Ignorance and the Law of Attraction

The law of attraction is based on reaching for the best feeling thoughts. But without understanding it in a very specific way, it can come across as sheer ignorance.

A rather traditional loved one once told me that we should only believe that which makes us feel good. To some extent, this is true because according to the LOA, a belief is just a thought you keep thinking. But what if you alter your beliefs according to things that you think make you feel good, with a fear of getting stuck in the critical negative stuff along the way?

For example:

“It makes me sad to think that milk comes from a grieving mother, so I think about the cows as being happy.”

I don’t know much about Esther and Jerry Hicks’ personal lives, but I do know that they refer to animals as ‘beasts’ and think that animals ask to ‘play the game’ of confinement and slaughter with humans. These thoughts probably feel good to them on some level because they allow them to keep on living a life they’re comfortable with.

Jerry Hicks feels uncomfortable that he owns a traffic jam of luxury cars, so he tells himself that the making of the cars is supplying people with jobs. BUT, if he had stretched his mind over into some potentially uncomfortable territory, he may have come up with different positive thoughts to make himself feel better about being rich, such as lobbying for a higher minimum wage, auctioning off a few of his cars for charity, or becoming involved with the Venus Project to ensure that all transportation is better quality and safer in the future. See the difference? The latter positive thoughts actually require action. Jerry’s positive spin on his guilt about hoarding acquiring luxury cars is somewhat lazy.

A big part of the law of attraction is about not turning our attention to that which we cannot fix, such as the actions of others. But, if the actions of others are hurting us, then those actions are no longer that person’s personal business.

To each his own – people say who want to wear fur. The fur is soft and looks expensive, so it makes them feel good, they argue. But knowing the statistics of how many animals die horrific deaths in the fur industry each year, this level of suffering directly impacts MY life experience. In order to know these truths, I had to “go there” into some pretty horrific territory. See what I’m saying? You could reach for the easy positive thought and come up with some self-propaganda like: “well, fur is green”, or you could challenge yourself to look at the footage of animals being skinned alive and reach further for a positive thought like: “I’m going to educate people on what they’re wearing so this doesn’t happen anymore, and knowing my power feels good.”

Another example of where Esther and Jerry get just a little too carried away with the (singing) *think-happy-thoughts-hmm-hmm-hmm-doo-doo-dooo* is when Esther/Abraham states that it is NEVER of value to talk about problems with a friend.

“There is no reason to deliberately stir up problems in order to stir up solution.”

“It is detrimental to you and to whomever you draw into your negative conversation.”

(The Vortex)

I think Marianne Williamson explains it best by suggesting you approach hardship with a statement like:

eg. “I’m fucking pissed, but I’m willing not to be.”

Acknowledging you’re suffering in order to learn how to ease the pain.

She suggests not to try to purify yourself, but to go to your Source to be purified.

If I was hurting and couldn’t see a way out of it, I would hope that a friend would let me into their mental space for a moment to hear me out, allow me to be where I’m at, and then show me a more positive spin on things as an option. That’s how I see my role as a friend.

I’ve had a few friends who I’ve mentioned sticky situations to in the past who have said things like: “I don’t want to hear about it”, or “oh well, (change the subject)”.

I don’t see this as a refusal to be caught in negative energy, but as individuals acting on judgment for whatever reason (they don’t think they’re strong enough to take on your problem/they’re holding themselves above you/they’re emotionally unavailable  – whatever).

Bottom line: it is indifference, not hate which is the opposite of love.To care about people, sometimes you must accompany them on their journeys to difficult places.

Misery loves company could be reworded – humans love company.

In order to not fall into ignorance when attempting to use the law of attraction, I’d suggest:

• don’t reach for the easy positive thought, reach for the active solution
• don’t cram sunshine and rainbows down the throats of depressed friends
• don’t be afraid to go into the darkness to learn what light is to you

Unfurgivable

Top 3 Pro Fur Needless Violence Celebs

1)’Nye

Douche & Douchier

You don’t have to be intelligent to be famous these days; all you need is a mostly naked and mostly bald gf and cap locks:

