Category Archives: Fashion

The Feminine Feminist: Strong, Successful and Stylish with Sparkle

We can’t be feminine and be feminist and be successful?

Zooey Deschanel begs to differ:
“I want to be a f‑-king feminist and wear a f–king Peter Pan collar. So f–king what?”

Zooey Deschanel cover of Glamour Magazine.

Does any one else see the irony of telling a magazine like Glamour that you’re a feminist when you’re surround by these other topics?

My thoughts exactly. In an interview with Glamour magazine she not only told them that she was a feminist but an effing feminist. Does any one else see the irony of telling a magazine like Glamour that you’re a feminist? But thatttt’s a whole different blog post.
In today’s culture women are supposed to be sweet, coy and passive. PROBLEM. Especially for me. I am an independent, strong, successful woman but also stylish. I love fashion. Truth. Does that make me any less of a feminist? No. I know there are different degrees of feminism but one thing I think they all have in common is shattering the limits that society has set for women.  And by limits I mean stereotypes. And by society I mean the media. As Salon’s Mary Elizabeth Williams wrote in referring to Zooey’s statement, “This is exactly what feminism looks like. It’s not frightened or demure; it’s unconditional. And it wears a tiara if is wants to.” Hell yes it does.
Why is it that culture slaps a strong woman in the face, figuratively for the most part, for being “slutty,” “bitchy,” or “mannish.”
A perfect example of media abuse is Hillary Rodham Clinton. In case you’ve been living Continue reading →

Reblog: A Letter to Victoria’s Secret From a Father

I became aware of this amazing letter from a friend who saw the link to my post How Young is Too Young to be Shopping at Victoria’s Secret on Facebook, he admitted he didn’t actually read my blog (thanks, btw…) but he had a feeling it was centered around the absurdity of Victoria’s Secret marketing ploys. And well, he would be correct. Way to know me.

So here it is from Rev. Evan Dolive—An open letter to Victoria’s Secret regarding their choice to make an underwear line aimed at young teenagers. (Read about it here)

Dear Victoria’s Secret,

I am a father of a three year old girl. She loves princesses, Dora the Explorer, Doc McStuffins and drawing pictures for people. Her favorite foods are peanut butter and jelly, cheese and pistachios.

Even though she is only three, as a parent I have had those thoughts of my daughter growing up and not being the little girl she is now. It is true what they say about kids, they grow up fast. No matter how hard I try I know that she will not be the little ball of energy she is now; one day she will be a rebellious teenager that will more than likely think her dad is a total goof ball and would want to distance herself from my embarrassing presence.

I know that this is far down the line and I try to spend as much time as I can with her making memories of this special time.

But as I read an article today posted on The Black Sphere, it really got me thinking that maybe the culture that we currently find ourselves in is not helping the cause.

Recently I read an article that Victoria’s Secret is launching a line of underwear and bras aimed at middle school aged children. The line will be called “Bright Young Things” and will feature ” lace black cheeksters with the word “Wild” emblazoned on them, green and white polka-dot hipsters screen printed with “Feeling Lucky?” and a lace trim thong with the words, “Call me” on the front.”

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How Young is too Young to be Shopping at Victoria’s Secret?

There’s been a lot of mention of unmentionables in the media lately. The most disturbing—a mother saying on national television that it’s OK for her nine-year-old daughter to shop at Victoria’s Secret for undies. I’m sorry… WHAT?!?!
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having cute panties and bras from the big girl store,” said Jenny Erikson, the mother.
victoriassecretstorefrontAt the age of nine, I was still wearing underwear with the days of the week and they had an elastic band all the way around with my staple brand at the time, Limited Too (now Justice). No “sling shot” style for this girl… well until the summer before I started freshman year in high school. I bought my first “sling shot” from Wet Seal while at the mall with my friend. Sorry mom. I have to admit I was really uncomfortable and embarrassed about the whole purchasing process because I knew I was too young and I was fourteen!

Hitting the fast forward button on little girls’ childhoods is far too common and when it’s the girls’ parents who are at fault, like Erikson, I get irritated because parents are supposed to be the protectors not the instigators. One day your little girl is just shopping at the “big girl” store and the next day they are buying make up and comparing shades during recess.

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Photo-shop or Drop?

Dove Canada’s recent ad campaign by Ogilvy Toronto used reverse psychology of sorts to inform those graphic designers, photo editors and art directors, who are responsible for copying, pasting, shrinking, deforming, whitening images what Real Beauty really is. In order to get straight to the source of the problem, said editors, Dove packaged their message to in the form of a Photoshop Action, a downloadable file that applies an effect with a single click. They created their “Beautify” Action that appeared to add a skin glow effect and planted it on websites that these creatives already visit. However, it reverted the image they were applying this “glow” to back to its original pre-altered state. Genius….though I suppose a bit misleading. Ok, ok a lot misleading.

Advertisements, magazines, “get skinny” websites, and social media networks like Pinterest are often the sources of what we as females, and males for that matter, view as beautiful. It’s everywhere! We are suffocated daily by these images and sure, we understand this celebrity or that model are apart of this fantasy world when we’re flipping the pages of a magazine or scrolling endlessly on our computers. But we are often left standing in front of the mirror naked going “wait, where did that dimple come from and when did that zit decide to rent space on my face?” It’s bonkers, and it makes me mad. Hmph.

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Bringing Healthy Back!

Who says healthy women can’t be sexy? Fashion Runways. With far-too-skinny models stomping the runways of London’s and New York’s fashion week last week, the discussions of body image and “what is too skinny?” surfaced.

Sure, there have been other efforts from several fashion organizations around the world, but most emphasize age minimums and healthy working environments, whatever that means. I want numbers people!

For the country of Israel, enough was enough.

Adi Barkan, an iconic fashion photographer was the one who spearheaded the efforts to bring the image of the healthy model back after one of his models died in his arms from anorexia. Barkan told NBC News, “When a child looks at the TV and they want to be skinny not for any reason just because they saw beautiful and skinny girls, that, we can change.” And change he did. Barkan pressed Israeli politicians to draw up and pass a law that bans models from working who have a lower body mass index (BMI) than 18.5, or less than 118 pounds if you’re 5’7’’. Wowzah. The law also enforces clear written disclaimers in magazines and newspapers advertisements that have digitally enhanced images.

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Welcome To Shattered Glass Slipper!


MasswelcomematHey there! Welcome to my new blog. Its been a long time coming but I’ve decided 2013 is the year I quit making excuses. So I’m happy that one of my new year’s resolutions is up and running for all of you to read.

A little about me and why I created this blog.  By day I’m a communications coordinator by night a dance teacher and in between a 20something woman concerned about how the media and everyday life portrays females and its affects on young girls. Why can’t girls just be girls? Probably because well…”boys will be boys.” (more on that later.) Back in college I took a youth and pop culture class and was floored by this cartoon, Winx Club, ever heard of it? Probably not. Take it from someone who had to watch episodes as research, it was terrible. But that animated cartoon staring five fairies, who saved puppies from trees in thigh high boots and plaid mini skirts and who didn’t have powers strong enough to save people from drowning, because that was for the boys to do is the reason this blog was born.

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