Wanted: A Boy Scout

My interest in vintage is not a surprise to anyone who's ever happened to glance at this blog, as well as my love of designer wear. Which inevitably leads to the only logical choice: vintage designer scarves. They are cheaper than actual designer clothes, they lift your outfit out of the ordinary with a minimal effort, and they are indispensable for traveling: silk folds well and packs light, and a couple of scarves can create an infinite variety with a limited wardrobe. Since I'm traveling to Moscow in a couple of weeks and only bringing my carry-on (having learned the hard way that luggage rarely makes connections), scarves are a must.

So I hit Etsy, the veritable goldmine of vintage designer joy. These two totaled less than $25 for yards and yards of pure silk:




(The first one is by Oscar de la Renta, the second -- Ungaro.)

And this brings me to the subject line. Wearing of scarves is an art; when not traveling, I tend to default to my Vilte shawl -- it's gorgeous, textured, and wispy, and is pretty much the best thing ever. It is also incredibly easy to wear -- it looks amazing no matter what. Not so with silk scarves! Those are always at risk of looking matronly.

Thankfully, Simon Doonan has a solution -- he proposed that one for Hermes scarves, but my gut tells me that it would work with any of those dangerously ladylike and patterned wonders: a boy scout woogle (also known as a neckerchief slide). It's that little buckle-like thingy that holds their little kerchiefs in place. The official ones are apparently rare and can only be found on actual boy scouts. Like pelts, I suppose, although unlike pelts they can be given up voluntarily. Since I'm not about to go and accost children in the streets, it occurred to me that some of you, gentle readers, might have at some point been a boyscout; you might still have a woogle lying around the house somewhere. Drop me an email if you're willing to donate it to a good cause -- me looking fabulous during air travel. Otherwise, I will just have to make one out of a hair clip.

Various updatery

1) Running with the Pack got a starred review from Publishers Weekly:

Running with the Pack
Edited by Ekaterina Sedia, Prime (www .prime-books.com), $14.95 paper (352p) ISBN 978-1-60701-219-1
Sedia (Paper Cities) collects 22 tales that look at werewolves from a multitude of different angles. Steve Duffy's chilling dental thriller "Side-Effects May Include" examines how far a man will go to end his pain. A damaged alpha gains the trust of a homeless woman in Maria V. Snyder's "Mongrel." Murderous soccer moms eat cheaters in Samantha Henderson's "Skin in the Game." A woman accidentally turned wolf struggles against her dual nature before learning to accept it in Erzebet YellowBoy's powerful "Inside Out." The origin of T.J. from Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville series is told in "Wild Ride," and Mike Resnick's preacher/con-artist Lucifer Jones makes an appearance in the hilarious "Royal Bloodlines." The stories veer from comedy to horror and from tragic love story to coming-of-age tale, showing the richness inherent in the idea of shifting shapes and animal strength.

2) The Alchemy of Stone got another piece of fanart, posted here. I like the happy air surrounding blood and eyeballs!

3) This weekend, we went to the Amish Market. I bought a duck, which I intend to roast with some delicious glaze, possibly next weekend. Expect more food pics!

4) On exercise front, I added deadlifts to the regular rotation. My knees are generally a concern, so I avoid any exercise that puts significant stress on them. However, I recently tried deadlifting using a sumo stance (wide stance with toes pointing at 45 degree angle, and with your arms going on the inside of your knees rather than the outside), and it is wonderful. Starting with low weights for now -- 80-90 lbs, but hoping to build up soon, if the joints allow. Oh, the joy of new exercises!

Pictures

1) went to Steampunk World's Fair. It was good fun -- the reading went well, was especially pleased to see Genevieve and to listen to her read (her book is going to be awesome!) It was also great to see Tempest, John Joseph Adams, Stephen Segal (who actually arranged the readings), and Rebecca. Also met some nice new folks.

We also attended the steampunk fashion show. Apart from the announcer (note to self: while hosting a fashion show, avoid leering and using words like 'delicious' and 'scrumptious' -- women are not food), the show was really cool. I was sitting next to a column, behind several rows, so picture quality is not great. The full set of pictures is here, but here's a few to give you an idea:







Also, I realized that adventure comics are not, in fact, bastions of cultural sensitivity:



2) My irises are blooming again:

Steampunk World's Fair

I will be attending this event, and reading there at 8 pm on Saturday. There will be a fantastic group of writers and performers, and the entire thing looks pretty fun. Bonus: I don't have to fly there!

I expect there will also be tons of interesting costumes, as is common at steampunk events. I expect to be fairly subdued in that regard, and aim for that dissolute time-traveler vibe.

Clothing and copyright

Last month, I gave a talk in San Antonio about intellectual property. One of the questions asked after (Hi, Sara!) was about copyright and clothing design, at which point I opined that the elements of clothing would be difficult to patent, and it's the entire design that would be subject to legal protection (witness all the Steve Madden lawsuits). And here we have a push for new legislation! They are asking for 3 years of protection, interestingly enough.

Personally, I doubt it would have very much monetary effect -- after all, it's not like if there're no knock-offs, we'll all be shopping at Chanel. But the legalities will be amusing, I hope.