WHEN IT’S ALL SAID AND DONE, REMEMBER THE FEARLESS, REMEMBER THE DREAMERS, REMEMBER THOSE WHO REPRESENT THE GHETTO…THE FAIRY TALE OF NOTHING TO SOMETHING. I’M BRIEFLY SADDENED BY NEGATIVE COMMENTS, BUT I HAVE TO REMEMBER THOSE PEOPLE ARE SCARED, INCAPABLE OR JUST PLAIN IDIOTS. WE ARE THE F*CKING ROCK STARS BABY. NO COCAINE, JUST LIFE MY NIGGAS!! NO COCAINE, JUST LIFE! IT’S FUNNY TO ME WHEN FASHION BLOGGERS DOWN OUR OUFITS AND THEN SUPER JOCK OUTLANDISH SHIT ON THE RUNWAY BUT THEN THEY DRESS MAD PRUDE AND DON’T LIVE FASHION. WE LIVE IT MAN. F*CK THAT, WE LIVE IT!!! WE LIVE IT SO HARD PEOPLE LIVE THROUGH US! WE REPRESENT YOUR INNER SPIRIT!! THE CHILD IN US ALL, THE BRUTAL HONESTY, THE NAIVETY, THE BRAVE WARRIOR, THE ADRENALINE THAT ALLOWS A MOTHER TO LIFT A CAR IF HER CHILD WAS TRAPPED UNDER IT! REMEMBER, THERE WAS A TIME WHEN EVERYBODY DISSED MICHAEL JACKSON EVERY CHANCE THEY COULD. IMAGINE THE PRESSURE OF BEING A TRUE ICON. VERY FEW HUMAN BEINGS ARE STRONG ENOUGH TO TAKE CONSTANT HATE!!!

For all purposes, we’ll consider ourselves fashion bloggers here.

Kanye loses his focus in the first line… something about ghettos and fairytales. Then he explains how normal people shouldn’t wear fur,  maybe, but rockstars can. But they can’t do coke, or something. Then he calls out all those who don’t wear fur for being poor dressers, or actually “mad prude” (I resent that ‘Nye – I LIVE fashion motherfucker, I F*CKin LIVE IT MAN!!!!! and don’t wear carcass). He further explains that to show your inner spirit you must steal the spirit of another. Whether this spirit is from the animal he’s wearing or from Michael Jackson, we’re not exactly sure. So in conclusion: if you want the adrenaline to lift a car off your kid, wear fur and get a girlfriend who dresses like a teletubby (we’re not saying she’s a gold digger…). Mmmkay?

BTW, it’s not just the fashion bloggers who dislike you, ‘Nye.

2)Kate Hudson

Penny Lane is Dead

I mean, Kate Hudson isn’t really about “faking it”. Just check out her acting. You want to like her, she has a cute kid with girl hair, and yet that’s where her motherly instincts stop. Kate’s fur fetish is inherited by her mother, Goldie; they romp the streets of Aspen in stolen skin. But that’s no excuse; it’s up to the younger generation to repair the mistakes of our elders, so Kate, pause from man-hopping for a moment  and nicorette yourself onto the fabulous faux out there. (Crazy – Almost Famous is on TV as I write this…) Kate, since we’re fashion bloggers 2day, we’re labeling your look: Almost Faceless, cause your boots (and probably coat) once had a face and you ripped it off of them.

3) Samantha Ronson

Lindsanity showered by flour in Paris by an activist. Thought she liked getting baked.

This is what the limelight looks like, bitches.

SaMan:

“It seems lately I am learning that there are too many people who put another species before their fellow man and that’s sad. I don’t wear fur, but I don’t think I have the right to ATTACK those who do. No one has that right.

PETA should focus their efforts on educating people on what they believe are injustices instead of seeking press via harassing those in the limelight...p.s.s. i think there are plenty of families that could have used that flour for a meal. nice job, lady.”

And there are plenty of animals who could have used that skin!

Peta’s Reply:

“There is nothing remotely ‘fashionable’ about the torture and death of animals killed for fur. Lindsay Lohan might be able to ignore images of bloody animals skinned alive for their pelts, but we hope a dash of flour will help her rise to the occasion and forsake fur once and for all.”

@ SaMan: if you were to be attacked, which would you prefer?

a) your skin ripped off your body as you twitch in unimaginable pain?

b) having flour dumped on you?

