Please post!

If you are enjoying this blog, please consider posting below some of your favorite outfits. I have no idea if anyone is looking at this unless I see your comments! And it makes it more fun if there are comments by others, I think.

Some ideas for comments:

• Post what YOU wore to Common Ground this year.
• Post the favorite outfit you saw.
• Post under pictures of people you know.
• Post under the pictures of outfits you love.

Etcetera!

Thanks. You don't know how happy it makes me to read your thoughts.

Farewell, 2011!

I'm going to end this year album with the first shot I took on the last day of the 2011 fair. I saw this woman in the parking lot (read: grass field) just as we were getting out of our car and heading toward the fair. Beautiful! She told me she's been dressing like this for a long time, and is known as the flower lady--and that she's a nurse for HeadStart when she's not growing flowers on her farm, Heartfelt Farm in Cushing. That's a true rural Maine lifestyle.

So she's got the wacky flower-trimmed hat, the classy red cardigan over the green tank, the swingy full paisley skirt, and the rockin' red cowgirl boots. And she looks divine. I also later saw her take off her hat and she has the most lovely silver hair down her back. I want to be her when I grow up.

Her partner, with his wide straw farmer's hat and leggings, looks pretty great, too.

But sadly....this is my last photo from this year. I hope to have more next year, but in the meantime, if any of you have photos of great Common Ground Fair style, please let me know.

And I'll start counting the days till next year's fair.

Hey you!

My husband was appalled that I yelled, "Hey, you!" to this cute woman from the back of our tractor-pulled shuttle wagon on the way into the fair. But she was standing in line and I didn't know how else to get her attention when she briefly looked my way. "'Excuse me' could have worked," my husband reminded me. He's very polite, that one.

But I'm glad I caught this teenager, who is reviving some of the looks from my own teen years in the 90s...the hippie-ish ombre baby doll dress with the plaid shirt unbuttoned over it...and are those actual combat boots? Ah, I miss my combat boots.

Is there anything else to do besides look at people's cool get-ups?

Why, yes! Contrary to appearances, the Common Ground Country Fair is not in fact one big street style fashion show set amidst hay bales and old barns. Most people, I imagine, don't even associate the words "style" or "fashion" with the Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association. Here are twenty of some of the hundreds of other things people do at the Common Ground Fair:

1. Attend workshops on topics like chainsaw technique, making your own herbal tinctures, farming with draft horses and shamanism.
2. Sign political petitions for a variety of causes, from bringing the soldiers home to supporting civil unions.
3. Listen to nationally-renowned environmental speakers like Barbara Damrosch talking about why organic small farms are not a passing trend.
4. See the famous Wednesday spinners sit and spin wool.
5. Visit the rare and beautiful bunnies, chickens, lambs and other animals.
6. Buy world-class silver jewelry, hand-carved wooden spoons, tie-dye t-shirts, Amish-made furniture and other crafts in the Crafts area.
7. Ride in a covered wagon around the fairgrounds.
   
8. Indulge fried dough, french fries, and ice cream--county fair staples--with a difference: all the food at the Common Ground Fair is locally made and at least somewhat healthy: the fries are organic potatoes, the dough is whole wheat and wood-fired, and the ice cream is sweetened with Maine maple syrup.
   
9. Enjoy the popular sheepdog demonstrations.
10. Nurse your baby in the nursing tent, covered with cheery quilts and equipped with cozy chairs and board books.
11. Volunteer to work on the composting toilets, recycling bins, common kitchen, parking, or any of many other areas--volunteers get free admission, the opportunity to pitch their tent, and a free wholesome meal in that common kitchen.
12. Bring in the apples off the old apple tree in your yard and get them identified by John Bunker, heirloom apple expert.
    
13. Browse cloth diaper covers, homemade organic catnip pillows, wooden toys, Christmas stockings, goat's milk soaps, wool blankets and much more in the Maine Marketplace.
14. Walk to the entrance gate from the parking lot via a beautiful wooded trail.
    
15. Eat pretty unusual fair food--vegan Thai tofu curry, free-range steak burgers or raw milk, anyone?
16. Listen to fantastic local music, from Acadian fiddle tunes to contemporary rock and everything in between, at one of several stages.
    
17. Bring local organic veggies, plus your Halloween pumpkin, home from the extensive farmer's markets.
    
18. Peruse freshly shorn wool and other fibers from area livestock.
19. Enter your prize-worthy kale, apple pie or watercolor painting in the annual contest.
    
