Farmacy

Ex X-Girl

2010-03-17T22:07:00.000-07:00

produced by sofia and spike. pretty nice idea, all guerrilla and such.

interesting that kim talks about an A-line "that's goofy." huh. wonder what kind of A-line that is.
(not the one I made her. no way.)

APPROVED!

2010-03-09T12:54:00.000-08:00

About a month ago I attended Yoko Ono's Plastic Ono Band show in Oakland. My friend Dale, who is always pushing me to "out" myself more - thank you Dale - encouraged me to make Yoko a gift of the dress I created with her image. I was irked to do so...just not one for self-promotion really. Of course, self-promotion is what business is all about, so...too bad for me!

At the last minute, I went into my "little bags" drawer and pulled out the plainest one I could find. I cut out and attached some black and white mod-looking flowers from saved wrapping paper, securing them with rolled up tape. Inside the bag I threw a postcard I made of Yoko which told the story behind the dress along with the dress and a little lavender sachet to make everything smell nice. The final touch: polka-dot ties wrapped around the bags' handles.

Upon arrival at the show, Dale found someone to help us get the package to Yoko. They were very nice there at the Fox (worst sound ever though!), leading us to the back where a woman sat guarding backstage. She said she'd hand it over, no problem. At the end of the night when we checked with her, she said she had given the bag to Yoko's tour manager.

The next day I get an email from Yoko's personal assistant, asking for my home address! !!
!!!
Yesterday I found THIS in my mailbox! It has her address printed on the back but was sent from Japan! That is just so insanely cool!

Sneaker Police

2010-03-03T00:13:00.000-08:00

Call me Sneaker Police if you must, but it's not my fault this kind of shinola is out in the world. Sure, Kurt loved Chucks. But did he want his art&lyrics mass-produced on them? When Kurt wrote "Punk Rock is Freedom," I doubt he meant corporate whoring.

Love the inner arch message though: "REWARD IF FOUND K COBAIN"

(I'd pay a reward if someone found me for sure.)

I also may pay for the black high-tops with writing on them. Dang.

SLA on the River

2010-03-01T12:35:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, friends invited me to their Russian River house for a little getaway. I was ill-prepared for my friend, Dale's, play-as-usual unconventional activity ideas. I was dressed in faux-leather flats and had no hat to wear in the rain. Not right. Not right at all.

Activities included:
1. Go to Mercantile in Guerneville for appropriate rain-hiking footwear; also buy hat to hide rain-mussed hair. Find heavy-duty boots that might be usuable in my regular life and only hat on premises. A red beret.
2. Go to Korbel Champagne Cellars for a tasting (she's a wine club member, but of course!); buy a bottle of champagne.
3. Sneak into Korbel Cellars' "employees only" museum. There we learned of the history of Korbel as only employees are to know it. HA. HA-HA!
4. Hike Anderson Woods trail. Have picnic of champagne, salami, cheese and crackers. Boots work. So does hat.
5. Make jokes that I look like I'm in the SLA. "That's not so bad, right?" True, I'm totally and utterly against The Man, so, ok!

Moral of the Story:
1. go rain-hiking in whatever shoes you can buy that don't leak.
2. definitely always go behind doors that say you can't.
3. Korbel Rouge Champagne is really delicious; it's red!
4. don't be afraid to look like you're in the SLA. who is anyone to say?!
5. always choose to leave the house over watching TV or web surfing.
6. YOU CAN WEAR ANYTHING AND PULL IT OFF IF YOU CARRY YOURSELF LIKE A PRO.

Just say NO! to Gunne Sax

2010-02-25T15:01:00.000-08:00

Been gone a while, but we're baaaack!

It's nearly Spring and time for Farmacy to hit the stores.

In the meantime, file under WTF: How does Marc Jacobs think he can get away with this?

Marc Jacobs! Even GOD can't bring Gunne Sax back!! Come on!
I love you, but don't make me wanna spew, please.

Party on Wayne!

2009-12-31T20:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Been pretty disconnected lately but returning for a little party with some friends. Thought Outfit mercilessly until this little ensemblah came about.

I'm wearing Betsey Johnson hotpants my friend Wendy gave me. Included is a crown made of twisted metal and pearls that I wore for my first wedding. a silver cuff bracelet from mexico, a handmade beaded necklace from my friend, Karla and a rhinestone necklace from the Luxor gift shop in Vegas.

