One brown dress, everyday, for a year:

[_ladybug_]

Originally Posted by Diorling

Wait? She's standing up against fashion by wearing a brown dress for a whole year?

Isn't she just proving that brown is indeed seasonless?

But in all seriousness, it's slightly ironic coming from a dancer and choreographer...she does not see the self expression that fashion allows both men and women to have. It's not sexist nor degrading (if you dont allow it to be), I just think she's being very closed minded and seeing fashion as just this entity that thrives on the exploitation of trends in order to cash in...

i agree

[HBoogie]

I find the project interesting, but unfortunately I don't think her method was as pure as it could have been.

You see, if you look through the gallery, she layers the dress with other items of clothing as needed for colder weather.

This can, of course, be chalked up to the fact that she lives in Seattle, a place with changing seasons. If she lived in, say, Florida, she might truly be able to get away with wearing only the brown dress day in and day out.

Note also that the items she layers the dress with vary: I see a green cardigan, a red cardigan, a jean jacket, a blue hoodie, a few different coats, various colored t-shirts and knee socks, among other things.

She should have limited herself to a one plain brown cardigan, one pair of tights, one t-shirt, etc., because it appears that she did in fact exercise some creativity -- indeed, some sense of style and/or fashion -- in selecting her layering pieces.

[fuj]

Personally, I like hearing about these kinds of things - they give me the opportunity to re-evalutate some of my perceptions and stances.

Do I agree with what she's done? I'm not sure - but I like that she challenged herself in a different way and in the end seemed to be making more economical choices - like using a wheelbarrow to pick up the dog food instead of the car. Little things like that.

Also, this was an experiment - it started out with her giving her reasons and her hypothesis, and then ended leaving her with more insight in more than one area.

I like the project, and maybe that's due to my own take on fashion (For a while I've been trying to come up with a convertable wardrobe - consisting of a few pieces and then combining these in different ways in order to limit how much I spend on fashion and also how much I waste.. for example, I have an orange dress that I can wear as a dress or as a balloon-hem top over skirts and shorts - all I need to do is belt the hem around my waist.)

But Bravo to her for the projects completion - a lot of other people would have just given up.

[crankypants]

I planned to go to her birthday party/undressing, but then Friday came and I forgot.

I'm not about to start wearing grey sweatsuits, but I liked the sentiment behind her project a lot.

This article appeared in the local paper. It's pretty funny.

Where, oh where can that little brown dress be? By Brangien Davis
Special to The Seattle Times

When her blog gained a sudden surge in popularity, Seattle choreographer Alex Martin realized her "little brown dress" performance-art project had taken on a life of its own. But she had no idea that meant the dress would one day be swimming, Goodwill-hopping and visiting the Space Needle — without her.

As an artistic comment on consumerism, Martin wore the same little brown dress from July 7, 2005, through July 7, 2006, and tracked the progress at littlebrowndress.com. After designing, wearing (and repairing) the dress religiously for 365 days, Martin threw herself a public "un-dressing party" at Consolidated Works on the night of her 30th birthday last Friday.

"It was amazing," Martin says. "There were about 300 people there. ... It was pretty surreal having all these strangers saying 'happy birthday' — but it was a very celebratory mood."

That is, until the dress went on the lam.

That's right: The little brown dress is AWOL.

At the party, Martin performed the lovely, funny piece she choreographed for the project. Then she blew out the candles on her four-layer birthday cake. Then she took a festive running dive into said cake. Then she took off the cake-covered little brown dress and donned a silvery top and capri pants of her own design.

And she hasn't seen the little brown dress since.

Swept up in congratulations, Martin left the dress onstage, perilously unattended. It wasn't until later that she realized it was missing.

The case of the missing dress soon intensified, as Martin was scheduled to talk about her project on NBC's "Today" show at 4 the next morning. "They had asked me to bring it to hold up for the camera, so I was calling them at 3:30 in the morning, saying I didn't have it, and they didn't believe me."

Then the e-mails started arriving.

Hailing from littlebrowndress@gmail.com, the first e-mail featured a rather gruesome picture of the dress floating in a body of water. It read, "I felt like I was drowning and I need some time to sort things out by myself."

The second one featured the garment in the hands of a Goodwill sorter, with the note, "I don't care WHO I end up with." The third e-mail shows the dress near the Space Needle: "I still need some space."

