Current Obsessions
October 16, 2024
It’s chilly and sunny in Raleigh this week— perfect pumpkin patch weather, and yet my front porch remains undecorated. I was in Germany for a friend’s birthday at the end of September/beginning of October. Then my husband jetted off to Berlin for work, and we have had back-to-back lacrosse tournaments that have kept us out of town on the weekends. At this rate, I should skip the pumpkins (and those miserable spiderwebs that you can never quite remove from your shrubs) and focus all of my attention on turkeys.
I haven’t been thinking of turkeys at all though. Rather, this week I’ve been captivated by stories about giant pandas. One of the bright spots in U.S.-China relations has long been Panda Diplomacy. After an 11-month chill in which China put the panda program on pause (possibly due to tensions between the two countries’ governments), three-year-old pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao arrived at the National Zoo in Washington, DC, this week. Almost every media outlet from NPR to Fox News has covered the return of the pandas as lighthearted and celebratory news— all except the New York Times, which ran an investigative piece about controversial breeding and conservation methods used by the Chinese government. The Times claims that China has actually removed pandas from the wild rather than reintroducing them to their native habitat and that no pandas born in captivity in the U.S. or Europe have ever been released to the wild. The most disturbing part of the story covers painful, reckless methods used to inseminate female pandas. Giant pandas rarely mate successfully in captivity. Given the popularity of pandas at international zoos, Chinese breeders are offered cash incentives for every panda cub they successfully conceive. I was shocked by this story, and it certainly has made me reconsider taking my kids to see pandas in captivity again. I plan to email the National Zoo and ask them for their response to these accusations. Perhaps there’s pressure the Zoo could apply or maybe it’s time for them to put the program back on pause until the situation is addressed. Bao Li and Qing Bao are expected to make their public debut in January after a period of quarantine, and the National Zoo’s famous Panda Cam should be up and running very soon.
India Hicks is having a moment. The designer and style icon (AND goddaughter of King Charles) just published a beautiful book about her mother, Lady Pamela: My Mother’s Extraordinary Years as Daughter of the Viceroy of India, Lady-in-Waiting to the Queen and Wife of David Hicks, which I am looking forward to reading. And today Hicks launched a clothing collaboration with Tuckernuck as well as a small shoe collection with Penelope Chilvers (the shoes are part of the Tuckernuck capsule, but only available on the Penelope Chilvers website). Hicks says she was inspired by Villa Verde, a house in Portugal designed by her father, (famed architect, interior designer and landscaper David Hicks), where she vacationed growing up. I hope the wide leg off-white jeans and navy cardigan that Hicks is wearing in the Penelope Chilvers photo spread will be added to the collection, but in the meantime, the navy linen popover and matching linen shorts strike me as great investments and pieces I’d pack for my next vacation.
Penelope Chilvers x India Hicks
I love circular fashion. It’s bothered me for a long time that it’s so difficult and expensive to recycle clothing. Just because a white shirt is stained from sweat or discolored from too many washes, doesn’t mean the fabric needs to sit in a landfill for eternity. Since 95% of all textile products are recyclable, it’s a frustrating that only 15% are actually recycled. It gives me hope that in September California passed the Responsible Textile Recovery Act, aimed to address textile waste and hold producers responsible for costs associated with the product’s entire life cycle, including disposal and management. While it’s clearly directed at the fast fashion industry, now manufacturers and designers across the sector will be forced to get creative to comply with this law. This brings me to my last obsession: Blank Supply and Alex Mill have partnered to create an “extremely limited” capsule of 100% handmade, one of a kind jackets from vintage quilts. Some of these quilts date back to the early 1900s. The jackets are cheerful heirlooms that feel very current. Prices range from $450-$750. My favorite pieces have sold out, but there is a waitlist. It just goes to show you that sustainable fashion can be lucrative, stylish and fun. Let’s get rid of that landfill.