April 12, 2010 | Filed Under Eco-Fashion, Fashion Show, Recession, Shopping | Comments Off
This Sunday, April 18th, join AuH2O and TEICH as we kick off earth week with a fashion show at 5pm and clothing swap immediately after at 5:30. This Earth Week Kick-off party will be outside our stores on 84 E. 7th street b/t 1st and 2nd. Free and open to the public!
12-5pm Eco-fashion Marketplace
Charmoné shoes, Ryann clothing and The Andean Collection jewelry will be offering their beautiful Earth-friendly wares at our sidewalk marketplace. Plus, get 30% off bags and 15% off jewelry inside at TEICH.
5pm Sidewalk Fashion Show
Featuring AuH2O recycled clothing, Charmoné vegan shoes, The Andean Collection fair trade jewelry, Ryann eco-conscious clothing, and TEICH handbags.
5:30pm Clothing Swap
Bring at least 1 item of clothing (accessories welcome) that you no longer wear, but would be proud to pass on (no old tees, or stained/damaged clothes, please). Go home with new clothes!
Representatives from the LES Ecology Center will be on hand with information about EcoBiz and EVCC “Get Local” shopping guides.
Plus, refreshments will be served!
This event is weather permitting! If it’s raining, we’ll cancel. But it better not rain!
January 3, 2010 | Filed Under Press, Recession, Shopping | Comments Off
A friend of mine, Natasha Malinsky, owns a shopping tours business, Shop-NYC, where she takes customers on tours of the best shopping in the city. Of course, AuH2O is one of her stops! She hosts a web series so people can watch videos of all the different stores and decide where they want to go most. Here’s the video on AuH2O:
Recognize Natasha from somewhere? That’s because she was recently on VH1’s “Tough Love,” so she’s a reality TV survivor, and that’s fun and cool.
You can watch all of her web videos on other great stores in Manhattan on her Youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/nlm5844. Check her website for more info on tours- an especially good thing to do when friends come to town and they want to shop and you have to work: Shop-NYCtours.com. She takes you to the best stores in the city where you get exclusive discounts from all the boutiques. There’s even a special “recessionista” tour for the tough times.
Watch, and shop!
October 27, 2009 | Filed Under DIY, Recession, Vanity | Comments Off
Since the last swap at AuH2O and TEICH was so successful, we decided to have another! Come Thursday, Oct. 29th to swap out your old clothes and go home with new ones. You can also bring old Halloween costumes or pieces of costumes to recycle, and people can find things to use for this year’s costume. ALSO, my mom will be in town, and she’ll be there! Details:
What: Clothing and Accessories Swap
Halloween-related stuff especially encouraged (but not necessary)
Bring at least 1 item of clothing that you no longer wear, but would be proud to pass on
$3 suggested donation
Where: AuH2O and TEICH, 84 E. 7th Street
When: Thursday, Oct. 29th, 6pm-8pm
WHO: AuH2O and TEICH and Amy Goldwater
Hope you can come! And speaking of Halloween, I already made my costume, duh. Halloween is my favorite holiday! I’m going as Jean Grey as the Phoenix from X-Men. Who doesn’t want to be a superhero? I made this out of shiny green and gold spandex, it’s a one-piece full-on body suit:
It’s modeled after this photo below, and now I just need to dye my hair red…
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!
September 4, 2009 | Filed Under Eco-Fashion, Fashion Show, Recession | Comments Off
Also for Fashion Week, AuH2O and TEICH are holding trunk shows at our shops! On Thursday, Sept 17 from 6-9pm, AuH2O will be hosting five designers: Closet Jane, SammyB Designs, Created by Fortune, Danah Givens‘ artwork and MoniqueQ jewelry. See below for photos. All designers will be offering discounts, and everything in AuH2O will be 10% off. We will be serving snacks and wine as well, of course.
Vintage dress by Closet Jane, $45
Vintage pumps by Closet Jane, $20
Dress by SammyB Designs by Samantha Black, one of AuH2O’s favorite designers who participated in our last fashion show at Crowe’s Nest. Click here to see more photos of that show and her work in it.
More SammyB Designs
SammyB Designs modeled by former AuH2O intern Alice Dunoyer
Chunky gold chain “Marilyn” bracelet by Created by Fortune, $13
Custom studded Converse sneakers by Created by Fortune
Artwork by Danah Givens
TEICH, who was just in Oprah’s Magazine (see article here Cushy Clutches) will be offering discounts on her bags and is hosting Charmone Shoes.
Nolita mini clutch by Teich, from O Magazine
Charmone Shoes
Charmone Shoes
Come out Thursday the 17th from 6-9pm to get some great deals on beautiful clothing, bags, shoes and art, and drink complimentary wine!
April 23, 2009 | Filed Under DIY, Eco-Fashion, Environment, Fashion Show, Recession | Comments Off
In honor of Earth Week, AuH2O is hosting the fashion show at NYU’s Swap-a-Palooza on Sunday, April 26th. The swap is being put on by Earth Matters, NYU’s Outreach and Sustainable Issues Club, and will go from 2-6, so come anytime to swap your clothes, but make sure you’re there before 5 to see the Fashion Show:
From NYU’s website: The Swap-a-Palooza is a clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops which feature creative reuse through the recycling of used clothing. Bring a bag of old clothing and get ready to swap and alter with the help of local artists. We will feature many do-it-yourself stations run by local artists and a recycled clothing fashion show. The idea of the swap-a-palooza is to celebrate community creativity while allowing the NYU community to put their personal touch on a stand against consumerism.
