Working in an industry built on child labour and exploitation, it's little wonder models have finally unionised
I especially want those boots.
A friend of mine recently went home with a young woman after a party. However, before he, you know, got down to business, he went to use her toilet and spotted Britney Spears's perfume in her bathroom. He promptly made his excuses and left. Was that unreasonable? And what are other similar style deal-breakers?
Dave, by email
Your query with regard to the reasonableness or otherwise of your friend's swift exit can be quickly resolved. Simply put, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a grown woman in possession of a celebrity perfume must be in want of some psychological help. "Your friend", Dave, was reasonable and wise.
With regard to the latter issue, ah me. It's so tricky, isn't it? Life, I mean. At last, you meet someone at a party who doesn't want to make you bite off your own arm to give you an excuse to leave. You go home with them, and what is about to happen starts to happen – only for you to realise that their carefully chosen mood-assisting album is The Greatest Hits of Kasabian.
Oh sure, there are the danger signs to look out for on arrival in the house of a new encounter: posters of the Third Reich, a Ku Klux Klan hood hanging on a coat hook, books by Jeremy Clarkson – but these are obvious. It's the little things that really count. After all, as anyone who's been in a relationship knows, few end because of the dramatic discovery of a secret love child; most die because of a fight over why one of you forgot to buy lightbulbs.
Few details speak as loudly as someone's style choices because, superficial as they may seem, they are what your inamorata or inamorato elects to wear all day. Hence, they are actually more indicative of a person's true self than the books on their shelves, of which 35% were gifts from other people, 10% were freebies, 25% were bought just for show, and 85% are unread. (Incidentally, according to a recent scientific survey, the current book to flaunt for pulling purposes is Jonathan Franzen's Freedom. Seriously, only one in 17 of the people you see carrying that book around town are actually reading it. Fact.)
Now, in some ways your question surprises me, Dave, because I'd have thought the fashion warning signs would be obvious. Of course, having said that, if they were as clear to everyone as they are to those of us with a professional eye, no man would ever wear Ugg boots.
So, in a handy cut-out-and-keep guide, here is Ask Hadley's list of What Not To Have In Your Wardrobe For The Good Of The Perpetuation Of The Human Species: ...
Dave, by email
Your query with regard to the reasonableness or otherwise of your friend's swift exit can be quickly resolved. Simply put, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a grown woman in possession of a celebrity perfume must be in want of some psychological help. "Your friend", Dave, was reasonable and wise.
With regard to the latter issue, ah me. It's so tricky, isn't it? Life, I mean. At last, you meet someone at a party who doesn't want to make you bite off your own arm to give you an excuse to leave. You go home with them, and what is about to happen starts to happen – only for you to realise that their carefully chosen mood-assisting album is The Greatest Hits of Kasabian.
Oh sure, there are the danger signs to look out for on arrival in the house of a new encounter: posters of the Third Reich, a Ku Klux Klan hood hanging on a coat hook, books by Jeremy Clarkson – but these are obvious. It's the little things that really count. After all, as anyone who's been in a relationship knows, few end because of the dramatic discovery of a secret love child; most die because of a fight over why one of you forgot to buy lightbulbs.
Few details speak as loudly as someone's style choices because, superficial as they may seem, they are what your inamorata or inamorato elects to wear all day. Hence, they are actually more indicative of a person's true self than the books on their shelves, of which 35% were gifts from other people, 10% were freebies, 25% were bought just for show, and 85% are unread. (Incidentally, according to a recent scientific survey, the current book to flaunt for pulling purposes is Jonathan Franzen's Freedom. Seriously, only one in 17 of the people you see carrying that book around town are actually reading it. Fact.)
Now, in some ways your question surprises me, Dave, because I'd have thought the fashion warning signs would be obvious. Of course, having said that, if they were as clear to everyone as they are to those of us with a professional eye, no man would ever wear Ugg boots.
So, in a handy cut-out-and-keep guide, here is Ask Hadley's list of What Not To Have In Your Wardrobe For The Good Of The Perpetuation Of The Human Species: ...
Why do so many people wear clothes with brand names on them?
In short, because they are stupid
Hadley Freeman
Sunday 3 October 2010
Hello Hadley, long-time reader, first-time contributor. Why is it that so many people these days wear clothes that absurdly advertise the shop?
- David Walker, London
Hello David, long-time ranter, first-time replier (to you). The answer to your question is simple: it's because they are morons. And not just morons – multi-level morons. For a start, they think that somehow flaunting the name of the shop from which they bought the garment makes them look cool. This means they are brand snobs, which is bad enough, but what makes it even worse is that the brands themselves are always ones that any sane, thinking person would try to hide from the world, such as Sloaney pony Hollister, or the sluttishly ubiquitous Emporio Armani (that Emporio Armani sure gets around: there is not a man on this planet who hasn't had a bit of Emporio Armani splayed across his chest). Thus, while this column obviously abhors any kind of prejudice, it is perfectly acceptable to shun these people, not because they are stupid (although that, too), but because they are saying they think you're stupid, because they think you are as impressed as they are with their label flashing. Now, that's just rude. So shun them, David. Shun them hard. They need to be taught the error of their idiotic ways.
Second, they fail to see that they are merely being used by the brand as a form of free advertising. Again – moronic. They are like those unbelievably dorky kids from summer camp who used to believe the camp counsellor when she said that tidying their bunks extra quickly would make them really cool. Worse, seeing as these idiots are willing to pay to advertise the brands, it is no wonder these companies then decide they probably don't need to fork out money to advertise in magazines and newspapers. Ergo, they are killing the press. Morons!
Third, they paid extra money for that label to be sloshed across their clothes. Lots and lots of extra money! Obviously, as I have never soiled my hands by picking up such a garment, I cannot tell you how much more they have paid for the privilege of being walking adverts. But seeing as they are morons, it is likely to be by at least an extra £500. Per letter.
How long – or, to be more precise, how big – can a man's hair be before it gets a bit "banker"?
- J, New York
J, I like your interjected note of specificity, distinguishing that crucial long/big distinction that is so often treated as a single issue but, in the arena of men's hair, is the difference between sloppy and Sloaney or, to throw in your new, intriguing, and utterly apt description, billowy and banker. With such attention to detail, have you ever thought of working in, I don't know, the financial field? ...
In short, because they are stupid
Hadley Freeman
Sunday 3 October 2010
Hello Hadley, long-time reader, first-time contributor. Why is it that so many people these days wear clothes that absurdly advertise the shop?
- David Walker, London
Hello David, long-time ranter, first-time replier (to you). The answer to your question is simple: it's because they are morons. And not just morons – multi-level morons. For a start, they think that somehow flaunting the name of the shop from which they bought the garment makes them look cool. This means they are brand snobs, which is bad enough, but what makes it even worse is that the brands themselves are always ones that any sane, thinking person would try to hide from the world, such as Sloaney pony Hollister, or the sluttishly ubiquitous Emporio Armani (that Emporio Armani sure gets around: there is not a man on this planet who hasn't had a bit of Emporio Armani splayed across his chest). Thus, while this column obviously abhors any kind of prejudice, it is perfectly acceptable to shun these people, not because they are stupid (although that, too), but because they are saying they think you're stupid, because they think you are as impressed as they are with their label flashing. Now, that's just rude. So shun them, David. Shun them hard. They need to be taught the error of their idiotic ways.
Second, they fail to see that they are merely being used by the brand as a form of free advertising. Again – moronic. They are like those unbelievably dorky kids from summer camp who used to believe the camp counsellor when she said that tidying their bunks extra quickly would make them really cool. Worse, seeing as these idiots are willing to pay to advertise the brands, it is no wonder these companies then decide they probably don't need to fork out money to advertise in magazines and newspapers. Ergo, they are killing the press. Morons!
Third, they paid extra money for that label to be sloshed across their clothes. Lots and lots of extra money! Obviously, as I have never soiled my hands by picking up such a garment, I cannot tell you how much more they have paid for the privilege of being walking adverts. But seeing as they are morons, it is likely to be by at least an extra £500. Per letter.
