashion industry we are indoctrinated into loving things by the power brands and magazines have, it is pure marketing, and it has a huge effect on taste; so yes, it is vogue, and Fendi, Prada, Lanvin, and Moncler, harper’s bazaar, and so on. yeah, I was shocked, how could the fashion industry tolerate such pain? Such human indecency? It was like first grade all over again, finding out that we actually ate the animals that we were taught not to hurt on kindergarten, or when I was taken to the “corridas de toros” and found out the whole spectacle was watching the bull get killed.

Anna Wintour Editor of Vogue

And so, I made my decision: I will never talk or post things that have to do with fur in my blog or social media again, and I will burn my mother’s Kenneth Cole pony-hair sneakers and her suede and bunny fur jacket. Well, the last decision I tried, but could not manage. Then I proceeded to erase any sign that I had ever supported people who wore fur, and it hit me like a bus. My father always says that you should look at both sides of the spectrum, always. I remembered the new campaign “Fur Now” that is supported by people like Bryan Boy, and that is sponsored by We Are Fur, and knowing that Fendi supported such organization I sought out to know what they had to say regarding the ethics of their business.

Peta on one hand claims that one, everything made out of fur is made out of suffering; two, animals in fur farms are often confined to small places with minimal respect, so they can then be killed by the most horrible, yet cheap methods, such as suffocation; three, most of the fur in the industry comes from China where fur regulation is really blurry and leads to things such as the exposed in the video above; four, animals caught in the wild are often left to suffer for days, or agonize for a long periods of time; and five, there are other options like faux fur.

We are fur, on the other hand claims things that at least calmed me. Their reasons to wear fur were, one, it is beautiful, I agree; two it is natural and durable; and three it is ethical! Shocked again! (http://www.wearefur.com/ethics) and these were just a few of their reasons. They even had myth busters (http://www.wearefur.com/fur-now/myth-buster), which I’m not fully sure we should trust (talk about biased) but that expose very interesting points of view, especially the last one. In their page they also talk about regulations, which I found reassuring and refreshing (maybe it is killing, but not all of it is cruel, like eating meat) and my favorite part "origin assured" a label that is the assurance that your fur article was produced without cruelty “When a fur garment or product carries the OA™ label consumers know that the fur, whether farmed or wild, has come from a country where welfare regulations or standards governing fur production are in forcé ” Read more here: http://www.wearefur.com/origin-assured. Brands like Fendi, Zac Posen, and Gucci have ties with We Are Fur and the OA initiative.

In the end, I decided not to commit to this ethic, i did not erase the instagram pictures, and i did not burn my mother's Kenth Cole's. I was confused, and I still am. Maybe Fur is killing, but we kill animals to eat meat as well. Maybe Fur has regulations, but most of it isn’t origin assured. There are options like faux fur, but faux fur isn’t sustainable. Is fur bad? Is it good? I don’t know. Should you wear it? Should you not? I don’t know either, but what I do know is that you and I have a responsibility as consumers, I don’t personally own any fur, and I don’t think I will, do I still think it is sartorially awesome? and beautiful fashion wise? I do, I also think that the end does not justify the means, there is where our responsibility, your responsibility lies, if you want to look great in fur, then make sure it comes from somewhere with regulations, make sure it does not have a cruel origin, in doubt abstain “Ignorantia juris non excusat” the ignorance of the law does not excuse, in this case the ignorance of the suffering does not excuse you for causing  it.

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USAR O NO USAR esa es la cuestión

 “No eres nadie hasta que PETA o te odie o te ame”

Harry Brant para Vanity Fair.

Hace aproximadamente dos semanas tomé mi primera decisión de ética laboral. Si, ética laboral. Estaba mirando Facebook cuando vi que un amigo vegetariano publico un video de PETA (personas por el trato ético de los animales); normalmente ni siquiera me molesto con ver los videos o artículos de PETA, porque son como una tortura mental para mi, no me gusta ser testigo del sufrimiento, y menos causarlo. Por eso cuando me doy cuenta de que estoy haciendo algo que pueda causarlo me siento bastante mal; y hay tantas cosas que hago que podrían afectar a los animales… así que evado a PETA; yo se que es una actitud de niño pequeño, pero como dicen por ahí “ojos que no ven, corazón que no siente”. Esta vez sin embargo, decidí ver el video, que al fin de cuentas era interpretado por Olivia Munn, ella habiendo sido entrevistada por Vogue, hizo que mi lógica de “fashion victim” me incitara a pensar que el video diría algo importante, y así fue, aunque también fue un poco doloroso.

este video es altamente gráfico y muestra cosas inhumanas,

 seguramente te va a causar dolor y pesar, si no quieres sentir esto, te recomiendo que no lo veas.

campaña de PETA

Quedé en shock, y bastante decepcionado. A mi me encanta la forma en la que el pelaje se ve, es mágico el efecto que tiene, puede hacer que cualquier mujer se vea misteriosa y sexy (en una manera raramente suave y blanda) y además es divertido, alegre, pero sobretodo es Vogue; sí, reconozco que en la industria de la moda nos adoctrina para que nos guste tal o cual cosa con el poder de las marcas y revistas, es puro marketing, y tiene un efecto gigante en el gusto de la gente; entonces si, la piel es Vogue, es harpe’s bazaar, es Fendi, Prada Lanvin, Moncler y tantas otras marcas. Por eso quede en shock ¿cómo podían tales marcas tolerar tanto sufrimiento? ¿cómo podían tolerar tanta indecencia humana? Fue como si volviera a primero, cuando me di cuenta que lo que comíamos era en realidad los animales que nos habían enseñado a cuidar, y no herir en Kínder, o cuando me llevaron a las corridas la primera vez y me di cuenta que todo el espectáculo consistía en matar a un toro.

