Is It Weird...

I kind of like this dress.



It was featured on Yahoo's OMG entertainment news site in the "What were they thinking" category.

To me, though, the textures are interesting, the colors work, and the whole look comes across as effortlessly pretty and fun. I don't know who the actress is or if it's necessarily red carpet appropriate, but I think she pulls it off. I especially like how the white contrasts with the black accessories and her dark hair. What a lovely face too.

I'll admit that the top looks a bit strange -- I wonder what that mesh-like material is. And it's not that I'd ever wear this dress, or can't see how people might say 'wow, that's bizarre looking.'

But there's just something about it that I like.

An Office Without Clutter

Word on the street is that Martha Stewart runs a tight ship when it comes to neatness in her new offices. (And by "street" I mean Gawker media.)

A Gawker post from late-January says that MS Living Omnimedia staffers are barred from having "ink colors other than red or black, desks that are not completely clear at the end of the day, except for one metal basket of approved office supplies, and anything that could be construed as being personal, such as photos or coffee mugs," according to an anonymous tipster. The post includes photos of some very dreary, plain cubicles, reportedly from the office.

Martha quickly responded to the accusations on her blog, writing that "this Gawker.com article is a misrepresentation of what actually was discussed within our offices. The list of pens is an assortment of what our company will provide our employees with at our expense. We never stated that other pens were not allowed to be used. In these tough economic times, harmony is essential within the working environment. I must also inform you that we use a great assortment of writing implements from the Martha Stewart crafts line available at Michael's Crafts and Walmart. "

As Celebitchy points out, great plug for her product line in there!

Personally, I try to leave my work space clean at the end of the day by putting all my pens back in their storage mug and filing stray papers into folders on my desk. I think that an uncluttered space helps keep the mind uncluttered too. But not having the freedom to decorate at all or manage my things the way I like them...that might be a bit much for me.

Then again, for the chance to work at Martha Stewart Living, I might be able to deal for a little while. :)

Photoshopped Pics, Meet Photoshop Interface

"Messing with ads in subways is becoming an artform, but this "Photoshopping" of ads in Berlin takes things to the next level by creating a Photoshop interface with stickers. This is pitch-perfect adbusting right here."
--Gizmodo, Jan. 13

(The above picture is of a vandalized poster in a Berlin subway. Click on the Gizmodo link to see more pictures.)

I have a certain affinity for well-done mashed-up music and mashed-up subway art, and I think this is a pretty clever stunt. If it was done in a magazine or as a picture on the Internet I'd probably find it more boring, since it's easy to drag-and-drop the different elements on a digital screen for the sake of social commentary. (We all already know these pictures are 'shopped...)

But the fact that the artists got large-scale reproductions of Photoshop windows and physically pasted them on to posters - that shows ingenuity, that's kind of interesting.

"Wildlife experts ponder gender of Santa's reindeer"

"LUBBOCK, Texas – There may be a perfectly good reason why Santa doesn't get lost on his annual Christmas globetrot: His flying reindeer just might be female and don't mind stopping for directions.

The gender of Rudolph and his or her sleigh-hauling friends — the subject of goofy Internet chatter every year around this time — is now being pondered by renowned wildlife experts at Texas A&M University.

"Santa's reindeers were really females, most likely," said Alice Blue-McLendon, a veterinary medicine professor specializing in deer who cites the depictions of Santa's helpers with antlers as the primary evidence. It turns out reindeer grow antlers regardless of gender, and most bulls typically shed their fuzzy protrusions before Christmas."

Yes, seriously.

Something to think about over your cocoa and cookies (or latkes) tonight, perhaps.

I'm about to make some brunch and drive home to my family in New York. I hope you are reading this from somewhere warm and cozy, and having a very happy holiday season!

What is this world coming to?

The Associated Press has an article about whether or not Heidi and Spencer actually got married in the States.

Yes, the AP, which touts itself as "the backbone of the world's information system."

