Has my Identity Become a Crisis?

I Dearly Hope Not!

Well, I've been told that some on-line friends have been a little impatient with my nom de guerre, and to them I say please, I need to walk down the street untethered to my past, out of eye of  the thousands of cell phone cameras I might meet each day.  Rest assured, however, that as soon as I myself am more rested, we will resume working on this little sequence of letters.  In the meantime, SMJ, who is now creating a reality for herself about which I am so very proud, will start another line of thinking, one which take the Voirrey Group new places.  I hope you'll give her a hearing, no matter how unevenly set her soap box may be at times, I'm sure your feedback will keep her from falling off.  Take care, and make every room your Catwalk of Confidence.  Peace.

Shall I Tell You My Fantasy?

So sorry to neglect all of my wonderful family and friends, of late I've been in a sort of reverie.  I've had time to think about recent events here in my current home, the US, plus places abroad, and I'm disheartened that even in this media age so much tragedy is going unnoticed (in favor of the cult of celebrity?), that justice has become a wide net through which so many fall, broken, away.  So many that, in fact I don't think there's anyone who has never been touched by some need, some neglect, some grief or some pain.  SO  Edith Keeler must die ( http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_City_on_the_Edge_of_Forever_(episode), that is, the time has come to close the wide net of large, abstract ideas of peace, justice, mercy, charity with our actual hands.  Let us perhaps catch up the fallen not by giving to the big box charities who vaguely stand for the courage we have lacked,  and certainly  not by looking the other way and expecting our flawed governments to help.  Let us come down from  the clouds of our own lofty visions, get as is said in nonprofit terms, On the Ground, get our hands dirty and-----

Skirt the Issues!

Yes, and let's scare the pants off pain, knock the socks of hunger, make injustice lose its shirt, dress both fresh and old wounds!  Yup, you got it, coming your way will be the Voirrey Group, a "charity" which focuses on the sales of clothing to actually create change for the better.  Yes, there are others who have done this, are doing this, but in another blog I or another Group member will talk about that, about what is called the Big Box charities.  This Skirt the Issues fundraiser is different in many ways, but first and foremost it will be skirts we'll be selling, though any and all donations will be accepted.  Pieces will be antique, vintage, old, second-hand, new, some even unique and quite special. You'll see them on my Facebook page, receive them listed if you wish by email, and maybe even pick them up in stores in places you might not expect.  It's going to be as easy and elating as shopping itself.  Don't you look at me as if I'm wrong. 

Secondly, this charity Group and the Skirt the Issue fundraiser will hold one vital difference:  EVERYTHING will be revealed.  Everyone involved will know exactly what we're doing, those who buy a piece of clothing will know exactly where their money went, to the limits of the privacy of some.  That is, if a family burnt out of their home would not like their name published, we'll be kind but still provide them with needed clothing and maybe school supplies, etc., with the money received from YOU when you bought school clothing for YOUR child.  All above board, we'll even keep a blog of our general activities and expenses.  Nothing generalized, nothing abstract, and nothing held back. 

So, who benefits?  Well, right now we are in the middle of nailing things down with a Native American self-run effort at self-sustainability, an urban indigenous mental health and general help center, a children and young people's homeless shelter, a Haitian group actually meeting immediate needs, and an organization of women literally pulling young girls out of the clutches and vehicles of sex slavers at the borders of their country and helping these girls heal.  We would love to find a Japanese agency actually helping survivors of the disasters there, please help if you can.  A certain amount of money will also help to meet the needs of individuals in catastrophic or chronic situations of suffering as they are detected. 

All this time, we'll be working with folks in the fashion industry and trades, to use our combined expertise to mentor those up and coming and promoting their work, even as we work to create from our single true hearts in our fields.  After all, that's where all this started, with the joy of adorning ourselves and others.  Just because we're giving of ourselves doesn't mean we have to stop giving of ourselves, ya know?

Obviously, I can't do this alone, in fact, I have to admit I really can't do it at all. Oh I'll be around, and I'll do some designing, helping out, advising, but most of all, I'm just the figurehead, the Group's muse, if you will.  I'm just too sick to live my fantasy, what I'd foreseen as the remainder of my life.  Oh, don't panic, I'll be around for some time, but I have APS, and I'm having to learn that I have to let my fantasy go, I have to inspire others to take up the work, dig in the furrow I started.  That's one reason why I introduced you in this blog to SMJ, please, get to know her, rough edges and all.  She's not just my right hand, not just a staff member, but my own cousin, who even though she too inherited the disease is ready to step in and use her nonprofit skills to turn fantasy into reality.  I'll introduce you slowly to others as well, the volunteers, the models and seamstresses, the shop owners and other professionals.  I'll also introduce you to every hero that actually turns a dollar into a diamond, who can MAKE GOOD THINGS HAPPEN, not those who just have good will.  I hope you're excited as I am.  We may not be an army, just some meek little fashion queens ready to run around the earth with a spirit of true charity, no more and no less.  I hope you'll take the ride with us.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I welcome you to
                                                                                        The Voirrey Group


I hope you'll Skirt the Issues with us.


