Category Archives: Fashion

5 Smarty Halloween Costumes

I love the creativity that Halloween brings out in me and others, and I always try to DIY my costumes by collecting things from friends and family, Goodwill, my own wardrobe with an assist from the craft store!

Unfortunately, Halloween has notoriously been known as the holiday where you can “dress like a slut and get away with it,” —that is, according to the movie Mean Girls.
So instead of going sexy, I vote going smarty this Halloween. Here are my top 5 Halloween costume ideas for 2014! What are you going to be? Leave your ideas in the comments!

1. Carmen SandiegoCarmenSandiego

Relive the 90s! The education game show series began airing on PBS in 1991 that had viewers and contestants becoming detectives to solve various mysteries and geography challenges leading up to the chance to capture Carmen and receive a trip! Also, who could forget that iconic theme song?

What you’ll need:

  • Red trench-styled coat
  • Red fedora hat
  • Yellow scarf
  • Black shirt and pants
  • Black boots

Additional Accessories: inflatable globe, a map, or binoculars
Couplet? Have your mate go as Where’s Waldo, you both can we “lost” in love, HA!

AmeliaEarhart2. Amelia Earhart

Take your costume to new heights by dressing up as this pioneer pilot.

What you’ll need:

  • Brown bomber or aviator jacket
  • Khaki pants or slacks with a trim-cut leg
  • Brown riding boots or combat boots
  • White scarf, bonus points for adding a hanger via tape or a trusty needle and thread to the inside and making it look like its “blowing in the wind.”
  • Goggles, ski goggles may do the trick if you have those laying in your coat closet
  • A helmet or a floppy-eared hat, if hats aren’t your thing, the goggles may be enough to get the idea across.
    If you don’t feel DIYing this one, there’s an accessory kit!

Additional Accessories: You could potentially get a model airplane and carry with you, bonus points if you find a backpack like this one!
Couplet? Have your mate go as an airplane! Weee!

RosieRiveter3. Rosie the Riveter

A cultural icon with an empowering message, “We Can Do It!” And you can do with this easy-to-put-together costume.

What you’ll need:

  • Red with white polka dotted scarf or fabric, enough to go around your head and tie in the front
  • Jeans, bonus points if they’re high-waisted—how retro!
  • Blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, be sure to tuck in the shirt or tie it in a knot at the waist.
  • Red lipstick
  • Hair up!
  • Black combat boots
  • A flexed bicep for the iconic pose.

Additional Accessories: Create a yellow “backdrop” with the “We Can Do It” speech bubble on cardboard, attach elastic loops, wear as a backpack.  This may be a bit difficult for a night on the town, but may work well at a house party…with large doorways.
Couplet? Have your mate go as a member of the Army, both are appropriate for the WWII timeframe.

LadyLiberty4. Lady Liberty

Because Amurica and Freedom and because in several states this November it’s election season!

What you’ll need:

  • A blue-green bed sheet or a white one dyed a blue-green
  • Rope or chording from the craft store painted/dyed the same color as sheet
  • Burger King crown, halfed and painted to match
  • Flip flops or gold sandals, feel free to spray paint these as well to match
  • This amazing clutch that looks like a book from Asos! 
  • Torch: flash light, add matching colored foam around the base and up and attach orange and yellow tissue paper to the lens of the flashlight and WHA-LA! or you could just buy one here. 

Additional Accessories: Purchase silver or blue-green body paint for your face and arms (though a long sleeve shirt may be easier and more comfortable when dyed to match) Also if face paint irritates your skin, like it does mine, opt for silver eye shadow and lip stick to finish the look.
Couplet? Have your mate go as Uncle Sam.

RubiksCube5. Rubiks Cube

Who doesn’t love a creative costume brainteaser?

What you’ll need:

  • Three boxes from UPS or FedEx that are wide enough to fit around your torso
  • Different colored construction paper or paint (don’t forget the brushes!) to create the different colored blocks
  • Black duct tape to tape it all down or define the blocks of color
  • Sharp Scissors or a X-acto to cut round holes in the boxes, big enough for your body
  • To wear under: anything! I recommend a black tank top or long sleeve shirt and leggings or shorts.

Additional Accessories: Wear color sneakers to complete the look, Converses work great! Oh! and bonus points if you make the rubiks cube solvable!
Couplet? Have your mate go as a nerd that is trying to solve you!