Choices choices…

My Milkshake Keeps all the Cows Out the Yard

It’s Better than Yours!*

A commentary on “Milkshake” rapper, Kelis’, recent temper tantrum

Here is the letter than PETA recently sent Kelis for wearing fur:

Dear Kelis,

I hope that this finds you well. I’m writing today because we’ve been inundated with phone calls and e-mails from folks alerting us to photos of you wearing a fur hat and coat while out in London over the weekend.

Please know that animals killed for their fur endure immense suffering. Foxes, minks, coyotes, and rabbits—and even dogs and cats—are bludgeoned, strangled, genitally electrocuted, and even skinned alive for their pelts. We hope that you’ll take a moment to watch an undercover exposé of fur farms, hosted by Eva Mendes, at http://www.peta.org/FeatureEvaMendes.asp.

If you enjoy the look of fur, renowned designers, including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Stella McCartney, and Vivienne Westwood, couple fashion with compassion and use only faux fur in their lines. We hope you found this information helpful and will join countless celebrities, like Charlize Theron, Khloe Kardashian, Nia Long, Kid Sister, Pink, and Michelle Obama, in publicly swearing off fur.

Warm regards,
PETA

And HERE is her reply:

On wearing fur:

“…it’s not just the look of fur. It’s warm as hell and feels glorious, ever rubbed faux fur on your body? Nothing luxurious about that. Then the letter proceeded to name artist and designers who don’t wear real fur. Great! More for me! I don’t judge them, don’t judge me.

“If I started wearing endangered animals like polar bear or orangutan then talk to me. (Which btw for the record I would not – I do believe in the preservation of endangered species) But the minks and chinchilla that quite honestly are rodents and if weren’t in the form of a coat I would demand they be put to death anyway are not an issue to me.”

dawnofanewera’s reply:

Kelis would demand rodents be “put to death”. Who in Diddy’s name does one-hit wonder, Kelis, think she is??  Wearing endangered animals is heinous, but wearing animals who are bred for their skin is just as horrific when you know the conditions they live and die in: confined and isolated in cages they can barely move in, only to be skinned alive.

And in terms of faux fur not being luxurious, perhaps Kelis hasn’t seen what is being produced these days. Designers no longer want to be associated with the bloody fur industry and have put their efforts into creating soft, realistic faux fur. Always be skeptical in terms of what you’re actually buying (!) but  I’d advise Kelis to shake those milk jugs to the store and open her eyes.

On eating meat:

“There is no humane way to kill anything, let me start there. It’s unfortunate but it’s part of life. With that being said, I would eat pterodactyl if you found some and you told me it was meaty and delicious…I eat meat, and in fact my mouth salivates as I type the word meat!“

dawnofanewera’s reply:

Kelis is playing the typical resentful meateater here, threatened by those who have chosen a new diet, and feeling the need to defend her choice to stick to the old ways. Killing is part of life, she communicates inaccurately – killing is part of her life.  And we barely need to remark that some ways of killing are more humane than others. When lying on your deathbed, would you prefer an OD of morphine, or say… being skinned alive?

On how PETA should find a more “worthwhile cause”:

“If u want to preach do it about something worthwhile don’t waste my time trying to save the dang chipmunk. Find a worthwhile cause like the women being maimed in these Middle Eastern countries. Or female circumcision. Or women’s rights here in America, we still get paid less for doing the same jobs as men.

“Quite honestly if you hate the world so much go live in the forest where no one else has to hear you complain about the perfectly good food chain the good Lord created. Everyone has the right to an opinion, and that’s mine on that! xoxo”

dawnofanewera’s reply:

When someone knows you have a point and knows they can’t debate on your intellectual level, what do they do? They change the subject.

Why yes, Kelis, there are other atrocities currently taking place. Where is your sign? We’d love to get behind you.

Kelis then accuses Peta of hating the world (though she’s the one not only wearing animal cruelty but publicly speaking out to support it) and goes on to describe our current food systems as being  created by “Lord”. Human beings have fucked up the food chain to the point where there is no chain anymore. Humans eat anything and everything, and most humans have nothing at all to do with the killing part. The food chain represents an “eat what you can kill” mentality, and very few of us kill our own food. Even fewer of us can bring ourselves to take a look into the slaughter of the animals we eat because it’s disgusting and traumatizing. As real musical artist, Paul McCartney says: “if factory farms had glass walls, we’d all be vegetarian.”