Sincerely,

V.

    

So, The Plot Thickens (because the fashion Sickens!)

Ok, let's get one thing out of the way, this is NOT Voirrey, my name online is SMJ Voirreydesigner, I'm her right and left hands these days, and it fell to me to reveal a little more about her, at least her point of view.  If you are following her sparse cogitations (don't worry, I'm getting on her to WRITE MORE STUFF!) you know she's been a little miffed at a certain trend , pervayed primarily by a singular design house, but she's hesitated  to tell all.  So it's my turn, and I know that summer's almost over but I still feel it must be said.  The house which embodied some of the worst fashion this season?

Dolce and Gabbana, both in Ready To Wear http://www.designerzcentral.com/fashion-shows/milan/review-592-dolce-gabbana-spring-summer-2011-collection/

and in their younger line D&G http://www.elle.com/Runway/Ready-to-Wear/Spring-2011-RTW/D-G/D-G#mode=base;slide=0 

Most of the time the Voirrey Group relies on members and friends worldwide, amazing watchdogs who alert us to what's what, but strangely enough it was I who actually noticed it, so I get to go first.  However please let me say that I am a total fan of this house, followed it for years, and may follow it again, but this Spring/Summer just floored me.  Literally, I felt betrayed.  Ready to Wear?  Where?

 This little number really sums it up for me.  Obviously the theme was that same old cliche "inner wear as out wear."  But this is taking it a little too far, ya think? If they were going for sexy, to me they totally missed the mark, that much unmowed shrubbery just dunt do it (to use the vernacular of my rural up-bringing).  I might be convinced to wear the top to bed, but just maybe.  Actually, the arms look to restricting, go figure.

That brings us to exhibit number two.  I have to admit that not all of the pieces look like Frederick's of Hollywood rejects, the white portion of the collection held some potential.  As a lady who LOVES flowy Victoriana, I was indeed drawn to  to this next one.  And now we stop for a brief bulletin for the young and rich, the reality show famous, and the so-called celebrity crowd----In Most Cases, if It's See-through on the Runway, Buy a Liner to Go With It!  That's a basic everyone who dresses in women's clothes should know from childhood, please say it as a mantra every time you shop.  Someday I may even show you my wedding dress, an antique true Victorian, completely see-through, with the most precious chemise beneath. So,  I thought that rather than the Granny panties shown on the catwalk, perhaps a slip of some kind might work.

Nope.  If you look closely, beyond what is admirably pleasant fabric to the actual

construction, well, if I saw it in a vintage shop I'd rip it up and start again.  Why? Well, let's try a couple experiments.  First, if you're actually wearing something, pull on the back of your top until the collar reaches above your collar bone and the top of the shoulder is tightened down.  Is that comfy?  Now take a look at those shoulder seams, and of course tighten your sleeves so that there's no way to get your hands out of the garment, kind of like some Barbie clothes we all had to struggle with back in the day (and I know you did, don't look at me like that).  Could you even GET some sort of liner  under there?  And don't even get me started on the shoddy work of the skirt area, sewn to give the thinnest model a beer belly as she walks.  

Ok, that's my say.  If I were teaching a class I'd go down the pieces one at a time, but I'm going to assume that you've got the gist.  My objections to this line is that it is cliche, sewn uncomfortably and in an unflattering manner.  But most importantly, I have to agree with V, it is part of the pervasive theme in fashion largely catering to the American market, one of crassness posing as sexuality.  And why do I care?  Because I care about what you wear, especially your safety and self esteem.  Taking cues from design lines like this sends all the wrong messages to those around you and to yourself.  Be sexy yes, be as sexy as you want to be, but please, don't sell yourself short with this kind of unimaginative drek.

NOTE:  Please be sure to check out Voirrey SoVoirrey on Facebook, lots of things are gonna be cookin,' and I'm very pleased with V's new icon photo, just having a little fun at Dolce and Gabbana's expense. 

SMJ with Maggie the demonic wonder dog.  Fashionably dressed, honest, under a giant wrap.  And no, that's NOT my choice of couch pattern!

"I'd do anything for love, but I won't do THAT!"

