Born in NY - Made in LA — Finding Katnis

After living in the greatest city in the world – Perfect for those who love sleepless nights, and busy buzzing mornings- I finally took the big leap and moved across the country from New York to Los Angeles. On January 17th I packed up my New York attitude, usually reserved for tourists taking up space on busy sidewalks and pesky catcallers, then boarded a plane holding just a one-way ticket to Sunny California.

The truth is, I didn’t have a set reason for leaving the place I’ve called home for the past 24 years. Whenever approached with the question my response would vary from “I’m chasing the sun” to “I’m chasing a slower life pace”. Some people have tried to remind me that Los Angeles is still quite the buzzing city…. Yet here I am casually sipping tea on my front porch, trying to start this blog, while occasionally glancing up to look at the grapefruit tree on the property that’s strategically keeping me invisible to the rare passerby, and I’ve forgotten I’m living in what is considered a city. In fact, I’ve come to realize that I wasn’t truly chasing anything – I was running away. I was fleeing the chaos that is known as the big apple, the constant criticism from my peers that kept me from starting any of the projects, and running away from bad habits. There was one particular habit that I prioritized with my move. For the past couple of years I have been suffering from what can only be called an addiction to online shopping. My main culprit: Fast fashion.

(Shameful, I know)

Enough with the background story - Allow me to bring you to the point of this blog. After coming to the revelation that I found fashion as my therapy, I decided to connect it to another one of my passions that I never quite explored: Sustainability. That, along with exploring social businesses, truly gave my move to Los Angeles purpose. I chose to recover from my addiction to online shopping by limiting myself to purchasing items that fit a certain criteria, and moving to a place where sustainable, eco-friendly, and ethical fashion is engraved into the culture made the most sense.

Despite the discouragement and eye-rolls from my dear New York friends that love to shut down any dream as cult-like or uncool, I began my research into sustainable brands and submerged myself in hundreds of sustainable blogs. It didn’t take long before I could realize this wasn’t going to be easy. I wanted to transition into a more thoughtful wardrobe without losing my personal style, and for that to work I first had to identify what exactly was my signature look. My closet was stuffed with a bunch of one-night stands – Articles of clothing that could only work for a single outfit, or pieces that quickly became regrets after purchase. Another huge obstacle I came across was finding brands and pieces that had life to them. A general thought on ethical fashion is that it's all about shapeless potato sacks and Aztec prints that border on the questions of cultural appropriation, and that isn’t too far from the truth for a lot of brands. So here I am, trying to embellish my new lady curves that have finally started to come in, and embrace the muffin top that reminds me of all the amazing cuisines I indulged in during 2016, yet most of what I find is designed to hide any and all of it. That’s when I realized my transition would require a lot more time, dedication, and research so by changing my environment I was able to re-focus my life, sans social distractions, and truly work on curating a wardrobe that fit both my ethics and my ever evolving style.

Did I mention we have a grapefuit tree? Top by Underprotection

Here I hope to share my therapeutic journey into cleaning out my closet (literally), while honestly depicting my struggles of finding a piece of myself with the new garments I acquire. If you’re also thinking about making a lifestyle change and accepting more ethical brands into your day to day wear but are having a difficult time getting started, then I hope to be of assistance. I’m choosing the best of the sustainable brands I come across, and doing the dirty work for you, hopefully offering some humor along the way.