How long – or, to be more precise, how big – can a man's hair be before it gets a bit "banker"?
- J, New York
J, I like your interjected note of specificity, distinguishing that crucial long/big distinction that is so often treated as a single issue but, in the arena of men's hair, is the difference between sloppy and Sloaney or, to throw in your new, intriguing, and utterly apt description, billowy and banker. With such attention to detail, have you ever thought of working in, I don't know, the financial field? ...
The second day of Paris fashion week may come to be remembered as the first day of the post-size zero age.
By 11.30am this morning, the catwalks of Paris had already hosted a plus-size supermodel, a 40-year-old ex-model returned to the runway after having four children, spike-haired amateurs, and a pregnant Hollywood starlet.
At Balenciaga, designer Nicolas Ghesquiere interspersed regular catwalk faces with women he spotted in the street, veteran models Stella Tennant and Amber Valetta, and the pregnant actor Miranda Kerr.
Zac Posen, the American designer who has newly moved his show to Paris, had well-known plus-size models including Crystal Renn dotted through his running order. Neither designer made a fanfare about the diverse casting, but simply presented the show as if it were now the natural order of things.
Posen said backstage after his show that he wanted to make clothes "for women who love life, and all the best things in it – sex, friendship, food".
The casting seemed to consolidate a move toward a broader vision of catwalk beauty which has been developing since the beginning of this catwalk season.Tom Ford included Beyoncé and Julianne Moore in his New York show, while Giles Deacon hired Kelly Brook and Abbey Clancey for his London collection.
But Paris fashion week prides itself on being unpredictable, and the visibility of womanly curves on the catwalk was offset by the androgynous clothes in which they were dressed. ...
By 11.30am this morning, the catwalks of Paris had already hosted a plus-size supermodel, a 40-year-old ex-model returned to the runway after having four children, spike-haired amateurs, and a pregnant Hollywood starlet.
At Balenciaga, designer Nicolas Ghesquiere interspersed regular catwalk faces with women he spotted in the street, veteran models Stella Tennant and Amber Valetta, and the pregnant actor Miranda Kerr.
Zac Posen, the American designer who has newly moved his show to Paris, had well-known plus-size models including Crystal Renn dotted through his running order. Neither designer made a fanfare about the diverse casting, but simply presented the show as if it were now the natural order of things.
Posen said backstage after his show that he wanted to make clothes "for women who love life, and all the best things in it – sex, friendship, food".
The casting seemed to consolidate a move toward a broader vision of catwalk beauty which has been developing since the beginning of this catwalk season.Tom Ford included Beyoncé and Julianne Moore in his New York show, while Giles Deacon hired Kelly Brook and Abbey Clancey for his London collection.
But Paris fashion week prides itself on being unpredictable, and the visibility of womanly curves on the catwalk was offset by the androgynous clothes in which they were dressed. ...
Shoes created for women can make even those who walk around for a living fall down.
Is this sexism? Discuss.
Discussion points:
Are there similar men's shoes?
Do men's shoes ever make them fall down?
Men ceased wearing high heels centuries ago. Why do women continue?
Had a model refused to wear shoes like these, what would have happened?
Attitudes toward female forms vary radically within history and between cultures. Do today's fashion models represent an accurate expression of "womanhood"?
Do essentially hairless, skinny models seem more like prepubescent girls than women?
Do essentially hairless, skinny male models seem more like small boys than men?
American women began depilating their armpits in the 1920s because of an advertising campaign involving sleeveless dresses. Discuss.
Many women who are not Americans do not use depilatories. Discuss.
Some Frenchwomen began underarm depilation during the Revolution, because of parasites. Discuss germ theory and hygiene, and how regular washing decreases diseases' incidence and spread, and increased the modern lifespan.
Victorian women often wore heavy hats, corsets, several petticoats and many other undergarments, heavy and elaborate suits and dresses, regardless of the season. Why?
Help students realize "That was the style/fashion," is not a real answer, and that there may not be a real answer.
A majority of surveyed men claimed they dislike makeup. Discuss.
Is women's fashion anti-woman?
Discuss how BDSM fetishes are related to high heels and fashion if students are suitably mature.
If you really think vintage clothes are cool . . .
. . . then don't wear fake ones with the label's name written on the chest
Hadley Freeman
Sunday 19 September 2010
That Faux Vintage look. Photograph: Linda Nylind
I have noticed a lot of men my age wearing Superdry T-shirts and other similarly vintage-looking tops. Is this the new de rigueur look for men in their late 20s and early 30s? Must I join in?
Mark, by email
Double negative, Mark, though your confusion is wholly understandable. Indeed, it does seem as though all British men born between 1975 and 1985 have suddenly joined a cult called Faux Vintage.
Faux Vintage refers to the totally lame, usually pre-faded, always sloganed clothing that features a juxtaposition of primary colours and says something unbelievably irritating such as "Jerry's Crayfish Stall, New Orleans – Best crayfish in the south!", even though the closest the wearer has ever been to Louisiana was when he once dated a girl called Louisa, and the T-shirt was bought from a tedious stall in Camden Market.
As you might be able tell from the above, I am not a fan of this look. Not because I am a snob about authenticity: authenticity snobbery is one of the few things more irritating than Faux Vintage. It's the fact that the wearer is blindly subscribing to the tedious belief that vintage is inherently cool, even if it's not actually vintage. Moreover, I am not a fan of any clothing that proclaims one's recent holiday destination or musical tastes because I do not feel the need to bandy around my inner personal scrapbook across my chest in a desperate attempt to impress strangers and as a substitute for having an actual personality. But hey, that's just me.
Faux Vintage is even worse because in this case the wearer hasn't even been to Jerry's (presumably non-existent) Crayfish Stall – he's just wearing the T-shirt because he tragically thinks the look is cool. (See previous paragraph for my thoughts on that.)
Superdry achieves what I'd heretofore considered an impossibility: it has made Faux Vintage even more annoying and it has done so by bringing label-snobbery to the look. This is an extraordinary little trick because vintage's original appeal is that it isn't a label. Oh no, nothing from a chain or mass-marketed designer for your vintage fan – no Reiss or Emporio Armani would you find in their closet. No, they went off the beaten (high street) path for originals. Which is fine, if a smidgeon smug and self-conscious. But now Superdry comes along, knocks out T-shirts in the usual Faux Vintage style, and then slaps its own name across them and suddenly, Superdry in itself becomes a label to flash among your demographic, Mark. I'd like to think that it is a brilliant satire on the cult of vintage, but that does seem unlikely. The fact that this label has become so phenomenally successful proves that vintage was never, really, about being original, it was about trying to be cool. This makes me feel simultaneously an enormous sense of self-vindication and a sudden desire to weep for mankind. ...
. . . then don't wear fake ones with the label's name written on the chest
Hadley Freeman
Sunday 19 September 2010
That Faux Vintage look. Photograph: Linda Nylind
I have noticed a lot of men my age wearing Superdry T-shirts and other similarly vintage-looking tops. Is this the new de rigueur look for men in their late 20s and early 30s? Must I join in?
Mark, by email
Double negative, Mark, though your confusion is wholly understandable. Indeed, it does seem as though all British men born between 1975 and 1985 have suddenly joined a cult called Faux Vintage.
Faux Vintage refers to the totally lame, usually pre-faded, always sloganed clothing that features a juxtaposition of primary colours and says something unbelievably irritating such as "Jerry's Crayfish Stall, New Orleans – Best crayfish in the south!", even though the closest the wearer has ever been to Louisiana was when he once dated a girl called Louisa, and the T-shirt was bought from a tedious stall in Camden Market.
As you might be able tell from the above, I am not a fan of this look. Not because I am a snob about authenticity: authenticity snobbery is one of the few things more irritating than Faux Vintage. It's the fact that the wearer is blindly subscribing to the tedious belief that vintage is inherently cool, even if it's not actually vintage. Moreover, I am not a fan of any clothing that proclaims one's recent holiday destination or musical tastes because I do not feel the need to bandy around my inner personal scrapbook across my chest in a desperate attempt to impress strangers and as a substitute for having an actual personality. But hey, that's just me.