*And here are the milkshakes you’ve all been waiting for:

1) Cookies & Cream

1 cup crumbled sandwich cookies (vanilla or chocolate)

1 cup Chai soy milk

1 cup vanilla soy ice cream

2) Green Tea

1 cup vanilla soy ice cream

1 scoop Vega protein powder

1 teaspoon matcha green tea

1 cup Natura vanilla soy milk

3) Peanut Butter Chocolate

1 tablespoon of smooth peanut butter

1 cup of peanut butter chocolate soy ice cream

1 cup Natura chocolate soy milk

1 tablespoon chocolate syrup

In your face, Kelis!

Vegan mint ice cream with hot fudge

Dawn of a New Canada

Snowflake Furs: Proudly Archaic

Interview with Megan Halprin, co-owner of Snowflake Furs:

Megan Halprin

(What’s funny is that Megan wouldn’t give me her name and wanted to be referred to as “someone from Snowflake”. Why doesn’t Megan want to stand behind her views?)

This is a summary of Megan Halprin’s answers, because after initially agreeing to be on camera she then refused. Megan’s feathers were clearly ruffled when I entered the store as she tried to identify who I was. She asked who I was with and I replied that I was there as an individual (my pins and stickers barely concealed). She asked what my opinion was on the protest and I said it didn’t matter because I was here to collect her opinions – here they are:

• What is your opinion on the protesting happening outside your store right now? I think it’s uncalled for and hypocritical. Fur is no different than leather or silk. They are targeting us when many other retailers sell animal products and they themselves are not entirely free of using any animal products.
• Why do you think there is such a backlash against fur over other animal-derived clothing? Because people don’t have cows, goats, and sheep as pets. They see the small, furry animals as cuter, more relatable.
• Have the protesters had any negative impact on your relationship with Fairmont Hotels? No. They have had no media attention. We have been with Fairmont for thirty years.
• Except for me. No offense, but you’re not really media.
• Right. I’m small press, but several hundred people read this blog (update* over 1000 a day)
  
• Do you wear fur? Yes. I don’t think we’re doing anything wrong. We’re not trying to cover up what we’re selling (though Snowflake no longer displays any fur in their windows). We don’t say we’re selling fake fur and have it mixed with real fur. We don’t sell dog fur, or fur from endangered species, or seal fur.
  
• Would you consider selling seal fur? Seal fur has been worn in this country for a long time. When the native cultures hunt it they use the entire animal.
• Are you aware that in Canada’s commercial seal hunt, where 300 000 seals are killed every year, the seals are killed for their skins and then simply discarded? That’s called culling. If they didn’t do this, the marine life would be off balance.
• The protests have been going on for along time now. Are they affecting you? I just think that people have the right to make up their own minds. Everyone has the right to choose for themselves. If they want to wear fur and shop here, that’s their decision. It’s their right to make their own choice.
• But then (the protesters) also have the right to stand in the street and protest, right? They don’t have the right to yell at people and berate our store. The way they’re acting is harassment.
• I think the reason they’re behaving in a harassing fashion is because they feel that the animals are being subjected to even more harassing practices. How would you feel if people kept harassing you at work, calling and hanging up and trying to ruin your business?
• I think if I was working in a store in which I may have overlooked something about the product I was selling, I might be open to what the callers were trying to say. I haven’t overlooked anything. I don’t think it’s okay to call a person’s store and hang up, or affect the business of Griffin’s Restaurant beside us – they don’t have anything to do with this. (The Shac Model in action!) People have the right to get information, but the protesters are distorting the facts. They don’t know who our suppliers are. They don’t know where our fur comes from.
• I think they’re trying to express that all fur production is inhumane…

(I decided to end the interview here.)

Some self-insight from Snowflake:

“What will the future bring? Rokie is trying to spend less and less time in the office and is hoping to leave more and more of the day-to-day running of the company to the Head Office Team. She is still President and CEO, and continues to hold the overall vision of the company. Megan Halprin sits in the chair as CFO. With the support of our suppliers, agents, and staff we will continue to grow and thrive. Simply the best in great Canadian design has been our catch phrase for over a decade. We will continue to grow into it.”

So the questions become: Who are Snowflake’s suppliers? Who are its agents? Its staff? And would these people take their business elsewhere if they were persistently faced with the stress of being reminded of the moral implications behind the products they are selling?

