How Fashion Plays "The Glad Game"

Of course Pollyanna's happy! She gets to live in a mansion, and her rich aunt encourages shopping sprees!

Abe Lincoln (via Karl Malden as the minister from Pollyanna) once said, "If you look for the bad in people, you will surely find it." I've been reading Gretchen Rubin's wonderful book The Happiness Project recently and have been very struck by the simple realization that if you set yourself up to be happy and find beauty then you will. I don't mean turning your town's grumpy citizens into an all-out love-your-neighbor-fest (although who better to do that than cherub-faced Hayley Mills?), but by finding little joys in very small things you can sometimes scrounge up enough inspiration to turn a day around.

Gucci spring ready-to-wear, meet the chipping paint on my neighbor's garage. Chipping paint, meet Gucci.

A somewhat roundabout example is this new game where I photograph average things that remind me of an outfit or pattern. Instantly, peeling paint becomes mosaic ikat designs, and gross oil slicks become Proenza Schouler.  It's fun, and -- without delving further into the "Glad Game" analogy -- by applying my macro settings to the everyday, an extra bit of goodness is revealed.

Illusion dress from Proenza Schouler's 2010 spring ready-to-wear line and oil in a gutter. Ooooooo!