Wearing nothing new...TED talk of the day

Kate Moss for Isabel Marant

"Designer Jessi Arrington packed nothing for TED but 7 pairs of undies, buying the rest of her clothes in thrift stores around LA. It's a meditation on conscious consumption -- wrapped in a rainbow of color and creativity."~ from TED, talk of the day.

Watch the speech here

I don't know if I could that. I should give myself a try.Speaking of this, and speaking of Isabel Marant earlier reminded me of this story I read in NY Times awhile go, that I love to share.Don't misunderstand me, I totally love Isabel Marant and designer everything, but, there is also another way to look fashionable for less.

Here is part of the story, written by Cintra Wilson for NY Times.

"ALL the hot girls are going berserk for Isabel Marant, the young Frenchwoman whose label has mastered the jet-set bohemian look associated with carefree Parisian chicks: thatthrown-together, cigarette-hanging-from-pouty-mouth style that pretends to shrug off effort. “Quoi, this? Pfff. I slept in this shirt, you silly child, and these pants were on the floor.”

The environment of Ms. Marant’s new SoHo store is reflective of the finished-yet-unpolished look of her clothing: artsy structures in raw wood; acoustic French folk music.

I liked the inventory instantly. Then again, it all seemed very familiar. It was reflective of play clothes I’ve been collecting in thrift stores for years: solid, timeless casual stuff. I gravitated to that most basic of basics: a long gray sweatshirt. The price tag sunk its fangs into my wrist — $400. After recovering from my initial recoil, I discovered it was made of silk.

Everything has a soft, over-washed weightlessness about it — the artificial patina of an item long loved. Cowboy shirts with snap buttons come in an array of delicately wrinkled plaids ($335). A bleached and battered denim shirt with a smattering of metal studs was $215. A silk military-style jumpsuit, $530.

What I figured to be platonically ideal Isabel Marant customers were milling around in full force: tall, willowy blondes wearing big mod Army jackets and chunky high heels. I was wearing a boy’s plaid rodeo shirt with snap buttons (eBay, $12), a charcoal-gray Hanes zipper hoodie (Wal-Mart, $12), skinny-legged Levi’s I bought at one of those loud discountplaces on lower Broadway (under $40) and an old wool Army jacket (eBay, under $20). Coincidentally enough, I looked, in texture, shape and substance, more or less like I got dressed right in the store."

Read the whole story here.