From SunshineSouthern.wordpress.com. Click here to visit her blog and get more step by step instructions!

A version of the finished product from SunshineSouthern.wordpress.com. Click here to visit her blog and get more step by step instructions!

Now, I want to hear from you! What smarty costumes have you come up with in the past? What are you going to be this year?

 

 

6 Compliments We Should Stop Giving

We’re all guilty of ‘em, the compliment that has a side of snark, jealousy all joined by their friend, insecurity. Say “hi” to insecurity (hiiii insecurity). Backhanded compliments are also known as not compliments, or uncomplementing compliments and can be word vomit that spews everywhere, either intentionally or not, to bring someone down (again intentionally or not) and typically they’re focused around how someone looks or acts, compared to societal norms.

6compliments1. The “Just Kidding”
You met who you think is your Prince Charming at the grocery store (obviously) you had a debate in the pickle aisle in which case, bread and butter pickles are always better. But you exchange numbers and agree to go out for coffee the next morning before work. Waking up extra early to shower, style your hair and wiggle your way into your chartreuse pencil skirt, you know the one that hasn’t had a night in the town…err morning coffee appearance since college business class presentations. “What do you think about this outfit?” you ask your roommate who’s standing in the kitchen slathering butter on her burnt toast, “You’re going out like that?…just kidding…you look great!” Cue downtrodden gaze and an immediate scamper up the stairs for another look in the full length mirror, then back to the closet, then back to your reflection.

“Just Kidding” is really just code for the first statement your roommate said, she meant it, but since she’s your roommate and friend, and friends are supposed to be supportive. So, to avoid soiling your feelings and confidence she just tied up her truth with a neat “just kidding” bow. Friends don’t let friends get upset. But friends also don’t let friends go out in public wearing this either. So let’s just all be honest as Abe (which we heard is pretty gosh darn honest).

2. “You have lost a lot of weight!”
About a year ago, you decide to decide to make a change in your life that revolved around nutrition and making Jim the gym your new religion. You practiced everyday multiple hours of the day, sweating so much that you thought about bottling it up and selling it, except no one wants your salty sweat juice. You’ve given up milk because squats are the only thing doing this body good and you’re pretty sure you’ve become a rabbit because of the amount of greens you’ve been ingesting. Thank goodness no cottontail has sprouted…yet. Then feeling all sassypants(less) you sport that new black dress and heels (to obvs show off your calf muscles) for a fun night on the town with some old college friends who you haven’t seen in months. “You have lost a lot of weight” comes out of Barbara. “Nope, Babs, I haven’t noticed.”

3. “You look really skinny today!”
You get out of the car at your family reunion when your sweet Nana looks you over, as she does, and says, “Sweetie, you look really skinny today,” you look at her and want to rebuke, “if I’m skinny today, does that mean that yesterday I wasn’t?” but you quickly pump the “oh no you didn’t just” breaks and realize since she’s lived to be 90 that she gets a free pass to, without consequences, say and do anything she wants. Ah, the Circle of Life (and it moves us all). Sure you have “skinny” days when you stand a bit taller, clothes feel better and your mood is just on the uppity up! And then there are the blech, bloated days when you admittedly feel like sitting on the couch sans pants watching 10 Things I Hate About You and 27 Dresses back-to-back with a bucket full of dark chocolate drops (which you eat every.single.one), because popcorn just won’t do! So instead of offering Nana a sarcastic comeback that your mother would no doubt hear from across the room and would say your name in that motherly tone of disappointment and warning, you crack a half smile before eying the onion dip that’s got your name written alllll over it. See ya Nan.

4. “I could never wear that.”
For brunch you decide to throw on your never-worn faux fur vest with your dapper fedora hat with sequin trim because it’s Sunday and you’re feeling fancy. And day sequins are always appropriate. Until, dun dun dun “I could never wear that” comes from a lady friend across the table slowly chewing on the end of her beverage straw. “You sure can! It was only $19.99 at Khol’s and with your Khol’s cash its even less! Who doesn’t love a bargain?,” you respond, knowing that she didn’t mean the price. You continue with your budda-like explanation that fashion is subjective and you can and should wear whatever makes you feel happy, confident and you!

