The New Hope Baptist Church is where I served and preached my first sermon. I didn’t know Whitney, she had already left… Minister of Style: Until You’ve Walked a Mile in My, Her Shoes

New York fashion week is a perfect time to focus on how abusive this unregulated industry is towards young women. The Guardian: The Ugly Truth of Fashion’s Model Behaviour

If we all know what we should be doing – why aren’t we blissed out, self-loving goddesses every second of the day? Dramatis Personae: The Lazy Gal’s Guide to Self-Love

Why not make this day about something more than either cliched consumerism or ritual ranting. Daily Good: Valentine’s Day Wisdom

The bill, its sponsor concedes, has little chance to pass, but the hope is to raise awareness of body issues. MSNBC: Arizona considers consumer alert on ads showing airbrushed women.

Fall seven times, stand up eight! Marc and Angel Hack Life: 10 Good Reminders for Stressful Times

Numerous people have written into Vogue, stating that the photo does not capture Adele because it has been ‘enhanced.’ Examiner: Vogue Trims Away at Adele

Here’s a reason to get excited about Toronto Fashion Week: Soia & Kyo is scheduled to show its collection. I’m the proud owner of three of the outerwear label’s coats: one for fall, one for winter and a trench for Spring! My favourite details about the Soia & Kyo coats is the fitted tailoring (very feminine and you don’t get lost in the coat when you’re thin like me), and large, whimsical collars that combine beauty with practicality (they keep you very warm).

Brand designer, Ilan Elfassy, claims to be inspired by “the ‘hipster urban traveler’, someone who is effortlessly fashionable and stands out in the crowd. I also believe in practicality, and that’s why I create styles that can be worn across the globe anywhere and anytime.” Everytime I wear my Soia & Kyo coats I get compliments and I loved telling the New Yorkers who coveted my trench that it was a Canadian label. One of them went online to buy it making me feel like quite the national ambassador.

Edina and Patsy from Ab Fab are the new faces of Alexis Bittar! I used to love watching Absolutely Fabulous starring Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders, which poked fun at the fashion conscious. My favourite line was when fashion editor Patsy was to interview a sports personalty. “Sports personality?” she said, “isn’t that an oxymoron?”

I don’t want people confusing what I’m about. I just write love songs. CBS: Adele on her body image

I love recycled jewellery, not only because it is eco friendly but because it is a little different to the usual stuff. Style Eyes: Recycled Jewellery

After four years of dispatching fashion news with her signature biting humor, Amy Odell is leaving The Cut. Fashionista: Amy Odell Tells Us About Leaving The Cut

It’s easy to make your relationships more complicated than they are. Marc and Angel Hack Life: 12 Relationship Truths We Often Forget

When I am complimented on things that I didn’t like when I was 13, like my overbite and my mole, that’s when you realize that your imperfections are why people love you. My Fashion Life: Eva Mendes Talks to Marie Claire US about Body Image, Ryan Gosling, and Her Girl Crush on Julianne Moore

Cotton pillowcases are among the worst because they’re super absorbent and take the oil right out of your hair. Lipstick and Luxury: An Easy Way to Prevent Hair Breakage

She can’t seem to get anyone to talk about anything other than her weight, or her recent throat surgery. Celebrity Health and Fitness: Adele Stays True to Herself, Her Body Image, for Her Music

Designers Tory Burch and Tommy Hilfiger both told the New York Times that models that are either too young or too thin are still being sent to them by casting agencies. Fashionista: Ford Cops to Repping Underage Models

As our lives become more hectic, the need to slow down becomes more urgent. Daily Good: The Joy of Quiet

Do you know where your clothes come from? Without saying ‘Topshop’ or ‘River Island’ The Upcoming: Are You Ready for The Good Fashion Show?

Today, Ashe of Dramatis Personae asked a thought-provoking question to close her post:

As a blog reader, what do you prefer: a construction and escape, or someone who shares their flaws & imperfections ?

Whether it revolves around simple outfit posts or digs deep into the soul of the writer, blogging can be a unique journey to self-awareness. I remember my first IFB conference during New York Fashion Week and one of the speakers stood out from the rest. Previous panelists had been talking about using old business models to promote our blogs and this man, an executive from G-Star Raw, got up and said (and I paraphrase): “No, no, no! You have to be anti-branding; you have to be the opposite of the traditional business model. Blogging is the antithesis of all that and that’s why it’s so wonderful.”

