Vegan Shoe Line Beyond Skin Needs Your Help

Fashionable vegan footwear line Beyond Skin needs your help!

Beyond Skin is a 10 year old, self-funded, indie, UK vegan footwear label dedicated to designing cruelty-free, luxury shoes for stylish, discerning ladies.  Their current line is considered more of a luxury “boutique” one, meaning high style at a slightly higher price point.  Although the luxury line is fabulous, they have aspirations to create a new diffusion line.  This one will feature 10 styles, which have been designed for everyday wear at a more affordable price-point. This to me is a fantastic idea, being it’ll bring vegan and ethical footwear to the masses and a more pocket friendly price.  Plus, they’re all classic styles meaning they go with everything and will last season after season.

To help fund their new line, they created a Kickstarter campaign.  It’s only live for another 15 days, so if you want to support vegan fashion for the masses, be sure to do so today!

You learn more about the Kickstarter campaign as well as it’s perks by visiting here.

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My Seed Experience

I’m back from San Antonio!  While I had a great time getting to meet up with all my colleagues, customers and vendors I always feel better once I get back to NYC.  I’m such a big city girl it’s not even funny.

So I got back on Friday, just in time for me to prepare to speak at the Seed on Saturday.  The event was beyond my expectations.  I had a great time not only visiting all the vendor tables and trying lots of food, but also getting to meet and listen to many of the other speakers.  I also finally got to try that Cinnamon Snail truck everyone raves about and OMG was it amazing.

If you missed it, I talked about how to transition to a cruelty-free wardrobe, which I had previously posted about here.  To my surprise, during my talk the room completely filled up and was standing room only (aside from the few chairs in the front row, which you see in the photos below).  Cruelty-free fashion is apparently a hot topic!

For those of you who attended the Seed and came to see me speak, it was so great to finally get to meet you in person!  I loved getting to meet everyone and hope to get to participate in similar events in the future.

Come See Me At the Seed This Weekend

If you are in the New York City area this weekend, be sure to check out the Seed Expo.  I’ll be speaking!

The Seed is a huge vegan event being held from May 18th and 19th here in NYC at 82 Mercer. There will be lots of delicious vegan food, products, services, world-renowned speakers, films, and more. Best part about the Seed is it’s designed around a more “veg-curious” crowd, meaning if you are not currently vegan but are interested in the lifestyle, it’s a great place to come on out and see what it’s all about.

To my surprise, the organizers of the event have invited me to be a featured speaker! I’m on at 4:15 on Saturday, and will be talking about how to successfully transition to a cruelty-free wardrobe.

Will you be attending the Seed? If so I’d love to meet you so let me know!

Comfort Food for Sandy Relief / Coconut Rice with Winter Squash

I don’t usually post recipes, but I figured this was as good a time as any to share one of my favorites with you!

Food bloggers are getting together today and posting their favorite comfort meal recipes in support of Hurricane Sandy Relief. The concept is to share a recipe that you find comforting and would bring to a friend or neighbor in crisis to raise their spirits.

One of my favorite recipes is one I veganized from Real Simple Magazine quite a while ago that we include in our regular recipe rotation in our home. It’s coconut creamy, comforting, quick, super easy and really yummy.

If you haven’t done so already, please donate to help with the Hurricane Sandy Relief efforts. Every little bit helps.

Coconut Rice with Winter Squash

Ingredients

• 3 cups rice- I like to use leftover rice or make it in advance of putting the recipe together.
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 2 cups)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 block of firm tofu- I use the silken kind for a stir-fried egg-type texture.
• pinch of turmeric
• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed*
• kosher salt
• 2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced

Directions

1. Prepare the rice according to the package directions.
2. Meanwhile, place the squash in a saucepan, cover with water, and boil until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
3. Heat half the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Crumble the tofu, add it to the pan and cook, stirring, until it’s lightly browned. Add the pinch of turmeric and mix to make the tofu yellow and give it a scrambled egg look.  Remove from the pan and set aside.
4. Add the remaining oil and the onion to the skillet and cook for 2 minutes. Add the coconut milk and simmer for 2 minutes.
5. Add the squash, rice, edamame, and ½ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring gently, until heated through and all the liquid is absorbed, about 2 minutes.
6. Remove from heat. Add the scallions and tofu, toss, and serve.

*My photo above doesn’t include the edamame because when I made it this week I forgot that I ran out of my freezer stash.  I recommend if you have it adding it to the dish, it really makes it.

What’s your favorite comfort meal?

Vegan Versions / Graphic Tees

I honestly have never been a huge fan of graphic tees. The last graphic tee I remember wearing regularly was a thrift store find I wore in High School that said “Mañana”. It was before hipster ironic tees were a “thing”.

It’s not to say I don’t like tees. I have a tenancy to like patterned ones with patterns like classic stripes, chevron or leopard. It’s very easy for me to dress them up with a blazer and still make them work appropriate.