5. “You’re so lucky you get to live with your parents.”
Sure you’re financially fortunate that your parents, upon returning from college, didn’t demand giving you the heave ho’ up outta their humble abode. However, you’re smart because you have a truckload savings and you’ve been able to travel a bit too. Magellan would be proud and so would those extreme couponers. But being in the suburbs when the majority of friends are in the city, you’re social life and dating life have received a firm junk punch, and no hill of money can make up for those missed relationships. So yup, you’re unfortunately fortunate.

6. “You’ll fit in well there.”
You just got a new gig at the top PR agency in the industry and you’re walking confidently (as you usually do) down the hallway to hand in your two-weeks notice. Now, there’s been some buzz circulating the watercooler about you landing that big fat juicy burger salary and a colleague, who you thought was your friend, suddenly stops you in your clickity-clack sashay and says, “you’ll fit in well there.” You stare blankly at her and say “thanks,” no “congratulations,” “we’ll miss you,” nothing.

What are some other examples of compliments of the backhanded variety that we should stop giving? Better yet, what are some examples of genuine compliments we can share with people to uplift their spirit! Quick, tell me in the comments!

Teachable Moments Through a Lens

notjustagirl

by Jaime Moore, Jaime Moore Photography

Tis the season for all things dress up! As the air crisps, mums bloom and pumpkin flavored everything takes over, (reason numero uno I love fall) thinking about “what am I going to be for halloween” haunts the creative crevices in my brain as well as many young girls.

Will they go with the Mean Girls approach?
“Halloween is the one day a year you can dress like a total slut and no one can say anything.”

The Disney Princess approach?
You know the tutus, tiaras, wands, glitter and twirling all of the twirling (OK before everyone gives me a onetwopunch I love all of those princessy things, exhibitA) But I think Halloween is a time to use your creativity and brain power to come up with an original idea, a homemade creation, something totally silly or having to do with pop culture. Sorry Sally, princesses were so 2008. But just to prove I’m not living under a rock, though it was pretty comfortable there before Facebook, I totes know princesses of the Disney variety will be forever and ever (amen) be a “thing” until the next cultural fad comes into focus blurs all the other lines (link).

So in the spirit of Halloween I want to give a standing ovation to Jaime Moore, a photographer and mother of a 5-year-old young lady, for thinking out side the Mean Girls and Disney Princess mold!

When searching for creative inspiration to take photos of her daughter she stepped away from the fantasy driven princess mantra and centered on real women, history (herstory? hehe…I mean herher?) changing women.

What she did was spot on and not to mention inspirational like whoa.  She dressed her daughter as five women in history—Helen Keller, Amelia Earhart, Susan B. Anthony, Coco Chanel and Jane Goodall—and before the shutter snapped she educated her daughter on each woman’s great achievements. What up teachable moments!

Moore said in Ellen Degeneres’ The Good News column that it was important to educate young girls that there are other role models besides princesses.

“I realized there’s nothing else out there right now when you look at toddlers or young girls’ ideas for costumes or anything. Disney princesses are everywhere,” she says. “I think it would be nice to broaden the horizon a bit… there are real women and real role models for them to look up to.”

Who is your favorite history-making female? Let me know in the comments, pumpkin.

 

The Spooky Reality of Sexy’s Sister, Naughty

Naughty is not so nice when you’re talking about Halloween costumes for toddlers. This year Walmart housed costumes of the animal varieties on their shelves and labeled them as “sexy”, “naughty”, “playful.” However, what Walmart and the Consumerist.com seem to be the most concerned about are not the adjectives describing the costumes, but how inaccurate and non-animal-like the costumes are. Well, I agree with that!

ladies and gents I give you the "naughty leopard"

ladies and gents I give you the “naughty leopard”

For instance, as you can see in the photo to the left the “naughty leopard” frock has a tutu and purple leopard ribbon trim—not quite the furry feline we’re used to seeing in the pages of National Geographic. Spoiler alert: Walmart is pulling the costumes from the shelves to do more “research.”

So why am I writing about this ordeal? Well for one, it’s been cluttering the Interwebz for weeks and I just can’t ignore it any longer. And two, why the heck do people (myself included) get irritated when kid things are labeled with sexual-ese language that connotes that something (this costume for instance) is sexual when in reality it’s not? To be real: It’s a dress accessorized by animal ears.

To be real part deux: It’s marketing at its finest. I’m elated to know that people are opening their eyeballs to these marketing tactics and calling out their one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-other bluff.

