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Chloe Neill is the author of the ChicagoLand Vampire series and I love them! She's giving away an advanced readers copy of the new book 'Biting Cold'! How cool would that be to win one and its signed and its an early release! Now I just need the leprechauns to stay away from my good fortune!
The Chloe Neill Website
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Photo to prove a point
This is an update to my previous post as I was surfing around, as you do and came across the blog, Swing Fashionista and the Marina Diamandis in Eudon Choi post and lo and behold the lady is in a gorgeous green dress whose fabric swaths her curves beautifully. Then I scroll down.... same dress.... different person.... skinny model and boy what a difference that makes!
http://www.swingfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/marina.jpg
Photo 2 - courtesy of
http://www.swingfashionista.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/eudonchoi.jpg
The difference smacked me in the face like a wet fish. This dress looks awful on her and it is a promotional shot but as you can see from my previous post it certainly does show the dress... You can see the line of the dress, the angle of the gathering, the width of the shoulders, drape (or should I say drop in this photo) of the fabric. Then when you look at the first photo, you don't necessarily see the draping or its angles but you see how beautiful the fabric drapes the body, it is almost as if the body and dress do a vulcan mind meld to become one. Unlike the promo shot were you 'see' a model wearing a dress.
I hope from these two pictures you can see what I'm talking about, how skinny = dress wears the person, curvy = person wears the dress and serious vavavoomability!
Also, hopefully I will make you feel a little better about not having a size 6/8 body, next time you get dress you'll know that it is you that is making the outfit and not the outfit going it alone...
Enjoy your curves, they are a blessing that take you far, far away from being a coathanger.
Ciao Bella x
Favourite Vintage Site
I absolutely adore this site not only for its wealth of gorgeous pin-up style clothes but it goes up to a size 2x which according to conversion charts (us 18-20) is UK 20-22, so its definitely for the curvy girls out there. Which is what they are all about. The sexiness of pin-up styling is unmistakeable and this site glorifies sexy curves.
Pinup Girl Clothing are adorable!
I'd much rather see healthy girls than those aneroxic models that we are told are the ideal.
I have a theory on why designers use skinny models. When I was doing my Fashion Design degree I too used small sizes for my designs. For me it saved money on the costs of the outfits also tailor's mannequins are a standard small size. The biggest reason I have found as well as the costs of fabrics to make larger sizes is that... Skinny models are clothes horses/coat hangers, simple as that.
On skinny models clothes stand out more and to a large extent the model becomes unimportant to the clothes (in fashion that is not in any genre that exemplifies and salutes curves). It is the clothes that are important and they take over the significance.
However, put the same outfit on someone curvier and WOW it looks amazing. It is only then that the clothes take a back seat and become enhancers for the woman, it becomes a complete package... a person who's clothes can make them shine. Put a skinny girl next to a curvy girl in the same outfit and I bet you'd see what I mean, you would notice how good the girl looks and not how good the clothes look. I hope I'm explaning myself right and you can let yourself see what I mean by that I mean we are trained as a society to see beauty in what we are told to see beauty in. The media is awash with skinniness which focuses on, well, that that must beautiful and something to aim for, by really looking you are now seeing for yourself, analysing and coming to your own conclusions and not what the media say you should.
I'm not going to even attempt to look at what beauty is, beauty is individual and an individual preference.
This of course is only my interpretation and theory not necessary the case but I hope that it may allow someone to see with their own eyes and not through the eyes of what the media allows us to look at.
My interpretation of look, is to use our eyes to look at something but seeing is our interpretation of what we look at, as an artist, seeing is all important to me as it allows deeper meaning and future cognitive connections.
So the moral of the tale is clothes don't look better on skinny models but on real women, clothes make the skinny girl but the curvy girl makes the clothes...
Ciao Bella x
Vintage Finds
I'm always on the look out for vintage inspiration and with the renewed interest in vintage there is so much out there now. So I'll keep you posted on my vintagey finds and if I get some time I'll photograph my collection for you to see.
Today's link is Blue Velvet Vintage who's website offers not only true vintage but vintage 'style' clothes. I am sort of a purist in I prefer real vintage but as our bodies are very rarely shaped anything like they were then vintage 'style' clothes are a definite plus. Bringing the style of the eras' to those of us who do not possess that vintage figure. Dita von Teese is of course the exception to the rule, who has a very definite corset adjusted waste.
From a graphic/web designers point of view Blue Velvet Vintage's website is not a polished site and the useability is not ideal. The categorisation is simply but lacks definition. When you click on Retro Clothing for examply you are presented with 9 pages of items, there is no sub category in which to browse, by size and style would be nice. However, the lack in useability affectiveness is strongly outweighed by the sites product details and product shots, they are very informative. Describing the products to a point that you can picture the item from its description. The sizing information is also highly commendable giving detailed sizing and even 'stretch up to' information. It may take a while to browse due to the lack of categorisation but blimey it will be well worth it for the information, imagery and of course beautiful items available.
Here's an example page of their product information page, the Bettie Page Curves 50s Style Black Pencil Dress I love this dress yummy!
I would put a picture up but I don't want to infringe copyright.
I first really got into wearing vintage (after using it as dress up as a kid) when I left school and went to college. In those days you really did get good vintage finds in the charity shops, there was abounding amounts of 50s and 60s clothes up for grabs. This was the mid to late 80s when it wasn't hip to wear vintage but I did it anyway. I'd buy cute little mod dresses and dress it up with belts, crazy tights and shoes. I really was considered strange back then I but didn't care and I took it as a compliment! If only I'd kept all my vintage clothes.
Enjoy Blue Velvet Vintage my dears....
Ciao Bella
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