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Eleni from Florida

Comrades in Ivey Abitz

i would just like to comment here about some of the other writers’ points of view on ivey abitz designs. i really liked reading their input. we don’t know each other, but when it comes to this clothing, we have a lot in common.  

i loved maeve’s description of the baedeker shirt. i have several of these from a lichen (dark) striped taffeta to an irish linen, a ribbed silk and a black cotton jacuard (what a score that was!) everything that maeve said about the elegance and panache is right on. the only thing i can basically repeat — as she has really already said it all — is that this design is so versatile because it is elegant but casual all at once. 

in addition, maeve wrote about the camilla shirt. this is one i haven’t tried yet and am looking forward to this now, too. to say that ivey abitz really helped to change your identity is saying a lot — i can’t imagine what you have gone thru with such a traumatic loss that you have suffered. i send you my sincere sympathy and thanks, maeve. 

then there is karen from british columbia and her stories of growing up in beverly hills that made for great reading. i love the from beverly hills to organic farming in b.c. — in ivey abitz! some of that reminded me of myself. i am in a small florida town where the people i know shop the gamut, from big box discount stores to high end department stores, and there aren’t a lot of choices in between these extremes. this is why i started shopping on line in the first place. online is where i discovered ivey abitz.  

before that and when i was younger, we perused the thrift shops in search of the vintage treasure that used to be widely available (i am just up the way from st. petersburg, florida!) now, all of those are picked over — not even the old florida kitsch is left. at least that had its charm. i am glad i did have a chance to get the stuff when it was available. wealthy retirees from all over the country moving down to florida used to make thrift shopping an exciting — and profitable in many ways — hunt for treasure. 

i would like to thank you both – i think this blog is a great idea!

Categories
Karen from British Columbia

Beverly Hills Fashion Primer

When I lived in L.A., I always took it for granted that just about any article of clothing from every major designer was locally available and would probably be showing up on either a classmate or one of their mothers (I grew up in Beverly Hills). It was always fun to see how people interpreted fashion and what they would do to individualize it for themselves. But I noticed that what made the quirky vintage and more unusual pieces exciting to me and my outsider group of friends, just didn’t seem to exist in the high-fashion crowd. The established designer pieces that they wore as a trophy for purposes of exhibition, just didn’t require any personality or creativity. The goal was to look like the runway model or magazine ad. The only thing that was broadcast was the amount of money paid for the item, and the whole process was very outside-in and not inside-out. The hallways at school were miniature runways where most people looked exactly the same and were, for the most part, indistinguishable. A lot of the girls carefully maintained a perpetual state of bulimia in order to properly resemble the models in these clothes, and it was understood by everyone that it was just a normal part of that exclusive subculture, regardless of how screwed up it was in real life. 

to be continued in the next entry…