As Jezebel had pointed out, the Halloween costume industry has been a contributor to the over sexualized culture. So now, when we hear “naughty” we (for the most part, admit it!) picture a risqué and lewd version of the actual “thing”. In this case the “thing” is a leopard.  BUT WHY!?! Naughty has since the 1600s been a word used to describe someone being mischievous or behaving improperly. The 1900s is when “Naughty” became “Sexy’s” sister.

I know you’re tired of hearing about leopards, soooo let’s use the “naughty elf,” imagery as an example.

What do you picture when you hear “naughty elf?”

Half of you just pictured a nugget-sized human in the north pole clad in a coat with fur trim and a pointy hat, misbehaving or rigging all the toys to make children sad AND the other half of you thought of a hot-to-trot blonde in a mini skirt covered in jingle bells, sporting a cropped-coat that features white fur trim (surely, that thing can’t be warm) sounding out her vowels (ay-ee-iee-ohhh-ouuu *duck face*).

naughtyelf

north pole toy maker vs. human hot-to-trot woman ready for a costume party. disclaimer: cartoon elf not true to size (in comparison to woman elf on right)

You get the point. So it’s not about the costume being labeled as “naughty”, but rather what the word “naughty” actually means in our culture vs. the dictionary.

It’s time to send Naughty back to the days of wetting paper balls in our mouths and launching them through straws at our classmate’s head, to eating dessert right before dinner, and getting yelled at for not taking off muddy shoes before walking in the house!

Which imagery do you have when you think of “naughty?” How can we get Naughty to stray from her sister Sexy? Share in the comments!

Pink…Not Always a Girl Thing

little me in my sailor get up complete with earrings, "hair" bow and patent leather shoes similar to those on FDR's feet.

little me in my sailor get up complete with earrings, “hair” bow and patent leather shoes similar to those on FDR’s feet.

Today, we are constantly trying to label boys and girls at a glance. We just have to know. Riiiight… now. Enter color codes. Also enter earrings at 6 weeks old and all the double-sided taped on “hair” bows! What? I was pretty much bald until I was three.

Pink and blue were labeled as colors for babies in the mid-19th century but the two colors were not promoted as blue cap for baby boys and pink cap for baby girls until just before World War I. This is history, folks. (herstory?)

The picture below is of Franklin Delano Roosevelt as a youngster. At a glance, to our societal standards today he actually looks like a she, with long locks and sporting a skirt. Yet societal norms of 1884, when FDR at age 2 ½ , dictated that boys wore dresses until they were about 7 years old and this was the time of their first haircut as well. This outfit in those times was indeed gender neutral.

FDR at age 2.5. Bettmann / Corbis

FDR as a youngster sporting his skirt, long locks and patent leather shoes. 
Bettmann / Corbis

Developing these color codes for hospital purposes makes sense. It makes the nurses jobs a tad easier by not having to undo a child’s diaper to identify the correct gender before placing them back in what is *hopefully* the correct crib in the hospital nursery. But really, how did we end up with two “teams” for clothing? (which has now transcended and leached into every part of kid culture clearly defining that blue is for boys and pink is for girls).

Jo B. Paoletti a historian at the University of Maryland and author of the published book, Pink and Blue: Telling the Girls from the Boys in America was quoted in a Smithsonian article answering why there is now two sides.

“It’s really a story of what happened to neutral clothing,” says Paoletti, who has explored the meaning of children’s clothing for 30 years. For centuries, she says, children wore dainty white dresses up to age 6. “What was once a matter of practicality—you dress your baby in white dresses and diapers; white cotton can be bleached—became a matter of ‘Oh my God, if I dress my baby in the wrong thing, they’ll grow up perverted,’ ” Paoletti says.

Wait a minute though! According to a June 1918 article from the trade publication Earnshaw’s Infants’ Department said, “The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls.” Pink back in the day was viewed as a strong color whereas blue was softer and more dainty. Even Time magazine agreed! In 1927, the magazine printed a chart showing gender specific colors for girls and boys according to the leading department stores of the time.

Soooo I guess pink hasn’t always been a girl thing. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR, RIGHT? So how in the world (literally) did it get flip-flopped to the gender color codes we are beaten over the head with daily? (not literally)

It’s not where, but who and when these gender specific color wheels were established. Year: 1940
Who: Marketers dictating these new norms and pushing “buy in” from the public. (No surprise there) Girls were to dress like their mothers and boys were to dress like their fathers.

