Finders Boutique

Support a Great Cause with Really Cool T-shirts

Summer is coming!  It’s time to add to your t-shirt collection.  Commonthreadz.org's eco-friendly cozy cotton threads feature artwork from designers and celebrities, with proceeds going toward great causes such as providing clothing, school supplies and medical treatments for children in developing nations.

 

And it gets better.  You can become an active participant in volunteer trip.  There is an associated cost, but you can raise funds to cover all expenses with your own fundraising page.  A trip to Africa is planned for June.  Who knows, maybe you will catch up with Angelina Jolie and family!

If you’re a creative, insightful type with great ideas and a gigantic heart, submit and fundraising project idea and help raise thousands of dollars for the cause.

Snowman Socks!

I confess.  I have a sock fetish.  They are magical, they inspire me, they can be warm and fuzzy or sleek and sexy.  They make we want to wear pants that are too short , or shred the bottom two inches of my jeans, or sport pants designed with clear plastic from the just above the knee caps down.  I just always seem to be in jeans or dress pants with tennis shoes or boots or peep toe shoes at best.  I just can't seem to figure out how to show off my cool, stylish, hip, sometimes silly socks.  And I have more than one drawer full.  My friends look forward to the fall/winter season to see what I'll be wearing.  I'm like my own fashion show with a private runway and a CD player plugged into the wall next to the couch where three of my friends anxiously await my awkward strut down the catwalk, pulling the legs of mean jeans up so they can see my latest styles.  Sure, I should consider wearing skirts if I'm going to do this right. I'm working on it.  But for now, I'll just have to dramatically pull up my socks in the presence of strangers who may appreciate the art of sock wearing.

These snowman socks and the ensemble are inspiring.  If only I could spend a few weeks in Amsterdam and get a window display gig, I could really show my stuff. 

Sub-Zero Fashion Mittens Prevent the Need to Curb your Nicotine Addiction

It’s a beautiful thing when fashion and functionality come together.  You may already be set with your iPod jeans (even though you had a lapse of judgement and bought the Zune), or your fishing vest (even though you don't own a fishing pole), or those carpenter pants (even though you don’t own a hammer), but are you prepared for that freezing cold winter smoke without the freezing cold hands?  These styling mittens from Tobias Wong allow you to enjoy cigarettes even on the coldest day in Iceland.  Or maybe you don’t smoke any more than you own a fishing lure, but why not invest in a pair just for that high fashion, sexy yet functional little element -- the metal eyelet.  Maybe you could get yourself a spot on Project Runway and design the ultimate goose down smoking jacket.  Or start your own Tobias Wong Mitten Cigar Bar.

 

In fact -- warning: tangent -- an icey cigar bar is not so far out of your reach.  In Minneapolis there is a seasonal hot spot called the Ice Chamber.   It’s a bar constructed of ice, but it’s warm inside with the burning gas fire pit and abundance of quality booze to keep you warm. So why not light up a few cigars? Wait? Does that eyelet come in cigar size?  And will it it hold a Pogo stylus in case you need to make a phone call or check how many calories a Hot Toddy has?  Wong may have a little work to do with these mittens, but the potential -- my god.

Redefine Normal

There's this paper/magazine I like called, Skirt!  You'll find it in cities across the country.  You'll find intelligent insights, banter and wit, alongside ads for fashion boutiques and plastic surgeons.  It embraces the strength of women -- the curiousity, the vanity, the insecurity.  It's fantastic. 

At any rate, they have a weekly email list called "The Morning Muse" that comes each friday with a special surprise.  One day, a link to the "Redefine Normal" bracelet at 37 days came.  I clicked and pulled out my credit card immediately, and now proudly sport my bracelet almost daily.  The leather bracelet is available with other sayings such as "Become You," "Dance in your Car," and "Get off the Ship" as well as the option for your own custom saying.

Eco-Style

Whether you have been a long-time supporter of eco-friendly initiatives or just getting up to speed, taking care of the environment is now stretching further into our daily lives, including our sense of fashion.

