I hope that title (pulled from The Independent, below) grabbed your attention, because I am about to push boundaries outside of the comfortable Oregon poli-chit-chat and the strange, but newsworthy, obsessions of Kids These Days. Instead, I bring you two of my obsessions: labor rights and fashion! And how they go hand-in-hand, natch!

Quick and dirty fashion summation, for background: the basic state of the industry/art scene is all caught up on the technology side of the technology/craftsmanship axis that drives fashion. You can buy a dress at Forever21 for the price of lunch a month after a very similar one floated down a runway on the other side of the globe. Fashion is fast and you can get the look you want for cheap. The only difference between this pencil skirt and that pencil skirt (minus the signifiers that label them as such) are the methods of production. Enter sweatfree goods. Enter "Green Goods."

And now, enter unionized models! Word has it, and as The Independent reports, models have made moves to join the Equity trade union, the actor's guild with an authentic accent. Models don't like to show up only to be told they can't wear a shirt. And they want to have the right to get fat, pudge out over sample sizes, and still keep their job. Minimum work standards need to exist for every industry, but I really can't wait to see what happens as folks flesh out this proposal- the entire point of an artistic photo shoot is to ask a sleek young thing to do something really uncomfortable and hold it for a long time while looking happy. Think about how pretty the picket lines could be!

To check out a picket line full of model citizens here in our own home-grown PDX, join the MESD workers on strike on their Thursday afternoon candlelight vigil for fairness. No cute jeans required.