Faux Vintage is even worse because in this case the wearer hasn't even been to Jerry's (presumably non-existent) Crayfish Stall – he's just wearing the T-shirt because he tragically thinks the look is cool. (See previous paragraph for my thoughts on that.)
Superdry achieves what I'd heretofore considered an impossibility: it has made Faux Vintage even more annoying and it has done so by bringing label-snobbery to the look. This is an extraordinary little trick because vintage's original appeal is that it isn't a label. Oh no, nothing from a chain or mass-marketed designer for your vintage fan – no Reiss or Emporio Armani would you find in their closet. No, they went off the beaten (high street) path for originals. Which is fine, if a smidgeon smug and self-conscious. But now Superdry comes along, knocks out T-shirts in the usual Faux Vintage style, and then slaps its own name across them and suddenly, Superdry in itself becomes a label to flash among your demographic, Mark. I'd like to think that it is a brilliant satire on the cult of vintage, but that does seem unlikely. The fact that this label has become so phenomenally successful proves that vintage was never, really, about being original, it was about trying to be cool. This makes me feel simultaneously an enormous sense of self-vindication and a sudden desire to weep for mankind. ...
Dept. of Merch
Torso
by Rebecca Mead
August 9, 2010
...For his part, Pop wears no underwear, exposed or otherwise. “Things like that give me the creeps,” he said. He feels similarly about socks.
Pop’s venture with Sony Music, which is producing the Pop T-shirts as part of its Archive 1887 line, is only the latest in a recent spate of commercial activity: in the past year, he has appeared (shirtless) in advertisements for a broadband company and an insurance company. “It’s like this: I made some fucking great-sounding music that still sounds fucking great, and—to drop my intellect and just get emotional about it—a bunch of fat fucks and pricks wouldn’t play my music anywhere where anybody could hear it, wouldn’t sell it in a part of the store where it could be bought,” he said. “From the commercials, other people get to know me, and they check out the music.”
Pop conceded that there are occasions that call for a T-shirt, particularly now that he has a free closetful of them. “I wear one when I get cold, like anyone else,” he said. There have been two T-shirts in his sartorial history that he has worn with any enthusiasm: a concert shirt that he bought after seeing T. Rex in London in 1972, and one designed for Tony Hawk, the skateboarder, in the eighties.
He stays in shape with daily Qigong practice. “It’s about increasing your breathing capacity to the point where air becomes food,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what you eat, you won’t gain weight. After forty minutes of it, my troubles seem smaller, and I am more excited and more calm at the same time.” But Pop admitted that there have been times, lately, when his unclad torso has met with disapproval. “You know, from time to time, if I take my shirt off now, it doesn’t look the way it did when I was thirty-two,” he said. “It’s, like, ugh. But look—when I am playing, I’m the shit. As long as that’s true, I can take it off.”
Torso
by Rebecca Mead
August 9, 2010
...For his part, Pop wears no underwear, exposed or otherwise. “Things like that give me the creeps,” he said. He feels similarly about socks.
Pop’s venture with Sony Music, which is producing the Pop T-shirts as part of its Archive 1887 line, is only the latest in a recent spate of commercial activity: in the past year, he has appeared (shirtless) in advertisements for a broadband company and an insurance company. “It’s like this: I made some fucking great-sounding music that still sounds fucking great, and—to drop my intellect and just get emotional about it—a bunch of fat fucks and pricks wouldn’t play my music anywhere where anybody could hear it, wouldn’t sell it in a part of the store where it could be bought,” he said. “From the commercials, other people get to know me, and they check out the music.”
Pop conceded that there are occasions that call for a T-shirt, particularly now that he has a free closetful of them. “I wear one when I get cold, like anyone else,” he said. There have been two T-shirts in his sartorial history that he has worn with any enthusiasm: a concert shirt that he bought after seeing T. Rex in London in 1972, and one designed for Tony Hawk, the skateboarder, in the eighties.
He stays in shape with daily Qigong practice. “It’s about increasing your breathing capacity to the point where air becomes food,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what you eat, you won’t gain weight. After forty minutes of it, my troubles seem smaller, and I am more excited and more calm at the same time.” But Pop admitted that there have been times, lately, when his unclad torso has met with disapproval. “You know, from time to time, if I take my shirt off now, it doesn’t look the way it did when I was thirty-two,” he said. “It’s, like, ugh. But look—when I am playing, I’m the shit. As long as that’s true, I can take it off.”
Kenzo Menswear AW10-11
24 Feb 2010
Antonio Marras: For this collection I wanted to create a mix between the French look of Monsieur Hulot, a character created and played by filmmaker Jacques Tati, and the British film Quadrophenia.
Monsieur Hulot has such a unique body language and silhouette, wearing his raincoat over his slightly too short trousers, with his hat, pipe and umbrella. It’s his unconscious anarchy that fascinates me; his eccentricity; his joy and his freedom, which makes him whistle in the street....
... I find the entire collection very inspiring, both in tailoring and texture-wise. Monsieur Hulot is iconic, which is liberating when styling with him in mind. And style I did:
24 Feb 2010
Antonio Marras: For this collection I wanted to create a mix between the French look of Monsieur Hulot, a character created and played by filmmaker Jacques Tati, and the British film Quadrophenia.
Monsieur Hulot has such a unique body language and silhouette, wearing his raincoat over his slightly too short trousers, with his hat, pipe and umbrella. It’s his unconscious anarchy that fascinates me; his eccentricity; his joy and his freedom, which makes him whistle in the street....
... I find the entire collection very inspiring, both in tailoring and texture-wise. Monsieur Hulot is iconic, which is liberating when styling with him in mind. And style I did:
Are short-sleeved shirts with ties ever acceptable for a man at work or do they, as I suspect, just make you look creepy and as if you still live in your parents' spare room and play Dungeons and Dragons?
- Rod, by email
To answer your queries in order, no and yes, you suspect correctly. I am very sorry if you suffer from sweaty wrists, Rod, but unless your personal style icon is Napoleon Dynamite, or you wish to resemble one of those guys who is eventually arrested when police discover piles of dead bodies in his freezer and his neighbours all give quotes saying, "It's so strange – he always seemed like such a pleasant fellow. Kept to himself, mind", then you will not pair a tie with a short-sleeved shirt. Truth be told, I object to button-down short-sleeved shirts full stop, and when I am Queen of the Universe – as shall soon come to pass, it has been foretold in the Book of Grazia – I shall ban them...
- Rod, by email
To answer your queries in order, no and yes, you suspect correctly. I am very sorry if you suffer from sweaty wrists, Rod, but unless your personal style icon is Napoleon Dynamite, or you wish to resemble one of those guys who is eventually arrested when police discover piles of dead bodies in his freezer and his neighbours all give quotes saying, "It's so strange – he always seemed like such a pleasant fellow. Kept to himself, mind", then you will not pair a tie with a short-sleeved shirt. Truth be told, I object to button-down short-sleeved shirts full stop, and when I am Queen of the Universe – as shall soon come to pass, it has been foretold in the Book of Grazia – I shall ban them...
... It would seem that the only thing that can pull me out of this Post-TDW (three-day weekend) funk is a dress made entirely out of Marshmallow Peeps. But now the dilemma: what shoes do I wear?
Ah, mon chapeau haut de forme bien-aimée!
Anglicé - Ah, my beloved top hat!
Anglicé - Ah, my beloved top hat!
Bra-fitting services fail to measure up for big-busted women
Bra-fitting services at high street stores like Marks & Spencer are failing to measure up for big busted women, an investigation by mystery shoppers has disclosed.
By Heidi Blake
25 Jan 2010
Which?, the consumer watchdog, sent 11 women with a DD cup or larger out hunting for well-fitting bras in 70 high street stores.
Only 29% of the bras sold to the mystery shoppers were rated as a good fit by experts, who said none of the services tested were good enough to recommend.
Some of the women were sold wildly varying sizes by different shops, the watchdog said, with one shopper returning with two bras seven sizes apart.
