A weekly roundup of EcoSalon’s top stories.

For some women, skirts inspire feelings of love mixed with hate. EcoSalon West Coast fashion correspondent Rowena Ritchie writes in Skirting The Issues, “Hemlines are the litmus test of fashion history as a cultural study.” Do you agree?

If you’re like most people, you have a mountain of reusable bags that we hope you’re using and not just stockpiling to show how green you are. EcoSalon Editor-in-Chief, Sara Ost pens in her column The Insider’s Guide To Life: the Revolution Will Not Be Bagged, “Most of the time, I’m just amused by how relentless the bag pushers are. Rather than sigh in irritation during my moments of canvas bag forgetfulness, I’ve actually taken to forgetting my reusable bags on purpose just to see if I can be allowed out of the store without a bag for my chives or new d’Orsays. No one has called me crazy to my face. But their eyes say it all.”

We women have all had bad bosses, but your ex-heavy isn’t anything compared to these featured in senior editor Andrea Newell’s article, The Five Worst Companies For Women To Work At. Newell features “Five organizations that have recently been on the wrong end of allegations and legal action by women for gender discrimination and other unfair practices aimed primarily at female employees.”

People walk into your house and say, “You have the most original house of anyone I know.” After they say this, you scan your room overflowing with tropical plants, vintage lamps, a worn-in couch with Danish Mid-Century side tables and think to yourself “Huh?” Christiane Lemieux, founder and creative director of DwellStudio and author of Undecorate, would call your eclecticism a “Love of imperfection and penchant for surprise and unusual juxtapositions.” In Color Outside The Lines, Shelter Editor Leigha Oakes shows us how to break the rules.

Are there vegetables you always see at your farmer’s market or grocery store that you want to try out but are afraid of? In Vanessa Barrington’s Green Plate column, 5 Spring Vegetables To Love Right Now, five of those veggies are tackled with ease.

Image: cogdogblog

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Christiane Lemieux’s new book Undecorate breaks all the rules.

I follow the rules. I don’t park in emergency zones, I wait for my seating section to be called before boarding, and I always sort my recycling. But sometimes I color outside the lines. In fact, I break all social conventions and rules when it comes to design (remember my diatribe against furniture suites and homogeny?), so my heart pitters, patters, and flutters at the notion of Undecorate ($40), by Christiane Lemieux (the founder and creative director of DwellStudio). In this fresh new take on interiors, Lemieux explores spaces that challenge tradition with an eclectic, “love of imperfection and penchant for surprise and unusual juxtapositions.”

The premise of Undecorate sanctions taking hold of your space and taking the liberty to infuse your taste. If you find something you love, it belongs inside your walls – regardless of color, style, function, etc. Embracing diversity among your objects results in a unique aesthetic analogous to Bohemian whimsy.

Here’s an excerpt to ponder from the introduction of Undecorate.

“What does it mean to undecorate? A fine question.

It’s mixing fine antiques with your collection of Cher Barbie dolls, as Harry Heissman does in his description-defying apartment in Brooklyn Heights. It’s leaving temporary party decorations up for years because they just somehow seem right, as Erica Tanov does in her ridiculously beautiful California house. It’s wedging antique columns into a suburban house, or parking your cars in the living room, or building your own alter, or hanging vintage advertising posters in your toddler’s bedroom. Undecorated is following your instinct, even when it’s telling you to do something a little crazy, a little different, something against the rules.

Undecorating isn’t haphazard style; it’s not thought-free. It’s about being guided by something other than the traditional constraints – whether it’s your commitment to the environment, or your love of polka dots, or the fact that you want to feel like you’re in Paris when you live in Peoria.”

What’s not to love, right? I’m off to order my copy here. May I suggest you do the same? And don’t let it linger on your coffee table alone, set it beside one of these beautiful bound pictorial creations.

Images: Melanie Acevedo for Undecorate

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