why not an overall society ? thoughts inspired by the 60ties/70ties, but not completely the same!
Hi folks, while many of you are having your Thanksgiving dinner, perhaps wearing overalls ?, and before some of you, perhaps not many, but many of your fellow citizens are going crazy on black Friday, I will take the freedom to come up with some general thoughts after having read several comments on our first overalls day here on this blog and other blogs and facebook etc.. I really begin to think that overalls are not just a fantastic clothing item, but also a symbol for a way of thinking and living !
I was young in the late 60ties and early 70ties and there was a lot of fun going on and one of the big things was the liberation of women, demanding equal rights for both women and men, fine of course no problem, but….. one of the problematic things at least viewed from my angle, was that very often men and women went to separate gatherings and in a way developed two different cultures ending up with our current situation, where in some way you have equal rights, but there are also a quite strong system of different roles affiliated with each gender, on what is masculine and feminine behavior and outfit ! Well, I know it might not be a much out in the countryside, but in cities and in many, many communities worldwide, there are quite strong gender roles determining what you are expected to do and to look like ! And now I come to the overalls ! One of the qualities for males as wells as for females by wearing overalls is that you can choose to be fancy, to take a scarf and become a little chick or work hard in either kitchen, garden, in the factory and even teach your students ! You don’t need to decide whether you want to follow general female roles or male roles, but you can be a whole overall being taking into account that we all have some of both cells and develop some kind of more flexible ways of living. If you are a man in a biological sense and want to knit, make cookies as well as sail or go hunting etc. you can do all the things at different time! So in other words, let’s open up the fixed gender roles and have a more diverse and colorful way of life. Another characteristic dimension in the 60ties/70ties, especially among the hippies, was to recycle clothes, to patch the clothes etc. not to always buy new clothes, special brands etc. This has also dwindled quite a lot, so nowadays you are usually expected to follow the main clothing culture, more or less buying clothes all the time ! I know it might not be as much the case in the countryside as in urban culture, but I am reading very often that it is a painful process for many of you, going to something, where you need to dress up, often in some tight outfit, limiting your capacity of breathing all the way down from top to toe!
So in addition to improving organic food, more vegetables etc. as many of you are working with, I would be so happy if we could start moving into a social climate for flexible gender roles and making old worn out clothes cool, I would be really happy and I am sure that it would also help to make the world more peaceful ! Now I stop and I would be happy to get comments, both supportive and critical comments are of course welcome and I finish with two shots of my scones and a view from our window watching the colors in this dark afternoon of the North. LOL from your bibprofessor and happy continued holidays 
Good morning everybody, it was a fantastic experience yesterday to have such much fun with all you overalls fans, but actually as Lille mentioned, I also think there are more into this experience than just funny crazy things around a clothing item ! it is about life overall ! making an accidentally day into something special is not new, one of the most famous and best novels is James Joyce: Ulysses, about one day, it could have been November 20 ! and unexpected things for good and worse can happen every day as many of you know and also have experienced in these days. In that case it is important to be open and able to relax and breathe as much as possible in order to be ready for what each single day brings you of joy and sorrow, and for that overalls are not bad a thing to wear !:) and as Shara mention the fantastic thing about overalls is that it goes across male and female, all the discussions of gender roles, you can do what you like to do, no matter who you are ! be creative overall, and be ready for party by taking a scarf or red bowtie on or splashing your paint on them while you are making art ! and I think it all boils down to some kind of way of living, living in an frugal artistic way, leading my to last point, that I really hope that we at some point can meet each other on one site, giving a lot of hugs, sharing joy and grief, showing our art, knitting, cookies, newish overalls, patches, poetry or good recipes and make some good coffee and food and music and songs !:) so even if the sun disappears up here for 2 months, I know from you that the sun shines overall ! warm hugs from bibprofessor 
HI everybody around the world supporting this overalls day initiative, this is proving world citizenship is not just up in the air, but is real, at least among us overalls fans by choice ! after a really nice dinner, my wifeand I have been taking some photos, or have tried !:) and here they are, with my dear Bodil in her recycled umbrella skirt with a bird from Guatemala, a gift from our dear friend Mary in San Francisco, and myself in my at least 8 years old overalls, Big Ben, also bought in San Francisco as more or less all my overalls !:) and then a nerded photo of a detail of patch and worn out fabric, something which makes old overalls so fantastic ! and now I will stop in order to get it out before overalls day is finished for us and for you with some more hours, enjoy, and I will be back tomorrow with more thoughts, but I am just so incredible happy, hugs to everybody from your bibprofessor
Hello, still very excited about what is going to happen tomorrow apart from when it comes to myself, I am going to business meetings in overalls (as I often do!) ! and celebrating the day with my wife, me in my old big ben overalls and her in a new outfit, more tomorrow and the photos are from my city in the morning and the afternoon ! not much light anymore, but overall I have on my computer screen a collage of my favorite pages, several with overalls ! and myself on the interface photo, hopefully see you online in overalls tomorrow !