Another was sold exactly the same bra in two branches of a House of Fraser store but in sizes 34C and 34F, neither of which were a comfortable fit.
John Lewis, the department store, and Bravissimo, the large-bust specialist, received the best overall scores but were still not good enough to recommend, according to Which?
Other stores visited were Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, La Senza and House of Fraser.
Badly fitting bras can cause neck, shoulder and back ache as well as poor posture, experts at the watchdog said.
Jenny Driscoll of Which? said “Whatever their bra size, women want to look good and feel good. Heading to the high street for a fitting might seem like a simple solution, but the results we found were shocking – one bra was so poorly fitted there was room for a pair of socks in the cups.
“If stores are going to offer this service to customers they need to up their game: do it properly or don’t do it at all.” ...
Shame! Boobies, especially big 'uns, deserve proper care and attention!
Bra-fitting services at high street stores like Marks & Spencer are failing to measure up for big busted women, an investigation by mystery shoppers has disclosed.
By Heidi Blake
25 Jan 2010
Which?, the consumer watchdog, sent 11 women with a DD cup or larger out hunting for well-fitting bras in 70 high street stores.
Only 29% of the bras sold to the mystery shoppers were rated as a good fit by experts, who said none of the services tested were good enough to recommend.
Some of the women were sold wildly varying sizes by different shops, the watchdog said, with one shopper returning with two bras seven sizes apart.
Another was sold exactly the same bra in two branches of a House of Fraser store but in sizes 34C and 34F, neither of which were a comfortable fit.
John Lewis, the department store, and Bravissimo, the large-bust specialist, received the best overall scores but were still not good enough to recommend, according to Which?
Other stores visited were Marks & Spencer, Debenhams, La Senza and House of Fraser.
Badly fitting bras can cause neck, shoulder and back ache as well as poor posture, experts at the watchdog said.
Jenny Driscoll of Which? said “Whatever their bra size, women want to look good and feel good. Heading to the high street for a fitting might seem like a simple solution, but the results we found were shocking – one bra was so poorly fitted there was room for a pair of socks in the cups.
“If stores are going to offer this service to customers they need to up their game: do it properly or don’t do it at all.” ...
Shame! Boobies, especially big 'uns, deserve proper care and attention!
You can't beat a yak, mate.
Jacket, 1996-97. Union Jack jacket designed by Alexander McQueen in collaboration with David Bowie, using distressed fabric. Worn by David Bowie on the Earthling album tour, 1996-97. Collection of David Bowie.
... A testy Duke of Bedford asked him why he insisted on making his wife look like a lesbian, but Vidal didn’t think that his clients looked like lesbians. He thought they looked modern, liberated — which they were: liberated from the rollers, the perming, the setting, the back-combing, the huge dryers and the humungous output of aerosol particles that constituted a trip to the salon throughout the Fifties. Vidal, despite having trained with “Mr Teasy Weasy” himself, the great Raymond of Mayfair, had sensed, as a new decade dawned, that the days of teasing and weasing were numbered. The signs could be divined everywhere, even in architecture: “You had only to look at Mies’s [van der Rohe] Seagram [a 1957 New York skyscraper] or Breuer’s Whitney [the 1966 art museum, also in New York] to know.” Or, indeed, at those geometric Sixties clothes. He clipped 4ft from Nancy Kwan’s hair....
Free your head, free your mind, take half the time you once did getting ready, buy shampoo only once a year: cut off your hair.
Yes, I am disgusted that this page also features a link to a "Six steps to the beehive: this season's must-have hair" article. Fuck that teasy-weasy shit. Why be a slave, or look like one?
Free your head, free your mind, take half the time you once did getting ready, buy shampoo only once a year: cut off your hair.
Yes, I am disgusted that this page also features a link to a "Six steps to the beehive: this season's must-have hair" article. Fuck that teasy-weasy shit. Why be a slave, or look like one?
Selfridges launches 'mantyhose' - tights for men
Selfridges is selling a new range of tights for men dubbed “mantyhose” in response to soaring demand for the leg wear.
Published: 7:00AM BST 24 Sep 2009
The tights, priced £70 a pair, are made by lingerie brand Unconditional and are a tough 120 denier thickness.
However, those hoping to recreate the Errol Flynn look will be disappointed – they are only available in black, beige and charcoal.
The boom in sales represents a comeback for tights in men’s wardrobes after a two-century hiatus.
But it would appear that their place in fashion has still yet to be revisited, as today’s fans prefer to wear them as underwear rather than showing them off.
Mantyhose are usually worn under suits to keep the legs warm and to give the hips and legs a smoother line.
David Walker-Smith, Selfridges' director of menswear and beauty, said: “This winter the city's most stylish men will have a secret weapon hidden in their trousers. ..."
Oh, my!
I hate pantyhose - they make my leg-hair itch abominably.
Selfridges is selling a new range of tights for men dubbed “mantyhose” in response to soaring demand for the leg wear.
Published: 7:00AM BST 24 Sep 2009
The tights, priced £70 a pair, are made by lingerie brand Unconditional and are a tough 120 denier thickness.
However, those hoping to recreate the Errol Flynn look will be disappointed – they are only available in black, beige and charcoal.
The boom in sales represents a comeback for tights in men’s wardrobes after a two-century hiatus.
But it would appear that their place in fashion has still yet to be revisited, as today’s fans prefer to wear them as underwear rather than showing them off.
Mantyhose are usually worn under suits to keep the legs warm and to give the hips and legs a smoother line.
David Walker-Smith, Selfridges' director of menswear and beauty, said: “This winter the city's most stylish men will have a secret weapon hidden in their trousers. ..."
Oh, my!
I hate pantyhose - they make my leg-hair itch abominably.
It’s a lame old mantra, “Changing the system from within”, and one most often spouted by sell-outs in denial. So when Nick Knight fixes me with his pale blue eyes and says “I’ve tried to affect any changes I can from the mainstream”, I groan a little inside. This, after all, is one of fashion’s biggest big-ticket photographers; the man who John Galliano used to reboot, then revive the image of Christian Dior, and who in the past year has had four ultra-lucrative cosmetics campaigns and a Cheryl Cole album cover under his belt. It’s hardly, I pshaw internally, the CV of a radical.
Then Knight does something entirely unexpected — he aims his mouth at where the money is and lets fly: “I’ve always found the fashion industry to be extremely racist, to the point that I don’t know how they get away with it. When I first started I couldn’t believe what I was hearing: ‘We can’t have a black model — they’re not aspirational’. You can’t say that!”
And here’s Knight on the hand that feeds him: “I have friends in the City who are amazed by how the fashion business is conducted. It’s controlled by a few people, and not particularly well.”
And here’s Knight on sizeism and ageism, fashion’s two other sorest points (fur notwithstanding). “Issues I believed in were not being articulated in my professional work. Issues as simple as that fact that nobody was photographing women who looked like my wife”. (This is Charlotte, who Knight describes as “curvaceous” and “the most beautiful woman in the world”.) “Only people in their teens were being photographed — if you were older than 21 you didn’t have a look in. Lancôme dropped Isabella Rossellini when she turned 40: biggest mistake they ever made. All these examples were around me, and they didn’t sit well with me.” ...
Then Knight does something entirely unexpected — he aims his mouth at where the money is and lets fly: “I’ve always found the fashion industry to be extremely racist, to the point that I don’t know how they get away with it. When I first started I couldn’t believe what I was hearing: ‘We can’t have a black model — they’re not aspirational’. You can’t say that!”
And here’s Knight on the hand that feeds him: “I have friends in the City who are amazed by how the fashion business is conducted. It’s controlled by a few people, and not particularly well.”
And here’s Knight on sizeism and ageism, fashion’s two other sorest points (fur notwithstanding). “Issues I believed in were not being articulated in my professional work. Issues as simple as that fact that nobody was photographing women who looked like my wife”. (This is Charlotte, who Knight describes as “curvaceous” and “the most beautiful woman in the world”.) “Only people in their teens were being photographed — if you were older than 21 you didn’t have a look in. Lancôme dropped Isabella Rossellini when she turned 40: biggest mistake they ever made. All these examples were around me, and they didn’t sit well with me.” ...