Today many parents are struggling with conforming to gender roles or to letting their little one make decisions for themselves. A-list celebrity Angelina Jolie is well known for allowing her 6-year-old daughter Shiloh to dress as she pleases. She told Vanity Fair in 2010 that Shiloh dresses like “a little dude” and “thinks she’s one of the brothers.” I think for a parent it takes guts to allow your child, especially at such a young age, to dictate their own wardrobe choices! I respect Shiloh’s bravery to challenge societal stereotypes and be free (via her mother) to express herself. (Although at 6 she may not realize it)

Another challenge of these color code norms was last week. I was happy yet shocked when a friend of mine who is a dance teacher said on the first day of class when the 7-year-old girls, clad in their pink leotards and tights, introduced themselves saying their name, school and favorite color—five out of the eight girls said blue or light blue.  Blue, a color that is predominantly gender specific as being a “boy” color. The one girl who said pink was her favorite looked at my friend quizzically, almost saying with her expression, “what’s wrong with them.”

I wonder why this is? What makes these five girls pick a different color other than pink…they could have picked purple (one did) or green or red…but why blue? Maybe they’re tired of being forced to like pink by society?(coughmarketerscough) Maybe girls are tired of being choked by the pink aisle when they go into the toy store, clothing store, or any store. Remember Riley? These girls in my friend’s dance class are all versions of Riley. Dressed in pink leotards looking for a blue one!

Again, these marketer-created color codes dictate what is “right” for little girls to identify with. Pink is for girls, blue is for boys. That’s just how it is. But they are challenging that, which is empowering and refreshing.

Do you think marketers should change up their color coded equation an offer products similar to Goldie Blox for little girls? Offer more gender-neutral clothing? For example, if a pair of blue corduroys does it have to have a football on them? Can’t they just be plain and therefore gender neutral? And…some girls like to play football, amiright?

For more samples of how gender neutral our society was back in history, lookie here!

Screw Beauty Standards, Natural is Gnarly

Marc Edwin Babej

Photo by Marc Erwin Babej. Click the photo and scroll to the bottom of the article for a slideshow of the other striking images.

Have you ever looked in the mirror and said, “When did that wrinkle appear?” Or “If only my nose was just a little smaller”? Probably, if not for those two reasons something else. I’ve said it before, we are cruel to ourselves as girls and women trying to live up to the “standards” that are laid out by the media. We’re trying achieve that Barbie look, and not realizing it’s impossible until it’s too late. And for the love of flying monkeys can someone create this real-life-beauty Barbie so our girls can get a dose of what real beauty looks like!

Trolling the Interwebz I found an article in Huffington Post, Women about the “Mask of Perfection,” a project by photographer Marc Erwin Babej. The purpose? To illustrate the difference between a women’s natural beauty and the “correctable flaws” a plastic surgeon is trained to see and thus make a living. He enlisted his plastic surgeon friend, Maria LoTiempo.

Armed with her plastic surgeon perspective and black Sharpie, Maria marked 12 model volunteers all in their twenties, TWENTIES, on the “upgrades” she would give them according to the (unnatural) standards of her profession. Interesting idea I’d say.

However, I did make me have flashbacks to movies that have girls wanting to be part of the “cool” girl group, standing on a table in their unmentionables forced to allow the cool girls to circle body imperfections. ::shutters::

Thank goodness Babej didn’t use the full body approach because I’m certain this post would have sounded quite different. Good move mister, good move.

So what are these “beauty standards” Though the article didn’t clearly map them out I think we all know what they are:
(and please let me know if I forgot any)
1. Wrinkle-free
2. Symmetry
3. Trim nose
4. Pouty lips
5. High/defined cheek bones
6. Trim jaw line

Scrolling through the images of the marked up models I was trying to hard to look for “flaws”, but honestly I didn’t see any, which is the point. These girls are beautiful and naturally so. I appreciate Babej’s project because it adds to the perspective that natural beauty is truly beautiful and for these twenty-somethings to “need” improvements to live up to the “standards” set by the plastic surgeon gods are ridiculous.

What do you think of “Mask of Perfection” and the images slap you (figuratively, of course), the viewer across the face and say “THIS EXISTS.”
What’s your opinion of the images?