It’s a great way to get some new clothes for free in this recession! Get rid of clothes you don’t wear and go home with as much as you can carry! Plus, several of my friends, and former roommates from the artist collective Boring, Inc where I used to live in will be there running workshops. Kae Burke and Tara McNamarus of Make Fun! and Tiffany Threadgould of Replayground will be there teaching crafts. Come check it out!
The fashion show will feature AuH2O models:
Abby Phon
Carmen Ongsiako
Erica Swallow
Jean Goto
Jill Filipovic
Kate Perkins
Leanne Linsky
Lindsey Blank
Marie Asinovski
Rachel Kay
Sarah Hyde
and Earth Matters volunteers, DJ’ed by my friend Peter Bornstein. Hope to see you there!
April 10, 2009 | Filed Under Recession, Vanity | Comments Off
Amarcord’s Vintage Outlet, the store next door to me has closed, and I want to move in there. My super nice landlord said he’d allow me to break my lease and swap stores ASAP if I could find someone to take over my space, so I know this doesn’t seem like the best time to start up a business, but my landlord is offering great rent- $2,200. Stores in the East Village usually range from $2,500-$4,000 (even in this economy- check Craigslist!) so it’s a pretty good deal for a prime location. Plus, my landlord’s willing to negotiate if he really likes you. If you or anyone you know is interested in opening up a shop, please pass on my contact and the Craigslist posting: http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/off/1113032235.html. Thanks!
And also, on an unrelated note, if you’re planning on seeing the date rape comedy “Observe and Report,” do yourself a favor and read this first: http://jezebel.com/5204177/is-date-rape-funny-seth-rogen-explains-it-all-for-you. No, date rape is not fucking funny.
April 1, 2009 | Filed Under Press, Recession, Vanity | Comments Off
APRIL FOOLS!
Do not even pretend like I didn’t get you. You even believed that I used that emoticon seriously. So no, AuH2O is not closing. In fact, AuH2O is SO NOT closing, it’s going to be on CNN in a few days! Click here to see why, and if you can, watch or set set your DVRs to any and all of the three times below. I will be on for a split second (I think a minute or two) between these half-hour segments:
Saturday, April 4th on CNN between 7-7:30am EST
Saturday, April 4th on Headline News between 1:30-2pm EST
Sunday, April 5th on Headline News between 10:30-11am EST.
It’s going to be airing during two different segments (and I don’t know which is airing on what day or time,) “Make up Your Own Major in College and Then Do What You Want To For Your Career” and “I Have Interns Now and am on CNN, So I guess It Worked Out.” No, April Fools again. I’m hilarious today. It’ll be a part of the series “How We Got Started” and “Business Success.”
All joking aside, I really do think my business has been successful. For two and a half years, including this recession, I’ve been in the black every month- albeit sometimes just barely. In February I don’t think I ordered a drink other than a PBR, but I walk into my store every day and know it’s my own, and damn do I love that. Though a TON of stores in my neighborhood really ARE closing, even ones that have been here for years. The shop next to AuH2O, Amarcord’s Vintage Outlet, is closing its doors after ten years. Ten Years! Here’s some photos of a few stores in my area that have been forced to close due to this recession:
Amarcord, next to AuH2O Love Saves the Day, corner of 7th and 2nd
Bakhor on 9th Street between 1st and 2nd Forty Fifty Sixty, on 7th between 1st and 2nd
I’m working incredibly hard so that this doesn’t happen to AuH2O. I have very reasonable prices and loyal customers, and lately I’ve been expanding my fashion show participation beyond New York (Kean University, Tufts, Stanford and some high schools.) Also, I’ve started a little public speaking. I still have a WisCONsin accent and talk a mile a minute, but apparently organizations/museums/clubs want to hear me talk. In February, I spoke at the International Convention for BBYO (B’nai Brith Youth Organization) on a Successful Jewish Women panel. I talked to 400 teenage girls about using art and clothing as activism- it was nerve-wracking but felt awesome. I showed this painting I made depicting me getting Plan B after a condom broke, and after I spoke the organizer announced to the girls that pre-marital sex was not condoned by BBYO and they were not allowed to engage in such activity during the convention. OOPS.
SELF PORTRAIT: DO YOU CARRY EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION HERE?
But I was talking about using clothing and art as activism! The personal is political! Anyway, lesson learned. I think the girls liked me though, I mean, I had a bunch of new Facebook friends the next day… and I met a few students interested in working for AuH2O, and ended up hiring an intern for the summer!
Then, a few weeks ago, I spoke to the students in the Brooklyn Museum’s after school program about eco-friendly clothing:
Students with their own recycled designs
With Ariel Greenberg, Brooklyn Museum educator and friend, and student
In the upcoming month, I will be speaking in NYU’s Earth Matters Green House series and to NYU’s Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity. I’m speaking to a frat! A co-ed business frat, but still, never imagined I’d be doing that in my life. So, if you or your organization or someone you know would like me to come in and speak about eco-friendly, feminist fashion, or opening a business, let me know. My speaking fees start at $500. April Fools again, obviously.