20. Watch the fair's signature event, the Vegetable Parade: teens on stilts and teens with bagpipes leading a just-assembled hodgepodge of kids in gorgeous handmade peapod, sunflower and ladybug costumes, carrying signs like "No Spray!" and "Don't Panic, I'm Organic" and beating pot and pan drums. If nothing else gives you hope, the Vegetable Parade will.

Modern world

This is my friend Bethany, striking a goofy pose. She's a modern dancer and a mama and an all-around good person. And everything she wears looks kind of like this--she cuts, alters and otherwise messes around with netural-colored basics until they become anything but basic. And she always looks totally comfy and ready to get up and move.

I really love it when a person find their look, their very own look that looks exactly right for them and not exactly like anyone else, and stick with it. A kind of anti-uniform uniform. I aspire to this myself. Especially for those of us with young kids, it's really nice to be able to go to your closet in the morning and throw on the first thing you see and know that you'll feel stylish and like yourself for the rest of the day.

The outfits that started it all...

The Common Ground Fair has been inspiring me ever since I first came to it in 2001. So much about it is inspiring--I'll write more about that in another post--but the style is an added bonus for me. I love seeing people dress up in their wildest country finery!

At that very first fair I attended, I was walking behind a woman with dreadlocks down to the ground, carrying a baby in a beautiful sling. She might have been one of the first women I ever saw carrying her baby in this way, and although I wasn't a mother yet, it was so encouraging to me, because I thought, Wow, you can be a mom and still look super cool.

The last time I attended the fair, in 2009, I saw a woman wearing a red gingham shirt and a denim overalls jumper dress and boots. It sounds kind of boring and traditional, but it was actually incredibly chic and flattering, and looked somehow contemporary and fashionable even as it played on completely vernacular Maine farm wear. And I saw it once, two years ago, and I haven't forgotten it since, and I think about that woman in that outfit ALL the time. I've looked for an overalls dress just like she had; I've thought about finding a red gingham shirt even though, honestly, it would not look good on me. It was a highly influential style moment, more influential than anything I've seen in a magazine or shop during the same time.

This is what made me want to do this blog, so I could keep looking back at the style that inspires me most--things worn by real people in the real countryside--throughout the year, whenever I choose. I hope it will be inspiring for some of you as well.

(And maybe some of who have never come to the Common Ground Country Fair will come. And those of you who, like me, try never to miss it, will enjoy this funny angle on one of the best festivals on earth.)

Me

I didn't get pictures of my outfits the first two days. You will have to take my word for it that they were pretty good. I was especially pleased with Day #1's outfit, which mixed a chartreuse green top with a black dress, a petticoat (because you know I love that petticoat look, and have since I was 8 years old and first reading Laura Ingalls Wilder), and red and white patterned knee socks.

But here is me on Day #3. Borrowing my husband's Minnetonka hat, thrift store pointelle sweater over thrift store blue shirt with lace collar and consignment shop organic cotton skirt with big pockets. And cowboy boots I bought 5 years ago in a real cowboy shop in Austin, Texas.

And I am standing in front of an actual barn, actually waiting for the actual antique tractor that pulls the actual wagons as a shuttle from the parking lot to the entrance of the actual MOFGA Common Ground Country Fair.

Two for tea

Two takes on the colors of the fall harvest: one woman in brown and gold and red, and one woman in greens. Both look great. The woman in brown has amazing boots: suede shafts and shiny leather uppers. The other one is wearing a snazzy pair of knee socks.

Collage and assemblage

It was actually too hot for layers today--as you can see, lots of folks took their shoes off to get a little cooler--but I think one of the things I love most about fall style is that it allows for layers, and layers allow for interest. I like the skirt over the jeans? cords? here, and the classic belt. Cute hairdo, too.

Hair ribbon

This lovely woman worked at the booth where they were making genuine tintypes on the spot. The tintypes are beautiful--such a complete counter to our digital age--but their booth was also one of the most stylish places at the fair, replete with taxidermy, old apothecary bottles, starfish, and antique violins you could use as props in your photos if you liked.

Some of the 20somethings helping out with the booth were also going through what seemed to be a truck of old clothes--more props?--and I watched this woman deftly choose this lovely silk satin ribbon and tie it in her hair. She looks ready to pose for a Julia Margaret Cameron photograph. Unfortunately it was just me taking the shot, but she still looks stunning.