          So folks, it's time for Voirrey to take the gloves off (which her true friends know rarely happens). First, a word about the title of this essay, which long before he made it a hit song, Mr. Jim Steinman is rumoured to be the voice crooning it to Bonnie Tyler so long ago in Alan Gruner's expert indictment/celebration of the dance/club scene, "Getting so Excited." http://www.metrolyrics.com/getting-so-excited-lyrics-bonnie-tyler.html

          Now that I've dated myself, let me get to the point.  It's really a question: when did so much American dressing become exclusively about sex?  And more to the point, cheap tawdry sex? It's time we said we don't need that to find love or love ourselves, it's time we remembered elegance, innocence, sophistication, fun, futurism, classicism, uniqueness and play.

           No, I'm no prude, what I'm saying is, we can have all those things in the way we dress, and yes, any one of those things can be damn sexy too. But somewhere along the line American women, or at least those who design for them and contrive the images they see everywhere, have lost the capacity to look beyond sex as the primary reason for getting dressed in the morning.  

          For example here at Voirrey Central, where I often write and design, I'm afraid to say that the tv is almost always on in the background.  Just a few nights ago, a show unimaginatively called "Jersylicious" came on, and as the member of our team who is , ehem, more than a little addicted to television moved to rescue us all from the epic tales of Snookie and her peers I held up my hand for pause, as a narrator doing his best tribute to the crocodile hunter soon had us all screaming in laughter as he detailed exactly of which I speak, a culture that views decorating the human body exclusively as a means to procure the gender of their choice, but in the most tacky and I must say lazy way possible, repeating cliches hardly removed from those of either a cheap b-reel Western or an even cheaper 80's porn video.  And they are supposedly workers in the beauty industry!



          Given their age and culture, I suppose I can forgive those young people (though not those who put them on the air, I'm afraid).  Before I close, though, I must call one of my own peers on the (red) carpet.  Joe Zee, Mr. Joe Zee, heir apparent to Andre Leon Talley as THE American arbiter of high style, what are you thinking?  For those too busy for the tube, even he has gotten the reality show bug, saving young designers from themselves, all in one tidy little hour of film.  But please, I have to object.  In one episode he was bemoaning the lack of taste in one of his proteges, and then in the next little snippet proceeded to talk about how to embrace the "latest" thing.  I just have to say this:  Joe, if you're going to say that putting a cat face on a t-shirt dress is not design, I must say to you, dear boy, that throwing a blazer over a a truly "blah-zay" leopard print boustier is NOT style!



          To tidy up this diatribe and make it au curant, I'd just like you to note what's going on at this year's Cannes film festival, now in progress.  Take a look for yourself, Hello Magazine and Telegraph.co.uk are great sources, and I'm sure if you look closely you'll notice a difference between the international performers and many of those who act for the US market, no matter their culture of origin.  Our nation is represented by way too much skin, in dresses way too tight, not for beauty but for some vulgar sense of sexuality!  My apologies to the exceptions that prove the rule. 



Rachel McAdams at Cannes, a slightly more creative boustier



          In coming blogs in this series, my team and friends from around the world will weigh in on this sort of thing, the American market being sold a vision of dressing that calls for cheap "inner wear as outer wear" as I've heard ad nauseum lately.  It's the start of our seasonal 5 ways not to dress and 5 suggestions for ways to indeed cover and express yourself.  We'll give many examples but a thread will run through indicting the design firm that most used American cliches in its dressing this season, and I bet you haven't even given it a second thought. I also dare you to guess who before I get the next chance to write. It's all going to be quite revealing, and oh, so very, Voirrey.

   

So, I hear I've been called not all that self-revealing...

SO, here I am, talked into, of all things, blogging.  Please remember my friends, in print I am WAY too verbose, and I shall count on my team, my  friends worldwide, even loved ones to help me out from time to time to get the word out short and sweet.  SO what exactly is So Voirrey?

Basically it's this:  we believe that everyone should have the freedom, means and safety to express themselves, particularly in the way they present themselves to the world.  Up til now that's meant a loose network of retired models, novice set designers, anyone in the fashion industry who in some way wanted to give someone else a leg up.  That might mean helping a new model not get taken advantage of, or convincing some boutique owner to give some last season's leftovers to a small local charity which provides help for those in immediate, crucial need.  We do NOT give to the big box charities, but I'll 'splain that another day. 

Now, we're stepping up the game.  We may even become an official non-profit!  Gone are the days when I might fly to the various countries on Tsunami ally to assist, then jump up to the Isle of Man to see about scholarships for the disabled, then hit Fashion Week, all on the QT. In my lifetime the limelight has become Slimelight, I've even had to change my name!  It may be a brand new world, but I still believe in the creatures within it, and we're going to do our damndest to help out. So, is all this and the foolish picture they're making me publish revealing enough?  Maybe next time we should talk a little more about what is too revealing and what is so Voirrey.