This is information, of course. And yeah, I read the article. The Hills is my guilty pleasure, I admit it. I can't wait to see what happens Monday.

But still...To me, this says that The Hills couple everyone loves to loathe are actually now...newsworthy? Something about pseudo-reality shows boggle my mind when I'm not just ingesting them like candy, so I don't think about them much.

Oh, at least Dr. Suess' the Lorax is on now, yay!

Handicraft Stores Make a World of Difference

Last month I wrote a story about volunteering at Ten Thousand Villages, a non-profit organization with stores that sell fair trade and eco-friendly items from around the world. Plenty of reasonably priced goods are available -- pretty onyx candle holders from Pakistan for $12, Vietnamese paperweights made of hand-lacquered stone (40 days to make) for $7, etc. There are higher-priced items too -- like $300 quilts and copper bowls, $70 necklaces, -- but to me, those price tags seems comparable to what you'd pay for these goods in any other store, except here you know where the items are coming from and that the workers are really benefiting.

This is a slightly abridged version of the article:

Handicraft Stores Make a World of Difference
From the outside, Ten Thousand Vil­lages looks like any other store along the cozy streets of Rockville Town Square. Stepping inside, however, reveals a vibrant web of colors and stories from faraway lands told through handmade crafts.Unique tableware, home décor, station­ary, linens and jewelry are just some of the products you’ll find nestled on the shop’s over-brimming displays.

But Ten Thousand Villages is more than just a chain of stores. It’s a nonprofit or­ganization devoted to providing a livable and dependable source of income to the underprivileged artists who hand-make its products in developing nations — a con­cept known as “fair trade.”

From humble beginnings out of founder Edna Ruth Byler’s car trunk six decades ago, it’s developed into one of North Amer­ica’s largest fair trade organizations, with more than 80 stores nationwide and part­nerships with dozens of artisan groups in more than 30 countries.

Volunteers staff stores
To reduce overhead costs and keep products affordably priced, the organiza­tion uses a significant number of volun­teers to supplement the small number of paid staff in each store.

“Working at Ten Thousand Villages is very rewarding because…no matter how tired you are, you know you’re working for someone disadvantaged, and without our store network this person might not have an income at all,” said store manager Bea Strattner, who’s been with the Rockville store since its April 2007 opening.

...

Strattner said most of her store’s volun­teers started out as customers, liked the atmosphere, and wanted to make a more significant contribution. There are many tasks for volunteers to work on, from help­ing customers up front to unpacking prod­ucts in the back.

Retired nurse Carole McWilliams, a Rockville-resident who’s volunteered at the store for several months, cited the opportu­nity to give back to the community and to promote a non-profit organization as two fac­tors that drew her to Ten Thousand Villages. Though she has plenty to do — “Retire­ment is busier than you think it is!” — she finds the experience worthwhile and would recommend it to others.

“It’s a good place to spend some time. It’s very positive,” the 71-year-old said, adding praise for her coworkers, the cus­tomers and the products.

...

Caring for the crafters
As part of its fair trade mission, Ten Thousand Villages’ business practices are designed to support economic, environ­mental and social sustainability in develop­ing countries. For example, artisans are paid about 50 percent of their wages for a product upfront, when the organization places its order, Strattner said.

This gives workers the funds to live on and create those goods. It also means their livelihood isn’t totally dependent on how a product sells.

Because it’s to everyone’s advantage that the products sell, the organization works closely with artisans to develop goods that are true to their region yet will also appeal to North American tastes.

On the environmental front, the organi­zation sells several products made from re­cycled materials. A rooster-shaped orna­ment from Columbia is made of dried or­ange peels; recycled magazines are used for coasters from a women’s cooperative in the Philippines; a choker made from soda tabs is created by disabled artists in Kenya.

Volunteers don’t need a lot of retail ex­perience to get involved. Sales associate Roberta Staat, 61, who began as a volun­teer, said she would never have seen her­self going into sales because she doesn’t like “hawking” products.