It's all very rad isn't it? I'm feeling good. Hope you are too.
Enjoy your friends, your family and a frisky fun outfit adventure.
xo

Posthumous Party Post: excellent night was had with lots of dancing and overall sense of freedom of expression and warm acceptance. What more could one ask for? Dare I say I feel positive about 2010 so far?

All Dressed Up...

2009-11-04T09:48:00.000-08:00

Finally every dress of my first run has arrived. Photos of each, front & back, below.

It's unreal to live with a dream come true every day. You'd think i'd be ecstatic, but I'm kinda scared. Then again, if you're not scared of what you're doing, it's probably not something worth doing.

These dresses are really versatile. Some like to wear the "V" in the front, others like it in the back. It fits larger boobs too. The medium fits my double-C, 5'2" sister, she is adorable in the Ewan. I'm a "B" and 5'11" and the medium looks great on me too. Size small will be for skinny girls up to 5'8". Since it's an A-Line, however, it fits less-than-skinny girls as well.

The dresses are fully-lined, very fine poly with a silk feel. They get softer with each dry cleaning. The most distinguishable quality, besides the art (ha!) is how intense the color is. The special dying process has enriched the color and sheen of the fabric like none other I've seen.

The Edie Dress

The Yoko Dress

(Dress reads, "Her Rock and Roll is Beautiful")

The Ewan Dress

The Silly Walk Dress

...and now for what influenced the Silly Walk Dress...

An Illustrated Guide

2009-10-01T19:17:00.001-07:00

Presenting the Four Dresses. They're a lot like the Three Tenors but they don't sing. really high.

Coming soon (November 8) to an Indie Mart near you!

Comin' Out

2009-09-29T18:48:00.000-07:00

The Ewan dress made its first public appearance to much adieu. This is the first sample dress in my size, the Yoko dress previously published is my first sample size in small (not my size).

Wore this dress to a swanky party held at Groth Vineyards for my friend's 40th birthday party. We met in 10th grade. Happy Birthday Ms. Suzy Q. G. Jones. Your party was really really fun.

All four designs for the dresses (one yet to be shown here) are being made right now.

I'll be selling at Indie Mart - San Francisco's newest cool place to get original clothing and have a beer and take over a street for the day. Being accepted into this supra-cool event is quite the compliment. Thank you, Kelly.

NOVEMBER 8, 2009. DON'T FORGET. If you read this FarmBlog, you'll get something in the mail. And in your inbox and probably at any tollbooth you pass through on a daily basis. And in the bathroom at Zeitgeist too.

Lichtenstein Sneaks

2009-09-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

my friend Timm recently showed up for a visit from Boston wearing these unbelievable shoes designed by Puma with Roy Lichtenstein in mind.

mind-blowing is more like it. JEALOUS!
(nice going, puma)

Her Rock and Roll Is Beautiful

2009-09-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

this dress is brand new but already has a heady history.

it is about a dedication thurston gave to yoko at a concert at which i was backstage. when thurston gave the dedication, "this song is for yoko ono, her rock and roll is beautiful," she smiled really really big and clapped her hands and told me how far out they (sonic youth) are.

i've painted this image of yoko before. the simplicity is delicious. the dress is too.

Dark side of the all-star?

2009-09-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

it's hard to tell you the difference between me putting a drawing i've made of yoko ono onto a silky, pretty dress with other original art...and other fashion items like this bag made from kurt cobain's death cover or these chucks splattered with pink floyd imagery.

one is cool: mine, and
one is gross: theirs.

i'd rather not be a part of this world that obsesses over the faces and lives of people we don't know personally...but i am. my dresses are original art and that makes them different than this kind of merchandising...but only by a hair, really. a skinny hair.

False Positive

2009-08-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

The last 6 weeks have been like living inside the bowels of a very special hell, breathing the vapors, feeling the burn at the back of my esophogus...scary stuff.

My problem-solving skills and ability to create or care have been challenged:

So, not a lot of fashion business has been going on, considering I also haven't been eating or brushing my teeth.

What has happened is the arrival of my first dress samples. You'd think this would be a big deal, very exciting, but life was in the way and blocking the good view when the Big Moment finally arrived.

Nevertheless, let me introduce the Ewan Dress. It is beautiful.

(front):

(detail):

(3/4):

(back):

(Note to Self)

2009-06-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note at how much working for yourself rules.

