Clothes Line Finds - Vintage clothing, fashion events and reviews

Sunday, July 19, 2020

COVID 19: Moving Forward with Photographers Laura Noonan and Tara Mary Paget

I first met Laura Noonan and Tara Mary Paget at an exhibit of their photographs of people and places on the Eastside of Vancouver. She and Tara are partners in MeetMeAtTheLamp(p)ost. I share an Irish name, Colleen, and a bit of Irish family heritage and when I see them, I think about a visit, some day. Although I have seen Tara at the Massybooks exhibit, I see Laura more, now, through her work with Art!Vancouver. She has taught me how to take a selfie and how to do more on Instagram, toured me through Art Exhibits, visited me BWSS_MSC, My Sister's Closet Thrift Boutique, to pick up an outfit for the real Kentucky Derby, shared her exhibit Art!Vancouver and has invited me to watch her paint Art!Vancouver at Cathedral Square, Fridays 11-2, throughout the summer. So busy, so energetic and enthusiastic, she took the time to tell us more about MeetMeAtTheLamp(p)ost and how finding magic in the small things, the every day world around us, is so important right now. Thank you Laura Noonan and Tara Mary Paget and, as always, to MarilynR.Wilson, who led the way for the COVID 19 Interviews. See all interviews here.

Meet me at the Lamp(p)ost

1. Tell us more about your business and how long you have been working at it. Goals, audience, events, etc.

Meet me at the Lamp(p)ost is a visual art collaborative established here in Vancouver, in 2016, by Irish-born, Canadian residents Laura Noonan and Tara Mary Paget. The premise of our work is focused on the idea of contentment in self and place. We aim to highlight the beauty in the mundane and splendor of everyday life. Our work is concentrated in the present and committed to challenging the status quo. We are guided by notions of gratitude and questioning as a means of capturing stillness in a world full of transient moments.

The body of work we have presented since 2016 reflects a lens-based exploration of the landscape, people and architecture that make up East Vancouver. East Vancouver breathes creativity and acts as an illuminative backdrop for self expression and contemplation.

Our work is currently on display at Bean Around the World on Granville and 14th and we will be exhibiting at Art Downtown, Lot 19, in association with the Vancouver Visual Art Foundation on August 12, 2020.

2. How did you reach your audience before covid 19? 3.What are you doing now to reach

them during this time of social isolation?

Since the beginning, Meet me at the Lamp(p)ost has endeavored to separate itself from virtual platforms of presentation. Our online presence has always been significantly minimal, and we have tried to steer away from virtual engagements with our audience. Our focus instead has been directed at physical connection and experience. COVID-19 has given birth to a whole new genre and era of social, and by extension, artistic interaction. In many ways we could view this as a negative reckoning so to speak but we don’t. We are accustomed to standing in opposition to ‘e-interaction’ and have always advocated for the attainment of a tangible and quantifiable truth. A truth that can only be found by way of human connection. Fighting against the status quo is something we are very familiar with. As society submerges itself deeper into the depths of the world wide web, Meet me at the Lamp(p)ost can be found swimming in double time towards land. We will never compromise the weight and importance we place on physical connection and until such time that we are in a position to interact with and present to our community again, we will continue to study, continue to self reflect and continue to grow.

4. How has COVID 19 affected you and your colleagues/friends/work group?

It’s interesting because despite the distress COVID-19 dispensed i.e. exhibition cancellations paired with the inability to interact in and with our community, it presented an opportunity to really reflect and root ourselves in our present moment. It allowed us the opportunity to realign our feelings and attitude towards the things we are thankful for and the way in which we assign a hierarchy to our priorities. This in essence is the mandate Meet me at the Lamp(p)ost champions – the banality of everyday life and the wonder that can be realised in the simple things, the little things. The onset of COVID-19 meant that we had no other choice but to find joy in our present self and place and this is

the feeling we wish to conjure in each and every person that stumbles upon or engages with Meet me at the Lamp(p)ost.

5. What moves you forward? Do you have a mantra, model, book, photo, country?? something that motivates you? Next Projects?

We are very excited to be working on a brand-new body of work, centred on the human brain, its mechanisms, and our never-ending pursuit of identity as visceral and functioning members of society. We aim to delve into both the conscious and unconscious realms of the mind to ultimately arrive at an understanding of self. Our directive around the promotion of contentment in self and place translates and applies itself to this project tenfold. Our aim is to elevate our exploration of thoughts around contentment in self and place by focusing directly on the human psyche. COVID-willing, we hope to be in a position to present this work in a physical sphere in 2021.