Knowing the stories behind the wares, however, gets her very excited about the merchandise. Plus, as an art teacher, she sees her work at the store as inherently tied to her career as well as her interest in social justice.

“To find a way for artists in other coun­tries to be respectable and economically independent” is a very powerful thing, she said.

That feeling is passed on to customers, who “want to be a part of the system, help­ing to support this mercantile system,” Staat added. “It’s guilt-free shopping.”

There are two local Ten Thousand Vil­lages stores in Maryland's Washington suburbs: 4959 Elm St. in Bethesda, (301) 718-3465; and at 107 Gibbs St., Unit D, at the Row at Rockville Town Square in Rockville, (301) 340-7122. There is one local store in Virginia: 915 King St. in Alexandria, (703) 684-1435. For more information online, visit www.tenthousandvillages.com.

A Trend I Don't See Returning Full Force

An About.com animal rights' blogger had a recent piece about a calendar featuring photographs of conservative women in mink coats put out by the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute.

"The Institute calls the calendar "Pretty in Mink," and includes Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and other well-known conservative women. According to the CBLPI's website, the calendar harkens back to a time when "women were a little more feminine, the men a little more charming - and the world a little less politically correct."

The pictures try to evoke the glamor of a bygone era, but personally, I don't think you need mink to do that. I'm not going to stop people from wearing fur coats if they please, because I certainly wear animal products -- specifically, suede jackets and leather sneakers. But there are a few things that seem off to me about flaunting fur.

First, wearing mink strikes me as a very old-person thing. My grandmother has some decades-old fur coats in a downstairs closet, and her mother had some, and my own mother might even have one somewhere in storage. But who invests in a fur coat nowadays when a winter coat from the Gap is as functional, and will leave you enough money to invest in a flat screen TV or pay off some of your mortgage?

I think part of it has to do with changing symbols of wealth and status in this country. A fur coat was a sign that you'd made it back in the day. Fur isn't how people -- other than pimps on TV? -- flaunt wealth today. "It" bags, fancy cars, designer duds, sparkling jewelry...that's more like it.

Secondly, fur smells musty after a while and is susceptible to picking up scents from things like food and smoke. Plus it's difficult to get stains out of and physically heavy. Have you ever tried on a fur coat? It must give those little old ladies wearing them to the supermarket quite a workout!

Third, you're literally cloaking yourself in the pelt of a dead animal. Even as a meat-eating, leather-wearer, it strikes me as a bit weird when I stop and think about it that way. I understand though that there are places where animals pelts are a key part of keeping warm in winter, or where people still hunt and make use of all parts of an animal (more worthy than just hunting for sport, in my opinion), or where fur is part of a long cultural heritage. This concerns me less than photo-shoot fur.

Lastly, I don't think real fur coats give most people a slim silhouette. They may look stylish on a runway or in photos, but they are so bulky to normally wear. Give me a slim wool trench coat instead! Washington doesn't get super cold. (That's a $250 rouge trench from Banana Republic.)

The blogger stresses that this isn't a symptom of everyone who subscribes to conservative politics, though.

"Before anyone slams all Republicans or all conservatives, keep in mind that Richard Nixon publicly praised wife Patricia Nixon's choice of a "respectable Republican cloth coat" over a fur coat in 1952, and that PETA asked animal activists in 1989 to thank Barbara Bush for refusing to wear a fur coat for her husband's inauguration. Animal issues cross party lines, and you'll find quite a few Republicans with high marks on the Humane Society Legislative Fund's Humane Scorecard.

...The decision of the CBLPI and these women to promote fur is clearly a attempt to push buttons and raise the ire of animal activists. By attaching the phrase "politically correct" to the current attitude against fur, they are flaunting their callousness and trivializing animal suffering."

Ouch, harsh. Props to her for calling out what I agree is probably just mostly a stunt to get attention. But as I've outlined earlier, I think there are plenty of other reasons why fur coats probably won't be returning as a major trend in the near future.

