news / store news

OMG Spring 2021

OMG Spring 2021

It's Easter Sunday and I've spent the afternoon updating the site, culling and adding and editing. There's more to come (always) and yet it feels like a bit of clearing the cobwebs has happened. New bits and bobs are trickling in, and that's exciting. I'll soon be adding a bar/bat mitzvah/ sweet sixteen gift collection, because the season is upon us!

Like so many of us, I continue to feel my way through this uncertain time. As such, I urge you to take care of yourself: whatever you're feeling and doing is OKAY. And hey, I made some pretty eye pillows to encourage rest and relaxation

I look forward to being fully vaxxed in just a couple more weeks, and can't wait to venture out into the world more. 

I plan to wake up the Short Story Book Club shortly, so if you want in join the page/group here. The SSBC requires NO prep; we read the story aloud together when we meet, and meeting in a park or beach is an essential part. I think this time we'll incorporate some fantastic local authors, reading and discussing their work.. we're so totally lucky to live among so many brilliant writers!

The NYC Mayoral race is heating up and while I'm sure I'll have a longer screed, and hopefully a Persisticon event to announce, in the meantime; plan to VOTE FOR A WOMAN. There are FANTASTIC candidates (yes, I'm yelling with those all caps.) New York City deserves a fresh start with a visionary Mayor who can and will bring her lived experience to bear on the job. AND because ranked choice voting is in effect, it's a more open field. I love Maya Wiley, Dianne Morales and Kathryn Garcia. They're all electable if you vote for them.

 

Stay safe!

xDiana

magnolia blossoms against a blue sky with a few light clouds

Read more →

Ok I admit it

Ok I admit it

Ok I admit it

I’ve been feeling kind of blue. Sure, change is inevitable, but this is extreme.
I’ve reverted to reading YA novels and baking pies. I’m reminded of the summer I was 11, when I spent a lot of time killing time. Walking slowly along the two lane highway to the 7-11 half a mile away to peruse the Tiger Beat magazines (Ralph Macchio! Ricky Schroeder! Menudo!!) and buy $2 blue Wet n’ Wild nail polish, and Charleston Chews or Tangy Taffy to put in the freezer for later cracking and eating. That summer was all Madonna Borderline and baking cakes from boxes. And waiting. For what? To grow up? For middle School to start? Something to happen.
I’m more sophisticated now. Maybe. But I find that I’m waiting, again. Now it's that so much is happening, it’s like the ocean is churning up all the nasty bits that have been decaying on the sea floor, and everything feels cloudy and dangerous and strange. Things I’ve taken for granted have crumbled away: casual hugs from friends, summer camp for my kids and visiting family out of state, spontaneous dates for drinks or dinners in lovely air-conditioned restaurants, music festivals in the parks, the yoga studio I frequented for almost a decade.
And the store. My store, the familiarity and rhythms, the air and shapes and warm customers. While I continue to be both relieved and certain that I made the right call under the circumstances, its absence is still strange.
I’ve made our Feminist Gold tee in blue, in a very limited run, though with more coming. It’s beautiful. Some in rose are back too, as are the original oatmeal grey, and the charcoal long sleeve is in in all sizes (hooray!) There are some new and beautiful unisex colors too, with limited sizing options. Supply chains and printing are sluggish and uncertain, but coming back online, like the flickering console on the USS Enterprise.
in-house models earning their keep
While this strange summer continues to unfurl, while I continue to bake, make masks, and obsessively follow the churning upheaval tearing through the country, I am not losing sight of the election looming ahead of us. I imagine we’ve always said each one is “The Most Important” but this time there’s no fucking around.
99 days. Stay engaged. Find a Senate race that speaks to you and phone bank, send postcards, plug in. When you doubt what your one voice, one person can contribute, look at the damage one man has wrought, and dig in.
Summer reading: I'm looking forward to Zadie Smith’s Intimations, a slim volume of essays, written during the first three months of the pandemic; and thoroughly enjoyed reading Calypso, by David Sedaris, which is not new, but he is funny, frank and unblinking about his own foibles and family in mid-life in such a disarming and inspiring way, it was a joy to spend time with. 
Pie, why not? Stress baking continues to be a fruitful outlet for me (sorry. couldn't help it)
Postcards to Voters, because Stacey Abrams said it really really works.
Fortify yourself by listening to this episode of The Daily on the life and legacy of John Lewis.
Keep on keeping on, because even tho the horses are tired and the riders aren’t sure which way to go, we are still the cavalry.
xoDiana
Read more →

Here we are, update 4/20, COVID-19, day 9 million

Here we are, update 4/20, COVID-19, day 9 million

Hi all,

We've been closed for five weeks now. 

