Analogue Chic

Archive for the ‘Self-Health’ Category

            Ralph Lauren ad, 2009 via Psychology Today

Airbrushing. False advertising. Negative body image. The Barbie Effect. We are all too familiar with the links between these concepts, and have all heard how the modeling and advertising industries are mostly to blame for the rise in eating disorders in youth.

According to the American Medical Association (AMA), there is a connection. The AMA recently released a statement bashing the use of photo editing, citing the above Ralph Lauren ad for whittling down a model’s waist so much, her head was bigger!

Why are airbrushed photos the defining standard of beauty, particularly for Western society? Why isn’t beauty based on what each individual defines as beauty?

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Via Advanced Style.

You all may recall my experiment with skirts and dresses earlier this year. Around that time I had a chat with a reader who wanted to re-incorporate skirts into her wardrobe, but wasn't comfortable leaping into it fully. I encouraged her to try it, and start with just one skirt-day per week.

I just received this note from her:

"I have been wearing skirts.  EVERY DAY.  At work (I'm a part-time preschool teacher), at home or trampling in the woods, I now feel more comfortable wearing skirts than pants.  Many thanks for inspiring me with your posts on the subject earlier this spring.  I feel like I've been transformed.  One of my co-workers (in her early sixties), whom I never saw in anything other than pants, has now started wearing skirts too.  On the street, if you see a woman in a skirt or dress, she's usually young.  Older women can get so resigned to wearing the same old thing all the time.

…Yes, fashion can be very powerful.  What we wear sends a message to others whether we realize it or not.  Thank you for the encouragement to go against the nap by wearing skirts.  I feel both more feminine and more comfortable."

Amazing. I am humbled.

And the award for bestest blog readers goes to…

Image via Marquis & Camus

… Mary Helen and Lydia, for valor and bravery in heeding the distress call of a frazzled blogger/wage slave/student/designer/stylist.

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You can spot a “mom” a mile away…

“So this Mother’s Day, don’t give Mom that bottle of perfume. Give her something that says, ‘I’m not a woman any more. I’m a Mom.’” Saturday Night Live spoof.

Unfortunately, moms have gotten a bad rap for style—they either don’t try hard enough, or try too hard, both ends of the spectrum that are embarrassing to their offspring…

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I phased out this feature a while ago, because I’m not usually a fan of reading this type of post on other blogs.

But this week I found so many good articles and links, I just have to share them with you all.

Comments or suggestions about link-list style articles most welcome—I aim to please!

Style: looking good while doing stuff. Photo by african_fi

• Sally McGraw on “trying too hard” in style.
• One woman’s experience with a body-loving seminar and photo shoot.
• Planet Green’s new fashion reality show – have you seen it? Thoughts?
• Filed under, “If you’re not angry, you’re not paying attention”: sweatshops are still the primary mode of production for pretty much everything you’re wearing.

For more interesting links, be sure to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook - sometimes repeats, sometimes exclusive, you never know. Always fashion, style, healthy body image, and occasionally silly stuff.

Do you struggle with body image issues? (Who doesn't?) My wardrobe consulting services can help. Contact me to book a free initial consultation.

Photo courtesy the Neighborhood Squirrel.

I'm so lucky to have awesome clients.

Leslie, whom I affectionately refer to as the Neighborhood Squirrel (she is very cute), has just reviewed my Closet Editing service over at her site, as one of 365 Things to Do in Greater Danbury.

Leslie is a creative blogger and stay-at-home mom, who investigates fun events and services available in the Greater Danbury, CT area. Like a lot of moms, her personal style got sidelined after having the little ones. Lucky for me (and her), she had a great instinct for what worked for her, and just needed some objective guidance.

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This prose poem composed itself for you one night while I couldn't sleep. Which may explain a lot.

When you get out of the shower in the morning

and the bitchy, sociopathic monkeys in your brain

start giving you their unsolicited opinion–

"Your thighs are lumpy. Your arms are jiggly.

What are you doing with your hair?! You can't wear that."–

just give them a banana and tell them to sit in the corner.

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Analoguistas, I’m here to spread the gospel of Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes.

Her massive bestseller, Women Who Run with the Wolves*, got me through my quarter-life crisis and basically saved my life. Hence the wolf paw tattoo on my hand that you’ve probably noticed in my outfit photos.

I recommend her to 99% of the women I meet, and I have actually given copies of WWRWTW to all of the women I am close to.

She’s that good.

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This is it. The last day of Women's Future Month.

Women, we need a new future. It’s going to take all the resources of Xena, She-Ra, Buffy, Nancy Drew and the Babysitters’ Club to defeat our enemies and make the world a safe, happy, shiny place for female-kind.

Janeane Garofalo as Bowler in Mystery Men

The single most insidious enemy that women* today reckon with is the propaganda of our “problematic" bodies.

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Image via Life in Style

Way back in elementary school, our school principal was a super-stylish middle aged lady with the perfect hair and soft voice of a rather intimidating but elegant fairy queen. She really did have the uptight, genteel bearing of royalty—then again, I never got sent to the office for bad behavior, so I don’t know…

During lunch, she would stroll through the cafeteria, and between gesturing for us to use “12-inch voices”, she would silently touch her hand to the back of those of us who were hunched over our lunch trays like feral seagulls guarding their hard-won scraps of grocery bag. For this, we mocked her mercilessly in later years. Good posture—how ridiculous!

Nowadays, I’m wishing that we had started the day with mandatory, school-wide deportment lessons and core muscle exercises.

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