Entries categorized as ‘Fashion’
December 20, 2009 · 1 Comment
Maybe it’s the nine inches of snow on the ground. Maybe it’s the fact that my dog’s post-surgery leg kinda resembles a little bootie. Or maybe it’s the darn online shopping articles that I’ve encountered this week.
But I feel compelled to speak out against a product today.
That product? Uggs.
That’s right. The celebrity favorite. Worn in every kind of weather, on every coast. A brand that has almost lost its trademark because people throw the name around with the same regularity of ‘Kleenex’ and ‘Xerox.’
But I have to go on record here. In the beginning , I craved Uggs. Had to have Uggs. Asked for Uggs for Christmas and was lucky enough to receive Uggs.
I wore my Uggs for less than one winter season, and my classic, beautiful, expensive Uggs developed a hole — not in the bottom where you might expect it — but in the top of the toe. That one-of-a-kind, special Australian leather crapped out in just a few months.
Damn Uggs.
I replaced them with a pair of L. L. Bean knock-offs. That pair was less than half the price and lasted for years. In fact, I only replaced it this year because I wanted more colors.
This year, I got two pairs. These knock-off Uggs are made by Lamo — that’s right — Lamo. The name is ridiculous, but they are comfortable and durable and come in all kinds of colors…and cost me $30.
So, if you think you NEED a pair of Uggs for Christmas this year, remember my cautionary tale. The brand name is simply that — a name. The companies that have followed have not just copied the design.
They’ve made it better.
Categories: Dogs · Fashion · Humor
Tagged: celebrity fashion, Fashion, holiday shopping, Holidays, Kleenex, L.L Bean, Lamo, pop-up ads, shoes, snow, Uggs, winter weather, Xerox
Okay, this will be short one, but my passion for the topic is long.
I flew to Boston on the Delta Shuttle this morning, and the plane was packed. The woman who sat next to me was your standard business traveler. Well dressed. Brand accessories. Blackberry at the ready. Tasteful makeup.
God awful hair.
What’s up with that? I know it was an early flight — a 7:30am shuttle requires a 5:15ish wake up to get it all done and get to LaGuardia on time — but how come you can pull together a stylish wardrobe — complete with accessories– but can’t spare a few moments for your coif?
For shame. You are not excused.
And don’t brush it 20 times like that is going to make a difference. You didn’t blow it dry, you didn’t style it, and brushing it doesn’t do much more than make your frizzy mop that much more pathetic.
I got up the extra 15 minutes to deal with my massive amounts of hair. You take responsibility for yours, too, sister.
That is all.
Categories: Fashion · Humor · Television
Tagged: airplanes, business traveler, Delta Shuttle, hair, hair care, LaGuardia Airport, Travel
You are more likely to see a person with a tattoo on their body than a bumper sticker on their car.
Next time you are on the road, see for yourself.
I had a meeting in Jersey City this weekend, which meant I was driving back and forth through the Holland Tunnel en route to the hotel. To distract myself from how tightly the cars were packed in the tunnel — and the unspoken reality that we were frickin’ underwater for a really long time — I was looking at the surrounding vehicles closely to occupy my slightly claustrophobic mind.
Of all the cars, trucks, vans and motorcycles that passed my cab during our putt-putt-putt progression, I only saw one bumper sticker in the bunch….and that one was so old, I couldn’t make out the words. All the other vehicles had naked bumpers — not a sticker in the bunch.
But I did spy — when we loitered close enough — a driver or two who had visible tattoos! And you know there were bound to be some tats that fell below the ‘window line.’
A 2006 study by the Pew Research Center said 36 percent of 18-25 year olds have a tattoo, and that number climbs to 40 percent of 26-40 year olds. And those percentages tend to rise during times of recession, which makes me think many an inked arm, leg or backside was in the tunnel with me as I crossed the New Jersey/New York state line.
So, if a person can make the leap to permanently decorate their body parts, why leave their car unscathed?
Perhaps it’s just a question of autonomy.
(Sorry…I couldn’t resist.)
Categories: Fashion · Humor · Travel
As dates go in history, December 2nd is a biggie.