Lately while surfing the internet I’ve found some pretty chic vegan centric tees. Graphic tees are a great way to make a statement on what’s important to you, but until recently I never found any I didn’t feel were cheesy. I wouldn’t mind wearing any of these. In fact the “V Gun” one below is at the top of my list to pick up soon. It’s so clever i can’t help myself.  I’m also partial to neon yellow so the “Lettuce Turnip the Beet” one will probably end up in my closet soon after.

Nasty Neon V “Gun” Tee: $20.00 | image credit: www.veggywood.com

 

Lettuce Turnip the Beet Neon Tank from Coup: $25.00

Vaute Couture V is for Vegan Tee: $32.00

Love Peace Vegan “Vegan” Tee: $17.25

 
What are your thoughts on graphic tees?  Are they a fashionable yes, or no?

Hamlet the Mini Pig

If this video doesn’t kill you with cuteness, you’re a cold hearted asshole. Seriously though, this video has been making the social media rounds all week. Hamlet is one popular piggie.

I love that everyone loves Hamlet. If you liked the video, commented on it or even re-posted it, think of this little cutie next time you eat bacon. I hate to ruin your favorite food for you, but your bacon started out as cute, little and timid as the one in that video.

That’s all I’m going to say about that.

Changing the topic, how cute is this video?!  I near died when he fell in the bowl at the end.

Weekend Activism

{Faux Fur Vest: Betsey Johnson via Century 21; Faux Leather Jacket: Target; Faux Silk Tunic: H&M (thrifted); Pants: H&M (thrifted); Boots: MIA via After6; Sunglasses: stoop sale find; Camera Bag: THEIT}

This past Saturday I attended my first ever protest.  I must say it felt pretty damn good.  As I mentioned in my previous post, putting an end to the use of fur in clothing and accessories is very near and dear to me, so it felt really great to get out in public to get the message out there as to just how unnecessary and cruel it is.

The protest location was in front of the Intermix location in Soho, which had a TON of foot traffic.  At first, I was a bit apprehensive protesting in NYC assuming New Yorkers would be pretty aggressive and angry about it.  It was actually quite the opposite.  Most people passing by thanked us for being out there and doing what we were doing.  I also found it funny most women walking by wearing anything looking like fur were quick to point out that it was “faux”.

Since it was a protest for a high end fashion boutique, I knew how important it was to dress to impress in efforts to show the women who shop at Intermix that there are fashionable alternatives to both fur and leather.  While out there, I had quite a few requests from tourists and locals to pose for pictures, which I gladly did as long as I could hold my sign.  I figured the more people who see the message, the better.

Thanks to all the other protesters for coming out that day as well as for sharing their photos.  I had actually brought my DSLR to document the day and realized after I got there that I left my camera battery at home.  Doh!

The protest organizers are planning another protest in front of the same Intermix on December 3rd from 12-2pm.  I’m planning on being there so if you can make it, come on out it would be great to have your support.

Intermix Fur Protest

One of my very first clothing memories from my childhood is when I received a fur coat for Christmas.  I must have been 5 years old.  I remember loving how soft and cuddly it was.  While wearing it out to our holiday dinner, I remember my mother mentioning to someone “What do you think of Corrie’s rabbit coat?” and I was horrified.  It was a rabbit?!  But I love rabbits!  Every since that day, I can’t even touch real fur without wanting to vomit.

I really try not to preach on my blog about my veganism, so I’m going to spare everyone the lecture.  If you’re truly interested in knowing how where your fur comes from, click this link.  It’s the most grotesque and cruel thing imaginable.  What really grinds my gears when it comes to fur is it’s 100% not necessary.  The most disturbing part of this is most fur is mis-labled as to it’s original source.  So you could be wearing dog and not even know it (not that there should be a difference between dog and another animal, but that’s another discussion).  There are so many fashionable choices out there that have the same look and feel without the cruelty.  Not to mention many well known fashion designers now recognize this and no longer design using the real thing.

Intermix is one of the most well regarded fashion chains in the country, and they still sell real fur.  There’s currently a nationwide campaign going to convince Intermix not to carry fur, which could potentially help diminish demand and save hundreds of thousands of animals pain and suffering.  Intermix is a trend setter in the fashion world, so by taking this step it could make a huge impact, so folks are working hard trying to make this happen.

Tomorrow afternoon between 12 and 2 pm, a group of activists including myself will be protesting outside of Intermix’s Soho, NYC store in an attempt to let their management know faux is fashionable and there is no need to sell real fur.  If you agree fur is antiquated and are available to help, please join us!  If you live in other parts of the country, follow the nationwide campaign’s Facebook page for updates on when protests in your area will happen, or sign the petition.

I vow not to purchase anything at Intermix until they stop carrying fur.  Will you vow not to too?