Authenticity is the key word in blogging and you can learn much about yourself through the process. For instance, I’ve had the opportunity to make some money on this blog through advertising, affiliate marketing and brand collaborations. The reality is I’ve hardly made any money on this blog because I’m uncomfortable with almost every offer that comes my way. Something I’ve learned about myself is that money isn’t as important to me as staying true to myself. Sounds corny, but there it is.

More self-awareness that’s been revealed is that it’s incredibly difficult for me to be vulnerable. When I read entries from other bloggers who are putting their hearts out there and telling us about their struggles and their doubts, I have so much admiration for their courage. I wish I could do that, too, but then again maybe that’s not me. We all have a purpose here and maybe mine looks different.

I do know that blogging has helped me discover what I care about, what I believe in, what I like and don’t like, what I am willing to do in exchange for money, and how little I am influenced by others’ opinions of me. Before I began blogging I thought I cared a lot what people think. The realization that I really don’t came through the process of addressing controversial topics from an unpopular perspective and being criticized for it. Did I wish I never wrote the post? Absolutely not.

To answer Ashe’s question, I much prefer the warts and all approach to blogging because as the fellow from G-Star said at that IFB conference, mainstream fashion and media is in the business of creating escape and unattainable images. Blogging came around and offered something different. Although there are many male bloggers, most fashion bloggers are women. And even though the most “successful” fashion bloggers tend to be young, thin, and hip, I’d like to challenge the meaning of success here.

At another IFB conference, Mattias of Bloglovin defined a successful blog as one that makes money. OK, but if by posting outfit photos of her “perfectly imperfect” self a fashion blogger helps some other woman feel less invisible and even good about herself, isn’t that a success? To provide an antidote to the barrage of cookie cutter images that surround us every day could be seen as revolutionary.

And that brings me to the most important point I’ve learned from blogging: money is not the definition of success. Telling the truth is. (At least that’s what I’m thinking today).

Escape or reality: which do you prefer?

Courtney at Those Graces wrote about her Top 3 movies today (only 3 and they remain the same). She chose The Godfather, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Departed and she challenged us to choose 3 of our own. Here are mine:

Y Tu Mama Tambien

Terms of Endearment

City of God

Could you narrow your favourite films down to 3?

I’ve been reading about Glossybox on other blogs, and now the unique subscription service has arrived in Canada. I was thrilled to receive my first pink Glossybox in the mail which includes five sample beauty products: my favourite nail polish brand, Essie (because it doesn’t chip) in my coveted nail colour, pale pink; a tube of Oscar de la Renta body lotion; Prevage anti-aging night cream; Elizabeth Grant moisturizing stick for lips; and Ahava mineral hand cream.

For the accessible rate of $15, Glossybox will surprise you each month with a new selection of beauty and skin care products. You can go online and create a personal beauty profile to get items tailored to meet your individual needs. Besides providing a practical way to test drive new products without plunging too deeply into you wallet, Glossybox gives us the opportunity to marvel each month and wonder what’s in store while we open our decorative pink box, a precious thing in our sometimes overly ordered lives.

Gotta start with Madonna’s phenomenal Super Bowl half-time performance. The woman is such a pro; she never disappoints!

Could fashion’s heavy reliance on unpaid interns be creating an unfair disadvantage for kids who don’t have their parents’ money to back them up? Fashionista: Are Fashion Internships Fundamentally Unfair?

Sometimes the most random everyday encounters force us to stop and rethink the truths and perceptions we have ingrained in our minds. Marc and Angel: 99 Tiny Stories to Make You Think, Smile and Cry

Take a look at a who’s who of the most influential bloggers of color today. Essence: Black Style Now: 40 Fab Fashion Bloggers (via Stylish Thought Facebook Page)

Via Beautifully Invisible Facebook Page

]]> http://forthoseabouttoshop.ca/2012/02/06/links-i-love-madonna-at-super-bowl-half-time/feed/ 0 http://forthoseabouttoshop.ca/2012/02/03/thought-for-the-day-3/ http://forthoseabouttoshop.ca/2012/02/03/thought-for-the-day-3/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:13:46 +0000 Laura http://forthoseabouttoshop.ca/?p=10623133

Fashionista posted the above image on Facebook of Tim Tebow as the new “face” of Jockey underwear. Unlike most (all?) other underwear campaigns, the American football player/model will keep his trousers on. I think it’s a bold move and Jockey’s way of saying they have so much confidence in their brand they don’t need to show the product. Many other established brands have done exactly the same thing and I say it works!

Think about Tom Brady for Stetson. You can’t smell the cologne in the ads; he represents an image with which the brand wants to be associated.

What do you think?

P.S. this is hard research and not an excuse to show good-looking American football players