Case in point: Charles Dickens held his first public reading in New York City on December 2, 1887. Wonder if anyone said, “Please sir, I want more”?
Or, if you’ve ever shaved any part of your body, thank Gillette — he patented the first disposable razor on this date back in 1901.
And, in a surprising find for even the Internet, Ringo Starr had his tonsils removed on December 2, 1964….which kinda explains a lot.
But of all the events that have taken place on this day in history, I declare December 2, 1998 the most monumental…at least, in my world. For on this day, 11 years ago, Rory Diggins Dugan Curtsinger was born a chocolate cockapoo in southeastern Missouri.
I didn’t have the great pleasure of meeting him until January 12, 1999 — his adoption day — but I celebrate both….usually with a birthday cake for his human friends (’cause Rory prefers meat, cheese or peanut butter).
Business took me out of town today, but never fear — I will be with the birthday boy this evening. And we’ll do something worthy of the history books…and of all the love and joy this amazing little pup has brought into my life.
Happy Birthday, Rory Dog!
XOXO
Mama Dog
Categories: Books & Mags · Broadway · Dogs · Fashion · Humor · Movies · Music · Travel
Tagged: Charles Dicken, Dancing Lady movie, December 2, Dogs, Fred Astaire, Gillette razors, history, James Monroe, Monroe Doctrine, Movies, New York City, Ringo Starr, today in history
I have learned new holiday shopping lingo this week!
As you know, yesterday was ‘Cyber Monday,’ when all the online shopping portals featured fabulous one-day sales and deals.
Did you take advantage? Shop much and save big? No?!?
If you didn’t take advantage of yesterday’s Cyber Monday savings, you may experience ‘Tuesday Regrets’. (I heard this on a TV ad, so you know it must be true.)
Which leads one to surmise….
If your ‘Tuesday Regrets’ are not quickly treated — with a dose of online (or over-the-counter) retail therapy — you might find yourself sinking into the ‘Wednesday Despairs’, followed by a rapid downward spiral into the ‘Thursday Self-Loathings’. (Sufferers are encouraged to avoid “Grey’s Anatomy”, which can exacerbate existing symptoms.)
If conditions persist, ‘Black Friday’ may return, but not the day shoppers fondly recall. While they may experience a renewed urge to purchase, they will find no day-after-Thanksgiving specials, which can lead to disorientation, disappointment and severe depression.
‘Suicidal Thoughts Saturday’ can then last up to 24 hours, but typically is cut short.
Happy shopping!
Categories: Fashion · Holidays · Humor · Internet
Tagged: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Grey's Anatomy, holiday shopping, Holidays, online shopping, retail therapy, Television, Thanksgiving, Tuesday Regrets
Last Friday, while I was recovering from my midnight movie sojourn, redheads around the country were being attacked as the result of a Facebook posting that declared November 20th “Kick a Ginger Day.”
Believed to be inspired by an episode of “South Park” on Comedy Central, the posting brought some serious hurt down upon students with red hair in Los Angeles and Vancouver who were kicked repeatedly as they walked down the halls.
I have never felt so left out of anything in my life.
I have red hair. I’ve been a natural red head for almost 10 years now, and last Friday, I was out and about in the neighborhood in plain sight several times….but no attacks. Not even a suspicious following by someone with a lead pipe or tree branch.
Do these “Ginger Day” celebrants discriminate against people who have to buy their hair color? That seems hardly fair. It’s still red. Or are they such cowards they only pick on small children? Scared of what will happen when an adult ginger opens a big can of whoop ass on you, huh?
Well, you should be. Fake hair color or not, red heads are a force to be reckoned with, and should never be ignored.
Especially now that we have our own holiday.
Categories: Fashion · Humor · Internet · Television · Travel
Tagged: Comedy Central, Facebook, Ginger Day, Internet, Kick a Ginger Day, Los Angeles, red hair, redheads, South Park, Television, Vancouver
I was working in Akron, Ohio last night, so perhaps that’s why this news story caught my eye.