Website: https://www.mmatlp.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meetmeatthelamppost/

Email: meetmeatthelamppost@gmail.com

COVID 19: Interview with Myriam Laroche: ECO Educator

Myriam Laroche organized many ECO Fashion Weeks, here in Vancouver! All beautiful, and all showing how we can change environmentally disastrous fast fashion making and buying practises, how we can recycle, repurpose and upcycle materials, and how we have a responsibility to make change happen. I was so impressed by her collaborations: with Designers and Science/Technology, with the Vancouver Aquarium, with Value Village and with Businesses, to discuss and plan common strategies for educating and making policy changes. In the many fashion events, I attend, I see much greater emphasis on ECO, especially on vintage and thrift and highlighting slow, hand crafted techniques to the runway. I loved how she often wore thrifted outfits and talked about their origins. Here she is just a while ago. The message continues. I thank you, Myriam for your leadership and for your thoughtful responses. Thanks, too to Marilyn R Wilson, for the COVID 19 series idea.

Here are a few articles where we have covered Myriam and her events:

ZERO WASTE and the TEXTILE INDUSTRY - Metro Vancouver In Collaboration with Vancouver Eco Fashion Week 2015

The #IGIVEASHIRT Installation and Partnership: ECO Fashion Week, Aquarium and Savers Value Village

ECO Fashion Week - Seminar: Rethinking Second-Hand by Myriam Laroche and Anny Leclerc - Value Village

ECO FASHION WEEK: 10 Seasons of Old and New: Press Preview 2016

Photo credit: Audet Photo

I reached out to her in Montreal and here are her thoughts about moving forward during COVID 19

1) Please tell us about your work, length of time, goals, audience, etc.

I am an apparel and textile sustainability strategist. That’s what I have been focusing on since the end of Eco Fashion Week in 2018. I guide and support apparel and textile brands in starting their sustainability initiatives, based on what they are already doing, and I give them tools to pursue their eco-fashion mission, grow and improve every season.

2) How has social isolation COVID 19 affected you and your work, colleagues,...

Daily wise, the COVID19 confinement did not really affect me. I work from home so that part stayed the same. But I work with retailers, and they all had to pause their activities. So did I. Not to sound insensitive, but I kind of have been waiting for an exceptional situation like this for people to start listening and understanding that how we make and consume clothes can’t continue this way. It has been a blessing in disguise for what I want to accomplish in the fashion industry.

3) How did you reach your audience before COVID 19?

I did a soft launch of my website (myriamlaroche.com ) right before confinement in March. I wanted to officially promote it in April, Earth Month. But with everything that was happening it did not feel right. And it was a good thing. It made me rethink the way I want to work with retailers and see where they will need my help the most. The narrative is changing !

4) What are strategies to reach them now?

I am working on creating easy and clear packages for fashion businesses. A lot of them think that they absolutely need a degree in sustainability or to hire a big agency to develop an eco or transparency strategy. But I do not agree. If you know how clothes are designed, made, market and sold, you mostly need a tool box to start developing your eco-recipe. I believe that brands already have things in place to where they can start in a cost efficient way and build from there. It’s about doing things well and improving every season.

5) Do you have a motto, mantra, mentor, role model, book? Something or someone that moves your forward during this time?

Beyond COVID-19 , the Black Lives Matter movement has been the biggest wake up call and inspiration to do better and acknowledge my white privilege and the reality of systemic racism, very present in Fashion. There is a part of me that was always feeling something was missing in the eco fashion movement I was trying to lead. I was focusing on ethical labor and bad conditions (which are super important topics) but it’s about humanity every step of the way: factories, head offices, stores… I never wanted to listen as much as I want to listen now and see my faults. I can’t be an authentic leader if I don’t own the privileges I have as a white woman. Transparency starts with me. I can create the greenest products but if I am not an ally, it means nothing.

How to find Myriam:

VOGUE - Our Common Thread: Creativity During A Time of Crisis

The June/July Issue of Vogue features self created images (with commentary) from people in the world of Fashion, Art and Theatre, confined at home during this pandemic. Articles on how people's creative responses are changing the world, include: Creating the Future (Fashion) Still Life (Art), Into the Wings (Theatre), Brave New Trail (Political Strategy - Biden's Virtual Campaign) and more.

On sale now, this issue is an inspiring account of how people are moving forward in a tough time of isolation and subsequent changes in all aspects of our lives. One of the most compelling images for me is of Annie Leibovitz, Photographer and Mother of 3 Teens: "All I'm doing is laundry and cleaning and trying to figure out meals." Everyone does laundry and meal planning, but her photo tells a much bigger story. Love the photo of Billy Porter, Long Island, NY., with his tee shirt featuring Barbra Streisand, singing "When the Sun Comes Out". He looks for joy to inspire his writing for his soon to be published memoir, the reworking of a musical and spending time with his husband. Others, like Lin-Manual Miranda, take photographs of constants in their lives, like the George Washington Bridge and how the traffic has diminished. A two page spread of photos: A Model World, shows models at home with families, at home reading, cooking and working. A black and white photograph by Enri Canaj, Athens, shows a man trying to make a living by selling fruit. There is no colour, and there are no crowds, showing the stark realities of a city slowed and a work life changed. And Artist, Cindy Sherman also has a two page photo of a woman from two perspectives: She says, "I have no idea of what it means." She was recently here, at The Vancouver Art Gallery here. Sherman's work invites you to be somewhere else, like right in her images. Love that way of being transported.