... So what we get is little Gabrielle in a moodily chiaroscuro convent-orphanage where her itinerant market trader father had dumped her and her sister (the nuns’ habits imbued her with an enduring love of black minimalism); Chanel as an ambitious but not notably talented showgirl (her soubriquet Coco came from a vaudeville song about a lost dog) whose day job was working as a seamstress in Moulins, a garrison town in the middle of France; Chanel as the mistress of Étienne Balsan, a local toff who opens a door on to a gentler, more refined life.
No wonder Chanel refused to be shaken off after he’d had his way with her, following Balsan back to his château and staying there long after the two-day invitation he had reluctantly issued expired. Balsan made her hide out of sight (as she later did with her brothers) when his fashionable friends visited.
At Balsan’s Chanel learnt to ride horses like a man, eschewing the uncomfortable precariousness of the side-saddle (cue a life-long passion for androgynous, equestrian tailoring); to despise the overblown, elaborately garnished clothes of fin de siècle society with their constricting whalebone corset and feather-smothered, headache-inducing picture hats. “How can you think in one of those?” she inquires of one of Balsan’s ex-mistresses.
Cue Chanel’s uncorseted, bone-simple sack-dresses and unadorned boaters. She learnt, too, how to hold her own with the smart set, and that she needed to be independent (Balsan, having initially viewed her as a rather embarrassing leech, came to admire, adore and eventually propose to her).
But independence was a way off. In the meantime, the surest route for a poor but pretty girl intent on making her way was to sleep with men. Chanel was too modern to become a grande horizontale (the wonderful French euphemism for high-class kept women); too classy to be an out-and-out hooker. She settled for something in between. ...
No wonder Chanel refused to be shaken off after he’d had his way with her, following Balsan back to his château and staying there long after the two-day invitation he had reluctantly issued expired. Balsan made her hide out of sight (as she later did with her brothers) when his fashionable friends visited.
At Balsan’s Chanel learnt to ride horses like a man, eschewing the uncomfortable precariousness of the side-saddle (cue a life-long passion for androgynous, equestrian tailoring); to despise the overblown, elaborately garnished clothes of fin de siècle society with their constricting whalebone corset and feather-smothered, headache-inducing picture hats. “How can you think in one of those?” she inquires of one of Balsan’s ex-mistresses.
Cue Chanel’s uncorseted, bone-simple sack-dresses and unadorned boaters. She learnt, too, how to hold her own with the smart set, and that she needed to be independent (Balsan, having initially viewed her as a rather embarrassing leech, came to admire, adore and eventually propose to her).
But independence was a way off. In the meantime, the surest route for a poor but pretty girl intent on making her way was to sleep with men. Chanel was too modern to become a grande horizontale (the wonderful French euphemism for high-class kept women); too classy to be an out-and-out hooker. She settled for something in between. ...
This is a craptastic article. Red looks well on pallid women? Pah! It sure as hell doesn't - it makes them look blood-splashed, and it clashes with ginger hair like nobody's bizness unless it carries a ton of blue.
How to dress for Summer? Go to ebay, find the clothing categories, pick a suitable one (women's clothes/men's clothes/vintage/shirts/skirts/dresses, whatever) and type "India*" in the search box. You'll get a ton of both bright and subtle, beautiful, inexpensive clothes in rayon, cotton, silk, and cotton/silk blends.
Worried you'll look like a damn hippie wearing Indian gear? Spike your hair, wear a ton of dark eyeliner - which was the Egyptians' (and still is the Middle Easterners') version of sunglasses, and carry an obnoxious handbag.
Fuck fashion anyway - Style's the thing. Your own style, not what idiotic "journalists" or tv show hosts tell you you must wear. Those morons put uncomfortable fat ladies in tight outfits and I just want to die of embarassment for them, and take a baseball bat to the eejits.
What you like, and what really truly ahem suits you is always best.
Tell the fashion fascists to jump in a lake, and hope their clothes will shrink.
How to dress for Summer? Go to ebay, find the clothing categories, pick a suitable one (women's clothes/men's clothes/vintage/shirts/skirts/dresses, whatever) and type "India*" in the search box. You'll get a ton of both bright and subtle, beautiful, inexpensive clothes in rayon, cotton, silk, and cotton/silk blends.
Worried you'll look like a damn hippie wearing Indian gear? Spike your hair, wear a ton of dark eyeliner - which was the Egyptians' (and still is the Middle Easterners') version of sunglasses, and carry an obnoxious handbag.
Fuck fashion anyway - Style's the thing. Your own style, not what idiotic "journalists" or tv show hosts tell you you must wear. Those morons put uncomfortable fat ladies in tight outfits and I just want to die of embarassment for them, and take a baseball bat to the eejits.
What you like, and what really truly ahem suits you is always best.
Tell the fashion fascists to jump in a lake, and hope their clothes will shrink.
How to Tie A Dhoti
Indian fashion glossary
Fandabulous chapeaux!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Smithsonian asks Aretha Franklin for her inaugural hat
Susan Whitall / The Detroit News
If you wondered when news about Aretha Franklin's gray large-bowed inaugural hat would die down, well... it's not happening yet.
The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., has asked the Queen of Soul if she will donate the hat she wore to sing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" (also known as "America") before the swearing-in on the steps of the Capitol for an exhibit on President Barack Obama's inauguration.
Other items the Smithsonian will have on display in the presidential exhibit include Michelle Obama's off-white ball gown.
So will Franklin donate the famous chapeau that rocketed Detroit milliner Luke Song of Moza Inc., 6513 Woodward Ave. in Detroit's New Center, to worldwide fame (and a lot of sales)?
"I am considering it," Franklin said in a statement. "It would be hard to part with my chapeau, since it was such a crowning moment in history. I would like to smile every time I look back at it and remember what a great moment it was in American and African-American history. Ten cheers for President Obama." ...
Smithsonian asks Aretha Franklin for her inaugural hat
Susan Whitall / The Detroit News
If you wondered when news about Aretha Franklin's gray large-bowed inaugural hat would die down, well... it's not happening yet.
The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., has asked the Queen of Soul if she will donate the hat she wore to sing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" (also known as "America") before the swearing-in on the steps of the Capitol for an exhibit on President Barack Obama's inauguration.
Other items the Smithsonian will have on display in the presidential exhibit include Michelle Obama's off-white ball gown.
So will Franklin donate the famous chapeau that rocketed Detroit milliner Luke Song of Moza Inc., 6513 Woodward Ave. in Detroit's New Center, to worldwide fame (and a lot of sales)?
"I am considering it," Franklin said in a statement. "It would be hard to part with my chapeau, since it was such a crowning moment in history. I would like to smile every time I look back at it and remember what a great moment it was in American and African-American history. Ten cheers for President Obama." ...
Aretha Franklin's inauguration hat becomes overnight fashion sensation
Detroit designer flooded with orders
By BILL MCGRAW
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
January 21, 2009
Paris? No.
Milan? No.
New York? No.
New Center? Yes!
Aretha Franklin’s now-famous bow-tied, gift-wrapped, jewel-studded, $179 inaugural hat was designed, produced and sold to the Queen of Soul by Mr. Song Millinery, a family-owned business on Woodward Avenue just south of W. Grand Boulevard, a couple of blocks from the Fisher Building.
Starting minutes after Franklin finished her distinctive rendition of “My County ‘Tis of Thee” Tuesday, the store’s phones started ringing.
By this afternoon, they had sold hundreds of hats. A store they work with in Dallas had sold 500 more, and the material was running out.
“People are calling from England, asking for the hat,” said Luke Song, who designed Franklin’s chapeau. “I’m shocked. I had no idea. We did not expect this.” ...
Detroit designer flooded with orders
By BILL MCGRAW
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
January 21, 2009
Paris? No.
Milan? No.
New York? No.
New Center? Yes!
Aretha Franklin’s now-famous bow-tied, gift-wrapped, jewel-studded, $179 inaugural hat was designed, produced and sold to the Queen of Soul by Mr. Song Millinery, a family-owned business on Woodward Avenue just south of W. Grand Boulevard, a couple of blocks from the Fisher Building.