TV So Bad It's Good (ANTM anyone?)

I've spent a rousing night watching some bad television. Highlights included MTV's Total Request Live farewell show -- omg! the Backstreet Boys performed "I Want it That Way" and for a few brief moments, seriously, I felt like an ecstatic 14 year old again -- and the finale of America's Next Top Model.

I usually don't watch much television, particularly on television itself. Shows that are streamed online, however, I can get into. Like ANTM, whose episodes are online at the CW's Web site. This way I can watch shows when I want, when I have time.

Anyway, Top Model is a guilty pleasure of mine. Does anyone else watch it? Elina, the Angelina Jolie-esque, tattooed, Ukrainian-born beauty, and Marjorie, the nervous and super slim girl of French heritage, were my favorites. I didn't even like Marjorie that much at the beginning but she grew on me toward the end. I liked seeing how she transformed from awkwardly shy to starkly intense in front of the camera. Elina was just really beautiful to me, I think she's got a great face, body and style. Too bad she couldn't give her all to the camera.

Personality-wise, Sheena and Jocelyn were two of my favorites. (Check out this WPIX video interview to see Sheena sharing some interesting info about what we didn't see on the show, and elaborating on some issues featured. ) Oh, and I liked seeing Isis featured. Sure, it's a show and they need to push some envelopes for ratings, but even if that's the case, I think it was pretty progressive to have a transgendered woman and address some of the unique challenges she faces while not turning it into a spectacle.

I wasn't overly impressed by the top three though. Analeigh is so pretty and seems sweet - and I kept getting frustrated at Paulina for dissing her face in that subtle, trying-to-be-nice Paulina way - but that appears to be Analeigh's niche, lacking the edginess of a top model.

Samantha, I never fully understood. When she's glammed up or in front of a lens she looks amazing. Her pictures are awesome. When she spoke though...um...That didn't connect for me. I realize there are thousands of hours of footage and of course for the sake of understanding, the show can only explore so much of each contestant's personality, but there were a lot of green, almost dopey comments from Samantha. I liked seeing her pictures but wasn't won over by the way she spoke or carried herself.

McKey, on the other hand, just didn't translate into having a lot of personality for me. I wish the editors would have developed her storyline more -- tomboy boxer who turns into a breakout star? Something like that? She had the most striking and unique look, in my opinion. But other than that, I wasn't captivated by her. Too bad.

And yes, if there's another season I will probably watch! ;)

Gender Fashion Fusion, Russian Navy Nails

This photo is of an interesting feature in the Nov. 2008 Cosmopolitan en Espanol. The pictorial is called "Genre Fusion," though 'gender fusion' makes more sense to me since it shows how you can take a handful of pieces and make them work for menswear-inspired looks as well as feminine looks.

I've seen plenty of features on how to repurpose a few items to make several outfits - I really like those, btw - but nothing quite like this, at least not in a while. It really struck me because I love menswear-inspired pieces like suit jackets, vests and shoes, but I also love to dress up and be super girly sometimes. So it makes sense that I'm drawn to a feature showing how to meld the two with some of the same pieces, because I have some from both categories in my closet.

I don't think I'd wear all these specific outfits - for one thing, a frilly-chested tank with a thin belt wouldn't be flattering on my short frame - but the idea is definitely something I can work with. (Outfit titles like "masculine charm," "feminine mistique" and "girl in control" give me something to aspire to, you know?)

Oh, and at the very bottom of the picture you can see my Russian Navy-wearing nails! Great color. It's a dark purplish blue with super tiny red sparkles in it, I mean so tiny you can harly see them unless you look very closely. It's vampy pretty, in the way muted, brick/brownish red lipstick on fair skin looks pretty. It's dark enough to almost look black on first glance but it's way more interesting than black. And I used a Sally Hansen basecoat and the color didn't stain my nails at all. I am glad I purchased it - thanks Maayari for suggesting Trade Secret, I'd never been to one before - and I will definitely wear it again.

