Rubys & Olives Couture

           Rubys & Olives was founded in the summer of 2010 supported by nothing more than an idea and a set of tinkering fingers. I made things and I knew they needed to belong somehow. So, I carefully chose two names that were both nostalgic and uniquely feminine. Ruby was my great grandmother and she sewed e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. Olive was my friend's (who'm I kidding, my Ex's) grandmother who had skin like a porcelain doll and a wardrobe to match: always pristine, always polished. Ruby on the other hand was a fabric stack away from being a hoarder. She kept every textile that had even a glimmer of quilt-a-bility. Between the two ladies, a partnership would have created a "perfectly unpolished" look hand sewn from head to toe.
          These are the aesthetic cornerstones of RO. Inspired by Ruby's do-it-yourself lifestyle and Olive's grace, ye shall be pleasantly unkempt always. RO will exhibit an endless gallery of unique clothing generated from rare materials like scraps, doomed textiles and thrifted garments. They will be "inherently unique"...

Thrifted tribal maxi-dress in a size 2XL reinvented with 4 hand-sewn stitches.

          All eyes on the environment and the beautiful hands that shall make these yummy garments, mine included,  RO shall honor a Made in America protocol following all codes and regulations, and well, common decency dammit. Additionally, 90% of materials used will be recycled, upcycled, reused, redreamed,and remade. Why? Because Americans throw away about 70 lbs each of clothing annually, new textiles require pesticides and harmful dyes, and outsourcing has created 21st century slavery. Hippies don't put up with that shit.

Join me. Come to dark side. The trashy, thrifty, savvy darrrrk siiiide;)
Yours truly,
Meg

Inner Child

           Has anyone else been nerding out on Netflix documentaries? I feel like Seaworld is the devil, fast food chickens look Ninja Turtles and Chipotle is amazing. After being enlightened to the terrors of animal cruelty common in multiple arenas, I can't enjoy anything from a scrambled egg to pepperoni pizza.Fearing that my chicken never saw the light of day and was genetically modified to grow to twice its normal weight in nearly half the time or that my pig was eating pig his whole life, things can get really weird at the dinner table.
           A person could become paralyzed by the plethora of options available when picking something to be passionate over. Human trafficking? Animal rights? Healthy eating? GMOs? The possibilities are endless. So therein existed my dilemma: what cause most calls me to action? Stuck at this crossroads of wanting to pursue fashion design full throttle but also maintain my integrity as the earthy mama that I claim to be, I stagnated. Then WHAM. The two concepts got together in my mind and made a beautiful baby we like to call Sustainable Fashion.

           Finding my niche in a realm of design and creation without turning my back on my inner-child has been like inhaling all the way to the bottom of my lungs for the very first time. Clarity and calmness shroud my every thought as I know I have the approval of destiny to harness this dream, once and for all. And I want to share it with you.....

Thrift Magic

Fellow Fassionistas,
It's time to hit the ground running. It's time to harness all of my ADHD and create a super focused strategy to spread the importance and empowering magic of thrifting. IT'S TIME. I felt that if I made that declaration to the world wide web via this highly neglected and therefore under-visited blog, I might actually feel the fire burning under my a** and get somethings accomplished. So, there you have it, my pledge to you is: to frequently post on this blog or re-route you to my website showing you how to be stylish and beautiful on a budget. The first official blog post of this new series will go live on Sunday, February 23rd. See you then!
Cheerios,
Meg