Recently I've been thinking about our relationship with garments in portraits. It seems that they are usually viewed as objects of significance, an example of wealth and status, an indication of broader trends within the fashion of an era. How do you separate a representation of a garment from the context that an art historian or curator of paintings places it in? Perhaps we can start to think about these images in the context of clothes that are worn rather than objects that were owned. This is easier said than done because we live in a society that values possession so much. Most people when thinking about garments, when looking at adverts for designer clothes, see something that they like and contemplate what it would be like to own rather than wear such an item. There are schemes that allow you to borrow designer garments and accessories for an evening or two but these exist because the items are out of people's purchasing capability. This focus on buying and possessing now makes it more difficult to consider the act of wearing clothes in the past. Status is always a pressing concern when examining portraiture because those types of paintings (as opposed to representations of religious, historical or fictional scenes common during the Renaissance or in the Pre-Raphaelite movement) are so often portraits of the rich or aristocracy but this should not dissuade people from considering the act of wearing such clothes or thinking of them as garments on bodies because even one off coronation clothes have been worn once.

I am going to start collecting links to children's clothing companies that I think are interesting at Outfitting Kids. This is partly because I know this blog isn't getting updated at the moment but also because I want to keep a comprehensive collection of the companies that I come across by accident somewhere more interesting than Delicious. Having images and links in one place allows everyone to see at a glance the type of clothes that are available from a specific site.

Apparel manufacturers in the US are trying to adapt to the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act with varying degrees of success at the moment. If you put CPSIA into google you get all kinds of information on the act that comes into force in February. My main source on the subject has been Fashion Incubator. Kathleen Fasanella is a pattern maker and has had a really consuming series of months as she has tried to explain why the legislation is so negative for businesses.

The reason I'm writing about this is it strikes me as something that should be understood by people who are interested in clothing internationally as it is clearly going to limit consumer choice. While everyone wants children to be safe the appropriate resources have to be provided when you bring in new legislation. If a government demands increased product testing it has to ensure that testing can be done at a reasonable price without bankrupting an industry. If that can't happen then legislation should be brought in step by step for different sections of an industry. If a government demands that more police should tackle drug crime it can't expect as much time on other types of crime or it has to provide money for policing, this is called common sense and the problem with the CPSIA is that it doesn't employ any.

Chalayan Exhibition

The Design Museum is currently showing an exhibition of Hussein Chalayan's work. The content of the exhibition is good, it has some pieces that can best be described as seminal and some newer work that I have never seen before and really liked. I felt that the space wasn't big enough though, I would have liked to sit down on a bench to contemplate the odd design and a little more division between exhibits would have allowed me more head space. If you've never seen any of Chalayan's pieces you should definitely take advantage of this opportunity.

I am having a baby in July and have started to window shop children's clothes online. It's become apparent that we enforce gender on children, babies can't choose their clothes but most of them fall into a gender category. Take the Adams site, they have clothes for baby girls in pinks and reds and cream, clothes for baby boys in blues and greens and oranges and clothes for any baby in cream and beige. It's pretty deplorable, I love the colour blue but apparently if I have a newborn girl I'm not meant to dress her that way? It's exactly the same at other large retailers like Mamas and Papas and Mothercare is only a little better. Thank you then world for giving me Nordic Kids which creates clothing for all children in the brightest, best colours with lovely patterns! What a relief!