Today I wore braids and feathers. We're setting up the beautiful Teepee that Rachel made for me last Christmas as a fun shop display. It's called 'Fort Lovely' and it will have a home here in the shop until Christmastime. I'll share more when it's complete!
This week I feel like I'm still 'coming back to earth'. Catching up and enjoying my new 'work home'. LoveLove, elsie
PS. I had yellow paint on my face while checking out a customer and Emma did tell me until after he left. oooops!
46 Comments
Oh my gosh, how wonderful!
Ha ha, but the yellow paint must have made you look extremely creative 🙂
Aoife x
http://aoife-blake.blogspot.com
adorable! i love braids but i need someone to style them for me because they never look right when i do them myself 🙁
so cute! I love your hair! I would love to have your hair
I love tents in interiors! I find them so romantic 🙂 And I like how you decorated yours!
i want to live in fort lovely. please. 🙂
Squeeeeeee!
The teepee looks adorable, as does your hair, I’m pretty sure I would just look like a bird had died on my head if I tried it, but you just happen to look amazing.
Elsie, youre adorable.
Cute! Fort Lovely looks like a cozy little place to hang out!
That’s so cute! I love forts lol
Allison Kaye
http://www.craftedlove.com
Thanks so much!!! XO.
I love your hair! I love wearing braids, but I never thought of feathers with my braids. I’m sooooo trying it.
I love this blog and your creative work a lot, and I am really disappointed to see teepees and “indian-inspired” attire in this entry. A lot of indigenous folks see the usage of teepees/headdresses to be really offensive because it appropriates their culture.
Here are a couple of recent links that I found helpful in understanding this issue in case you or your readers are interested:
http://nativeappropriations.blogspot.com/2010/04/but-why-cant-i-wear-hipster-headdress.html
This second link gives some info about “sexy” indian costumes and how they can be linked to sexual violence against indigenous women (see, this stuff is totally not fun.) I know you’re going for gorgeous here more than sexy but it’s good information to have:
http://womensrights.change.org/blog/view/one_womans_costume_is_another_womans_nightmare
As your own blog and shop testifies, there are so so many ways for people (especially white people) to dress and decorate that don’t run into these sorts of issues. I know that this “Indian” thing is trendy right now, and that being in line with trends can be important with businesses, but still, you should know that some customers, like me, see this kind of thing as appropriation and not fashion.
Iris, these designs are not inspired by Native Americans. They are simply feathers in my hair and a cute teepee(fort) built by my best friend as a Christmas gift. There is nothing controversial in the least bit about my intentions. I am so sorry if it’s been taken as something that it’s not. I’ve dealt with these comments lots of times and I just wanted to clarify that I am not dressing as an “indian” or Native American… I’m just wearing feathers because I really like them.
I have all the respect in the world for Native American culture. That’s my clear position. XO!
I did not think what Iris thought at all. I love your free expression and believe you to be sensitive to all cultures. Please be free with your inspirations and posts you share with us. I felt like I was reading a term paper in the middle of the comments area. I love your blog, your braids, and your artistic ways…oh and your shop, of course! Your hair also looks pretty rockin…Keep up all the amazing work you do, and please feel free to share with all of us who are not hypersensitive. Take Care, Janna Lynn
I am so jealous of your teepee! 🙂 I have it on my list of things to make someday, but it keeps getting shifted down for gifts and baby stuff! 🙂
looks cute! lookin forward to pictures
OMG….I just saw a pic of your store on Skunkboy Creatures ( http://skunkboycreatures.blogspot.com). And she had a bigger shot of your storefront. Its HUGE! Congrats on your beautiful HUGE store!!! Take Care, Janna Lynn
I love the way feathers look in hair, especially with braids -XO K.
Your braids with feathers are so inspiring. I think I’ll put some braids in my hair tomorrow.
I really need to make a roadtrip to your new shop. Hopefully this spring!
xoxo
Megan Michelle
So Lovely! (:
Beautiful and inspiring!
xoxoxo
Dearest Elsie~
I’ve been following your blog for some time now, but I hardly comment at all! So I thought it would be time – your beautiful red hair and feathers made me want to!
You look absolutely gorgeous with braids – so much so that I’m sort of reconsidering my desire to cut my hair short once more (it’s down to my shoulders right now, and I used to have a pixie cut). But I shall stick by my choice, and figure out a way to incorporate feathers into my short cut.
So I guess what I wanted to say is that you inspire me. You give me wonderful ideas and give me hope that I can start writing again sometime soon. Perhaps today.
Please keep doing what you do. <3
oh my, WONDERFUL!!!!
hey! i have some super cute feathers and have been wanting to wear them in my hair, but have been having trouble with making them stay. did you just put hair twisties around them and then just cute fabric over that??
hi there! i really love yr blog and started one myself but the layout of mine is yuck @ grossanatomy blogspot… do you or anyone you know do design i would pay for it etc… thx so much! xx
i love wearing feathers and braids in my hair, it’s so fun! and i love teepees a lot… fort lovely looks adorable! 🙂
ummmm thats it! I am coming back to Missouri and moving into that teepee!!! So beautiful! <3
I completely agree with Iris. I used to hold the position that aesthetic things are up for grabs and can be enjoyed and copied without thought. Since then, I’ve reevaluated my thinking, and I realize that things have meaning, whether we want them to or not. Not everything is up for grabs without consequence. Certain things “belong” to cultures, and there should be some sensitivity when dealing with that. I’d hoped more of you (and Elsie) would see that, but to insist that your “teepee” has nothing to do with Native American culture is, in my opinion, either incredibly naive or just plain dishonest.