It’s So Cliche [a guest post]

Today’s guest post [very first one ya’ll!!!!] is from Janna Hall of My Beautiful Catharsis and serves as reminder to all girls and women: stop being someone you’re not despite what the media is handing you daily and start being you! Because there’s no one else in this world that is better at being well…You! I couldn’t agree more! Around here at SGS we are constantly dissecting and beating those too present stereotypes to a pulp! Thanks to Janna for sharing her thoughts, inspiration and honesty! 

It’s So Cliché…but “Be yourself; everyone else is taken” is a mantra that we need to carry on throughout our life. As kids, we grow up wanting to be like the girls on TV. My best friend and I couldn’t sit through a show or a movie without shouting, “I’M HER!” every time the prettiest girl came on the screen. For us, it was Clueless.  From the moment Stacey Dash hops into Cher’s Jeep, we thought of every reason to ditch who we were and immediately wanted to look like, sound like, and be Dionne. Or the pink Power Ranger. Or Beyonce. Or in my best friend’s case, Britney. From a young age, we’re almost programmed to want to be everyone else, whether it’s a Disney princess, a pop icon, or the popular girl in school. It’s so wonderful to pretend, but what happens when we’re adults and realize that we’re actually not those women, nor will we ever be them? In the midst of our fantasies, we’ve grown to hate ourselves, not because of who we are, but because of who we aren’t. We aren’t those princesses. We aren’t those girls who, with one quick, flirty glance fall in love and live happily ever after with our Prince Charming. We aren’t those celebrities who have picture perfect bodies. We aren’t them. We are who we are. I am Janna. You are you. Somewhere down the path of pretending, we’ve placed more focus on the body we don’t have than our own reality. Somewhere down that path, we’ve snapped from fantasy land and traveled down the path of self-loathing. We’re obsessed with someone else’s beauty so much so that everything we see when we look in the mirror is repulsive. We’re so obsessed with someone else’s life that our own reality, no matter how fabulous it may be, seems worthless. We wander through life wanting to be someone else, while letting the person we were created to be wither away.

It saddens me to see people hate who they are. What’s the point? You will never be anyone but who you are, and to want anything but that is setting yourself up for disappointment. Society, nor a man, nor a celebrity, can or should make you feel like the person you are isn’t effing amazing. Because you are. And there’s no one quite like you.“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than you.”

Janna Hall

Janna Hall

Graduating in 2010 from James Madison University with a degree in English, Janna left her hometown of Richmond, Virginia and headed to New York City in search of something greater than herself. That “something,” she discovered, was the position of Editor for EvolutionaryPress Publishing, helping young writers fulfill their dreams of becoming a published author. A now 7-time published editor, Janna enjoys the thrill of making dreams come true, and continually seeks ways to reach others and make a lasting impact on lives—both young and old. After spending a summer volunteering with New York Cares helping young girls prepare for the upcoming school year, Janna realized how passionate she was about seeing young girls gain confidence in their ability to succeed in the classroom and decided to use her passion to help girls succeed in all aspects of their lives. Now, she works for Girl Scouts of the USA, running the social media channels and pushing the message of building girls of courage, confidence, and character.

It’s Chime for Change!

hp-chimeforchange

Source chimeforchange.org

Education.
Health.
Justice.
For every girl.
For every woman.
Everywhere.

If you know me, you know that I love me some televised musical entertainment in the form of awards shows, music videos, reality TV and benefit concerts from time to time.

And on Sunday night live from the Twickenham Stadium in London the sold out benefit concert Chime for Change aired on NBC featuring the musical stylings of J.Lo, Ellie Goulding, Beyonce, Florence and the Machine, Mary J. Blige, John Legend and many more. Wish I was there! There were also celeb spokespeople: Selma Hayek, Frida Giannini, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Madonna, Jada Pinkett Smith and others who spoke about specific causes close to their hearts. The concert was televised in 150 countries in 6 continents. Talk about a movement! Heyyo!

Why were they coming together? To raise their (high profile) voices to make a change for every girl and woman all over the world. It’s Chime for Change (I love a good play on words!)

Chime for Change founded by Gucci (yup, you read that right…more on that later), co-founded by Beyonce Knowles, Selma Hayak and Frida Giannini (Gucci designer), is a new global campaign to raise funds and awareness for girls’ and women’s empowerment. The campaign focuses on three key areas: Education, Health and Justice.