Starting minutes after Franklin finished her distinctive rendition of “My County ‘Tis of Thee” Tuesday, the store’s phones started ringing.
By this afternoon, they had sold hundreds of hats. A store they work with in Dallas had sold 500 more, and the material was running out.
“People are calling from England, asking for the hat,” said Luke Song, who designed Franklin’s chapeau. “I’m shocked. I had no idea. We did not expect this.” ...
Hand Barack Obama his hat
JEFF GERRITT
January 16, 2009
The next commander in chief will help set the tone for the country -- and the style for millions of American men. Too many presidents have neglected their sartorial duties, presiding over a nation of sweatpants and baseball hats.
President-elect Barack Obama can chart a new course at his inauguration by wearing a dress hat. It’s going to be cold, anyway, so why not stay warm in style?
For Obama to put on a brim, with all eyes on him, would be as revolutionary in 2009 as John F. Kennedy appearing hatless at his inauguration in 1961.
Don’t think the nation didn’t notice. Dress hat sales tanked after Kennedy took office, and took further hits in the dress-down decades that followed. Even today, though, Detroit remains a good hat town, and Obama could show solidarity with our hurting city by wearing one.
Other well-dressed politicians have kept their lids on. Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown wore Borsalinos to complement his Brioni suits. Detroit’s Dennis Archer wore wide-brimmed fedoras. Kwame Kilpatrick -- well, let's not go there. Hats of all kinds, including Kangols, have also been popular with jazz and hip-hop artists. Remember those derbies and homburgs Tupac and Biggie sported in the mid-1990s? Suddenly old-school became new-school.
Obama should probably stick with a fedora — the most popular dress hat — in presidential black or dark grey. A homburg or top hat might come off as a bit pompous and aristocratic in these tough times. A derby or porkpie would be too eccentric for the occasion, causing investors to panic. ...
JEFF GERRITT
January 16, 2009
The next commander in chief will help set the tone for the country -- and the style for millions of American men. Too many presidents have neglected their sartorial duties, presiding over a nation of sweatpants and baseball hats.
President-elect Barack Obama can chart a new course at his inauguration by wearing a dress hat. It’s going to be cold, anyway, so why not stay warm in style?
For Obama to put on a brim, with all eyes on him, would be as revolutionary in 2009 as John F. Kennedy appearing hatless at his inauguration in 1961.
Don’t think the nation didn’t notice. Dress hat sales tanked after Kennedy took office, and took further hits in the dress-down decades that followed. Even today, though, Detroit remains a good hat town, and Obama could show solidarity with our hurting city by wearing one.
Other well-dressed politicians have kept their lids on. Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown wore Borsalinos to complement his Brioni suits. Detroit’s Dennis Archer wore wide-brimmed fedoras. Kwame Kilpatrick -- well, let's not go there. Hats of all kinds, including Kangols, have also been popular with jazz and hip-hop artists. Remember those derbies and homburgs Tupac and Biggie sported in the mid-1990s? Suddenly old-school became new-school.
Obama should probably stick with a fedora — the most popular dress hat — in presidential black or dark grey. A homburg or top hat might come off as a bit pompous and aristocratic in these tough times. A derby or porkpie would be too eccentric for the occasion, causing investors to panic. ...
I don't wear heels because I find facial bruising rather unattractive and quite painful.
An Arkham Advertiser newspaper shot from the Annual Arkham Autumn Fashion Show.
Most droolsome morselages indeed.
Thanks, Villanell2!
Thank Gawd we are no longer forced to wear boned, tightly laced corsets; giant, heavy hats; gloves; six thousand petticoats; floor-length gowns, and all the other crap. Who'd choose to wear fifty+ pounds [22.68+ kg] of clothes daily? All that without being paid to do so, unlike an actress? No way.
Just imagine this July heat while wearing all those layers. Blimey.
Just imagine this July heat while wearing all those layers. Blimey.
Many seasons, over many years, YSL's was often the only palatable haute couture and/or pret porter. He had an elegance intelligence and an understanding of fabrics' behavio/ur that's very rare even among fashion geniuses. He was also one of the few fashion designers of any sex who actually liked women.
I'll miss him.
I'll miss him.
This shite is so absolutely effing horrible it's embarassing. It also partly explains why punk happened, girls and boys: for a number of years the radio sounded exactly the way this crrrrap looks.
Why do I hope he'll post more? Is it a case of Cultural Masochism?
Why do I hope he'll post more? Is it a case of Cultural Masochism?
Too many shoes? Bah! No such thing. I know The Goddess Marielaem agrees with me.
Thass beau'iful! Very neatly and succinctly sums up the world of fashion.
Dutch Fashion Shops Open in Ex-Brothels
By TOBY STERLING
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 19, 2008
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Instead of selling sex, Amsterdam is trying to sell sexy.
The city unveiled its "Red Light Fashion" project on Saturday, having converted 16 buildings that used to house prostitutes in the city's ancient red light district into studios for young fashion designers.
The idea was born out of the government's desire to crack down on crime in the area. But many neighbors are displeased with the high-class newcomers in an area that thrives on its seedy reputation, and even the designers say they are taking a risk.
"I'm very curious whether my clients will come here," said Jan Taminiau, one of 10 [ahem] up-and-coming designers awarded space on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, a central street in the red light district. ...
By TOBY STERLING
The Associated Press
Saturday, January 19, 2008
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands -- Instead of selling sex, Amsterdam is trying to sell sexy.
The city unveiled its "Red Light Fashion" project on Saturday, having converted 16 buildings that used to house prostitutes in the city's ancient red light district into studios for young fashion designers.
The idea was born out of the government's desire to crack down on crime in the area. But many neighbors are displeased with the high-class newcomers in an area that thrives on its seedy reputation, and even the designers say they are taking a risk.
"I'm very curious whether my clients will come here," said Jan Taminiau, one of 10 [ahem] up-and-coming designers awarded space on the Oudezijds Voorburgwal, a central street in the red light district. ...
Notice how far above the shit the rich were walking, while the barefooted poor were right in it, innit.
Plus a change, plus a mme chose, mes chers.
Dear Pattenicus feared I'd think he was taking the pith when he sent this.
Pas de chance: I loves me them pith helmets.
Pas de chance: I loves me them pith helmets.
By TAHIRA YAQOOB and JASON MITCHELL
15th February 2007
A teenage model whose sister starved herself to death has also died of suspected anorexia.
Eliana Ramos, 18, collapsed six months after her sister Luisel had a heart attack during a fashion show and triggered an international debate over the use of size zero models on the catwalks.
Fashion bosses in Madrid and Milan have set a minimum body mass index for girls appearing in their shows in an effort to discourage starvation diets and eating disorders.
But bosses at London Fashion Week - which is now in full swing - have refused to follow suit. Eliana's death will add to the pressure on the industry.
The sisters' devastated family said Luisel, 20, had been told she could "make it big" if she lost a "significant" amount of weight and was "under much pressure and stress".
It appears her sister followed in her footsteps after collapsing at the home she shared with her grandmother.
She was found dead in her bedroom in her Montevideo home in Uruguay on Tuesday. A police source said: "The primary diagnosis is death due to symptoms of malnutrition." ...
... Eliana's boss Pancho Dotto said of her death: "It is absurd that people are speaking about anorexia or bulimia in this tragic case.
"She had never had problems with her diet. It is obvious the sisters' deaths must be due to a genetic problem."
Eliana's death also comes three months after Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston, 21, died of anorexia on the eve of a Paris photoshoot after existing on a diet of apples and tomatoes. ...
15th February 2007
A teenage model whose sister starved herself to death has also died of suspected anorexia.
Eliana Ramos, 18, collapsed six months after her sister Luisel had a heart attack during a fashion show and triggered an international debate over the use of size zero models on the catwalks.
Fashion bosses in Madrid and Milan have set a minimum body mass index for girls appearing in their shows in an effort to discourage starvation diets and eating disorders.
But bosses at London Fashion Week - which is now in full swing - have refused to follow suit. Eliana's death will add to the pressure on the industry.