What have I been up to? Probably the same as every owner of every business you pass on the street who has been mandated closed: trying to figure out how to save my store.

That and making masks and sourdough, because I'm a pandemic cliche. I'm getting pretty good at both.

Thank you all for the support, the online purchases, the gift certificate purchases and the words of encouragement. Keep it up! It means the world.

I'd be lying if i said what we're facing isn't dire.

Sending big love to all. Stay safe! Stay home! Wear your masks! Shop local.. online

xDiana

PS, if you're local and want sourdough starter, I'm happy to share

Dr Laura Melville

Dr. Laura Melville, Emergency Physician at Methodist and a girlfriend of mine for 17 years, picking up cloth masks to wear on her bike commute

Nobody in my house is wearing real pants, but we are clapping and cheering for essential workers at 7pm each night

Strangest and most tragic Spring in my 25+ years in Brooklyn, but still beautiful

 

 

 

 

Read more →

New Year, new store :)

New Year, new store :)

We're up and going, so clean and bright and fresh, and flush with new, and new to us, merch. The lucky finds include pieces from Rebecca Taylor, Tucker, Archerie, Layla, Erica Tanov, Madewell, Matta and so much more. Come take a looksee. Find our buying and selling guide here

Portrait paintings by Jenny Belin

feminist tees and buttons

Read more →

Ch-ch-ch-changes!!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!!

What am I talking about? Bringing second hand clothes (only good stuff!) into the store.

Why? Because I've been in a store related existential crisis for a while now. Let's welcome this new decade working toward a more sustainable future. Extending the life of our garments by buying and selling amongst ourselves has a huge environmental impact, slowing down the damages incurred in the manufacturing process and also keeping things out of the landfill for longer. Plus, personally, I'd much rather have a new-to-me Hartford shirt than a new-new Old Navy tee. Let's share, and trade, and swap. Let's give ourselves more opportunities to come together. Let's get lucky. Let's get creative. Let's clean out our closets...
Read more →

The PINK Show is up at DK

The PINK Show is up at DK

The PINK show is up at DK. It is brought to you by the passion and formidable talents of the Pen & Ink Brigade, a cluster of like minded artists who have joined forces to create progressive change.
This show includes contributions from over 80 artists, all women, and is bi-coastal; the sister show is at Industrious Life in San Francisco.
The prompt was "PINK", and while the pieces reflect many interpretations of the word and color, many styles and mediums, they are all the same framed dimensions: 13" x13", and each costs $400.
Come check out the collaborative efforts of artists to make the world a more fair and just place. Proceeds from the show are going to Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight, working to ensure ALL eligible voters can exercise their rights and that ALL votes count and are counted. It’s awesome to see what we can do when we do things together.
And hey, maybe knock some gifts off your list while you’re saving the world?
Read more →

Nope: The Women's March on Washington, photography by Torz Dallison

Nope: The Women's March on Washington, photography by Torz Dallison

“For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”

                                    —Walt Whitman, Song of Myself

 Feminism and resistance take center stage in the exhibition Nope: The Women’s March on Washington, Photography by Torz Dallison, currently on view at Diana Kane’s project space in Brooklyn. Dallison’s photographs capture the vitality, human compassion, and strength of the millions of protestors who participated in the Women’s March on January 21, 2017. On this historic day, an overwhelming sense of synchronicity and collective unrest unified the nation and the globe in the pursuit of a commitment to human rights and equality. Dallison’s singular portraits and large-scale panoramas respond to a universal and incisive question: Why do we march? Embodied among the strident interlocked figures, and the solitary heroines, we find a reservoir of tenacity, urgency, and activism. Above all else, Dallison’s photographs seize the subtle yet critical directive of the Women’s March to assemble and resist with civility.

 Accompanying the installation is a beautiful catalogue for purchase, with an introduction by art historian Aliza Edelman, featuring over fifty images by Dallison. Nope is Diana Kane’s second feminist project following the presentation of Portraits of Women: Icons and Feminists, and will be on view through May 17. A closing party will be held at Diana Kane on Saturday, May 13, 5-8PM.

Read more →