Imagining our Stories
Join us as we evolve; sharing stories and co-creating content with you.
Hello, dear friends of The Lissome,
As we continue to explore new stories and perspectives, we’re thrilled to open up a window into our team. In the coming months, we’ll be occasionally introducing you to members of The Lissome family, and sharing some of our behind-the-scenes moments. Alongside this, we’ll also continue to bring you inspiring brand stories and expand on a new category—interviews with experts.
Our hope is to ignite conversations and insights, sparking new connections across our community. We’re looking forward to sharing our journey with you—and can’t wait to hear your thoughts along the way. Your input is invaluable, so if you have content ideas or questions you’d like us to explore, please share and drop us a line!
We’ve already received a few great suggestions, such as starting a Community News section. You’ll find a first version when you scroll down below.
But now, please meet Elizabeth Crawford Mclellan, writer of the Slow Style Chronicle and associate editor of The Lissome:
I’m Liz, the core writer behind The Slow Style Chronicle. I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself, to tell you a little about the process and intention behind this newsletter. It’s been such a pleasure working on this project, watching it grow; seeing it evolve with all of you.
I am a multidisciplinary creative with a background in critical theory and art history. My skill set and interests have never fit neatly into one career path, one speciality. I am a silversmith, an illustrator, a strategist, and a writer. It took years to embrace this, to understand that my seemingly disparate passions were not a sign of my flighty inability to dedicate myself to one craft, but a gift that allows me to trace ideas through various mediums. I have learned to seek out the spaces that welcome this diversity, spaces where words, images, concepts, strategies, and crafts converge. The editorial space is such a place.
Part of what is so beautiful about a magazine is the opportunity to speak to and share a world with so many incredible creative and caring souls. Here, my work bridges writing, design, and strategy, all rooted in a commitment to creating a vibrant future, one that celebrates the beauty of the material world while honouring the imperative to sustain it.
My journey with The Lissome began a few years ago in a magazine shop in Toronto, called Issues. There, amid the gloss and matte of countless publications, I found the first issue of The Lissome. It spoke to me; a quiet but insistent call, a promise of something more profound. What followed was a series of conversations with Dörte, The Lissome’s founder—conversations that slowly nurtured the seed of this Substack.
We reflected on the questions, the tensions that we and others like us face. How do we reconcile a love for fashion and clothing with a deep-seated concern for the environment and the world at large? What is the path forward, both in the big-picture, and practically, in our day-to-day lives? Some questions that are not frequently addressed in the slow fashion space: how to run a business, how to be a successful creative, how to make and spend money? How could we provide not just insights, but a sense of community, a repository of resources for those striving to live thoughtfully and intentionally?
Together, we can build and live out these alternative models. I deeply believe the first step is being able to get in touch, on a deep and intimate level, with our needs, desires and passions. When we are able to step into them with conviction, prevailing currents, like the imperative for MORE, stop swaying us off course. We can take a breath, a pause, and begin to build our lives with our own definitions of success, growth, abundance and joy. After reading Kate Soper’s Post Growth Living: For an Alternative Hedonism, I felt re-invigorated with a sense of possibility, that we could collectively shift our definition of the ‘the good life’. I think we all need to take part in believing it is possible.
My Essential Reading:
Kate Soper, Post Growth Living: For An Alternative Hedonism
Sofi Thanhauser, Worn: A People’s History of Clothing
Yanagi Soētsu, The Beauty of Everyday Things
J.B. Mackinnon, The Day the World Stops Shopping: How Ending Consumerism Saves the Environment and Ourselves
Jean Beaudrillard, The System of Objects
This newsletter is our answer—it is a space where the intersections of fashion, sustainability, and mindful living are brought forth through collaborations, exploration and conversations. Many of you work in a field that intersects with The Lissome; fashion, textiles, publishing, writing, art, etc. The goal of this thread of communication is to create a community for us, where we can all uplift each other and share our insights into what is, often, a messy, challenging and oh so beautiful process.
If there’s one truth I’ve gleaned from my many years of living and working, it’s that the minutiae, the seemingly insignificant details, are what truly shape our reality. Every thought ripples forth into feelings, informing our action or inaction, and thereby constituting who we are, and our place in the world. Little steps add up over time, and in this fast-paced big-concept world we live in, it’s easy to lose sight of this. Yet, in the end, that’s what this whole project is about. Loving the minutiae: inside our minds, in every stitch in our clothing, in every decision in our businesses. Paying attention and cultivating care in every facet of our lives.
Some of my Favourite Designer-Makers and Niche Brands:
I am constantly researching and discovering new emerging designers, so I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight some of my favourite makers here. To me, they are makers who capture the visceral sensory beauty of the materials and forms they work with. Combining tradition and formal techniques with quiet playfulness.
My work is deeply informed by my spiritual practice. Eight years ago, faced with the onset of a chronic pain condition, I turned to meditation. This practice, this ritual; it has evolved over the years, but its impact remains profound. It has grounded me, shaped my creative process, allowed me to approach my work with clarity and intention. It is a practice of paying attention, both to my internal world and to the world around me. It brings me into the present, and opens up the space of possibility to truly engage with what is.
The newsletter, then, is more than just a project. It is a labour of love, each edition crafted with the hope of creating something with you. Your journey with us is invaluable. If you have dreams of what kind of content you’d love to see more of, what questions you want answered, please, share them with us. We began with a fairly structured approach to the content, to bring a sense of consistency. Now, we’re ready to diversify, explore and expand our offerings.
We look forward to continuing this exploration, this attention, this growth, together.
With warmth and gratitude,
Liz McLellan
PS. If you’d like to learn more about my work, you can find me here. I LOVE to collaborate with like-minded people. Let’s keep building the future world we want to see, together!
Community News
We are thrilled to introduce a new space in our newsletter: Community News.
Here, we invite you to share new initiatives in the fashion and textiles space, open calls, residencies, funding opportunities, job listings, and other news that will benefit and engage this growing community. If you have something to share, we’d love to hear from you. Let’s stay connected and inspire one another!
Community Cloth Learning Program / February 2025
Open Call
Interested in learning Wool Processing or Natural Dyeing and bringing this knowledge back to your community? Join our free learning program in Porto, Portugal, for educators, community leaders, and social workers.
Apply here / Deadline: 30th of November 2024
For questions, email us at info@communitycloth.eu
More information www.communitycloth.eu
Join The Lissome Team ✨
Job Listing
The Lissome is looking for an experienced freelance salesperson to help us develop sponsorship partnerships on a commission basis. This remote role is perfect for someone with a love for social impact, a network in the (slow) fashion and lifestyle industry, and experience in building meaningful partnerships.
💌 If you are interested, or know someone who might be a great fit, we’d love to hear from you! Email us at mail@thelissome.com with your CV and a cover letter detailing your experience.
Makers of Cornwall Showcase in London
Event Announcement
We are excited to announce a new design pop up celebrating handwork and tactility, showcasing art, furniture, homewares and clothing by makers of Cornwall. This event brings together makers that are deeply inspired by this landscape. In an elegant collection textured by the rhythms of handwork and naturally grown materials.
Dates: 21st - 24th November 2024
Location: Provision Store, Arch 53, Rope Walk, Maltby Street, London
Private view: Thursday 21st 6pm–9pm
Brushmaking Workshop: Saturday 23rd, 3pm–5pm. Book your space here.
To share your news, email us at mail@thelissome.com or fill in this form.
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