Buckskin

Gotta give props to this hardcore look: this woman is dressed entirely in buckskin--top, belt and skirt. No shoes. This is keeping it real in rural Maine in an entirely different way. I imagine she doesn't normally dress in buckskin, so, once again--just very happy to see people dress up all special to come to the fair!

Photo swap

I have been lately wishing I could get my hands on an Indian print voile dress. I used to buy these inexpensively at a local Indian import shop in the city I grew up in, and they seemed widely available, but I haven't been able to find them anymore. I've seen some vintage ones online, but the truth is, I think the loose style would look a little maternity-dress-ish on me. I like that this one is so fitted, and such a flattering length. I wonder where she found it? I also love it paired with the chunky turquoise necklace and the walking shoes.

After I took my picture of her, this woman asked if she could take a picture of my kids. Photo opps abound at the Common Ground Fair!

Barefoot guy

This guy is doing a masculine, upside-down version of the gal's lightweight-dress-with-heavy-boots. He's wearing a nice plaid shirt and a suede vest and looks all autumnal on top, but then on the bottom he's wearing simple little shorts and no shoes at all!

The farmer and the cellist

This is my friend Polly, farmer, artist and all around amazing woman, posing as a fan of one of the Gawler sisters, who performed to a huge adoring audience at the fair this weekend. I'm a fan of the Gawler Family Band, too, and of their look--the cover shot of their new cd is a great shot of their sweet, vintage-looking (or actual vintage?) boots.
She may be wearing the same boots as shown here!

In this shot, Polly is dressed to work--she was planning to help out at the thai food concession of some friends. But I can vouch for Polly's style: just last weekend at a pie & storytelling festival (yes, you read that right), I was admiring her in a crocheted white jacket over a turquoise shirt and a cute skirt.

Day 3

Well, Day 2 as far as the blog goes, but today was Day 3, the final day of the fair, and the first day we had sun. And it was hot. Here in Midcoast Maine we've already had nights in the 40s and put away our summer clothes, but summer clothes were what was called for today. It also meant that I came home sooner that I might have otherwise--it was just too hot! So I didn't get as many photos as I would have liked overall (also because I didn't think of this project until after Day 1 was over), but I hope you enjoy this year's harvest of style, and I hope to have an even more bountiful crop in years to come.

And I still have some pics to post from yesterday, too...so more goodies to follow!

Dancing

These two lovely ladies were working at a bakery concession, and when I walked up they were convincing two older women waiting in line for their food to dance with them. Here are by now some familiar favorite mixes: the lightweight, feminine dress with heavy boots (cowboy boots here?), the work apron, the menswear hat. Love the other woman's bangs, and leggings are another popular staple, since they make wearing a frilly dress possible while working. Lots of scarves around, too, both the hand-knit, wearable art kind and the ethic kafiya style.

Street style where there are no streets?

A thought: can it be called "street style" if you live someplace with no actual streets? I mean, the small town I live in does have streets--it even has a downtown, which is about four blocks total. But my plan for this blog is to only take pictures once a year, at the Common Ground Country Fair. And the Common Ground Country Fair definitely does not have streets. It has wet grass, it has trails through the woods, it has paths...it even has some paved walkways, but it's not "street style," exactly. Country road style, anyone?

More baskets and more aprons

Love these two hip chicks. Love the redhead with the braids bright red shirt partially hidden and worn with a darker red skirt (again with the multi-hued combo!) and love her friend with the huge dreadlocks, downtown sunglasses, and full-on khaki apron over her cute 40s-style daydress. And let's not forget more rubber boots, and a traditional Maine wooden garden basket.

Baby catchers

This is a local homebirth midwife (homebirth is another one of my passions), looking completely amazing, I think. I saw her on the first day of the fair this year as well (before I had the idea to do this project, sadly) and she was wearing the most incredible skirt she had made out of past years' Common Ground Fair volunteer t-shirts. (As I mentioned before, the Common Ground Fair t-shirt is a very popular item in these parts, and you get free ones, special ones marked VOLUNTEER, for doing so.) It was a fantastic idea for a skirt, but what was especially cool about it was that rather than just making some basic, square-shaped tube skirt out of the t-shirts, she made a gored, flared, knee-length skirt with the t-shirt images pieced together in a really lovely, abstract way that was actually totally adorable and flattering. I completely want to copy this idea.