1. Get up after 9am, drink coffee.
2. Make phone call to pattern-maker about marking and grading dress sample down to a small size (an alternative for those who are not like me - 5'11", size 8). Set appointment, think about fit model, do research on fitting before calling fit model.
3. Draft email to possible fit model, but hold off until I get more information from handful of girlfriends who might be a sm/med (me: med/large).
4. Get feedback from graphic design freelance gig; one request to fill, easy postcard design due in half an hour.
5. Tell husband all of this. He says we're $3k in the bank account hole. I feel even more motivated to get this technical stuff DONE WITH and these dresses OFF to be printed!!!

Accomplished since April 20th:

1. Idea is borne, followed by logo, brand identity, business plan and marketing ideas.
2. Make dress myself using no pattern, send off to be duplicated.
3. Dress comes back wrong because of no pattern, find pattern-maker.
4. Redesign part of dress, pattern-maker makes perfect pattern, her recommendation for seamstress is right on, I get a perfect sample in my hands June 26th.
5. Draw three original pieces of art to go on dresses, finalize design to give to Rock Star I see in August.
6. Secure backstage pass to show in August so I may hand over a dress to Rock Star in the hopes that she will like it and maybe WEAR IT.

To do:

1. Have pattern marked and graded down one or two sizes.
2. Send small and medium dresses off to be duplicated and dyed.
3. Receive samples, HOPEFULLY approve immediately and order 500.
4. Design and produce all collateral including business cards, envelopes, letterhead and some kind of brochure while waiting for dresses to come back.
5. Fascilitate design of website.
6. Design press kit and figure out launch party.
7. Send out press kit/launch party invitation to magazines, newspapers...maybe someone else too?
8. Find stores and representation for dresses.
9. Make money.

(picture above a sample of the notes I make in the middle of the night when I can't sleep or of ideas I wake up with; images fully formed in my mind that actually wake me up.)

"My Life, My Wife...

2009-06-22T17:09:00.001-07:00

...(is the way I like it)" is a note i received from my husband recently. he took this during my insane 4-day painting marathon, forced for meeting a forgotten deadline. here you see the painting in the beginning...

and here you see it at the end.

i'd say i'm 80% happy with it. i can't say that's the number that makes sleep come easily.

The opposite of cool

2009-06-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

today while dropping my pattern off at the dressmaker's, i dropped my sunglasses in the elevator ride on the way down. i was looking up at yet another GIANT sticker in this ancient, back-alley service elevator and trying to iphone it. glasses went crashing as my head tilted. i picked them up and moved on. walked a few blocks downtown, got to my car and got in.

this is what i saw in the rearview mirror:

this is "not cool." this is "crazy." HI!

And with this money I DID buy designer clothes

2009-06-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

and the march goes on.

after two hard days of thinking and thinking only, and a little research i finally FINALLY broke out of my mold of problem solving and actually solved my pattern problem.

it was a sad two days but deciding on a pattern maker - a pro - got me out of my slump and back to my original design, rather than stealing someone else's. that really wouldn't go over so well with my intent to not be a copy of a copy of a copy.

the pattern-maker has requested i bring a dress that fits me perfectly in the shoulders and the bust, "and we can go from there." wow. pros. love them. she thinks this can be done in an hour. i see her today.

lesson 1: always go with a pro even if you're used to making everything yourself - especially if those things require math and you don't use math.

rule 1: quality over quantity always.
this is a rule i have always lived by.

as a kid i started working early as a babysitter, about age 12. since i'm 5'11" now - reached 5'9" by age 13 - i got jobs early. moms perceived me as more mature because i was taller than them in their 4" heels. and with this money i did buy designer clothes. and i did not have a lot of them, but they were awesome. they were quality, they were NOT a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy that you found at Mervyn's. i couldn't bear Mervyn's. it made my skin crawl. everything the same and none of it new. copies. so unorginal. so sad.

the first pair of designer pants i bought were Calvin Klein. they were classic five-pocket straight-legged khaki-colored cotton. in the store in my tiny hometown of st. helena, california, this was the only store to carry Calvin in a 100 mile radius. my mom was with me. we stepped up to the counter and she proclaimed proudly to a saleswoman - who also attended our church - "this is Beth's first pair of designer pants!"

oh my god. i shrunk. it was so embarrassing. it is not cool to be caught being cool.

from there i went on to purchase only Calvin, Esprit and Ralph Lauren who made my first pair of knickers. they were beautiful. quality. three buttons on each knee, not one, not two, THREE. each one perfectly, evenly spaced between the next. the denim was soft and maleable, the stiching just as fine.

