One/One-Thousand: Peggy Sirota

I bet Peggy Sirota is a huge dork. I mean that in the nicest way possible. In fashion photography there is such a push to make things cool, sexy, hot, desirable. Untouchable really. Peggy makes things sweet, sunny, fun, and full of smiles. Some of her images--especially her recent work for GQ--proves that her brand of dorky can be sexy too. But mostly, Sirota's work just feels genuinely happy-making. Her career has spanned decades. She used to be a heavy presence at Rollingstone in the '90s, and she gave Jane magazine it's aesthetic in its beginning days. Smiles are timeless though, and as long as she continues to shoot shining shots of beaming kiddies and pretty faces, I'm sure her portfolio will just grow and grow.

C'mon and get happy.

Do Good: One Mango Tree

Happy New Years, or should I say happy new you? It's a great time to start fresh, isn't it? The clean slate of early January is filled with a hope that doesn't quite diminish until, well, the second week of January. While there is still time I wanted to introduce a fresh feature on I Want To Wear It. It's called Do Good and it will be a portal to fashion related charities, fair trade shopping outposts, and general ways that you can get your style on and still give back. Why? Because karma is a bitch or a blessing and I'm going to get you on the right side of that "or". First up in the Do Good corner of this blog is the site One Mango Tree.

The ladies of One Mango Tree.

Founded by director Halle Butvin, the site has set out to better the lives of women in war-torn countries, especially particularly ravaged area of Uganda. They are currently doing this by empowering women to make and sell the crafts, jewelry, fabric items, bags, etc. that they are so skilled at creating and that there is such a demand for outside of their remote villages. To do this they handle the website, the operations set-up, the business side of things, and simply pay the women fairly for their creations. So, instead of buying oh-so-trendy Africana-esque accessories this season, buy the real deal and pay their makers more than pennies for their time and talent.

I really love the jewelry that is on offer through the site and a particularly presidential apron that would be perfect for baking official Obama bread in.

Remember that? Good times, 2009. Good times. All of the items above are priced from between $12 to $20, which makes them even more wonderful. This year make your wardrobe a reflection of who you want to be; fill it with beautiful items made fairly. Do good. Feel good. Look good. Happy New Year!

Click any image above to be directed to One Mango Tree.com (except the Obama bread, that one's mine!).

Mobama Daily.

I see a picture like this, and even in the face of great economic uncertainty, health care upheaval, war, and famine, I think to myself, "Well, at least something is right in the world."

Look at this family! Coordinated, styled--yet chic with an easy air of effortlessness. I mean, that right there is a family fashion phenomenon. And, on the chance of sounding remarkably single-minded and naive, I will admit that it makes me feel better about life. I can't help it, it just does. That, my fellow fashion fiending friends, is why I am so grateful to New York Magazine.

With all do respect to Mrs. Obama, she's like a dream Barbie! She goes into any situation dressed and accessorized perfectly with a big brain, a real body, and amazing taste in footwear (those are Lanvin sneakers up there, and check out those Martin Margiela shoes top center. They're like half men's loafers, half sandal, and fully wonderful.)

Right there on the site of my very favorite weekly magazine (Screw you, US!) is The Michelle Obama Look Book, an oft-updated slideshow of the First Lady's sartorial choices. Flip through and you will see the unfolding tale of a very gifted, regal woman in which our heroine dons dresses by Rodarte, Tracy Feith, Sophie Theallet, Target, Talbot, and Moschino; in which she slides on Lanvin sneakers and Gap pants; where she digs in the garden and hikes and doles out awards, all the while looking like the embodiment of what American fashion always wanted to be but never had the spokesperson for. She's the new American sensibility, with her eclectic mix of high and low, with her patterns and solids worn in perfect proportion. She's gorgeous and grand and definitely worth checking in on every single day of her tenure in the White House. While MObama's fashion savvy is not news, I just had to pause and say thanks, oh vigilant nymag.com. Thanks for keeping her brilliance so evident and organized. Thanks.

Creationism.

Issey Miyake is a clean palette in fashion's hyper trend-driven world. His designs are calming in such an organic way, without reaching for their end result. It's as if calm is their natural state. If they aren't light and transparent as the atmosphere, his sculpted garments appear to have protective, cocoonlike qualities.

In a poignant Op-Ed piece recently published in The New York Times, Miyake shed some light on why his clothing is the way it is. In his piece he speaks openly and honestly for the first time in a public forum about being a witness to, and survivor of, the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima by The United States in 1945. As a boy of seven that day Miyake saw things "no one should ever experience: a bright red light, the black cloud soon after, people running in every direction trying desperately to escape". He sees them still--every time he closes his eyes. He lost his mother to the blast. Her health failed within three years of the bomb.

Miyake attributes his reluctance to share his Hiroshima experience before now largely to his life long desire to focus on the beautiful things that are possible through creativity, rather than the things that were so devastatingly destroyed right before his eyes. His clothing is his salvation, his healing and his way to prove that beauty and peace can outlast, or rather act as a salve for the scars of so much indigestible violence. Sometimes design (especially in the realm of fashion) is perceived as something other than art, something less than. But, when seen as an expression of someone's healing, or their communication of such a humane state as serenity, it is remarkable in its ability to express ideas that go well beyond form and function.

Miyake's formula for healing unimaginable hurt has brought decades of beauty to store shelves and closets and the backs of people attending special events. That may seem trite to some, but to me it is a bold example of the transformative quality of pretty things. Next time you doubt the place of beauty (be it fashion, sculpture, painting, etc.) in today's financially strapped, bare bones, material world, think of how you feel when you see something visually pleasing. Do you feel like destroying? Or, do you feel like creating? It always makes me want to breathe deeper, to be more present, more thankful. Maybe that's just me? Hope not.

Miyake's Op-Ed piece was written with the hopes of enticing President Obama to participate in Japan's observance of Universal Peace Day so that he can take a step "toward creating a world that knows no fear of nuclear threat." While I think it will take a lot more than a ceremonial photo op of Obama crossing a peace bridge to bring actual peace, who knows? Sometimes pleasing visuals have a transformative quality.

To read the article in full, please click here. All images are property of their respective owners. Please click image for source information.

Why I Had to Go...

My friend Neil nearly killed me for being away during the Obamas' big day, and I will say that a part of me wishes I had been here to witness the joyous mania live, but this is how I just spent the last few days:

So, I had plenty of fun daydreaming about Michelle's possible gown choices with sand between my toes. I have to catch up on all the things I've missed and get back into my groove. But, in the meantime watch this audio slide show about Mobama from Cathy Horyn over at The New York Times. It made me misty-eyed. Horyn's excellently raspy voice and poigniant commentary are great.

Ok, back to re-entry into the City's atmosphere. I'm sure I'll be up and running in no time! Well, give me a little time...