There’s Something About Furry

In the quest to eradicate fur, should animal lovers nix faux fur, too?

Below is a clip of Beyonce (also a promoter for l’Oreal cosmetics, which tests on animals) being made to face the facts of what she’s perpetuating in her clothing line.

Beyonce defers to her mother as she gnaws on a chicken bone.

Some animal rights activists disagree with wearing faux fur because it perpetuates the trend of the ‘fur’ look, making it sometimes hard to distinguish which fur is real, and which is fake. I understand and respect this viewpoint of wanting to shift people’s minds from associating fur with fashion to associating fur with unabashed cruelty, however don’t think that cutting humane fur alternatives from our fashion diets is the solution. I believe humans are drawn to the soft and fuzzy fur-like texture and naturally seek a range of materials in our fashion self-expression, and so instead of denying ourselves of that furry feeling, the best solution is to seek humane alternatives.

Humane alternatives, however, do not consist of “recycled” fur, such as Sunny Fong’s brilliant idea last night on Project Runway Canada to use “Peta friendly” fur from old coats in his new line, the gentle-demeanoured soul failing to consider how this line would be created on a large scale if successful and failing to realize that he is advocating a material sourced (though maybe not purchased himself) from the unnecessary suffering of animals.

Sunny Fong, Project Runway Canada designer using fur in his new collection

Caged White Foxes, A Glimpse Into A Fur Farm

All ideas come from nature, the umbrella being based on the the idea of a tree, for example. And so just as the veggie burger and the veggie dog flourish, though they sometimes look indistinguishable to meat, so can faux fur substitute our cravings for the soft and fuzzzy IF it’s purchased using thorough investigation (see HOWEVER below). Yes, it makes it harder for animal activists to pinpoint passing culprits on the street, which we naturally train our eyes to do, but for those who would die for fashion, faux fur could become an effective compromise to elminitate the use of all fur in fashion while not eliminating similar textures from the fashion vocabulary.

As awareness spreads about the realities of the animal industry, the world will continue look towards substitutions. It is possible for the extremists of both sides to come together if we provide obtainable ways for meat, fur, and leather lovers to consume cruelty-free substitutions. Diets which deprive are usually given up entirely. Bad habits are more easily quit if they are replaced with an equal, positive behaviour.

Foie gras and veal lovers speak of a waged “vegan war” in which the vegans seek to convert meat eaters and consumers of animal products through an if-you’re-not-with-us-you’re-against-us holy war type crusade. This war is laughable, of course, to most vegans, who are vegan due to their compassionate natures and want to end the violence, not start it.

Okay, this is some mad justified, fun “violence”. Lohan is a faux-lesbian, so it’s reasonable and timely that she make a switch to faux-fur.

The fur industry is sickening and horrific, animals often skinned alive and twitching in their bones before they die. Alternatives are available, making it possible for replacement instead of depravity.

Check out this dope vegan shoe site: www. ragazzivegan.com, for example, which carries faux-fur footwears such as:

Vegan Victoria 1

And this:

Vegan Victoria 2

And this:

Vegan Victoria 3

And even this:

Vegan Suzy

And, OMG, even this:

Vegan Lana

Animal activists have made a lot of headway for eliminating fur from fashion, and some designers have coalesced:

• Anne Klein
• Calvin Klein
• Donna Karan

HOWEVER because faux fur has come so far in looking indistinguishable from the real thing, controversy remains.

Peta’s attitude is that as long as it isn’t real, who cares if it looks like it is. But Carol McKenna of the UK anti-fur pressure group Respect is concerned. ‘I used to think fake fur was brilliant, but now it is indistinguishable from the real thing, I fear that the designers using it in this way are perhaps promoting real fur,’ she says.

Also, some designers, in a compromise to use less fur, have begun to mix real and fake together, such as Fendi, which is a pretty lame effort.

When buying faux fur inspect it carefully:

• Real fur, when you blow on it, will separate in a nearly perfect circle.

• If the fur is real, you will see the animal’s whitish skin when you pull the fibers aside. If it’s faux fur, you’ll see a webbed backing instead.

• “Buying fur out of China, there is no guarantee what you are going to get,” Leppert said. “The consumer can have zero confidence.” (There are no animal welfare laws in China – how terrifying is that???)