From Canada, eco-handbags.com brings us totes, messenger bags, purses, and more that are created from recycled or organic-friendly goods such as cigar boxes, candy wrappers, 35mm slides, art banners, movie posters, magazines, books, soda pop-tops, men's ties, inner tubes, jute, hemp, cotton...and the list goes on.

One of my favorites is the "Don't Push Me Around" handbag made from a cigar box.  Okay, it looks more like a large lunchbox, but who really cares, this is cool!  Vintage, authentic, modern, socially conscious, and it looks good with a pair of jeans and a cotton button down.

Looking for something more night-out-on-the-town friendly?  You're covered.  You may have heard about the candy wrapper hand bags by now. A neat idea and they look cool too. They take old-fashioned basket weaving techniques, unused candy wrappers from manufacturing plants and little real life talent, the voila! You have a stylish handbag that comes in a wide array of colors -- as colorful as any candy wrapper.

Eco-fashion now extends well beyond handbags and donations to environmental causes from high fashion designers, on into "real life."  Thanks to twenty-somethings Callie Smith and Ursula Stahl, who started the forward-looking business, Envi, in Boston in 2006, sexy environmentally conscious women don't have to trade in their sense of style for a hemp poncho (but keep that for weekends!).

Pictured here is the Bella Dress, from Envi.  Pair it with the Botero-Black candy wrapper bag above and you're set.

Fancy Panties

a.k.a. Innovative Underwear.  T. Santiago satisfies your incessant need for adaptable undergear to go along with your new shampoo and cell phone upgrade.  The unique fabric is water-resistant and sweat absorbant. (Sounds suspiciously unnatural.) No matter, you'll look cute and sexy and be a trendsetter, and everyone will know it -- as long as you take your pants off in public.

Celebrities dressing up their underselves with Sparkles and Hippi Patchwork Underkinis, and Blue Cheetah Thongs include:  Angelia Jolie, Madonna, Halle Barry, Shakira, Rihanna, Serena Williams, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Carmen Electra.

The good news there is that all butt shapes and bulges are covered in this celebrity list. Bulbous, barely there, taut and perky, T. Santi Panties have you covered (but you're own your own with the boobs).

Selvedge

If you love textiles, photography, design, and a good story weaves in and out of world cultures, you’ll love this magazine.  While browsing the magazine shelves at a bookstore in the Furniture Capital of the World (High Point, NC), I stumbled upon this magazine.  It was intriguing enough to get me to drop $20.00 plus tax, a price point well above my usual $5.95 per issue limit.

Towels, linens, handkerchiefs and mittens have never been so fascinating.  In the current issue #21, you’ll be introduced to Chinese fashion designer Ma Ke.

Visit Selvedge.org.

Junk Shop

Bullocks! Why isn't the Junk Shop in the U.S.?  No worries, they'll ship anywhere in the world, or maybe it's time to plan that trip to the U.K.  Oh yeah, the Junk Shop.  For you exceptionally creative, one-of-a-kind sylish types, Junk invites you not only to shop, but to invent, scheme, dream and fornicate.  No wait, not that last one.  Not in their recycled fairyland of furniture and furnishings.   But don't let that stop you, they are searching the world over for talent and you can send them photos of your own art, clothing, or jewelry designs.  Or stop by (more tomorrow on travel to Manchester)!

"Dare to Be Different, its the Junk way   :] x."

Now where are those plane tickets...oh yeah, in my Junk bag. Here it is...

Tarantella Wedges

Happy Birthday to me!  I'm a bargain-hunter, but every once in a while I splurge and found myself blowing my cash on these tarantella wedges from Anthropologie.com.  No, a tarantella is not a spider cookie or arachnid-shaped potato; I dont' know what it means other than a great pair of shoes.  They are hip and stylish yet kick back to another time and place, a time when your once-wild grandmother traveled to Buenos Aires to dance until the wee hours, then slip away like a mystery.