Wednesday Walk: #NoNewClothes, Walter White's Ride, and AI Imagery
Wednesday Walk: #NoNewClothes, Walter White's Ride, and AI Imagery
Welcome to the Quarantine Creatives newsletter, a companion to my podcast of the same name, which explores creativity, art, and big ideas as we continue to live through this pandemic.
Every Wednesday, I share random thoughts and tidbits with links to let you do some exploring. I call these Wednesday Walks, as it’s the type of conversation we might have walking down a path in the woods- the topics are free flowing, sometimes related, sometimes not.
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Fashion Follow-Up
Thank you to all of you who read Sunday’s newsletter No New Clothes for a Year. If you haven’t had a chance yet, I talked to musician and podcast producer/host Amory Sivertson about her New Year’s resolution to only buy used clothing in 2022.
It was an interesting conversation and it generated a lot of great feedback in the form of comments on the newsletter and DMs. I’m glad that this notion of not buying new clothes resonated with so many of you, or at least caused you to rethink consumption. Here’s a sampling of some of the responses I received:
“Such an important issue to talk about with social media (especially TikTok) pushing consumption more than ever” (Taylor)
“You would not believe how much clothing I used to purchase! I spent all my money on clothes especially shoes, boots, etc. I kept all my timeless work dresses (aka very expensive) and now my daughter is using them for mock interviews - she is in college! 👗👗” (Michelle)
“I sort of have been following this path towards acquiring clothing more out of necessity than on purpose. After reading this, though, I'm going to rededicate myself to buying used items as much as possible!” (Amelia)
“I pretty much buy everything used anyway or get things from the Buy Nothing. I do splurge on local goods when I travel overseas. I think that's a special situation.” (Rose)
I love the thought that if enough of us got on board with not buying new clothes, or even just committed to buying less new clothes, we might be able to have a real impact. I’ve been mulling this idea over on how best to approach this- should we wait for a specific start date? Should there be a final splurge before starting this lifestyle, like partying on Mardi Gras before the solemnity of Lent?
I think the best approach is to just get started. For now, I’m going to devote a part of these Wednesday Walks to sharing my own experiences with fighting the urge to consume, and I invite you to talk about your progress in the comments each week too. Let’s build a little community of folks who are buying less clothing!
Part of what I’m already finding is that it’s easy to blame big international manufacturers and retailers, framing the problem as a David vs Goliath struggle. But that’s not always the case. Sometimes, it can be a David vs David struggle.
For example, I was at one of my favorite organic farms this weekend, Clark Farm Market in Carlisle, MA. They’ll be closing for the season next week and are starting to discount many of their products. They had a basket of T-shirts with their logo on the front and a drawing of a goat on the back for $10 (they also had some cool kids’ shirts).
In this case, I was torn. While I might not buy a plain brown T-shirt on its own, by adding the symbolism of one of my favorite places, it suddenly took on a different meaning. And even if the T-shirt was manufactured overseas by a large multi-national corporation, at least some of my money would be going back into my community, funding organic agriculture. If I wear this shirt, I would be a walking billboard for one of my favorite farms and might encourage others to patronize them. That’s a net good, right?
Ultimately, this really boiled down to need. I already have several shirts from local farms, including a pink one with the Clark Farm logo that I purchased last year (it has a pig on the back). I decided that I didn’t need two similar shirts in my drawer, even if the price was right and the cause was just. #NoNewClothes this week!
Fashionable Podcast
As I’ve been thinking more clothing, I’ve been looking for resources to help me understand why we wear what we do. Amory recommended a podcast to me, which I just started binging over the weekend.
Articles of Interest is a podcast produced and hosted by Avery Trufelman. There are currently two seasons and a third launching soon.
The episodes are easy to digest and packed with interesting tidbits. Do you know how the Hawaiian shirt influenced the way we dress in the office now? What about the one Englishman credited with wearing the first suit? And would you believe that wedding dresses have only been white for about 180 years, and prior to that, a bride would wear her (non-white) wedding dress to all other weddings she attended?
If all of this talk about fashion origins interests you, check out Avery’s podcast and her recently launched Substack too!
The Ugliest Car?
There’s new video going around of the Tesla Cybertruck. If you haven’t seen it, take a look:
I’d almost forgotten that this vehicle was still in the pipeline. It was announced in 2019 with a demonstration of armored glass that didn’t go as planned. Initially, the Cybertruck was to be in production by 2021, then 2022, and now it’s looking like sometime in 2023.
My first reaction after seeing the Cybertruck after so long was that it reminded me of the Pontiac Aztek, or at least my memory of the Pontiac Aztek. I’ll admit, it’s been a while since I’ve considered this car, so I had to Google it to jog my memory and here’s what I saw:
I distinctly remember when these cars came out in 2001 thinking they were one of the ugliest cars ever made. The public tended to agree, and the vehicle was discontinued in 2005 after less than stellar sales numbers.
The Aztek was the car that Walter White drove in Breaking Bad, and it seemed to be the perfect fit for a mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher. At least before he changed careers. My own high school science teacher drove the Buick variant of the Aztek, which was known as the Rendezvous (and was advertised by Tiger Woods).
The Aztek and Rendezvous were buried in my memory with the “ugly” descriptor for the last 20 years, but looking at the Aztek now, it’s actually not as hideous as I remember. I became fascinated by this weird little SUV that only lasted for a few years.
I read articles that claim that the Aztek may have been ahead of its time and been the forerunner to modern crossovers like the Subaru Crosstrek. One especially interesting article mentioned purchasing a used one that came with many original dealer accessories, including a tent that attached to the rear lift gate. And the price was only $2,000! I suppose that’s priced about right for a 20 year old SUV, but I also kind of wonder if that’s a low price for what may be a collectible.
Was the Aztek a quirky early Aughts fad or was it a trailblazing pioneer that started a category? Whatever your opinion, it was fun to revisit this car that had largely faded from my memory and to consider how “ugly” vehicles like the Cybertruck might be perceived in two decades.
AI Art
Finally this week, I wanted to share a video that was sent to me by my Uncle Rick. I’ve seen lots of people sharing art generated by AI platforms like Dall-E 2. Other than finding them slightly amusing, I never really dug into the technology or understood it.
This video from Joanna Stern at the Wall Street Journal broke down exactly how the technology works in a really simple way:
It is amusing to see what a computer algorithm can create with a few prompts, but also a little terrifying to imagine how this technology could be deployed as it matures. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what happens when you can no longer trust the fidelity of an image?
Despite my reservations, I decided to sign up for Dall-E 2 and generated the image at the top of this section. The prompt? “A newsletter about the coming AI revolution.” It’s honestly weirdly spot on.
Thanks for reading and enjoy your Wednesday!
Other Wednesday Walks
If you’d like to catch up on past episodes of the Quarantine Creatives podcast, they can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
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If you’ve missed past issues of this newsletter, they are available to read here.
Stay Safe!
Heath