The sisters' devastated family said Luisel, 20, had been told she could "make it big" if she lost a "significant" amount of weight and was "under much pressure and stress".
It appears her sister followed in her footsteps after collapsing at the home she shared with her grandmother.
She was found dead in her bedroom in her Montevideo home in Uruguay on Tuesday. A police source said: "The primary diagnosis is death due to symptoms of malnutrition." ...
... Eliana's boss Pancho Dotto said of her death: "It is absurd that people are speaking about anorexia or bulimia in this tragic case.
"She had never had problems with her diet. It is obvious the sisters' deaths must be due to a genetic problem."
Eliana's death also comes three months after Brazilian model Ana Carolina Reston, 21, died of anorexia on the eve of a Paris photoshoot after existing on a diet of apples and tomatoes. ...
Models "too thin," say 4 in 5 consumers: global poll
Thu Feb 1, 2007
By Rachel Sanderson
LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Female fashion models and many celebrities are "too thin," say four in every five consumers from around the world, a new survey showed on Thursday.
A week before the start of the annual fashion season, trend tracker The Nielsen Company revealed what 25,000 people in 45 countries said about the body size of women strutting the world's catwalks and red carpets.
"An overwhelming 81 percent of online consumers agree that female fashion models and celebrities are too thin," ACNielsen Europe's President Patrick Dodd said in a news release. ...
... Nielsen found Latin American consumers were strongly against super-skinny models, with 91 percent of Argentinians and 89 percent of Brazilians supporting the notion that fashion models are too thin. ...
Thu Feb 1, 2007
By Rachel Sanderson
LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Female fashion models and many celebrities are "too thin," say four in every five consumers from around the world, a new survey showed on Thursday.
A week before the start of the annual fashion season, trend tracker The Nielsen Company revealed what 25,000 people in 45 countries said about the body size of women strutting the world's catwalks and red carpets.
"An overwhelming 81 percent of online consumers agree that female fashion models and celebrities are too thin," ACNielsen Europe's President Patrick Dodd said in a news release. ...
... Nielsen found Latin American consumers were strongly against super-skinny models, with 91 percent of Argentinians and 89 percent of Brazilians supporting the notion that fashion models are too thin. ...
Rio prostitutes' fashion line hits street catwalk
Sat Jan 20, 2007
By Brian Hagenbuch
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - As the rich and slim flocked to waterfront convention centre for Rio de Janeiro's glitzy biannual fashion show, prostitutes in a downtown square took to a cobblestone catwalk for a show of their own.
Sex service workers from Davida, a Brazilian organisation that defends the rights of prostitutes, strutted through the streets wearing their new line of fall/winter clothes.
The brand's name is Daspu, is a play on "Daslu," one of Brazil's most expensive and exclusive fashion names being displayed across town by top models like Gisele Bundchen.
Gabriela Leite, a founder of Daspu, said it was no mistake that her show was running on Fashion Rio's biggest night.
"This fashion show today makes up part of our fall/winter collection that is not on the official agenda of Fashion Rio because we were never invited. Once again, social responsibility does not appear where it should appear," Leite said.
According to organizers, the new 2007 fall/winter line draws from the deep well of artists inspired by prostitutes...Toulouse Lautrec and Pablo Picasso...
Sat Jan 20, 2007
By Brian Hagenbuch
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - As the rich and slim flocked to waterfront convention centre for Rio de Janeiro's glitzy biannual fashion show, prostitutes in a downtown square took to a cobblestone catwalk for a show of their own.
Sex service workers from Davida, a Brazilian organisation that defends the rights of prostitutes, strutted through the streets wearing their new line of fall/winter clothes.
The brand's name is Daspu, is a play on "Daslu," one of Brazil's most expensive and exclusive fashion names being displayed across town by top models like Gisele Bundchen.
Gabriela Leite, a founder of Daspu, said it was no mistake that her show was running on Fashion Rio's biggest night.
"This fashion show today makes up part of our fall/winter collection that is not on the official agenda of Fashion Rio because we were never invited. Once again, social responsibility does not appear where it should appear," Leite said.
According to organizers, the new 2007 fall/winter line draws from the deep well of artists inspired by prostitutes...Toulouse Lautrec and Pablo Picasso...
Italy issues new code to stop ultra-skinny models
Mon Dec 18, 2006
ROME, Dec 16 (Reuters Life!) - Italy's government and its fashion chiefs issued a manifesto on Saturday to crack down on the use of ultra-thin teenagers on the catwalk, requiring models to show proof of their good health or be barred from fashion shows.
The charter also bans the use of models who are under the age of 16...
...The manifesto, which will be officially signed next week, was drawn up as pressure grows on the fashion world to promote healthier looks.
Spain barred models below a certain weight from Madrid fashion shows in September. Earlier this month Brazil also launched a campaign to ban underage, underweight models from its catwalks in response to the death of a Brazilian model from complications due to anorexia. ...
... Powerful Milan fashion houses at first resisted calls to follow the Spanish example, with Italian National Fashion Chamber head Mario Boselli saying in September that only "maybe one girl in a hundred" could be defined as too skinny.
But Boselli, whose lobby represents big names like Armani, Versace and Prada, later agreed to work with Melandri on a self regulatory code of good practice. ...
Mon Dec 18, 2006
ROME, Dec 16 (Reuters Life!) - Italy's government and its fashion chiefs issued a manifesto on Saturday to crack down on the use of ultra-thin teenagers on the catwalk, requiring models to show proof of their good health or be barred from fashion shows.
The charter also bans the use of models who are under the age of 16...
...The manifesto, which will be officially signed next week, was drawn up as pressure grows on the fashion world to promote healthier looks.
Spain barred models below a certain weight from Madrid fashion shows in September. Earlier this month Brazil also launched a campaign to ban underage, underweight models from its catwalks in response to the death of a Brazilian model from complications due to anorexia. ...
... Powerful Milan fashion houses at first resisted calls to follow the Spanish example, with Italian National Fashion Chamber head Mario Boselli saying in September that only "maybe one girl in a hundred" could be defined as too skinny.
But Boselli, whose lobby represents big names like Armani, Versace and Prada, later agreed to work with Melandri on a self regulatory code of good practice. ...
Love of corduroy sews up New York appreciation club
Wed Nov 15, 2006
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Maybe it's the "vrrp, vrrp" sound it makes when you walk, or the feel of the vertically ribbed fabric that reached a popularity peak in the 1970s -- whatever it is, corduroy has spawned an appreciation club.
More than 800 people around the world have signed up to be part of the New York-based "Corduroy Appreciation Club," which meets every November 11 -- the date, when written as 11/11, that most resembles the fabric they love.
"It's a requirement to wear two pieces of corduroy to the meeting," said Miles Rohan, president and founder of the club. "Fairly often people tell me they're wearing corduroy underwear, but I haven't checked."
"We have secret rituals, we have speeches about corduroy, we have people write poems and people have made artworks inspired by corduroy," said the digital archivist. "We give awards for exemplary usage of corduroy." ...
What goes "whiff, whiff, leap; whiff, whiff, leap; whiff, whiff, leap"?
A hurdler in corduroy shorts.
Wed Nov 15, 2006
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Maybe it's the "vrrp, vrrp" sound it makes when you walk, or the feel of the vertically ribbed fabric that reached a popularity peak in the 1970s -- whatever it is, corduroy has spawned an appreciation club.
More than 800 people around the world have signed up to be part of the New York-based "Corduroy Appreciation Club," which meets every November 11 -- the date, when written as 11/11, that most resembles the fabric they love.
"It's a requirement to wear two pieces of corduroy to the meeting," said Miles Rohan, president and founder of the club. "Fairly often people tell me they're wearing corduroy underwear, but I haven't checked."
"We have secret rituals, we have speeches about corduroy, we have people write poems and people have made artworks inspired by corduroy," said the digital archivist. "We give awards for exemplary usage of corduroy." ...
What goes "whiff, whiff, leap; whiff, whiff, leap; whiff, whiff, leap"?
A hurdler in corduroy shorts.
