Realistic Chic

For me, rain always speaks of romance. The huddling under a shared umbrella, pea coats and gum boots and holding hands to keep them warm...

The 80's/90's revival needs to STOP. Bodysuits? Especially by themselves? Just no. Halloween is really the only time this should get pulled out...but even then, is it really necessary?
Please, bodysuit wearers, think of the children.

This week we'll take a look at the prettier side of fall fashion. Here's a small compilation of basic items I'm in love with this season. Equestrian style is back (thanks, Betty Draper), the knee length clean-line leather boots with a flip top to cover the knee cap are going to be big for a long time I can tell. The other pieces are all classic and simple, just in the hues of the moment. Accessories are a little chunkier than in the recent past, and are best in black, in order to go with everything. Briton stripes...well, you know how I feel about those. Colours for the fall: grey, nude, red, black, navy blue. Toss in a teal, purple, or mustard yellow for variety.

How could they not see that Andy's winning mini-collection on the newest episode was complete PLAGARISM of the iconic Lululemon symbol and ever-popular and collectible lulu remix hoodies? I would say Lululemon should get their lawyers ready to sue when  the collection goes live for sale through New Balance on Amazon, however, it seems the NB lawyers beat them to the punch and forced a change of the main design before putting them up for sale (really, it ends up looking like a sad striped frumpy hoodie after that though).



Very lazy and unprofessional for the judges not to catch that before selecting a winner. Mondo - regardless of already winning the previous 3 straight - should have won.

Canadian design bloggers are onto you, Pendleton, and your so-called Glacier National Park Blanket, too:
I know this has been posted several times in the blogosphere this year, due to the re-emerging popularity of the 4-tone striped wool blanket ORIGINALLY created by the Hudson's Bay Trading Company oh, about 210 years ago or so (although they were making other point blankets as much as 340 years ago). I believe Urban Outfitters may have more to do with this swell than Pendleton themselves. The issue is that, in this revival of one of the greatest Canadian icons, many people are getting the real McCoy mixed up with the knock-offs. It's causing just a bit of tension for some of us Canucks, and we'd like again to set the record straight, for the sake of our heritage. First, I should clarify the origins of the blanket in question:
The story goes that these blankets were made with small black points or darts, lines sewn near the lowest stripe, to indicate the weight and size of the blanket, since these aspects could vary and needed to be distinguished in order to be properly priced. The brightly coloured stripes of green, red, yellow and indigo (dubbed Queen Anne’s colours) were utilized for their ease of production and colourfastness. The first person to order the blanket made with these colours was a Brit, Thomas Empson of Witney (Oxfordshire), who ordered 30 striped blankets in 1798. By the mid-19th century, the order and style of the blanket was finally standardized and changed little from that point on. The blanket has been a well-known integral part of Canadiana ever since.
Fast forward over 100 years to the Pendleton Company recreating the American National Park blankets and mass-producing them for the general public. Their recreation of Glacier National Park's is the one bearing uncanny likeness to the HBC original. Pendleton states they have "honored America's greatest national treasures — our National Parks — with a collection of distinctive park blankets." The irony is, of course, that for an American company to copy such a style at least 100 years after HBC's was put forth goes against the whole image of an honoured and patriotic emblem since their patriotism is inherently anti-England. The HBC blanket was created during a time when American and British relations were still rife with grudges. The War of 1812 had not yet occurred (something many American History classes gloss over), and anything identifiable as a nod to the British way of life and its oppression was seen as taboo; for example people had just previously been dumping tea into oceans and whatnot, no longer sipping it from silver service with their gloves and hats on. The Brit thing was out. Not that this whole tidbit is incredibly important, I've just been taking a lot of history lately, and I found this highly amusing.

Furthermore, the Official Glacier National Park website has no image of the stripes anywhere as part of any icon, nor does it mention the blanket, leading one to believe its significance is exaggerated by Pendleton. Not to mention one look at the array of blankets for sale shows that the best seller is in fact the Glacier Park blanket with even other accoutrement available (mugs, teddy bears, etc) bearing the 4-tone stripes, but none or little of the other designs. The four-stripe blanket is the best seller by far. Coincidence? Hardly.

Obviously, Glacier National Park "borrowed" HBC's blanket style, since the park was not even established until 1910. Yet, in spite of that, Pendleton went ahead and recreated them anyways, seemingly oblivious to the already world-famous blanket being sold by the biggest North American Trading Company at the time, HBC.

While it doesn't seem that HBC has copyrighted the look, knockoffs - depending on the item and how they're done - can still be looked down upon by the sentimental Canadian eye. Having said that, I wanted to see what other 4-tone stripe HBC references I could find on Etsy (since Ebay's sellers seem more focused on selling actual HBC memorabilia):

Handmade greeting card on Etsy, $3.50:

Here is a photohraph of a HBC coat on Etsy, $25 (yes, 25 bucks for just a photo of the coat):

I also found many sellers on Etsy chopping up vintage knock-offs (and alleged originals...OUCH!) of the blanket and making pillows out of them.

Oh, if you happen to live in America and would like to purchase a proper HBC blanket, Woolrich holds the exclusive licence for HBC blankets in the U.S. and are the only company allowed to import them. They are available from Woolrich, L.L. Bean and Getz Department Store. All these companies offer the blankets for sale on their websites. This concludes our heritage minute.