unleashed.

the new designs have been unleashed. my description for this garment:

NEVER before has a mastectomy garment been offered that actually embraces the transformed body. This dress was designed solely with my body landscape in mind- a single right side mastectomy. The rich raspberry tie gently wraps the flat chocolate terrain- protecting, embracing and empowering it with style. Radical times call for radical measures. Thousands of women walk the sidewalks with post mastectomy bodies hiding them with prosthetics, frumpy over-sized garments and fear. I refused painful, potentially harmful reconstruction and the humility I find in the use of a prosthesis. I'd rather adorn my deserved body with beautiful garments and confidence and this piece is the first to be available for sale with such a brave bold statement.

If you haven't had surgery it's still going to be fabulous on you!!! Just fabulous. Wear it with glorious support for all the women with transformed bodies and spread empowerment. It will be available in other colors soon. But I'm in love with this combo! The wide tie can be made to embrace the left or right side. Please specify upon purchase.

"A reasonable man adapts himself to his environment. An unreasonable man persists in attempting to adapt his environment to suit himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man." George Bernard Shaw
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is this "in your face"? you bet! do i care? what do you think? but i will not let 30+ years go by again and passively sit and wait for "time" to forgive my body politics. i wish Audre Lorde were still with us to perhaps witness a day free from oppressive ideologies and submissive practices based in fear.

i simply don't want to be "nearly me" or "nearly you"

Please pass the knowledge of Rhea Belle apparel around! or go shopping for yourself. it's really not about the sales. it's about unleashing the lovely sweet REBELLION!!!!! a rebellion created for ALL women- so if you ever need to make those hard pressed decisions regarding what to do with your body if diagnosed with breast cancer you'll have choices. choices based in your personal ideologies NOT fear of social rejection.

and i'm not the only one wondering "if thousands of women are having mastectomies a year... where are they? where are "the women like me"?

(i'm wearing this number this weekend. i'll post photos as i'm always getting comments like "let's see YOU in it". so ok. ok already.)

The SONGBIRD BRANCH

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a new project and collaboration with whomever wants to contribute.

a truly historical moment.

NEVER before has raspberry embraced chocolate... like this. 

dreams are contagious. an outbreak...

Five Ring Circus. a good read!

the view from here.

i spent the day placing new garments in the rhea belle apparel store with more to come in the next few weeks. some more radical and to the point. it was joyfully bound to happen.

i'm preparing. there's a lot going on with this project including a coffee table book that's in the works that will hi-lite rebel1in8 and rhea belle apparel. it's a collaboration between Privacy Wear and THEME magazine so i anticipate nothing but sheer and uber coolness to come of it. it should be coming out in the fall. i'm not sure i'm suppose to mention any details until it actaully comes out. but be assured that i will keep you posted. also, i was contacted this week by a costume designer working on a play that involves a character who is dealt a breast cancer diagnosis and explores the aftermath of a mastectomy.

in a letter to me she writes "I found your shop while researching post-mastectomy clothes, because I didn't think that the character, Ann, would have used prosthetics. I have to say, your clothes are amazing and the clients' comments should make you feel so proud!!! It's very touching to read the reviews of women whom the clothes helped to feel beautiful and feminine and mainly, themselves again. Thank you!"

through phone correspondence she informed me that the costume designs were inspired by my collection. since no other clothes like mine were found during her research the producer agreed that my website and store will be mentioned in the program at the costume designer's request. a NEW YORK production!!! i have also been invited to provide literature for my website and store in the theater for the audiences. and, of course, i'll be getting free tickets to the show. (after the show opens i will provide the name and location- i have my reasons for not doing so at this time.) geezus, how cool is this!? i'm suppose to receive a copy of the script and designs this week.

...and to top it all off- a certain garment is in the patent process in legal hands as we speak and i should be able to launch/unveil it in the fall. another motto of mine: if you need it and it doesn't exist- miyods! (make it your own damn self) so i did.

do i feel lucky these days? well, i've always said that luck is: simply (or not) being prepared for an opportunity or open door. so yes, i'm feeling lucky. very very lucky. and damn proud of myself for sticking with it.
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i'm the revelling rebel

oh, this is BIG!

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Rhea Belle apparel's "stitched atop plum goodness" made it to the front page of Etsy!

and sew it goes.

i made this shirt/dress sunday afternoon and it's what i'm wearing to work tomorrow. it's pretty radical- especially for the "work place". but sew what! i'll most likely wear it with the tank top underneath it (sunday i wore it without and that was fun). it will be available in the Rhea Belle apparel store very soon. within days even.

a side thought. i have a pretty thick note pad that i use for jotting down ideas, sketches, orders, list of "ta do's" and don'ts and what not- it's one of those with the blue grid lines. anyway, today i was going through it while on the train home from work. i have a pretty big order to place for supplies and i took a break from making the list and began going through the earlier worn and scribbled pages. on one of the pages i found the following words: all in caps because that's how i printed it...

                                               HEALING

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF A ^ CONSCIENCE 

FROM WOMAN TO SURVIVOR TO PINK CULT TO AMAZON WARRIOR TO WOMAN

photos by gcs 

lines. and when life imitates art.

when i was house sitting and dog loving for my friends gregg and marisol last winter i started a series of drawings; meandering lines guided in part by play and in part by the obstacles created by their own design. i haven't visited the note book in a while though. last night i had an urgent moment of inspiration and out of the blue i envisioned a solution for a blouse that was given to me by my beyond cool friend tina. instinctively she knew i'd like it and would find a way to make it my own- you know, allow it to take on the life of draping my asymmetrical body. being a central-button-down the front blouse and with beautiful embroidery i didn't want to perform a complete renovation with a lot of cutting and sewing so this blouse has been around a while waiting patiently to serve.

without any procrastination, analysing, or second thoughts i retrieved the blouse from the "waiting" drawer, switched the singer on and began to "draw". i didn't even bother to change the thread that was already in the machine... the white seemed so perfect.

i have several friends who consistently tell me that my art doesn't have to hang on gallery walls to be valid- that my clothing has become my canvas. well, by all accounts i finally, FINALLY am convinced. (geez, i know! it took me long enough.)

(click on the images for larger views. and more drawings here.)