then Guess came along. oy, Guess. they were much cooler in the 80s than they are now. somehow they slid into slutty in the 90s with the discovery of claudia schiffer and anna nicole smith. but in the 80s they were cool. pegged legs with zippers at the bottom, plain five-pockets and my favorite - a pair i still have in my clothes archives - with deep slash-pockets on the sides that showed a light gray denim in contrast and the same angled light gray denim at the knees. i worked three whole days babysitting to buy the $60? $70? jeans. that was insane in 1983. INSANE. funny how they are almost the same price now, 26 years later. weird. i don't get that. were the 80s really that cranked up? i thought the late 90s were cranked. oh, and here we are already in the late first decade of the 21st century. that's right.

hasn't the late first decade of the 21st century pretty much sucked from the get-go? financially i feel like i barely recovered from the dot.com crash of 2001-2003 before the new recession hit, when, 2 years ago? money. whatever. psftttt. i realize that people who did not live in the silicon valley/SF bay area might not know about the dot.com crash, but here it killed us. the boom was exciting! a whole new world where young people ruled. creative people ruled, but they were given too much money for their internet start-ups and they spent it foolishly - being young and idealistic - and the whole shebang bottomed out and suddenly, san francisco was full of unemployed artists with high rents to pay. criminy, there were no full-time jobs to be had for two whole years. i got a two-day a week job copyediting and photoediting for the SF Examiner, hoping every day to be given more hours. the pay was the same as my unemployment check, but i took the job instead and i worked it, praying against all rationality to be given a full-time position. never happened. in fact, i never even got laid off. someone just took my desk one day and i had nowhere to sit and no one to report to. i walked out. i guess no one noticed. it was awesome. realllllly good for the confidence. excellent. thank you.

two weeks later on the cover of the competing SF Chronicle were pictures of my superiors carrying all of their shit in boxes out of their offices with grimaces on their faces. everyone was laid off save a few a editors and writers.

the dot.com crash. what a bitch. and most of the country didn't even know about it.

but we're in a new era and there is hope for the creatives of the world. branch out. make stuff if you're meant to. one thing i have learned FINALLY is the world will not give you what you need just because you work hard. that is the old model. that is no longer enough. the new model is working hard for yourself. it's the only way you'll ever get ahead or ever feel even slightly in control of your life. and not live in fear of closed-door meetings.

entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs, gear up your motors. figure it out! it's time to go solo!

"Our darkness does not scare us"

2009-05-30T16:33:00.000-07:00

it feels unbelievable but it is very true: i have finished my business plan. it is six pages long. the best part is the 1.5 pages of marketing and advertising ideas. i read it aloud to my mom. she said, "well one thing is clear. You've put a lot of thought into this."

i have also spoken to an intellectual property rights lawyer today who assures me that i'm pretty much in the clear using a celebrity portrait on a dress. she said the worse thing that can happen is i receive a cease and desist letter. she thinks the amount of dresses i'm ordering off the bat is a small amount and not something to worry about, that the real issue is the fame of the photo i use to draw from. i have sent her another design to look over that might skirt the celebrity issue even more yet keep the pop flavor i want.

i have found a pattern maker who will fix me up some real patterns, no fake wanna-bes like the one i made which came back wrong. she is amiable and willing, i only have to worry about my funding source as that has possibly gone buh-bye.

there is no fake cool feeling today. i've got some confidence back. part of it came from watching an ellen degeneres standup video last night. she said we are most afraid of our light, not our darkness, that if we constantly move towards our light and challenge ourselves we grow exponentially and become more actualized. i love ellen. i respect her tremendously. what she said may sound a little cliche, but as brian eno wrote on one of his famous Oblique Cards, "Don't be afraid of cliches."

Low

2009-05-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

there's a low point to this process and i'm feeling it.

at the lowest point i wonder who the hell i think i am acting all cool like i can own a dress company and make awesome dresses. seriously. look at that face. who put cool on that face? because the face is not cool.

the face is naive.

i've hit a major bump in the road and i'm getting discouraged. i don't know how to fix my sizing problem without sacrificing my original design. i'm not sure my mom will be able to help. i don't know how to communicate with the manufacturer, i don't know why my sample came back so screwed up. i have no answers and i look at my silly face and i wonder

who do i think i am?! i'm just pretending.

right now there is no gas in my car and no money in my wallet. i've got a vase full of quarters, but does that really help when there's no gas in the vehicle? bill tells me to drive to coinstar.

coinstar? the depressing action of driving to coinstar and dumping a bunch of change so i can escape my house is awful. i say it's because i've got too much to do and that's too time consuming, but it's because it makes me feel so pathetic.

unemployment has taken over a month to be instated. i've started a freelance design job that will send me a check for work done last week, "sometime this week." i wonder if they have even the slightest clue how not helpful "sometime this week" is.

what a whiner.

and a faker.