Ellen is the New Face of Covergirl - Yay!

I can't say that a product spokesperson has ever really swayed me to buy from a particular company, but that may change in light of the fact that Ellen DeGeneres is going to be the new face of Covergirl.

I really applaud the company for picking someone who isn't your typical 18-year-old Hollywood "it" girl or another maturing-but-still-glamorous actress. Don't get me wrong, Ellen is very pretty -- I can't believe she's 50! She's aged so well and her skin looks great. But she's not the classic beauty you'd think a cosmetics company would seek. She's got her own style and vibe and personally I adore her for that. I think it's fantastic that she's being rewarded for being her awesome self, and I hope it sends a message to young women who look up to her that they too can be successful while being true to themselves.

Ellen is simultaneously a safe choice yet a not-so-safe one: she's very upbeat and likable and her humor isn't very offensive, but she is also an openly gay, middle-aged woman with a clean but slightly quirky look....not exactly one who screams makeup poster girl.

But maybe she should. Or more importantly, why shouldn't she? Come to think of it, Covergirl has picked quite a few slightly unexpected spokeswomen lately. Like Queen Latifah, who doesn't fit into all the traditional paradigms of beauty. Even Rihanna and Drew Barrymore are slightly edgy gals. Sure, for each of them there have probably been half a dozen gorgeous models with perfect cheek bones promoting Covergirl. And there's nothing wrong with that either. We don't have to throw all our conceptions of beauty out the window, we could just expand them a little bit.

My hope is that in some even tiny way, Ellen as a cosmetics spokeswoman helps to broaden our interpretation of beauty. That we can appreciate genetic outliers like Halle Berry and Heidi Klum (I think she's absolutely radiant), popular actresses, supermodels, and the seemingly nameless slew of girls who grace each season's makeup ads...but also realize that beautiful doesn't have to be 18 years old, 5-foot-11, 105 pounds with blond beachy waves.

Again, Ellen is no ugly duckling. She has really nice features and a cute personal style. She may not be Portia de Rossi (though being married to Portia is probably the next best thing), but she's a far cry from Dr. Phil, if you know what I mean. (By that, I mean that Dr. Phil is really ugly.) But even a decade ago, the public wasn't ready for Ellen as the person she is. Her sitcom rapidly declined after she came out in prime time.

Now, the tabloids cheered when she and Portia tied the knot. Ellen is a beautiful, smart and talented woman who's come such a long way, and I'm glad to support a company that recognizes that she's a deserving spokeswoman.

Now, if only they'd stop testing on animals, or I definitely knew that they did....then I'd be really extra happy.

Would the Real Hayden P. Please Stand Up?

She is...you just will see different versions depending on which magazine you read.

I still don't know how to say "Hayden Panettiere" aloud and I must be the only person who's never watched Heroes but I found this Jezebel analysis of her magazine cover appearances interesting. The 18-year-old starlet appears on three recent Hearst titles: Cosmo, Seventeen and Seventeen Prom. Basically, it's what you'd expect...the mags targeted to a younger demographic feature more demure covers and sugary-sweet lingo. Cosmopolitan is all va-va-va-voom in looks and subject matter.

It's reasonable for a young adult to have many facets of her personality and life. It's reasonable for a magazine to write features geared toward what their audiences want. (Granted, I haven't read the articles but even stick with the cover photos, but obviously a teen mag won't be vamping it up the way a publication with a lot of adult, sex-related content does.) But I wonder if Hayden's personality is driving the different stories or the magazines are the ones crafting these different personas.

It'd be very smart as an actress to make your appeal as wide as possible, of course. Is that something someone this age calculates? Sure the entertainment industry ages kids fast, but 18 (almost 19) seems pretty young to worry about crafting yourself as a brand. And if you are...well, I think that must be pretty stressful to live up to, especially under all the public scrutiny. Like, erm, bloggers dissecting the aspects of your public personas.

Really makes me appreciate the perks of relative anonymity.