The International Women’s Air and Space Museum (IWASM), which is located in Cleveland — or ‘Land of Cleve,’ as I like to say — has for 20 years been home to a wad of hair from the head of famed female aviator Amelia Earhart.
Or so they thought.
Recent DNA testing by the Institute for Aviation History, a non-profit group that continues to search for the pilot’s remains, discovered that the clump was really…thread.
Oopsy daisy.
And it’s not like the alleged hair was pulled from a random shower drain. IWASM received the false fringe from the Smithsonian Museum…which got the whacky weave via donation from a man in Pennsylvania.
Now, it doesn’t really surprise me that someone might try to pass off a tangle of thread as the legendary flier’s locks. There’s a shyster born every minute (to balance out all the suckers, of course). It is shocking, though, that it got by the Smithsonian. I don’t think hair and thread necessarily look that much alike, even to the human eye.
But most surprising of all? Get this — now that the fraud has been exposed, IWASM has decided to keep the thread in the exhibit.
Huh??
What on earth are the museum curators thinking? We know it’s fake, guys. You announced it to the press, and since the movie ‘Amelia’ opens soon, they actually wrote a story about it. We know it’s not her hair…it’s thread.
It was already kinda creepy. Now it’s just stupid.
Categories: Fashion · Humor · Travel
Tagged: Akron, Amelia, Amelia Earhart, Cleveland, Institute for Aviation History, International Women's Air and Space Museum, IWASM, Ohio, Smithsonian Museum
TMZ.com is one of those celebrity websites that makes me shake my head.
They apparently are willing to poke their cameras anywhere, and will post the pics and video immediately and without any pangs of conscience. If I end up reading something on their website, I usually feel guilty…and a little dirty.
(I still read it, but at least I feel bad.)
But today I hit their site via a link from who knows where, and I laughed aloud at their latest tasteless-yet-oh-so-true feature called “Amber Alert.”
Now, you no doubt know that, in the real world, an “Amber Alert” is designed to inform a community about a child’s abduction to aide in the search. The name “Amber” honors an early victim.
Not so on TMZ.com. There an “Amber Alert” calls out celebrities who have spent a little to much time under the spray tanner, with recent photos posted as evidence. The most telling examples pair way white stars — like Anne Hathaway and Gwyneth Paltrow — with agent orange offenders like Ivanka Trump and Valentino. Jennifer Love Hewitt and Kelly Ripa have also been called out of late for being a bit too baked.
As the founder and lifetime member of the PPA (Pasty People of America), I got a particular chuckle out of this feature. And, yes, now that I have found it, will certainly return to TMZ.com to see who they skewer next.
But at least I will feel bad about it.
Categories: Fashion · Humor · Internet · Movies · Television
Tagged: Amber Alert, Anne Hathaway, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ivanka Trump, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kelly Ripa, TMZ.com, Valentino
September 20, 2009 · 5 Comments
I was sitting on the stoop of my neighbor’s building yesterday afternoon with Rory Dog, enjoying the gorgeous weather, when a young girl of about five rode by on her pink bicycle, her pink helmet perfectly coordinated with her pink-and-black polka dot pants.
“Man, look at all that pink,” I murmured with distaste.
My neighbor looked at me as if I had blasphemed. “All little girls love pink.”
Do they? Do all little girls really love pink? Or is pink — and purple, too, I would argue — foisted upon them from birth by their mothers and a conspiracy of retailers?
I don’t remember ever loving pink. Truth be told, I wasn’t that into clothes as a kid. Mom made a lot of them for us, and I didn’t pitch fits or demand certain colors — did I?
Of course, everything is different now. A five-year old today has more social skills and awareness than a 13-year old did in my day. But if we agree that girls today are more sophisticated at an early age, does it make sense then that they would be that into pink? Wouldn’t they be drawn to black in their attempts to appear and act older?
Could it be that moms are just trying to keep their little girls ‘little girls’ as long as possible by dressing them in the babiest of colors? Or, maybe no one — little girl or mother alike — can stand up against the all-powerful Disney merchandising.
I’m just asking. No judgments.
Except…I really don’t like pink.
Categories: Fashion · Humor
Tagged: girl's clothing, pink, purple