Well, I have not much to say before the big day on Friday !:)))), except that these 2 shots are from June 2001, when I was living in San Francisco and just had bought my first big ben overalls and went to Lands End with the most important clothing item !! and also went down to the Pacific to get some water refreshing my body and one of the wonderful thing with baggy overalls is that you can roll them up as long as you want to ! so here we go, and btw, are there any out there who know how to make a collage of all our blogs into one overalls collage ! or should we make a calendar for 2010 with overalls photo, one for each week or one for each day !:)
Here I am in San Francisco in 2001 proudly posing my then very new thrifted big ben overalls, just discovered the joy and quality of overalls and 8 years later, on next Friday I am wearing the same, now well worn out and patched overalls to celebrate our favorite clothing and I am still so happy to say WE, with all you folks ready to march or dance or what ever on Friday enjoying the freedom and relaxing feeling of being able to play, paint or getting dirty or clean ! making arts, cookies, courses or whatever ! and I believe many will agree with me that next year we must do an overalls festival, perhaps a new kind of Woodstock ? well, no need of comparing it to something else than it self, so I really hope we can make the festival, perhaps in New Orleans ?? with music, arts, crafts etc. etc. etc. and a lot of happy folks in overalls or like ! but of course it is in a way more organic and exciting to have overalls fiesta in many places on this very Friday ! can’t wait ! see you soon !
Hello from the very North 69 degrees North, where the sun disappear the day after overalls Day, on next Saturday for 2 months, so we have to keep the warm comfortable overalls spirit. In one of my first posts in this blog in April 2007, I was dreaming about a special bib identity/bib as folk costume, talking about making a bib day etc. and now 2 years later, it turns out to be a reality with Laury, Frankie, Jodi, Richard, Maya etc. etc. etc. I am overwhelmed, have almost no words for this development. I feel so happy about it, at last having found my folks ! been searching for years ! I’m a regular professor at a University, (photo of me in my office on campus) not the most traditional place for overalls people. I have often wondered what Edison meant,when he talked about missing opportunities because people are wearing overalls and it looks like “work”, and then Susan explained it for me and now I see 2 reasons why I didn’t understood it, one is that I am not the professor type who is not making his own coffee and printing copies etc., but I am also emphasizing the handicraft /”work” dimension of science as well of art, turning the scientist and artist into potential overalls people, bringing them down to earth, where research and art really gets it flavor instead of becoming a part of the dressing up high society cocktail party, which have never been my style and is never going to be style. Instead I want to take pride of what you have done through hardworking experiments wearing overalls with traces of a long history, that’s is really something !
Then a last thought around young people who are afraid of wearing overalls in the public, try not to be afraid. We are a growing group of people, a global overalls community who are supporting you !
Hello from the North to overalls fans overall the globe ready for first overalls day Nov 20!
Hi everybody, during the last day or 2, a lot of bib overalls fans have shown up on facebook thanks to Woodstock Lily and Jodi so a lot of people are preparing celebrations on Friday next week ! that’s just fantastic! I had never dreamed of that when Susan and I got the idea earlier this year and then joined by Laury and Maya so even if I am a rare person here in Norway standing in the auditorium in overalls, I now really feel there is a shared happiness among those who wear overalls because it is comfortable, relaxing and a special joy of following the process of fading and getting almost torn and fringed etc. but then patched in many creative and colorful ways ! like my old jeans jacket from ‘61 and “new” key overalls from 2001
so I am really looking forward to see how the first overalls day is going to be like! and please take a look at notquitejunecleaver tomorrow for recipes for overalls celebration parties next week!
Now there is only 13 days left before 1st international overalls Day and one thing is clear, the primary reason why people are choosing overalls as their favorite clothing is comfort and thus the possibility of relaxing and breathing all the way down from your head to your feet, so as mentioned yesterday, why not making overalls to the default dress code, couldn’t be fun to see signs: only overalls are allowed !:), well, I really don’t want to press people something they don’t like, but then one could make a recommendation ! then it is still up to people to decide ! So let us show the people why it is so wonderful to wear overalls on ordinary days as well as to parties, like myself in the kitchen today and to a New Year party a few years ago after a glass or two of wine !:) So be ready for November 20 !!
Mom’s 95 years birthday – thoughts on celebrations/party, breathing and overalls – contradiction or possible to bring together ?
Today my mother turned 95 and I and my 2 brothers went down to her residence for dementia people, and it was really nice to make a party for her ! and I was of course wearing overalls and my so called red butterfly ! and while this happened, Ms. Moon, another overalls addict, wrote about how awful it is to put restrictions on your capacity of breathing when you go to parties like Weddings etc. by wearing bras or in my case belts etc. instead of wearing overalls and t-shirt and no narrow shoes or like ! why is it supposed to be proper to limit your capacity for being relaxed and breathe all the way down, when you are making some kind of festivities or celebrations ! perhaps the International overalls day will be the start of a revolution against restrictive dressing up ! Let’s make relaxing parties with overalls and similar breathing clothes , to the default dress code !!