Anna Wintour Editora de Vogue

Y entonces tomé mi decisión: no volvería a escribir o poner fotos de nada que tuviera que ver con piel en mi blog o en las redes sociales, y además quemaría los sneakers de “Piel de Poni” y la chaqueta de gamuza y piel de conejo de mi mama. Bueno, la ultima decisión en realidad no paso. Sin embargo si me puse a la tarea de borrar todas las fotos que tuvieran que ver con pelaje en mi pagina de instagram, pero antes que hiciera algo de lo cual pudiera arrepentirme me acordé de algo importantísimo. Mi papa siempre ha dicho que las personas con cerebros críticos miran a los dos polos del espectro, y aunque el casi siempre se refiere a la política, su consejo era muy asertivo en esta situación. Así que busque la campaña “Fur Now” (piel ya!) que es promocionada por personas como Bryan Boy y que es patrocinada por la organización “We are fur” (somos Piel); sabiendo que esta campaña y organizaciones son apoyadas por marcas tales como Fendi (marca reconocida por su trabajo en pelaje); para saber que tenían estas que decir frente a la ética de lo que hacen.

Peta por un lado dice que: uno, todo lo que tenga que ver con piel o pelaje tiene que ver con sufrimiento; dos, los animales en las granjas de piel son confinados a pequeños espacios sin el mínimo tipo de respeto para después ser asesinados de las maneras mas crueles y baratas; tres, la mayoría de la piel viene de china, donde las regulaciones para el comercio de la piel son borrosas y pueden llevar a casos como los expuestos en el video; cuatro, los animales capturados o casados en su hábitat son, comúnmente dejados a agonizar por largos periodos de tiempo mientras son recogidos por el cazador; y cinco hay otras opciones para no utilizar piel, como la piel sintética.

“We are Fur” por otro lado tuvo argumentos que al menos lograron calmarme. Sus razones para utilizar piel eran: uno, se ve bien, estoy de acuerdo; dos, es natural y durable; y tres es ético! ¿por qué ético? Sostiene economías locales, produce miles si no millones de trabajos, es una tela no sintética y por ende no esta hecha de petróleo, además según investigaciones es sostenible, su industria vela por la salud y bienestar del animal hasta que sea sacrificado, y en lugares regulados el uso de piel de animales en vía de extinción esta prohibido.  Y entonces volví a quedar en shock! estos eran apenas pocos de sus argumentos. Y hasta tenían contraargumentos para algunos de los mitos del comercio de la piel, (http://www.wearefur.com/fur-now/myth-buster), que la verdad no estoy seguro de si son confiables (hablando de parcialidad) pero que definitivamente muestran puntos de vista interesantes. En su pagina también hablaban de regulaciones que definitivamente me parecieron tranquilizadoras (tal vez sea matar, pero no tiene que ser cruel, comer carne no es cruel…) y mi parte favorita, “origin assured” una etiqueta que asegura que tu prenda de pelaje no fue hecha con sufrimiento “cuando una prenda lleva la etiqueta OA™ los consumidores saben que esa piel, sea de granjas o cazada, ha venido de un pías donde las regulaciones de bienestar y estándares que gobiernan la producción de piel están en vigor” aquí se puede leer mas de esta iniciativa: http://www.wearefur.com/origin-assured marcas como fendi, Gucci y Tom Ford tienen relaciones con estas iniciativas y organizaciones.

Mito #10: las organizaciones para los derechos de los animales como PETA siempre cuidan a los animales a los que acogen. Falso. ....Peta ha matado un impresionante 95,9% de los animales que pueden ser adoptados en su cuidado desde 2011.....

Y por eso decidí no comprometerme con esta ética laboral, no borré las fotos y no queme los sneakers de mi mama. estaba confundido y aun lo estoy. Tal vez utilizar piel es matar, pero también matamos para comer carne. Tal vez el comercio de la piel tenga regulaciones, pero no todos los artículos de piel son “OA”. Tal vez si hay opciones como piel sintética, pero esta no es sostenible. ¿la piel es buena o mala? No lo se. ¿deberías o no utilizarla? Tampoco lo se, pero se que tenemos todos una responsabilidad como consumidores, y aunque no tengo, ni pienso tener algo de pelaje, si me parece que se ve bien,  también pienso que el fin no justifica los medios, es allí donde esta nuestra responsabilidad, tu responsabilidad; si te quieres ver excelente en piel, entonces hazte segura/o de que viene de un lugar con regulaciones, de que no tiene un origen cruel, y sobretodo si vas a comprar piel, en la duda abstente “Ignorantia juris non excusat” la ignorancia no exime del cumplimiento de la ley, o en este caso, la ignorancia del sufrimiento no exime tu responsabilidad de evitarlo.