Mostly, though, I am just so happy that like me and many others, Chris clearly dresses UP for the fair. Check out this combo of floppy hat, handmade vest, bright skirt, striped knee socks (which always score huge bonus points with me) and then the totally pragmatic walking shoes. I can safely say that she doesn't always dress like this.

And here she is again with her midwifery partner Julie, who kind of does always dress like she is dressed here. She's a great dresser. And ahem, I have the exact same silver metallic Hunter rain boots. A girl's gotta be working some good boots in a place that involves mud, wet grass, manure and dirt much of the time.

Little rascal

How do you dress a little boy in something timeless and boyish? Well, for starter's, there are alwasy Osh Kosh B'Gosh overalls in engineer stripe--the genuine article. And then check out that beanie--an actual beanie! At a rakish angle, too! You don't see many of those these days. A black shirt underneath gives it a little edge and keep it from going over into cutesy.

Far out

A slight update on the hippie look with wild dreads and something that looks like a cross between tie-dye and batik. Love the extra color in the scarf and headwrap, too. Stylish even between two garbage cans, this woman was working at one of the food concessions.

Hoop Dreams

I've seen this woman before at the fair--she's been selling homemade hula hoops there for a few years, I think. I like the sort of carnival-slash-Maine Guide look she's got going on, with the men's hat and serious boots contrasting nicely with the pink shirt and fun, circus-y A-line skirt. And there's another one of those utility belt/half aprons. So useful for a vendor!

The Old Ways

I met this stylin' woman at a summer harvest gathering, where she showed me her intricate portable shrine at her campsite in the woods. I saw her again today at the fair, rockin' an autumn-hued look, and with this fantastic-looking guy, in full-on old-timey gear from head to foot, complete with feathers in his brim.

Keeping it in the family

My daughter, pictured here, asked that I include a picture of her on this blog, but I was already planning to! Here she's wearing a vintage 70s "Little House on the Prairie" style dress, gray leggings (with matching grass stains) and Hunter yellow boots. And her cool blue-and-red airplane glasses and her signature 40s-style hairbow. I'm lucky she is pretty open to whatever I offer her in the way of clothing, and she likes these dress and boots as much as I do!

Also pictured is my 2-yr-old son, who is even more into fashion than his 6-yr-old sister, and recently decided he wants to wear a dress every day. Thus, an Indian print pink dress over the brown gingham shirt and brown pants. And his pink Doc Marten boots, a hand-me-down from Sissy.

Rhapsody in blue

This is something I often admire but rarely try myself: tonal varieties on a single color. Blue and lilac scarf with a midnight blue (or black?) dress over a long blue print skirt, even lavender tights with dark blue clogs. And then a lime-and-red bag for "pop," as they say on Project Runway.

Cool couple with coffee

Or it might be chai. I always like the look of a very lightweight, summery dress with hard-rockin', knee-high boots to ground the outfit. What are her boots? They might be rubber waders. And here I really like the white knee-highs, too. I'm a big fan of high socks. When I stopped to take her picture, her companion graciously moved out of the way, but I said I wanted him in the shot, too! So glad that suspenders are making a comeback.

Also, can I pause here to say that one reason I'm doing this blog is to celebrate actual folks who live in the country and wear work pants and overalls and rubber boots and such because their work and lives demand them, rather than to follow a trend or co-opt someone else's style? I've heard that a lot of folks in, say, Brooklyn, NY are now dressing as if they, too, are organic farmers in Maine...and I'm not really into that.

Basket guy

I don't want to neglect men on this blog. I am so glad when men work a personal style, too--I think it's harder for guys to find a look that is all their own, because they just don't have as many options as we do. This guy is great, though. He is wearing a basket back carrier that you see a lot in these parts of Maine--I think they were used by the local Native American tribes, and then got used by hunters and fishermen, and lots of people are using them again now. Cool little hat, too. And he looks so happy.

Thumbs up!

What I so admire here is the great clash of colors, textures, patterns: the white-and-blue delicate floral cardigan over the chunky marigold sweater, for example. I wish I was brave enough to try this more often. And then the great red tights with the red shoes. This woman was trying to find something to soothe her friend's sore throat when I flagged her down and made her pose for me. I hope your friend feels better!