"It's so funny," Martin says of the intrigue. "People keep asking me, but I swear it's not a hoax. I'm more surprised by it than anyone." She says she's delighted by the new "traveling garden gnome" aspect of the little brown dress. "I always wanted this to be an open source project; I wanted people to be able to follow it online. ... This just takes it further."

And the dress's intentions? When asked for comment, the little brown dress responded via e-mail, "I miss Alex a lot, and I hope she misses me too, but I think this time apart will do us both good. I'm sure I'll go back to her eventually." The dress also announced plans for a road trip.

[mellowdrama]

Thanks & karma, crankypants, for the update! I'm encouraged by ideas taking hold, rather than disposable mass consumer items, as something which gives one value and merit. I still love fashion, in an Ab-Fab way, but I'm more engaged with the responses and attitudes the ragtrade evinces in relatively poor folk like me, rather than buying into it completely.

[dreamsethereal]

Is this a feminist thing? Probably. Also an art thing. Also a let's stop wasting time and money thing. But on a feminist note, let's stop agreeing that the best way for women (in particular) to "express themselves" is by purchasing new wardrobe items and putting together daily outfits.

that really aggravates me.

that's just the kind of misconception that makes everyone consider fashion so utterly "frivolous".

would anyone look down on a person who expressed themself by painting? why not? you have to spend money for good quality paints, canvas, paintbrushes, etc...

fashion is no different.

grr.

[fashionista-ta]

^ well, I would never say it's the "best" way for me to express myself ... it's certainly one way. And let's face it, she demonstrated her creativity and expressed herself through the outfits she created with the little brown dress

I'm a feminist, and don't think there's anything wrong with the traditional ways women express themselves, as Martha, the quilters of Gee's Bend, and many others have demonstrated in recent years. We can do all this stuff, AND we can do pretty much all the stuff men can do ... unless it involves upper body strength that most of us don't have as much of.

[Curious]

HBoogie!! You are right on target!!

This woman didn't prove a damn thing! She wore different articles of clothing all around that hideous dress which I'm sure she had to buy somewhere.. and it seems she did put some thought into what she was doing.. hence energy spent. Not to mention the energy spent on the website and responding to all those comments...

Sheesh I don't get the logic

Loon...

[softgrey]

AGREED......

[ewening]

well i admire her enthusiasm, but this whole thing makes no sense. she just seems like a hippie seeking for attention.

[mellowdrama]

Originally Posted by ewening

well i admire her enthusiasm, but this whole thing makes no sense. she just seems like a hippie seeking for attention.

I thought that, too, but didn't want to say it. During the Vietnam war, I believe the US powers-that-be did a psychological assessment of the hippie movement in general, and the Abbie Hoffmann, Yippie political sort in specific. They determined rather than caring deeply for peace or the commonweal, it was more an attention-whore syndrome.

But I really like attention-whores, and think the world is more entertaining if not better for them. What's nice about the brown-dress lady is that she can spend a whole lot less money to get her needed attention and make her dubious points which we can all argue about here and elsewhere. Meanwhile, some poor slob who really can't afford new clothes and doesn't make a fuss about it goes on with their daily impoverished grind. Hell, they might not even know they're impoverished or that life is a grind. Let's be sure to remind them with our ostentatious display of wealth, shall we? Perhaps we can make enraged zealots of the sartorially disadvantaged.

[fashionista-ta]

^ My experience of the sartorially disadvantaged is that very often they don't realize it

[mellowdrama]

Originally Posted by fashionista-ta

^ My experience of the sartorially disadvantaged is that very often they don't realize it

That's just because we haven't found the perfect, inescapable way to really rub it in their faces. Somebody in Marketing is not doing their job! I recommend ubiquitous "You're Ugly and Your Mother Dresses You Funny"* T-shirts, mugs, and bumperstickers.

*True Story: When I first moved to San Francisco, I was a maid. I left a cleaning job on 21st and Anza with the taunt, "You're Ugly and Your Mother Dresses You Funny" stuck in my head (something my sister used used to tell me all the time growing up). Wouldn't you know---in less than 5 minutes I passed a parked car with a bumpersticker reading, yes, "You're Ugly and Your Mother Dresses You Funny." I felt like I'd fulfilled the Celestine Prophecy--I ascended to the invisible realm and my intangible thoughts were made concrete! Ineffable G-d himself wanted me to spread this 12th insight from Shambhala: YOU'RE UGLY AND YOUR MOTHER DRESSES YOU FUNNY. Figure the gematriya for that, o wise ones.