• EBay Canada indicates how to know if you’re buying real fur, and – though it’s written for old school dead-inside people who do want the real stuff – it has some tips on deciphering which is which.

Loopholes And Labels:

“Falsely advertising or mislabeling a real fur product is a violation of the federal Fur Products Labeling Act, which the Federal Trade Commission is empowered to enforce by seizure of false or deceptively advertised or labeled garments, the initiation of proceedings for injunctive relief, and the imposition of monetary penalties, which can range up to $5,000 per violation.

The violations documented by The HSUS include a Burberry brand jacket advertised online by Saks Fifth Avenue as “faux.” The jacket’s label does not indicate that it contains fur, but laboratory tests reveal that it is trimmed with rabbit fur. The Fur Products Labeling Act currently requires the labeling of fur apparel only if the garments contains more than $150 worth of fur.

“Because of this loophole, consumers don’t even realize they’ve been duped into buying real fur,” said Leppert.

Below are some companies that have been busted for using real fur under the guise of faux:

• Jay-Z’s Rocawear
• P Diddy’s Sean Jean
• Kimora Lee Simmon’s Baby Phat
• Burberry

So if you choose to wear faux, be careful of the sneaky, horrific fur industry. Buying from a vegan site like Ragazzi is safer than a department store because they adhere to different ethical practices. If you chose to claim your fashion right of wearing faux fur, take all the measures to assure what you are buying is actually faux.

Cruelty-free fashion is the dawn of a new era~

Fashion – Turn to the Left

East Coast vs West Coast Street Fashion: The No-Longer-Sub Culture of the Hipster

Sabina Radoncic: Astoria, Queens, New York

Is there a difference in street fashion from one side of North America to the other these days? Or have we all become fashion clones, letting the ads tell us what to wear? Along the shrouded remains of the buildings formerly known as the World Trait Centre, New Yorkers rush past what did or didn’t happen in their city daily, a blank spot in their city’s identity.

So how is this affecting the city’s fashion identity?

The dominant street style in New York has become that of the hipster, a style which Adbusters recently described as “the dead end of Western civilization”, depicting hipsters as extremely aesthetically conscious, but essentially self-obsessed, hypocritical, and apathetic.

What do these supposed fashion zombies dress like? The male hipster might be seen wearing a peck-baring v-neck T, a busboy vest, a fedora, and some scraggly facial hair, while the female hipster might wear an ironic t-shirt with a logo such as “I Listen to Bands That Don’t Even Exist Yet”, fringed boots, and a few pin-on buttons (think “I’m Rockin’ On Your Dime” not “Save the Seals”).

Most hipsters also enjoy the all-pervasive skinny jean, the American Apparel hoodie, neon Rayban shades (lenses optional), and the staple keffiyeh scarf (though hipster mecca, Urban Outfitters, stopped selling keffiyehs in 2008, purportedly because of the Arabic garment’s terrorist symbolism).

Other New York favourites are the dress-length plaid shirt and the once dorky patterned rubber boot.

Hipster style is often considered a modern twist on Bohemian style, as it’s supposed to be effortless, but effortless in hipster terms means straying just far enough from the pack to still be considered hipster (any use of the term in self-description rendering all efforts null and void), because while hipsters reject “mainstream” fashion, they also submit to conformity within their own style.

Bohemian culture may have thrived in neighbourhoods such as Greenwich Village before it thrived elsewhere, but hipster culture is just as rampant in other North American cities, its quirky stylistic components scavenged mainly from corporate establishments.

Cory Grude, Greenwich Village, NYC

Saranya Tanaponvsit, Soho, NYC

The keffiyeh scarf is especially popular in L.A., given the city’s hot-sun-cool-breeze climate. Hipster style swarms Los Angeles areas such as Los Feliz, Venice, and Melrose, but L.A. also ranks high in the fashion freak show category, with its bursts of dirty glam – fur coats in grocery stores (the big nasty ones), bare chests under suit jackets, and puppy-type-animals in purses.

The Los Angeles climate also attracts its share of urban Grecian princesses, with side braids, floor draping maxi dresses, and gladiator sandals, as well as android men equipped with fast-track-to-fame Bluetooth ear pieces – (and no, they are not talking to you even when they’re looking right at you).