Through the crowd-funding organization Catapult, nonprofit organizations post their campaigns, people can then search, find and fund the project that means the most to them. Simple, easy, to the point—I like it.

What I don’t like is the fact is Gucci is the founder of this campaign. They’re using their international brand recognition for the benefit of making change. I get that and I think it’s great. BUT they should probably practice what they preach, amiright? A great first step in this Chime for Change is to change how they objectify women in their print advertisements, to which they have received controversy over in the past. (Exhibit A & Exhibit B) I have to be honest when I say I was super pumped about this televised concert aimed to empower females around the world, but discovering that it was a project of Gucci I pulled back, I was disappointed, which is an understatement. Until…

Jada Pinkett Smith presented the project “Jessica’s Story.” Three years ago Jessica escaped sexual abuse and trafficking, a nightmare that she had lived since she was six years old. She is just one of the hundreds of thousands of children who are sex trafficked in the United States. For Jessica there were not a lot of resourced to turn to as she sought to escape, that’s why today, Jessica is helping other girls break the stigma, empower them and provide them with resources.
Click to watch her story below!

A&F-ing It Up!

Sure Abercrombie and Fitch has faced scrutiny for its racy advertisements and parent backlash of the NSFS (not safe for school) tees. However, I still shopped there when I was a teen—around age 14. All of “those” surfer chic with a touch of prep-in-its-step brands were all the rage in high school. Its true! If you wore those brands or any “in brand” (see: PacSun) then you were stylish and on trend… and I guess “cool.”

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I grew out of these brands, literally, when I was a freshman in college. I knew it was time to abandon the brands when all I could find was the occasional sweater in a size large which, if I remember correctly equated to about a size small in most department stores. These popular brands no longer carried the sizes for my curves—curves, which by the way I was happy to have! ::twerks::

Then there was the hellish shopping experience. Between all the tweens geeking out at all the crude tees, the overly polluted stench in the air (aint no body needs to wear that much cologne), the heat, and the necessity to BYOHeadLamp to see what-the-what they were even selling. I was over shopping there and apparently so was A&F’s Jackassery of a CEO, Mike Jeffries, who is making headlines this week due to a Business Insider story  about how they don’t want XL females shopping at their stores because they aren’t “cool” or “beautiful.”

Enter stage right: My get fired up pissed off WRITE-IN-ALL-CAPS-ABOUT-HOW-ABSURD-THIS- (gary busey doppelganger) MAN-IS Thoughts. GAH, LOUD NOISES. But first a statement from the CEO who has the gonads to actually run a company based on these bullying principles.

“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he told the site. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either,” Jeffries told Salon in an interview in 2006.

Want to know why Jeffries’ crazypants are on a bit too tight for today’s standards?, thought you might, click to continue reading

The Bigger the ‘Thigh Gap’ the Bigger Your Popularity Status

Often the Thigh Gap is camouflaged to being motivation for exercise and fitness. Image from the Thigh Gap Tumblr

Often the Thigh Gap is camouflaged to being motivation for exercise and fitness. Image from the Thigh Gap Tumblr

OK so the first I heard of this new body image obsession was on The Kane Show, the morning radio show I listen to make my hour or longer commute bearable. You should listen. The DJs are an entertaining bunch.

So what the hell is a “Thigh Gap?”

According to the NJ high school juniors interviewed by GMA reporter JuJu Chang it’s when you’re standing with your feet and knees together and there is a space between your thighs that is viewed as the “ideal body shape.” Yup don’t have one, not sure I ever did.

Why is this a new and dangerous obsession? Well besides that fact that it’s predominately runway or severely photoshopped models that sport this new “trend,” it’s damn near impossible to achieve this “gap.” Teen psychologist Barbara Greenburg called it an “unattainable goal.”  Agreed. Personally the closest I ever got to a “gap” was between my teeth during my adolescences for which slllooowwwly corrected, we’re talking 5 years people, by braces due to my over bite and a whole mess of other dental problems. Thanks genetics.

No really, genetics plays a huge role in how we’re built. I like to call it the 50/50. Half is genetics and half is the lifestyle we lead, which means what we eat, how often we exercise and being overall happy campers. Also side note these genetics mean some of these images on Tumblr and walking up and down a runway have bow’d legs which can look just like a Thigh Gap.

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