Dear Zilcho hipped me to this exhibit...
Josephine Baker in the Folies Bergre, 1930
Photograph by Lipnitski
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library
Ever hear her sing King for a Day?
Josephine Baker in the Folies Bergre, 1930
Photograph by Lipnitski
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library
Ever hear her sing King for a Day?
Evil bastard whose models are so skinny it's hard to believe they can even walk around. Email the PR/adman and tell him how you feel about starved-looking models.
Don't mention the weight at Milan fashion week
Thu Sep 28, 2006
By Sophie Hardach
MILAN (Reuters) - "If that's all your article is going to be about, you'd better talk to someone else."
Standing in the backstage area of a Burberry fashion show, Christopher Bailey, usually the most charming and polite designer one could hope to interview, just snapped.
I had started by asking him about his view on Spain's decision to ban underweight models from Madrid fashion week.
He at first replied calmly: "We have to use common sense."
So I asked what common sense meant in practice. Had Burberry ever turned away underweight models? Had Bailey ever seen a model and thought "she looks too thin"?
This was when he broke off the interview, ending with the fashion world's ultimate put-down: "It's just boring."
His comment sums up the fashion pack's reaction to a raging debate over models that look sick and underfed, over a beauty ideal that some say encourages teenagers to starve themselves. ...
Thu Sep 28, 2006
By Sophie Hardach
MILAN (Reuters) - "If that's all your article is going to be about, you'd better talk to someone else."
Standing in the backstage area of a Burberry fashion show, Christopher Bailey, usually the most charming and polite designer one could hope to interview, just snapped.
I had started by asking him about his view on Spain's decision to ban underweight models from Madrid fashion week.
He at first replied calmly: "We have to use common sense."
So I asked what common sense meant in practice. Had Burberry ever turned away underweight models? Had Bailey ever seen a model and thought "she looks too thin"?
This was when he broke off the interview, ending with the fashion world's ultimate put-down: "It's just boring."
His comment sums up the fashion pack's reaction to a raging debate over models that look sick and underfed, over a beauty ideal that some say encourages teenagers to starve themselves. ...
Fashion boss rejects bid to ban thin models
Mon Sep 18, 2006
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - One of the main backers of London Fashion Week Sunday rejected British government calls for a ban on wafer-thin models as the fashion industry faced a furor over its catwalks.
"Outright bans and indeed legislation is definitely not a route we want to go down," said Marks and Spencer chief executive Stuart Rose, who is chairman of the British Fashion Council that is organizing the event which starts Monday.
He was responding to a plea from Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell for London to follow Madrid's example and ban skinny models.
Madrid fashion organizers have taken the unprecedented step of rejecting underweight women, saying they wanted to project an image of beauty and health -- not a waif-like look.
The new Spanish rules say models with a body mass index (BMI) -- a ratio of height to weight -- below 18 are not allowed to appear at the shows.
Urging London to follow Madrid's example, Jowell said "The fashion industry's promotion of beauty as meaning stick thin is damaging to young girls' self-image and to their health.
"The fashion industry is hugely powerful in shaping the attitude of teenage girls and their feelings about themselves," she said in a statement. ...
mr rose has obviously never been a model - or a jockey. Had he any experience in either profession his attitude would be vastly different.
As it is, he's a schmuck.
Mon Sep 18, 2006
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - One of the main backers of London Fashion Week Sunday rejected British government calls for a ban on wafer-thin models as the fashion industry faced a furor over its catwalks.
"Outright bans and indeed legislation is definitely not a route we want to go down," said Marks and Spencer chief executive Stuart Rose, who is chairman of the British Fashion Council that is organizing the event which starts Monday.
He was responding to a plea from Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell for London to follow Madrid's example and ban skinny models.
Madrid fashion organizers have taken the unprecedented step of rejecting underweight women, saying they wanted to project an image of beauty and health -- not a waif-like look.
The new Spanish rules say models with a body mass index (BMI) -- a ratio of height to weight -- below 18 are not allowed to appear at the shows.
Urging London to follow Madrid's example, Jowell said "The fashion industry's promotion of beauty as meaning stick thin is damaging to young girls' self-image and to their health.
"The fashion industry is hugely powerful in shaping the attitude of teenage girls and their feelings about themselves," she said in a statement. ...
mr rose has obviously never been a model - or a jockey. Had he any experience in either profession his attitude would be vastly different.
As it is, he's a schmuck.
Tue 12 Sep 2006
By Andrew Hay
MADRID (Reuters) - The world's first ban on overly thin models at a top-level fashion show in Madrid has caused outrage among modelling agencies and raised the prospect of restrictions at other venues.
Madrid's fashion week has turned away underweight models after protests that girls and young women were trying to copy their rail-thin looks and developing eating disorders.
Organisers say they want to project an image of beauty and health, rather than a waif-like, or heroin chic look.
But Cathy Gould, of New York's Elite modelling agency, said the fashion industry was being used as a scapegoat for illnesses like anorexia and bulimia.
"I think its outrageous, I understand they want to set this tone of healthy beautiful women, but what about discrimination against the model and what about the freedom of the designer," said Gould, Elite's North America director, adding that the move could harm careers of naturally "gazelle-like" models.
Madrid's regional government, which sponsors the show and imposed restrictions, said it did not blame designers and models for anorexia. It said the fashion industry had a responsibility to portray healthy body images.
"Fashion is a mirror and many teenagers imitate what they see on the catwalk," said regional official Concha Guerra. ...
Well said, Ms Guerra!
Fashion and advertising are at the heart of eating disorders and all other body-image issues. Not every female has the inner strength on all the levels required to remain unprogrammed by perpetual image bombardment.
Modeling agencies refuse to hire anyone who does not conform to the Look Of The Moment. They have armies of underfed, drugged female clothes horses who really look a lot more like hairless young boys than women.
Is it just me, or is it perverse as hell to prefer a prepubescent kid to an adult human?
By Andrew Hay
MADRID (Reuters) - The world's first ban on overly thin models at a top-level fashion show in Madrid has caused outrage among modelling agencies and raised the prospect of restrictions at other venues.
Madrid's fashion week has turned away underweight models after protests that girls and young women were trying to copy their rail-thin looks and developing eating disorders.
Organisers say they want to project an image of beauty and health, rather than a waif-like, or heroin chic look.
But Cathy Gould, of New York's Elite modelling agency, said the fashion industry was being used as a scapegoat for illnesses like anorexia and bulimia.
"I think its outrageous, I understand they want to set this tone of healthy beautiful women, but what about discrimination against the model and what about the freedom of the designer," said Gould, Elite's North America director, adding that the move could harm careers of naturally "gazelle-like" models.
Madrid's regional government, which sponsors the show and imposed restrictions, said it did not blame designers and models for anorexia. It said the fashion industry had a responsibility to portray healthy body images.
"Fashion is a mirror and many teenagers imitate what they see on the catwalk," said regional official Concha Guerra. ...
Well said, Ms Guerra!
Fashion and advertising are at the heart of eating disorders and all other body-image issues. Not every female has the inner strength on all the levels required to remain unprogrammed by perpetual image bombardment.
Modeling agencies refuse to hire anyone who does not conform to the Look Of The Moment. They have armies of underfed, drugged female clothes horses who really look a lot more like hairless young boys than women.
Is it just me, or is it perverse as hell to prefer a prepubescent kid to an adult human?
Wonderful old-fashioned goodies from The Costumer's Manifesto. I love the mourning dresses, but my favo/urite has to be the fetish boot at the end. :)
It's easier to appreciate women's clothes from this period if you don't think about how heavy all the stuff was, and how annoying - and painful - it must have been to have to wear a corset damn near every waking moment.
Corsets, like many things are wonderful in moderation.
It's easier to appreciate women's clothes from this period if you don't think about how heavy all the stuff was, and how annoying - and painful - it must have been to have to wear a corset damn near every waking moment.
Corsets, like many things are wonderful in moderation.
Strange People
#273
Marchesa Casati
#273
Marchesa Casati
Weird and wonderful recycled rubber clothing
Always research your references.