Ready for mud

This woman seemed plenty surprised to be asked to pose for a style blog, but I love the look: feminine, classic floral blouse with overalls (I love traditional overalls!), mud boots and a baseball hat. I try to remember to mix work clothes with things that are daintier; I like the mix of textures. Farm chic.

More beautiful girls with carrots

This little girl is matching her stylin' 2011 Common Ground Fair t-shirt with the purple striped leggings, purple striped headwrap and black and red cowgirl boots! And eating a raw carrot! Yee-haw!

Groovy mama

Smart to pair the wild pants with a very simple tank top. And I'm really into the renaissance of various kind of aprons, holsters and utility belts that I saw around the fair--stylish and practical, especially for a mom with no pockets on her lovely outfit (which is often my own situation). She also has beautiful curly hair and the most fantastic smile. She said she didn't like pictures of herself but I took two and I think she looks stunning in both! Nice hoop, too, lady!

Three teen boys

How cool is this bunch of friends? The caps, the bare feet, the ankle bracelets.

More color

This gorgeous woman is doing such daring things: turquoise with orange? Who knew?! And it totally works. I also love the green striped socks echoing the blue and green striped bag (which looked hand knit?). And I am such a sucker for a petticoat peeking out under a skirt. To me that says true country street style. I also adore her pretty silver hair.

Fall color

I thought I'd start with this one because I love the color of her outfit against her just-purchased farmer's market carrots and all the pumpkins (from Peacemeal Farm). I dig the orange print skirt with the pink leggings and pink boots!

Welcome to a street style blog, organic rural Maine style!

This blog is a testament to my passion for two things that might seem incongruous but are actually completely in sync: the Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener Association's Common Ground Country Fair, and street style.

MOFGA's Common Ground Fair is a big deal where I live, in Belfast, the progressive, artsy small town right on the water in Midcoast Maine that is also the county seat for rural Waldo County. The fair takes place in Unity, which is also in Waldo County, about 40 minutes inland from Belfast. While you might not think a country fair as a source of style and fashion inspiration, the Common Ground Fair is not your typical country fair!

Rather, the Common Ground Fair is a truly unique celebration of organic and local food, small farms, folk arts, progressive values, traditional Maine culture, music, politics, animals, nature, the earth, and more. It's also got a much more sophisticated and deliberate aesthetic than your average country fair: just check out the poster above. Every year, the Fair sponsors a contest for a design, and the design is printed on posters and t-shirts which are hung, collected and worn by folks all over our great state.

So it's a fair with a difference, and those who love it also know the Common Ground Fair is a great opportunity to dress up in your coolest countercultural outfit and let your freak flag fly!

This year, the year I'm starting this blog, 2011, is perhaps only my 4th time attending the fair, but from the very first time I went, I knew it was pretty much my idea of utopia. Incredible healthy and delicious food, fascinating workshops on things like composting toilets and making your own elderberry syrup, stunning crafts, old-timey music, and in general, just an unbelievable energy to the event, all in a pastoral rural setting that cannot be beat.

I am also someone who gets really excited about style--and notice that I say style, not fashion. I think of fashion as that stuff I can't afford in fancy magazines, or the trendy stuff that's mostly made in sweatshops by large corporations. Most of us can't afford fashion, and fashion is probably not too good for our planet, but I think of style as healthy and sustainable: anyone can have style. And as someone who really enjoys clothes and hair styles and shoes and all the rest of the stuff that goes along with personal adornment, I am most inspired by the outfits I see regular people put together--not things worn by models or rich folks, but creative, individual, exciting looks put together by folks on the street. Street style.

There are a lot of great blogs out there about street style, but from what I've seen, most of them focus on what is worn by young, thin, trendy folks in major cities around the world, places known for their fashion industries. One of the most well known street style blogs, The Satorialist (which I do enjoy), often shoots right outside of major fashion shows! My street style blog, on the other hand, features people of all ages and economic backgrounds in a very different setting: the country. Some of these folks are farmers, midwives, fisherman, activists, craftspeople...and as you will see, they have a fantastic sense of their own style.

So this blog is an ode to one of my fave passions, which is looking at street style, along with one of my other passions, the Common Ground Fair, and the utter ecstasy I feel when the two come together in one wild, stunning autumnal display.

I hope to post pics of beautiful people from the Common Ground Fair every year for years to come.