L.A. fashion is not always as it appears on the glossy magazine pages. Though the Three’s Company high-waisted wide-leg jean currently graces ad campaigns and tabloids, the skinny jean still rules the streets of L.A..

And on the opposite end of hipster style, unabashed in its flaunting of excess bling and loud branding, the Christian Audigier tattoo-on-clothing look has gonge forth and procreated from L.A. this year, recently knocked off by none other than Gucci in its “Tattoo Heart” collection.

Merging the caring-a-lot Audigier culture with the not-caring-too-much hipster culture in Los Angeles is the Jackie O look – three-quarter length sleeved jackets with mod bibbed collars, large buttons, and flared waistlines, perpetuating the fertile-sexy look of 2007. The coat, sported by both the flashy and the irreverent in L.A., is often found in houndstooth and plaid patterns, and given names such as “The Royal Family Secret Jacket”.

Jennifer Chrisholm, Robson, Vancouver

Vancouver, sometimes referred to as the L.A. of the North, has an inner-city density following only that of New York and San Francisco, creating a metropolitan lifestyle in which people’s clothing becomes their vehicle.

Vancouver hipsters embrace high top runners, leg warmers, patterned tights, and, more than any other metropolitan city I’ve been to – the Dorothy bicycle-with-basket, but Vancouver’s downtown shopping districts are also marred with predictable corporate storefronts, giving the city a somewhat homogenous street fashion flavour.

Vancouver’s main winter look consists of bright peacoats and slouchy, pointy-toed, mid-calf height boots. The most universally frequented store among Vancouver female shoppers is Aritzia, the store’s “TNA” triple loop found so commonly on stretchy pants and hoodies that you sometimes forget that Talula National Athletic also stands for Tits N’ Ass.

Though Aritzia is mainstream in its prevalence, it also appeals to the hipster scene through affiliations with Vice magazine.

Beyond hipsterism, a minority of Vancouverites are making a switch to Green Fashion, meaning buying and wearing  clothing that is produced with organic materials, using no animal products, and not made in sweathshops. Several small clothing manufacturers assmebled last month at The Spring Living Fair on Main Street to showcase their designs; the only drawback – cha-ching!

However Rio Rain, located in North Park Royal, features some reasonably priced athletic and outdoor wear made from recycled materials. (Now Echo Rain)

Julie Van der Hoop, Robson, Vancouver

Perhaps the only new street fashion subcultures reaching past the whatev hipster realms (though the city is home to hipster haven, Haight Street) can be found in San Francisco.

Take the circus style, derived from the 50,000 attended Burning Man festival, which consists of black, white, and red clothing with Beetlejuice-esque stripes, layered under long gothic coats.

Alternately, at a small dive bar in the Mission District called Amnesia, you can find – swing dancing to Balkan music from the roaring 20s – guys in suspenders, newsboy caps, and baggy knee-length golf pants, and girls in pin curls and flapper potato sack dresses. How refreshing.

San Francisco Swingas

So with the current coast to coast omnipresence of hipsterism, does the Western world have to get over hipster style in order for underground fashion to be reborn? Maybe the lull in the corporate economy will spark the creation of “post-hipster” street style. Possibly, we can look forward to seeing the Western world’s translation of recession-chic on the street in the near future, which will hopefully include at least some lines drawn up the backs of calves and homemade masterpieces, or at least some Value Village clothing collages.

Roco, Davie, Vancouver (Roco is rocking a full piece denim jumpsuit with a pocket along the back to carry his own doo-doo bags)

• Disclaimer: These classy individuals featured above (including Roco) were all super fantastic to shoot and are not being classified as hipsters (not that there’s anything wrong with that : D ), they were just some colourful, friendly street examples.

Love In, Fur Out

In this Dawn of a New Era, we want to keep our skin, and so do they.

Gonna dress you up in my love

Why are animal activists so damn crazy? Because when we see the pictures of the animals being skinned alive, and other ungodly things, we see them over, and over, and over. We are haunted by them. This becomes our life experience, too, so the least we can do is stand in the street and make some noise. Our best protester at this demo was Baby Isabelle, who simply lay in her baby carriage and held a red daisy. Babies make the best protesters… the Octomommy wheels are turning : )

Check out my friend Jessie on 24hrs: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/local/2009/02/11/8356476.html