Elsie, I love this. I wish I had space for one. Maybe I’ll make a miniature for my dog! Do you think she can do a guest post on how to make one??? Oh please?!
Lizzie xoxo
Everyone should wear feathers in their hair. I’m also loving the teepee (:
Oh those feathers look good!!!
where do i start?
the teepee, oh my! it’s all the more lovely for the way you custumized it 🙂
the feathers in the hair – gosh! cute!
and that wee sweet jacket – adorable 🙂
This got posted to Facebook by Native Americans offended by the appropriation of American Indian culture – feathers and tipis? Seriously not adorable.
I read this blog on a regular basis and love it. I’m constantly inspired by your projects, photos, and writing. However, I also came to agree with Iris and Becca. “Native-inspired” things are trendy at the moment, and I know you stated that your teepee and hair were not inspired by Native American culture. I would have to argue however, that they were appropriated. I don’t think the hair is such an issue – it isn’t as though you were wearing a headdress after all – but I think it’s difficult to claim that a teepee isn’t Native inspired. In our collective North American imaginations I think it’s safe to say that teepees and Native Americans kind of go together.
I know that you would never intentionally do anything to hurt or offend any group of people, the issue is simply that any form of “playing Indian” (like in a “cute teepee”) turns Native Americans into a past or imaginary group – not one that still exists, day to day, in contemporary North American society.
tori – so shouldn’t that be celebrated by reminding people of their countries rich heritage through use of a teepee? Or does Elsie have to prove herself part native American in order to have any right to that?
If everybody went through life thinking “gosh now I hope I don’t offend anybody” they’ed be too scared to LIVE.
omg! how did you get the feathers in your hair?! 😀
I love fashion (obviously, as I read this blog!) but teepees are not “cute” or “fashionable” – they have become a symbol of Indigenous culture, and to pretend otherwise is incredibly naive. I feel it is offensive to pretend that making a cute teepee is void of cultural appropriation. To call it “Fort Lovely” fetishizes and disregards the devastating effects that settlers had and have on Indigenous communities – the effects are often not lovely.
White privilege can be a dangerous thing when unknowingly adopting Indigenous culture because it can reinforce the power imbalance between the settlers and Indigenous people.
Just because one is not aware of one’s privilege, it does not mean it is not there. All white people (and those who appear white) have huge advantages in North American culture. White privilege should not be abused by unknowingly appropriating and fetishizing Indigenous cultures.
Please do not make Indigenous culture a commodity or fashion statement!
http://jezebel.com/5516362/feathers-and-fashion-native-american-is-in-style
This is a great article on the subject too!
http://i421.photobucket.com/albums/pp297/gwensharp/Soc%20Images/na1.jpg
Elsie, I love Fort Lovely. I am Native, from a federally recognized tribe, card carrier and all. And I think that someone is always going to get bloody offended if they are the type to live their lives this way, watchdogging those who might cross a line. A sense of humor (a little Coyote) is a good thing for all, I see nothing offensive here. Love rules. xx pixie
wow. it is unbelievable. I love it so much . Thanks for your sharing. cool .great. I sure I’ll come back soon.
This is my first visit to your blog, and I’ve loved everything about your site! I had a sigh inside my heart, though, when I saw this link on your “new reader? start here!” set of links.
I’m also a white woman and also admire Native American cultures. I read the link to the “why can’t I wear a headdress?” article posted by a commenter above, and the logic really makes a lot of sense to me. As white women, isn’t it just the most common sense to listen to many Native people who say that it is offensive to them to see their culture appropriated? I know we can argue and say “You can offend anybody with anything,” but it looks like this is one of your only projects that has caused offense like this. When you offend someone unintentionally, isn’t it the right thing/the nice thing to apologize, and then stop doing what you were doing that was offensive? I think you should take down the tipi and this post. It would just be the polite thing to do! Thanks for your site and your beautiful work!
haha.i love coming to post like these and reading the comments.
i thought your teepee was cute. and im 4/4 native.
gave me a chuckle.
I’m just wearing a v-neck t-shirt, but I think one of the cameo loectks would dress it up nicely! Or even the stitch wordplay locket, which would be perfect since I love to knit. ArabellaDesi (at) gmail (dot) com
I was terrible at doing my hair eplceialsy braiding, but I really wanted to learn so I watched youtube videos and kept practicing and got better at it. Now I get compliments on my French braids. Don’t give up Joanna! And thanks so much for posting this, I’ve always wanted to learn how. I hope my hair is long enough.
Yup, not native inspired at all… you just happened to include feathers and a teepee in the same post.