Wonky Skating...Just for the Wonky

2009-05-21T22:13:00.001-07:00

soooo, i made a sample dress and sent it to the manufacturer to reproduce.

it did not come back the same way.

first of all, the shoulders were the width of my dress, designed to fit me, a 6/8. the rest of it came back as a 4/6. this is very confusing and hard to rectify.

i'm having my mom over, she's an experienced seamstress in our long line of seamstresses (she is III, i am IV) - i'm hoping she can tell me why the arms are pudging forward. she can tell me how the manufacturer interpreted my instructions incorrectly and possibly put me back on track.

meanwhile there is the discovery by me that i need make at least two sizes with artwork that matches in the same way on both sizes. this costs even more.

a few weeks ago i realized the dress needs a slip, or liner. i sent the manufacturer a perfect slip. i've been wearing it for years. they made it identically. perfect. problem is, when the small dress (minus wide shoulders and pudging arm holes) is made, the slip will also have to have a shallower scoop, naturally.

i'm suddenly feeling the need for math. i'm going to use Illustrator instead and size by percentages? percentages are universal, right?

or i'll go find two already-sized patterns, make the dresses, then send them for identical reproduction. since i made my own pattern, there could be a flaw and a need for professionalism i don't have.

otherwise, made a new beautiful design today to go on a dress. i have three so far, now. two to go for my awesomely-priced massively-multiplicated order.

i haven't even applied for my business license yet.

long-winded projects are hard for me. i'm myopic and deficient in attention span.

this is a monumentally long project. i think of my friends and how many years they put into each movie. i've long lusted for that kind of endless focus...i gotta have it now though, whether i already have it or not.

it must be!

The Long Lost Triangle

2009-05-05T16:43:00.001-07:00

does anyone, anyone at all remember Triangle brand clothes circa 1984? they made the bitchenest asymmetrical jackets similar to the one pictured here.

gray triangle pants with leather-strip detailing at the hem and and pockets and buckles at the waist! my favorite. i wore them to my first rock concert ever - Duran Duran. they played the oakland coliseum in the glory days before sporting venues were named after corporations.

why is this brand completely off the internet's radar? they were too cool to be forgotten! Somebody! Help!

Take your copies and shove 'em

2009-05-05T11:52:00.001-07:00

Attack of the Clones
isn't it annoying how everything is a copy of a copy of a copy*?

just now i clicked through to the free people website via shop-it-to-me and i wondered, "hmm, anthropologie? is that where i am? looks weird." and sure enough, it wasn't anthropologie at all. just a copy of a copy of a copy. thank you free people! or anthropologie or whoever decided to be unoriginal first and copy someone else's design.

(like my old employer, restoration hardware: they fired all the designers last year, then picked up a copy of pottery barn and set forth to copy furniture out of it, mark the price up double and give it a new name. a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy. yawn.)

and so you may start to get an idea of Farmacy's Mission Statement: nothing the same anymore. everything as different as possible. happiness through self-expression. bright eyes brought on by art. no more copies of copies of copies of copies.

Unemployed Inspiration
i'm sitting at my kitchen counter thinking i better get out of the house today. unemployment is starting to drag on me after a healthy two weeks of staying at home. it's hard being alone so much. it's hard to stay motivated. i hope i can have an office someday and someone to make talk to me over coffee for too long in the mornings. and maybe someone to force to go to lunch with me. i'll the nicest boss ever, but still...the boss.

where should i go out to today? i have $3.25 in my checking account. i guess that means i can get a coffee. maybe marin roasters. my favorite. too crowded maybe for a mouse. a mouse i would need to make a picture. should probably work on collateral now anyway. better not forget about Art in the Redwoods and the 2nd painting. need to call aunt ann. need to call a lot of people. write a letter to united about my voucher...i would pay someone right now to make these calls for me if i had the money. oh please, let me have the money someday.

which is i guess why i'm starting this clothing line. NO. actually, that isn't it. i'm starting this clothing line because i'm tired of being laid off. i'm tired of dragging my husband down. i'm so tired of working SO HARD all the time and getting NOWHERE with it!

this last time, the 7th lay-off in 5 years? the last.

*credit to chuck palahniuk for this perfect line about insomnia from Fight Club.

Jean Cocteau SAYS!

2009-04-29T22:46:00.000-07:00