Answer for question 4509.

[sabotabby]

[Error: unknown template qotd]Shameless plug for Studio Fresh. It hits all the checkmarks for me: vaguely goth-inspired but suitable work work (a.k.a. corporate goth), made locally and not in sweatshops, and flattering to a variety of body types, including mine. Every so often they go on sale and now much of my wardrobe comes from there.

Oh yes, and the majority of their skirts and dresses have pockets in them. Big, deep pockets that you can fit things in. Like, ffs, I bought a tight-fitting, fancy as fuck dress from there and when I wore it for the first time last weekend, there was a pocket big enough to fit a cell phone or a wallet in. So it *is* possible, fashion designers.

Runners up: Rosie the Rebel and Tatiana's (though the latter is way more expensive in Canada than it has any right to be).

I'm a femme-y femme who loves buying clothes but I side-eye most fashion these days. It's meant to fall apart. I have dresses from the eight grade that still fit me and look good, whereas most clothes in chain stores are meant to last a season. Not to mention the miserable conditions under which they're produced. My formative years were spent in the anti-sweatshop movement and, while it's probably impossible to completely avoid anything made under piss poor labour conditions, I at least try.

Comments

[elsewhereangel.livejournal.com]

I don't suppose they have a website & will accept my lousy american dollars through it by any chance?

[sabotabby]

Here it is. Warning: autoplay music that is not goth.

I don't think they do intertube orders but you could email them and find out.

[ltmurnau.livejournal.com]

Value Village for me; everything I wear comes from there, except for socks and underwear and clothing received as gifts.
And I have enough clothing to last me for the rest of my life, so you can have my $1000 gift card for there.

[sabotabby]

Awesome!

I do shop a lot at Value Village, especially this time of year. But mainly for LARP these days.

[(Anonymous)]

This time of year I avoid Value Village, because they've shoved everything around to make room for all the cheap Chinese-made Halloween crap... no, I don't want a "sexy hot dog" costume, thanks.

(ltmurnau)

[sabotabby]

But they have cheap fishnets and skull goblets! And fake blood by the litre, which I need.

I think one Halloween I should dress like a sexy hot dog for the lulz.

[kakodaimon.livejournal.com]

I live for those skull goblets

[sabotabby]

I'm gradually replacing all of my wine glasses with skull goblets.

[resonant.livejournal.com]

Tilly Endurables has a 75% off sale right now at their Don Mills location.

Of course, they just got bought out, so they won't be Canadian-made, fairly-paid, ultra-durable for long.

[sabotabby]

Not my style anyway, but I didn't know that they were Canadian-made.

[kangaroofan.livejournal.com]

I get my clothes from Winners. I like their stuff.

[sabotabby]

I got women's boxers from Winners and it was the happiest day of my life.

[kangaroofan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they have nice stuff... and there is new stuff in everyday. :) I say stuff too much lol

Ah! pockets!

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, and the majority of their skirts and dresses have pockets in them. Big, deep pockets that you can fit things in. Like, ffs, I bought a tight-fitting, fancy as fuck dress from there and when I wore it for the first time last weekend, there was a pocket big enough to fit a cell phone or a wallet in. So it *is* possible, fashion designers.

I'm proud to say that I once owned (and wore, on many occasions — well, is going to school an "occasion"? I digress) a peasant skirt that had those useful pockets you describe with such sensible passion.

That that was the only skirt I ever had that had any pockets at all, was always a mystery to me. (Mystery in the sense of, "the world is crazy" and not, "where did the aliens hide women's pockets".

Incidentally, there's a lovely little scene in Samuel R. Delany's The Motion of Light on Water in which his then (late 1960s) wife borrows a pair of his pants and is astounded to discover that men's pockets are functional, not decorative.

Right. I'm for bed.

RE: Ah! pockets!

[sabotabby]

the_axel once showed me how many pockets were in his clothes and I was astounded. That's why men don't need to carry purses! I hate having to carry a purse; it hurts my back.

That that was the only skirt I ever had that had any pockets at all, was always a mystery to me. (Mystery in the sense of, "the world is crazy" and not, "where did the aliens hide women's pockets".

Hahaha. It doesn't make any sense; skirts ought to be able to fit more than pants, especially loose-fitting skirts. I should be able to fit small nuclear devices in there. And yet.

[50-ft-queenie.livejournal.com]

I also like Fresh Collective and Shopgirls - all Canadian designers. Unfortunately, I have no spending money these days due to continued unemployment, so any new clothes I get these days are from clothing swaps.

[sabotabby]

Clothing swaps are a great thing.

[ironed_orchid]

The best thing about mobile phones getting bigger, apart from the whole internet in my pocket, is that I see more clothes that I would actually wear, that have decent sized pockets. Or at least one pocket.

[sabotabby]

I've seen a bit of that, and definitely with the more indie designers, but not nearly enough.

[kryss-labryn.livejournal.com]

These days most of our clothes come from Guy's Frenchys, which is a Maritime chain like Value Village but more dedicated to clothes, and with most clothes in bins you dig through rather than hanging up. They are a lot of fun. The kids' clothes are like 86% from there because they grow out of them fast enough (or Karl rips the knees out fast enough) that paying full price for them is a total waste; the rest are almost all Christmas gifts.

But if I had a $1000 gift certificate? I actually won one from work several months ago, and 100% spent it on fabric and prosthetic ears and things for my Hal-con Elven Ranger costume, so obviously costuming is a higher priority to me than, like, new shoes, and pants that are long enough. Who knew. But fuck, I love costuming! my outfit is coming along so well and I found these great over-the-knee "leather" boots for like $35!! I will have to post more pics soon.

Given my druthers, though, for new clothes? Probably Venus & Mars in Vancouver, which is a small Gothic shop which makes their own clothes and is awesome. But, not in Vancouver and mostly these days I just wear jeans and the nerdiest clean T-shirt I can find (I have a Minecraft one on today), so.