Life around trees continues, snow is apparently still a thing, and I think too much about 30 minutes of interview with two designers.
When I sat down to remember what happened this week, I forgot that this week’s Monday happened…this week. That Monday was two Mondays ago, right?
Wrong! This week started off with leftover, pre-Easter Chinese food. That happened. Followed by tree branches being whipped into the house by winds upwards of 60 mph. Again, the woods are trying to kill me.
It's become psychological warfare at this point. As the yard's sole caretaker, I now have so many branches to pick up. They're everywhere. Who has the time?
Not to mention the snow! If you thought we were done with snow for the season then you weren't alone. I did too. There’s already been a few days where it was warm enough to open the windows but New England don’t give a shit. Friday night saw us with freezing rain that had transitioned to at least 3 inches of ground cover by the time I came downstairs on Saturday morning. I had to embark on a rescue mission for our magnolia tree and azaleas. Their flowers can’t take this shit, snow is heavy and they are but an army of perfect snow sponges.
So my neighbors surely saw me running around in my pajamas at 8 am, vigorously shaking trees in the backyard. Not super unusual. When the first dark, pink buds of magnolia emerged the other week, I definitely wandered outside in Superman boxers to take pictures. Now, in my defense, there is forest between my neighbor's backyard and mine but, well, none of the trees have leaves yet. And I could most certainly see him. The illusion of privacy is false.
When did I last shave, you ask? My parents' neighbor is pondering the same question. It was a distant time that I can't recall.
Emily and I were very productive and recorded two future Petites and the second edition of "That's All." I might not have done any editing on them yet, instead focusing on commissions and writing, but rest assured the next episode is on its way.
Meanwhile, I finished the commissions but the writing has been more nebulous. It keeps getting derailed by me trying to figure out how warlock classes work in D&D. What is my spell list? I KNOW NOT but it definitely involves burning hands at minimum and possibly fireball. Thank you, pact of the tome.
Vogue started a series of livestreams called Global Conversations this week, kicking it off with Edward Enninful and Marc Jacobs on The Future of Creativity. It was less about creativity and more about the bottom lines of the interviewee's labels. I was hoping for something maybe more–in depth? Explorative? In the beginning Marc talked about how it's important to live in the moment during these times, citing that dwelling too much in the past or the future can lead to melancholy or anxiety and damage your flow in the now. Which was great. But then he said that he wasn't working on anything for ss21 because he couldn't fly to Italy to touch fabrics.
Okay.
Kenneth Ize, a designer who works directly with traditional African weavers, picked up the conversation afterwards and told a different story about the importance of community and communication. Not only in reference to the fashion industry but also to the process of creativity. He's developed a new loom for his weavers in Nigeria and is taking the time to help them test it and build lines of communication, for both productivity tracking and in order to spread the most recent info and health regulations for coronavirus. He also went on to talk about the importance of fashion shows to designers, which is becoming a hot button issue in a time where technology allows people access to anything. Collaboration is key, he seemed to say, community builds validity and vision and innovating new ways to bring collections to audiences is just as important as maintaining the art of the classic catwalk.
I think there's always some inspirational takeaway to these kinds of conversations. As Kenneth said, the only way to move forward is to "just keep creating content."
So here we are. Writing content and distributing it into the internet void.
Looking at the optimistic side of creation, making new things always yields some kind of result, whether you're testing your limits or doing a dry run for a greater project down the line. Practice makes perfect, as they say, and I choose to be a firm believer in that. Not everything you make has to be perfect or even have a purpose. Sometimes the purpose can just be the idea of connection when you can't get that connection for yourself.
As Gabriela Hearst said in the Global Conversations panel about The Future of Sustainability,
"time is our ultimate luxury"
I'm trying Miss Hearst, oh my god, do I try.
My to-do lists horrify all those who behold them.
#COVID19 #COVIDChronicles #GammaBlog #coronavirus #quarantine #SelfIsolation #VogueGlobalConversations #creativity #MarcJacobs #KennethIze #EdwardEnninful #GabrielaHearst