So I would highly recommend this edition of VOGUE because, as Anna Wintour says: I don't think I am alone in wishing for a little bit of hope right now--though one of the few positives of our current time is that one can find it if one is looking for it. She goes on to say that people have rushed in quickly to help and I found, too, that when I asked people to keep me company and tell me what they are doing now, they did. You can read more about what they said on the blog. I started off with what i was reading, here: You can see the 19 interviews completed to date here.

Image taken by Colleen

Image via Vogue

Image via Vogue

Saturday, July 11, 2020

COVID 19: Barbara Halparin Tells How The GoGos Continue to Fund Raise

My friend, Bobbie Yoshihara, a life long Sewer/Crafter, has now joined the Richmond Branch of The GoGos. and is continuing to share her creative skills to fund raise for Grandmothers in Africa, who are raising their orphaned grandchildren who have lost parents to HIV/Aids. A fabulous quilter, she also makes a myriad of other projects, including masks, the proceeds of which she donated to the Gogos. Here is Bobby below and some of her creations.

I asked Darcy Bilinkoff and Barbara Halparin to tell me more about the Gogos and what they are doing across Canada. It is clear that these Grandmothers motivate each other to move forward during COVID 19.

Thanks to Marilyn Wilson for the Covid 19 Interview inspiration.

Interview with Barbara Halparin

In 2006 the Stephen Lewis Foundation launched the Grandmothers Campaign in response to the HIV AIDS pandemic ravaging Africa. Millions of grandmothers, many afflicted with the disease themselves, and mourning the loss of their children, stepped up to raise their orphaned grandchildren. Since then the Stephen Lewis Foundation has partnered with more than 325 community-based organizations in fifteen African nations to support the grandmothers’ fundamental needs for housing, education, medical care, support groups, business skills, LGBTIQ awareness and much more. The principles of social justice, equality and partnership guide our process.

There are over two hundred Gogos groups (gogos is a Zulu word for grandmother) across Canada dedicated to raising funds and awareness for the Grandmothers Campaign. Greater Van Gogos acts as an umbrella organization to support more than twenty groups in the Lower Mainland. We have two co-chairs, a steering committee, and representatives from six geographic “neighbourhoods.” We also have a regional communications team and a speakers’ roster, and we provide speakers’ training upon request.

All of our groups are autonomous, each choosing its own meeting format and fundraising initiatives. Many of these involve attractive quality craft items such as jewelry, aprons, scarves, umbrellas, notecards and a variety of bags. Our handcrafted tote bags have become a recognizable signature product.

Groups have also undertaken other types of fundraising events such as art auctions, African dinners, and concerts. Our latest area-wide endeavours include an annual 50 or 100-kilometer Solidarity Cycle, and the For Love of Grandmothers Fitness Challenge.

The Coronavirus pandemic has challenged us to adapt and grow, and we have responded with enthusiasm and creativity. Many groups had already embraced technology by creating websites, and now continue to hold chapter meetings by Zoom. On-line events are springing up, with one group hosting virtual cocktail crafting workshops.

With craft fairs on hold for the foreseeable future, one group is holding a ”craft crawl” in four limited venues. Instead of tote bags we are making masks, allowing us to give back to the communities that supported us while continuing to join hands and hearts with our African partners.

Our annual fitness challenge has morphed into an event called Gogos Go to Joburg, a virtual walk of 17,000 km through the fifteen countries in which the Stephen Lewis Foundation has partners. Participants engage sponsors, and gain 5 virtual km for every hour of physical activity performed.

Our fourth annual Solidarity Cycle will take place, also with modifications. If we are not able to hold a group event, our sponsored cyclists will dedicate Grandparents Day, Sunday September 13, 2020, to individually completing their 50 or 100 km ride.

What keeps us going with such love and determination? It helps to think about the many millions of African women who inspire us with their intrepid ability to rise to the multiple challenges of not just one, but now two pandemics: HIV AIDS and COVID 19. They are the best people to teach us what the needs are, and how best to respond to adversity with self-awareness, generosity, and empathy. It helps to track the incredible advancements that have been made in turning the tide of HIV AIDS since 2006.

But the mantra that has kept us focused and committed from the very beginning is the one we think about when we are exhausted from only a few hours with our grandchildren:

“We will not rest until they can rest.”

Check us out at: