PotD

5 Signs You Are A Fashion Failure

November 28, 2015

charles i. letbetter - 5 signs you're a fashion failure

Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.—Coco Chanel

Fashion is something that eludes 98 percent of all people. Take this wedding dress, for example, from designer Catherine Fritsch; as wonderful a concept as it is, the dress didn’t actually sell until years after this photo was initially released. The problem isn’t with the dress, but the not-quite-in-touch fashion opinions of those who turned it down. Thinking of all the brides who went with dresses as staid and boring as their now-married lives makes me sad. Fashion is about expression and personality and when one chooses less-than-interesting fashion for themselves they’re not exactly putting their best foot forward.

This photo also reminds me of just how much people change over the years. Originally taken in 2011, our model, Erin, was a bright, young college student working on her degree. She’s now married with a beautiful little girl and is head of a relatively significant government agency. Makeup artist Christopher Thompson now runs a haunted B&B in Atlanta, Indiana. Catherine Fritsch rebranded last year and her Rue Violet line generally sells quite well. Isn’t it wonderful to watch people grow?

Speaking of growing, let’s get to today’s list:

5 Signs You Are A Fashion Failure

When you see a dog wearing the same outfit as you and the dog wears it better.
Just because you saw something on last season’s runway, or your favorite celebrity, doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you. Consider how a garment is cut, whether it’s full or tailored. Full cuts are more generous and work with a wider variety of body types. Tailored looks, though, especially those designed to be tight around the hips and waist, make the wearer look like a sausage bursting from its casing if their curves don’t match the designer’s ideal. It’s better to have a wardrobe that actually looks good on you rather than trying to adopt someone else’s style.

When there’s no Pantone® number to match anything you’re wearing.
A couple of caveats at the beginning of this one: if you’re legitimately color blind you get a pass as well as if you’re young enough your mother still dresses you. For those who don’t know, Pantone® is the color-matching system used by printers to make sure they’re printing the correct color. Pantone has identified hundreds of thousands of shades of everything and indexed them numerically; they pretty much have ever visible color covered. Yet, every once in a while I’ll come across someone who has put a color combination on their body that even the Pantone book doesn’t cover it. No, dear, it doesn’t look good no matter what your friends say; they’re laughing behind your back. There are color wheels and charts all over the Internet. Use one.

When people follow you because they’re sure you must be on your way to a circus.
I’ve seen designers send some pretty bizarre looks down the runway, but nothing beats the collision of styles that occurs when some people start mixing separates. Not everyone has a talent for matching styles and fabrics well. As a result, we see things like polka dots and ruffles mixed with denim and lace and two or three different animal prints along with stripes running in three different directions and eight contrasting colors all in the same look. No. Stop. Barnum & Bailey is not a personal style. Seek help.

When you’re wearing fishnet and the park ranger gives you a ticket for carrying over the limit.
The only thing that really looks good in fishnet every time is fish. Sure, we see a lot of it on the runways, but the best applications are as accents or carefully matched accessories, and even those don’t always work in the real world where we have to figure out how to dress ourselves. Remember, fishnet exposes what lies beneath it. Do you really need what is under your fishnet exposed? Also, just because fishnet is flexible doesn’t mean its tensile strength should be tested. Fishnet is ultimately a tailored element; don’t push it.

When the tags in all your clothes say “Made In Bangladesh.”
Check the labels in your clothes before you buy anything. If the label says made in Bangladesh, Taiwan, Singapore, or Vietnam, know that your garment is assembled by the poorest of the poor, typically in conditions worse than those in which we house our farm animals. Among those, Bangladesh is likely the worst. If you’re buying clothes from H&M, Wal-Mart, Target, Old Navy, Penney’s, K-Mart, or any other discounter, chances are you’re contributing to the economic enslavement of thousands. Read here, here, here, and here for more details, then change your buying habits.

One of the many things I dislike about American buying habits this time of year is the over-emphasis on sales and who has the lowest prices. Fashion isn’t cheap. Quality clothes aren’t often found on the racks of discounters. Where and how you spend your money makes a difference in the lives of thousands of people. In the shopping realm of the holiday season, today is Small Business Saturday. We strongly encourage you to take advantage and look for garments made by local designers. Sure, you’re not going to find any $5 price tags, but your money is more likely to help someone rather than contribute to their enslavement.

Use some common sense, people. Shop smart. Happy holidays.

Art / PotD

Prisoner Of None

November 7, 2015

charles i. letbetter - Prisoner Of Nothing

An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.—Henri Matisse

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Here we are at the end of what I hope has been an interesting week. This is one of those times, yet again, when I could easily continue along the theme, but won’t for fear of boring you. In that regard, I am breaking the rule Monsieur Matisse set for not being a prisoner. I fear I am a prisoner of many things, including the hit count for these pages. As we move from week to week, the photos I select are not always the ones I could/should be most excited about sharing, but more often than not are those I think are most likely to have the greatest mass appeal. Sadly, this is a prison of my own making, so only I can destroy it.

We become prisoners easily. We bind ourselves to a specific style, to the rules of that style, to the marketing necessities of a medium, to the limits of what displays well online, to whatever might be commercially appealing, to the opinions of our friends and colleagues, to the demands of family, to the strictures of a specific religion, to the censorship of an art association or publication, to the expectations of a specific genre, to the desires of models, to the demands of publishers and editors, and on and on until we have so thoroughly imprisoned ourselves that we might as well be wearing jail stripes, or at least place them over our work.

Not that we ever intend to become a prisoner. I’ve known of no one with an artistic bent who started out saying they would do nothing that did not follow the rules. I suppose, given the immensity of humanity that such a person exists, but most artists claim they want to become rule breakers, to stretch the boundaries of their chosen medium, or of art in general. Artists desire to be anarchists in some sense, to upset society in such a way as to overturn the present hierarchy. Yet, so few actually accomplish that feat. At the first sign of resistance, we play along and become a prisoner.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]One of the most poignant quotes from Henri Matisse is this:

It has bothered me all my life that I do not paint like everybody else.

Indeed, even from the very beginning, the artist refused to conform to the “rules” of art. He failed the exam for the first art school to which he applied. He was fiercely criticized and derided his entire career. His works were often hung in poor locations where they would be least likely to be noticed, and allegedly were even hung upside down on more than one occasion. When Matisse’s first Fauvist works were exhibited in Paris, people actually laughed while standing in front of the paintings. Not being a prisoner often means not giving in to popularity.

Even one of his closest friends and frequent house guests, Pablo Picasso, was critical of Matisse’s work. Picasso and his friends actually threw suction-cup darts at Matisse’s Portrait of Marguerite (which Picasso had obtained in a trade for his own Pitcher, Bowl and Lemon). When Matisse was contracted for the stained glass windows at Chapelle du Rosaire, Picasso allegedly said that it would have been more appropriate for Matisse to have designed a brothel.

Not being a prisoner sometimes comes at a severe price. If there is a lesson to be learned from this week of discussing Matisse it is that one must be true only to their own artistic vision; everything and everyone else is a sideline spectator who distracts and detracts from the art. As surely as we imprison ourselves, we can also break ourselves free. Do not be a prisoner.[/one_half_last]

Art / PotD

A Soothing, Calming Influence

November 3, 2015

chales i. letbetter - a soothing, calming influence

A Soothing,Calming Influence (2013)

What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter – a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.—Henri Matisse

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]There are connections in art defined by all things that influence us. Some influences are significant, others are more subtle, but whether we like to realize it or not, we all have some image in our mind that comes from something else we’ve seen and that image, in turn, becomes the thing that drives our creative endeavors even if they’re not within the same media.Presumably, if one had the time and resources, and could rely upon the authenticity of written testimony, all artwork, across any genre or style, could likely be connected through the artist’s shared influences.

Not everything that influences an artist, or a photographer, is art, or artistic. In the realm of full disclosure, I must admit that I am writing this morning under the heavy influence of a very good night’s sleep. I’m only half-way through my first cup of coffee and the influence of the sleep is that I’m not quite as focused and am having a little more difficulty finding the words I want. Imagine trying to get around without your eyeglasses; that’s what is influencing my writing at this moment. If I were to pick up the camera, to capture a picture of Kat lounging on the couch next to me, that same influence would pour over into my image, probably in terms of a soft focus and a higher key on the lighting.

Henri Matisse was born in a most modest home of a weaver in the very North of France, right along the Belgian border. Winters there were extremely cold and the young Matisse was rather thin and frail. His mother influenced his early vision of women, with a full bust and hips, narrow waist, slender legs and small feet. We can see that influence remaining in his work all the way through to his cut outs. She also provided influence in her work with color, mixing house paints and helping customers decide what combinations would look best in their homes.[/one_half]

[one_half padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]All his early surroundings stayed with Matisse even after he moved away from the region. The stern discipline of his father, the pigeons that roosted in the loft, the sunflowers, and the seeds were all things that would influence his painting. Then, as Henri became more serious about his study of art, his work was influenced by his teachers, William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Gustave Moreau. One can attribute Bonguereau’s training in the classics for that fact that, regardless of what other angles may be present, Matisse kept a true plumb line on all his verticals. Moreau was more progressive and pushed the young Matisse away from traditional styles.

John Peter Russell may have had the greatest art-world influence on Matisse, however, for it was Russell that introduced him to the concepts and works of Impressionism. One can see an almost immediate change in Matisse’s work. He went from dark toned still-life to brighter, more colorful settings. Not that this pleased the established art world. Matisse’s first masterpiece, The Dinner Table, was completed during this period and when first exhibited was given poor placement because of ” what they considered its radical, Impressionist aspects.”

So, the chain of influence goes on and grows long. Could we dare begin to count the number of contemporary artists, photographers, and designers who have in some way been influenced by Matisse’s work? Certainly, unapologetically, the work we are displaying here is a direct derivative of his late-period cut-outs. And, we can hope to assume, what we present here has a soothing, calming influence on someone else, who interprets in yet another fashion And so, the art moves forward.[/one_half]

Art / PotD

Nothing But Paper

November 1, 2015

The Super Hero (2013)

There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.—Henri Matisse

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]I really thought I had done a week of these torn paper designs before, but upon a thorough examination we discovered that no, I hadn’t. So, I think it is time to do so and, as it turns out, it has been exactly two years this week since we last engaged this concept. I’ve been playing with it off and on for over 14 years now and the methods have changed dramatically since we first started. Unfortunately, I no longer have copies of those first attempts.

The concept is based loosely on the late-stage work of French painter Henri Matisse. By the time he was diagnosed with cancer in 1941, Matisse had all but stopped painting. After treatment and a couple of surgeries, his creative sense came back with a surge. The problem was that the effects of cancer left him in bed for sometimes days at a time, not a position exactly given to using a paint and brush. So, he began working with scissors, saying:

“Only what I created after the illness constitutes my real self: free, liberated.”

Ultimately, these works would be the ones that define Matisse’s career. The special paper he used would be prepared in large sheets by his assistants so they would be ready for him to cut whenever he felt like doing so. From this period come his most prestigious works, such as the stained glass at Chapelle du Rosaire in Vence, Negress, The Fall of Icarus, the Blue Nude set, and his 1947 book, Jazz.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Trying to adapt Matisse’s concept for what I wanted to do in applying it to the human body was far from simple. For starters, the paper Matisse used was far too heavy and stiff to conform to the contours of the human form. We tried lighter weights of construction paper with no success. Finally, after many failed experiments and more than one outburst of complete frustration, I settled on color tissue paper as the medium for our work.

Even the tissue paper wasn’t easy, though. There were three significant problems we had to overcome. The first was that tissue paper, being extremely light and thin, tears easily, especially when wet. We needed the paper to be wet to adhere to the body. Second was the fact that some colored tissue paper bleeds. When it bleeds, the skin is stained and it doesn’t just wash off. After some searching, we were able to find no-bleed paper. Our final problem came with how to get the paper to stick. Again, several failed experiments occurred before we finally created a diluted gelatin solution that works.

What we will present this week are newly processed versions, different from the originals. I pulled three photos, including today’s, from the shoot two years ago. The other four are older but among my favorites. Along the way, we’ll talk about a variety of things, such as illness, that impacts an artist’s, work. We hope you’ll enjoy the week.[/one_half_last]

Art / Photography / PotD

Losing The Girl Next Door

October 24, 2015

charles i. letbetter - not the girl next door

After Horst (2009)

Everybody always says that I’m the girl next door, which makes me think that y’all must have a lot of weird next-door neighbours.—Kelly Clarkson

When Hugh Hefner started Playboy® magazine in 1953, part of his concept was to represent the “girl next door;” someone whose sensuality was a bit understated, who had a good-girl reputation but secretly couldn’t wait to get out of her sweater. At the same time, though, there has always been a bit of glamor, with popular starlets and celebrities frequently gracing the pages over the years. The blend worked. The celebrities might not be approachable, but perhaps, just maybe, the girl in the gatefold would be. With each issue came the possibility that maybe, just maybe, that spindly-legged girl who was your neighbor might be worth a second look or more.

Over the years, that combination allowed some of those girls next door to become celebrities in their own right. Anna Nichole Smith, Pam Anderson, Holly Madison, Barbie Benton, Carmen Electra, and Jenny McCarthy come immediately to mind, but there have been several others. As the stigma of being nude faded with the sexual revolution, more girls dreamed of being on of Hef’s girls next door. Then, in 1981, the J. Geils Band captured the hopes and fears of every young man in America:

Does she walk? Does she talk?
Does she come complete?
My homeroom homeroom angel
Always pulled me from my seat

She was pure like snowflakes
No one could ever stain
The memory of my angel
Could never cause me pain

Years go by I’m lookin’ through a girly magazine
And there’s my homeroom angel on the pages in-between

The song Centerfold jumped to the top of the charts not because of its musical qualities but because it so accurately captured how we felt about the girl next door. There was no one who, if they were totally honest, didn’t at least once think about opening the pages of Playboy and finding their high school crush on the pages, whether that objective was realistic or not. The ever-elusive girl next door was the heart and soul of Playboy, the thing that made the magazine stand out more than anything else. We loved every one of those girls and wouldn’t have minded one bit had one moved in next door.[/one_half]

So, what happens to the girl next door if Playboy drops nudes? Does the gatefold go completely away? Probably. What about the centerfold questionnaire, you know, that part where the model says she likes long walks on the beach, quiet nights in front of the fireplace, and other likely fictional things that fueled are fantasies? Those are likely gone as well. If Cory Jones’ work at maxim.com is any indication, and there’s no reason it wouldn’t be, what we’re more likely to see are overly-airbrushed swimsuit models who look about as realistic as a Picasso. The entire concept of the girl next door is likely gone.

I dropped over to playboy.com this morning, just to see what Jones has constructed there. He removed nudes from the website, making it safe for work, back in 2014 and their numbers jumped. Why? Did men actually prefer a website with no nudity? Not likely. The reality there is that without nudity on its pages the URL was allowed past corporate filters that previously blocked it. More people were accessing the pages because most people still do the majority of their online browsing from work (though, that is changing rapidly as more people use their smart phones). So, what’s at the top of playboy.com this morning? An article on Indian-spiced cocktails. Below that, an article on overcoats, then one about Transformer toys, then pieces on viral videos, boxing, and remembering loved ones. If you want to even see a female, you’re going to have to scroll. So much for the girl next door. There’s hardly even a girl on the front page at all!

I found it hilarious that, when clicking “girls” on the playboy.com menu, the piece at the top of the page is a video of Miranda Kerr jumping around. Clothed. Yawn. Want to see Miranda Kerr naked? You’ll have to pick up a fashion magazine. W magazine, August 2015, is the latest of a long line of fashion nudes Ms. Kerr has done. You can find the editorial online here. But not in Playboy.

By dropping nudes, Playboy is abandoning the girl next door, one of the most basic underpinnings of the magazine. One has to seriously ask what Playboy has left to offer that one can’t find thousands of other places both on the Internet and in print. Cocktails? Seriously? The whole fucking Bartender’s Guide is available. Fashion? Please, every title imaginable sits in front of Playboy on the shelves, and is probably cheaper. What Playboy has always had was the girl next door, naked. Without that, there’s just no reason to pick up a copy of the magazine ever again.

Art / PotD / Uncategorized

All Tied Up

October 2, 2015

Creatively bound (2012)

Women’s fashion is a subtle form of bondage. It’s men’s way of binding them. We put them in these tight, high-heeled shoes, we make them wear these tight clothes and we say they look sexy. But they’re actually tied up.—David Duchovny

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Some of you are going to have difficulty believing this, since you possibly have never seen one, but there was once a time when people only had one telephone per family and that one was connected to the wall. You couldn’t take it anywhere. It had a big dial that consumed its face and one had to dial as many as eleven numbers one at a time to call anyone. There was no 911. If you needed to talk with someone in the next town over, it was considered long distance and you had to talk to an operator for that to happen.

One of the worst sins during that period of American history was keeping the phone “tied up.” This was especially serious if you shared a phone line with your neighbors, something called a party line. There was no party. At least, ours wasn’t. Sure, you could pick up the phone and listen in on their conversation, but we had boring neighbors so there wasn’t any fun in that. Instead, they complained that we always kept the phone line tied up. Poppa had calls coming in at all hours of the night and if the phone rang at our house, it rang at our neighbors’ houses, too. They weren’t especially happy.

Poppa had competition for the phone once I became a teenager. Well, sort of. I liked the concept of calling and talking to my friends, but we were all geeky and stuff and once we exchanged whatever piece of information we needed, we’d just tie up the line not saying anything.

The worst was one evening when I called the girl I was sort of dating. We tied up the phone for the better part of three hours. The conversation consisted largely of, “What are you doing?” Followed by, “Oh, not much. What are you doing.” This went on for three fucking hours. I think half the town was annoyed with us by the time we hung up, because anyone who tried calling Poppa during that period couldn’t even leave voice mail. Instead, they just got this frustrating alternating tone called a busy signal. [/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Keeping the phone line tied up became serious in the 90s when we started getting modems and connecting to this thing called AOL online. They gave out free CDs at the stores and for $15 a month you could connect to their computer system and read the same news that was in the morning newspaper. We were cool. We were high-tech. We kept the phone line tied up for hours. I lived several hundred miles away from my parents by that time, but I also had their only grandchild. They tried calling often to see what he was up to, but the phone line would be tied up almost every time.

We don’t have any of those issues now, of course. Talk all you want. Text all you want. Tie up the phone all damn day if you wish. Pay a huge phone bill. I find it interesting that we consider a $50 a month phone bill inexpensive. Heads would have rolled had Poppa ever gotten a fifty dollar phone bill. I remember him once challenging a $36 bill. “No one could talk on the phone that much,” he told the customer service representative. She agreed and adjusted the bill.

Who knows what telephony will be by the time my children are my age. The technology is changing so rapidly that they likely will not have to use a device at all; voice communication will be built into clothes or, at the very least, wearable accessories. Tap an icon, order pizza. Tap a button, have a friend join you. There will be a button for calling your mother; you’ll avoid it. No one wants to tie up the shirt listening to their mother complaining about how she never gets to see the grandkids. Wearable phones means one could, theoretically, be tied up with their phone rather than on their phone. The future could be kinky.

I bet you looked at the title and picture and thought I was going a very different direction with this, didn’t you? Sorry, but I didn’t want to be that obvious. Being tied up has too many possible scenarios. I didn’t want to “tie up” your entire day.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

A Good Pair Of Shoes

September 12, 2015

A Good Pair of Shoes

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.—Dr. Seuss

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]So, here we are in the middle of New York Fashion Week and already we’ve had one of the biggest spectacles we’re likely to see all month.Traffic on New York’s West side will be a nightmare all week. You’ll need a good pair of shoes if you’re going because much of the time it will be easier and faster to just get out of the cab and walk the last few blocks to the venue. Even after all these years of covering these same shows, I’m still amazed at the number of people who put so much of their lives into what comes down the runways at these shows.

Fashion really is a big deal and for countries such as Italy and France, it contributes significantly to their national economy. Not that the average person in either country has a closet full of couture wear, but it employees thousands of people and the taxes fashion generates contribute heavily to the health of those nations. Yet, because both are so reliant on sales outside of their borders, when economies such as China’s suddenly stumble, the effect for fashion labels can be severe and we’re already seeing that, especially with Italian labels. More than a handful of large fashion houses have seen considerable declines the past few weeks. Some, such as Prada, are beginning to seriously struggle.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]I can understand people being concerned about shoes. After all, the ground is rough and at times dangerous. I felt sorry for a couple of models who took tumbles on the runway last night because the designer thought it would be cool to not tie their shoes. Shoes are critical to our ability to get around and do the things we need to do. Fashion, on the other hand, isn’t really that important at all. Beyond the matter of practicality, the only reasons we have for concerning ourselves with fashion is to either make people notice us or to pretend that the labels we wear make us better than anyone else.

Okay, so we can’t exactly go naked all the time, even though some may want that. Street style tells us that most people would rather dress for comfort than style. Paying extra money just for a label is foolish and our heads know that. All we ever really need is a good pair of shoes; the rest can be off the rack from Goodwill and we’re happy with that. So why all this fuss? Maybe it’s the art. Maybe we’re dreaming. Maybe we want to stand out. Or maybe it’s just because you like my reviews, which you’ll find over on Pattern all month (shameless plug). You choose which way you’ll go. Choose carefully and wear good shoes.[/one_half_last]

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

Fashion / pop culture / PotD

Wearing Pants

September 10, 2015

Wearing Pants

I am a strong woman with or without this other person, with or without this job, and with or without these tight pants.—Queen Latifah

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Full disclosure: I’m not wearing any pants. While I fully support the #freethenipple campaign, I’m personally not all that comfortable sitting around the house without a shirt. Pants, though, are a different matter. I’m more than willing to let them stay in the closet, or on the bedroom floor, until right before the children wake up. Then, once the kids are off to school, being very thankful for bus service, the pants come off again. One of the perks of being my own boss and working from home is that it is largely up to me to decide whether any given moment is going to involve pants, and if it’s just Kat and me, there’s really no point in bothering.

Not wearing pants does not necessarily mean one is naked below the waist. While I’m not generally opposed to that scenario, there are times when naked doesn’t work well, such as when one has leather furniture. Wearing a kilt or a skirt or a dress doesn’t count as wearing pants, either. My mother never wore pants when I was little. Instead, she wore dresses and skirts even around the house. She didn’t feel that pants were sufficiently feminine until one particularly cold winter in Kansas when she finally broke down and bought her first pantsuit. Over time, she became more relaxed with pants, but she always still preferred dresses, especially in the summer.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]The problem with pants is that they tend to be restrictive, especially around the waist. I honestly don’t see how people wear the current crop of skinny jeans and still manage to eat enough food to keep themselves alive. Those of us who enjoy eating understand that the waist is going to expand and contract at various times throughout the day and pants don’t allow for that, unless you’re shopping in the old men’s section of Sears.

The upside to pants, I’m told, is that one doesn’t have to shave one’s legs as often. Being male and not involved in a sport where aerodynamics is a factor, I can’t really speak to this issue. I know plenty of women with fair hair who can get by without shaving too often. I’ve also known others who almost needed to do so twice a day. Nature can be cruel like that.

Today is the start of New York Fashion Week (NYFW) and designers will be showing their Spring/Summer 2016 collections. Don’t expect a lot of pants. Skirts, yes. Dresses, definitely. Shorts, let’s hope so. Sure, there will be a few with pants in their collections, but the best designers know that pants are limiting. To be really cool and comfortable in warm weather, one needs to be without pants every moment possible.[/one_half_last]

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

Fashion / PotD

More Than Jeans

September 5, 2015

A Hot Summer (2009)

The whole thing of clothes is insane. You can spend a dollar on a jacket in a thrift store. And you can spend a thousand dollars on a jacket in a shop. And if you saw those two jackets walking down the street, you probably wouldn’t know which was which.—Helen Mirren

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]We’ve talked all week about jeans as though they were the only option for denim clothing. Reality paints a much larger and more varied picture, though. Denim jackets, dresses, shorts, skirts, bustiers, bras, leggings, socks and even denim footwear have, at various times, come in and out of popularity. Granted, not all of those were necessarily good ideas. The socks, leggings, bras, and footwear were all very short lived because, while they presented a unique look, they were a bit short on practicality. Denim is, after all, a fairly heavy material that can induce perspiration in places one doesn’t especially want any level of dampness. Not quite everything works.

Growing up in the 70s, it seemed as though almost everything was made of denim. Not only was everyone wearing their favorite flared-legged jeans, denim skirts were a huge rage. Not short, denim mini-skirts, either. Long, calf- or ankle-length denim skirts seemed to be everywhere. What has been interesting is that for a group of particularly conservative religious fundamentalists, that style of denim skirt or dress has stuck. One can still see them worn by women and young girls whose hair has never been cut, with plain blouses, as they shop at discount stores and thrift markets. Even a certain notorious court clerk wore a denim skirt to one of her many court appearances.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Much more popular, though, has been denim shorts and jackets. The jackets are especially popular with those who spend a lot of time on motorcycles because the denim provides similar protection as leather, but is more suitable for attaching patches and embroidery popular among riding clubs. Jean jackets are also heavy enough to keep one warm without interrupting the style going on underneath. They can be accessorized with anything from diamonds to costume brooches and still look great. A jeans jacket can be one of the most flexible pieces in a person’s wardrobe.

Nothing, though, beats the super-short, cut-off jeans look known as Daisy Dukes. Popular long before a television sitcom gave them that name, the shorts have become a summertime standard for young women everywhere, much to the delight of young men everywhere. There’s something to be said for the way the jeans shorts presents a young woman’s posterior and can make a short girl’s legs look longer than they are. Jeans shorts define that down-home, girl-next-door sensuality that turns heads and breaks hearts.

So ends our look at denim. What started as a fabric for workers has taken over the world. Fashion weeks are coming and I expect to see no shortage of denim still, so watch for it.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

Casual To Classy

September 4, 2015

Well Accessorized (2011)

Blue jeans are the most beautiful things since the gondola.—Diana Vreeland

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]All week long we’ve talked about how casual and comfortable denim is. While we normally think of blue jeans and anything denim as being more of the type thing one just pulls on right before walking out the door, the past several years have seen quite a change in that denim has become quite the classy, couture material, showing up frequently on red carpets around the world, even at places such as the Cannes Film Festival and the Met Gala. Jeans have become the celebrities way of inferring that they haven’t lost touch with their humble beginnings, or at least don’t want their fans to think they’re stuck up.

There’s also the factor that not everyone who has a lot of money is comfortable showing that off in public. The late Sam Walton, founder of the Wal-Mart empire, was known for dressing in jeans or denim overalls when away from the office. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is frequently photographed wearing jeans and it would be out of character for Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to be seen in anything other than blue jeans and a hoodie. Ostentation is definitely out of style and blue jeans are the way many choose to “keep it real.” For them, being classy is more of an attitude, not a wardrobe choice.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Nothing takes on the concept of being classy more than the red carpet, though, and some severely big names have chosen to wear jeans as they make the paparazzi-lined stroll. If we were to drop names, they would include Mila Kunis, Kristen Stewart, Shakira, Rebecca Romijn, Ashley Tisdale, Perez Hilton, Jamie Foxx, Diane Kruger, Keira Knightly, Olivia Munn, Miley Cyrus, Kylie Jenner, Mel B, Selena Gomez, Lucy Lawless, Katies Holmes, and Jennifer Lawrence. Those, and several more, have not shied away from wearing denim to major awards shows and film openings.

Over the years, we’ve seen denim come down the couture runway as well, with names such as Viktor & Rolf, Donna Karan, Dior, Bill Blass, and Diane von Furstenberg attached to the waistband. They’ve been embellished with everything from pearls to diamonds, rhinestones to emeralds, feathers to metal studs, and copious amounts of leather and lace. Denim is a big deal and while it is still primarily a casual fabric, there’s no question it can be classy when it needs to be. Ultimately, the difference comes in the attitude. [/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

Because It Feels Natural

September 3, 2015

Just My Jeans (2012)

A friend sat next to a nun on a plane. He asked her what she missed most. “Wearing blue jeans,” she replied. —Amy Krouse Rosenthal

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Why do we love our blue jeans so much? There would be many reasons, of course, but ultimately it comes down to the fact that a good pair of jeans just feels natural—almost like a second skin on our body. The more we wear them the more they adapt themselves to our curves and bulges, the way we sit, and the things we carry in our pockets. Our jeans become such a natural part of who we are that it is possible to forget we even have them on, and being without them can be a discomfort that leads to anxiety.

Blame the natural cotton fibers for most of that. There have been some jeans manufacturers who attempt to blend other materials with the cotton, but it never works long term. Natural cotton grows softer the more it is worn and washed. Sure, if one buys a traditional pair of blue jeans there’s a breaking in period where the dye causes them to be a bit stiff and maybe even itchy, but that matter is solved easily enough. All one has to do is wash them a couple of times, then wear them while doing something physical such as playing softball or riding bulls (the real ones, not those mechanical toys). The jeans fashion themselves to our bodies quickly and we don’t want to take them off.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]One of the sad aspects of the move toward pre-warshed denim is that the jeans don’t get that initial opportunity to fit themselves to one’s body. Sure, the cotton feels softer than traditional jeans, but when people complain about having difficulty finding a pair of jeans that fit, what they don’t realize is that jeans never really fit well until you’ve worn them four or five times. Pre-washing and distressing may soften the fibers, but that doesn’t replace the natural evolution that comes from actually wearing the jeans.

There are few things in life that we can really call our own: our toothbrush, our underwear, our dental implants, and our jeans. The first two make the list because of sanitary reasons. The last two, though, become part of us. Sure, you theoretically could share a pair of jeans with a friend, but they’re not going to feel natural on them the way they do on you. They conform to your body and just don’t feel the same on anyone else. A good pair of jeans even has wash marks on the pocket where you keep your keys or your cell phone. Our jeans are part of our person; it’s just natural.[/one_half_last]

Advertising / Fashion / PotD

Those Sexy Ads

September 2, 2015

HOT DENIM (2011)

Anyone who is secure about herself shouldn’t be threatened by the ads I do. What we’re doing is fun—if you have any sense of humor at all! —Calvin Klein

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Ads are designed to get your attention, but just because one has an ad doesn’t mean anything is going to sell. To actually sell anything, the ad has to be sexy, has to give the appearance that the product makes you more attractive, even if it’s something as simple as a toaster. Nowhere has sex been a more successful sales agent than in fashion, and there are a handful of brands, such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Balmain, Saint Laurent, and most notably Calvin Klein, that have convinced us that jeans are sexy.

When Calvin Klein hired a largely unknown fifteen-year-old model to utter the words, “You know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing,” the entire Western world screamed. Brooke Shields became an instant household name and the sales of not only Calvin Klein jeans, but all denim jeans skyrocketed. The war for who makes the sexiest jean was on and has yet to end. Styles have changed from skinny to loose to flared to straight-legged with at least a hundred different variations of each. Stone washed, pre-shrunk, pre-stressed, pre-torn, cut, embellished, and studded styles have all come, gone, and returned again.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Ultimately, what the ads are trying to say is that the jeans displayed are so sexy, will make you look so incredibly attractive, that someone will want to help you out of them. Notice how many of the ads now involve two people with posing implying that they might be a couple. Want a new boy/girlfriend? It all comes down to wearing the right jeans. Add the celebrity factor that has taken over and the ads also deliver the message that the right jeans will make you cool.

Of course, deep down inside, somewhere, you know the ads are lying. Just this year, one of the sexiest advertisers, Abercrombie & Fitch, has backed off their nearly hardcore ads because they weren’t working with a target age group that isn’t so impressed by the overt sexuality. Still, look at the ads, and even though the tone is softer, there remains an understated sensuality that pulls one in and makes them want a new pair of jeans. Even millennials eschewing materialism still buy jeans. You know you want them even now. We’ll see you at the mall.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

Him And Her

August 31, 2015

HappyTOgether (2012)

Fashion is mysterious, as a rule. Why are blue jeans a classic? You just hit on something that happens to be timeless and right.-Diane von Furstenberg

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Like much in the fashion world, denim has at times been a bit sexist. For much of their early existence, jeans were something worn exclusively by men. Most early jeans manufacturers didn’t even make clothes with women in mind. The relatively few women who wore jeans had to adapt men’s styles and cuts. For a high fashion perspective, denim was such a low, working class fabric that it was considered too rough to be next to a woman’s delicate skin. Denim was a man’s material.

World War II did a lot to change women’s wardrobes as they took to the floors of assembly lines and machine shops to do the jobs of men who had gone off to fight. The loose skirts and dresses women were accustomed to wearing were inappropriate around heavy exposed machinery. Jeans and its even heavier cousin, denim dungarees, needed to be worn by women and they needed something that would better fit her frame and shape. Slowly, manufacturers took notice and women’s jeans started working their way onto store shelves.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]It wasn’t until the 1970s, though, that “jeans for her” really became stylish, and much of that is due to Anderson Cooper’s mom, Gloria Vanderbilt. Tighter, designed more specifically to fit and hug a woman’s body, Vanderbilt’s jeans raised denim from farm wear to Fifth Avenue. Then, when 16-year-old Brooke Shields appeared topless, lying on her stomach, in an ad that read, “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins,” sales of women’s blue jeans skyrocketed.

Today, the average woman has seven pairs of blue jeans in her closet, while men are only likely to have five. Styles of his and her jeans are more similar than not, with men being just as likely to wear tight-fitting, butt-hugging denim as do women. Almost everyone knows someone who lives in their jeans, wouldn’t consider wearing anything else. I know at least one bride (and I’m sure there are more) who wore jeans to her wedding. No longer sexist and low-class, jeans are a fundamental staple for both him and her.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

The Allure of Denim

August 30, 2015

A Causal Throne (2009). Model: Erica Von Trapp

I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity – all I hope for in my clothes. -Yves Saint-Laurent

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Ah, denim. From such humble, working-class beginnings, this simple cotton twill fabric has become the staple of most wardrobes, it’s styles and name brands often envied, and grows in value the more it is destroyed. There’s nothing quite like a good pair of jeans, and there’s no denying the appeal of the look. Despite its working class beginnings, the exact same fabric can be so exclusive as to be affordable only by the super-rich. So, this week we’re focusing on denim, mostly in blue jean form, and all the sexiness and expressiveness that it brings to our lives.

Of course, first we have to get past the basic understanding of what denim is. Originally of Italian construct, the fabric quickly made its way to France where it became a standard in working men’s clothes, primarily trousers. It’s unique cotton twill is composed of one white thread running over/under two blue-dyed threads at a time. This gives the twill sufficient strength without making it too stiff. The indigo dye commonly used fades with washing, providing denim with it’s classic, relaxed and comfortable look.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Levi Strauss is, of course, the name most Americans associate with denim.It was Strauss who introduced the fabric to the United States in 1853, during the California Gold Rush, and pioneered the use of metal rivets at the stress points so that the jeans would be less likely to tear. For the next hundred years, denim jeans would be the uniform of the American working man, from riding the range to working in the factory. When denim shirts were introduced, the term “blue collar” entered the lexicon for most anyone who didn’t work in an office.

Today, one would be hard pressed to find any denim constructed as sturdy as those original trousers were. Instead, we prefer our jeans pre-washed, distressed, cut-up, ripped, and in a condition our ancestors would not have even considered wearable. Yet, when they’re carrying the right fashion label on the waistband, denim can cost several hundred, even thousands of dollars. All from the same, simple, working class fabric. It’s going to be a fun week. We hope you’ll not miss a day![/one_half_last]

Art / pop culture / PotD

Naked Ink

August 19, 2015

Posture, Please (2010)

There is something vulnerable about showing your tattoos to people, even while it gives you a feeling that you are wearing a sleeve when you are naked. —Lena Dunham

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]I like tattoos. I like the artistry of ink on skin. I don’t have any, mind you, and at my age I rather doubt I ever will. At this stage of my life, it seems rather pointless to be making any kind of permanent statement on a body in such rapid decay. If they had been as popular and socially acceptable thirty years ago as they are now, I might have considered it. I grew up in an age that looked at ink suspiciously, though. Tattoo parlors had the bad reputation of being dirty places run by people of questionable morals and intent. The reputation was undeserved, of course, but it was there and was enough to make anyone who had a tattoo worthy of sideways glances and cautious observation.

Actually, as I was growing up, there were only two kinds of people who had tattoos: World War II veterans and carnival/circus workers. The WWII veterans with ink were mostly, interestingly enough, those who had served in the Pacific theatre, primarily in the Navy. Their ink was almost always high up on an arm where it would be easily covered by a shirt. Many of those pieces came with stories that I wasn’t allowed to hear when I was little. Unfortunately, most of those men were gone by the time I would have understood the stories.

I didn’t actually know any carnival/circus workers. We’d see them at a distance, though, smoking hand-rolled cigarettes, their ink shamelessly visible as they typically wore sleeveless t-shirts. We were warned to stay away from them, which was unfortunate. I’m sure most of those people had interesting stories to tell, too. They certainly tended to have a lot more ink, even the women. My mother would reach over and shut my mouth as I stood gaping at the sight of someone whose body art was expansive and colorful. These people were outliers, though. Rumors always swirled that they were convicts on the run. The here-today, gone-tomorrow nature of the carnivals didn’t help. They could commit a crime and disappear.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Amazing how much society can change in just a few years, isn’t it? Anecdotally, it seems that almost everyone has a piece of ink hiding somewhere, even preachers and the little old ladies praying fervently in the pews. As a photographer, I’ve come to expect that aspiring and amateur models are probably going to have at least one tattoo, even if it’s small and out of the way. When I come across someone who is completely bare I’m rather caught by surprise. We are more likely to ask someone why they don’t have any ink rather than why they do.

The cool thing about ink is that it allows one to be naked and still appear somewhat dressed. When one has a tattoo, especially a larger piece such as a sleeve, one is never really bare. From a fashion perspective, that permanent decoration can be a problem. Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld has famously said:

I think tattoos are horrible. It’s like living in a Pucci dress full-time.

By contrast, Christian Louboutin counters:

People are proud of their tattoos. It’s like a modern coat of arms.

All of this leads to the question: is one ever really naked when they’re covered in ink? Since I have none, I cannot relate to how it must feel to have one’s body permanently adorned. There are times I see a well-done and artistic piece and feel a twinge of jealousy. Other times, I see a mess of poorly done and ill-considered pieces scattered across a body and think how tragic. I don’t have a good answer to the question. One thing for certain, though, is that it certainly makes taking off one’s clothes a lot more interesting.[/one_half_last]

Art / PotD

Casually Naked

August 18, 2015

Life Upside Down (2009)

I always say: To be well dressed you must be well naked. —Oscar de la Renta

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Being casually naked is wonderful, but rare. One of the reasons I enjoy getting up so atrociously early is that it affords me the ability to sit here and work without having to put on pants. I’m not naked, mind you. There are still small children in the house and one never knows when one of the little buggers will wake up and need some encouragement to return to bed. Still, just the simple condition of not having to be fully dressed the instant I wake up each morning is pleasant, and a luxury I’ve not always had. In fact, for many people, being casually naked is not so much about comfort as it is opportunity. Our lives don’t give us much of a chance to even sit naked in our own home.

For most of us, we get up in the morning, get dressed, perhaps dress children, down some coffee, maybe some food, and try to make it to work on time. After work, there’s some combination of dinner, child care, social events and obligations, and by the time it is all over we’re more likely to pass out fully clothed on the couch than spending any time in our bare form. Casually naked? Sorry, I just don’t have the time.

I would like to suggest, though, that the best friends, not just intimate relationships but the kind of always-reliable friends who would either bail you out or be in the jail cell with you, are those around whom one can be casually naked. Granted, those friendships are rare, especially if one is male. For some, male nudity is seen as being inherently aggressive, so finding someone with whom one can just “hang out,” so-to-speak, can be challenging. When those relationships happen they are priceless.

To the degree we’ve created a society where we fear being naked around each other, we’ve done both ourselves and our friends a disservice because we’re afraid to let our friends see us as we truly are. Yet, that is exactly what we’ve done. Being honest, letting our real selves show, is considered bad form, even taboo. [/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Socially, I’ve known a lot of people who talk about enjoying being casually naked, but one would never actually catch them in that state. For all the tales of pizza delivery people being greeted at the door by someone naked, modesty tends to overtake most of us. Actually, I’m no so sure whether it’s modesty or a fear of being judged that forces us to put on that robe. The late comedian Rodney Dangerfield famously joked:

My wife was afraid of the dark… then she saw me naked and now she’s afraid of the light.

We worry so much about what other people think of our bodies that we tend to want to hide them rather than enjoying the natural state into which we were born. Fashion and popular culture doesn’t help, either. There’s a double standard between men and women that perpetuates old habits and stereotypes. Designer Christian Louboutin has said:

A naked woman in heels is a beautiful thing. A naked man in shoes looks like a fool.

What amazes me is that some people find being casually naked threatening, as though it might bring about the end of civilization as we know it. One of the most laughable objections I’ve heard is that to allow casual nudity in public would be to encourage an increase in crime. Think about that. You’re naked. Dude, you have no pockets and you’re barefoot. The only thing close to a crime one might commit while naked would be a random walk-by mooning.

Being casually naked is elusive, especially this morning. I hear children rustling around in their room. That means it’s time to put on pants. Perhaps we’ll find time to be naked later.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

Too Fast Fashion

August 6, 2015

War of the Roses

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months. —Oscar Wilde

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]I have spent more of my time as an adult paying attention to fashion than I ever would have anticipated. Part of that is admittedly due to growing up with an inappropriate gender bias that said fashion was for girls. There’s also the fact that I grew up in a rural state where fashion had more to do with whether one was wearing denim or church clothes, and one’s jeans were boot cut or straight legged. Sure, there were stores in Tulsa and Oklahoma City that carried clothes with designer labels, but we were pretty sure that no one ever actually purchased anything with a four-digit price tag; those clothes were just there so that the markup on the cheaper clothes didn’t seem so bad by comparison.

One of the challenges fashion has always had is convincing people that they needed to buy more clothes. Historically, people have bought new clothes for one primary reason: their existing wardrobe had either worn out or they had outgrown it. Prior to the end of World War II, many women, and some men, either made their own clothes or at least knew enough to make minor alterations. One didn’t just run to the nearest store and pick up a new shirt or a new skirt without considerable thought. Clothes were, for the average consumer, too expensive to be treated with frivolity.

Fast fashion has its roots in the early automation that took place in the 1950s. Prices fell as manufacturing made it possible to produce more pieces per day and it wasn’t long before department stores began seeing the benefit of placing these cheaper-priced goods on the floor along with name brand labels. Making clothes more affordable was a strong part of the growth of the middle class. People were no longer waiting until their clothes were threadbare before replacing them and the world’s elite weren’t the only ones paying attention to fashion and style. Dressing well was a sign of being upwardly mobile, a status most everyone desired to achieve.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]While more affordable clothing seemed like a good thing, greed, selfishness, and vanity soon took over. Profits had to be bigger. New clothes had to come out more often. Having the latest style, as in what hit the shelves last week, became a monitor of one’s social standing. Fast fashion stepped up to facilitate all those shortcomings, and more. Designers were suddenly asked to not create two collections a year, but four, then six, and now eight in many cases. Special partnerships between designers and discount retailers drive sales during those two weeks between collections. Fast fashion has become a monster which we are not inclined to control.

Fast fashion has a severe price, though. As more emphasis is put on lower prices, quality has taken a back seat. Conditions for garment workers have gone beyond sweatshop all the way to outright slavery in too many situations. For every shop that is “cleaned up,” five more “dirty” shops open to meet the price demands of retailers such as Wal-Mart, H&M, and Zara. Domestic manufacturing is non-existent because just meeting building codes in the US prices us out of the subpar competition of third-world countries. We spend billions of dollars on cheaply-produced, low-quality clothing to secure a facade of a social standing, while simultaneously ruining the lives of thousands of garment workers and destroying the environment.

If there is a hope for the end of fast fashion, it may lie in the development of 3D printing that would allow people to print their own clothes at home. I’m sure designers would still be paid well for producing the patterns, but the low-price demands of retail could potentially be eliminated. Of course, so could millions of jobs. There are no quick and easy answers to a bad system on which we’ve become dependent. But change we must. Fast fashion is not sustainable and the end is not likely to be pleasant.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

Commando

July 11, 2015

The Taste of Nothing (2010)

My mom was sarcastic about men. She would tell me Adam was the rough draft and Eve was the final product. She was a feminist minister, an earth mom who wore a bra only on Sundays. —Daphne Zuniga

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]We end this week of lingerie-inspired posts with – nothing. For all the wonderful lace and silk and satin things there are for a woman to wear under her clothing, there are still a number of women who don’t want anything at all between them and their clothes. They prefer to go commando, as it were. Some like the feel of the fabric against their skin. Some don’t like the restriction of a bra or the bunching of panties. Some just don’t like to be bothered. Whatever the reason, we couldn’t end our discussion of what’s underneath clothing without admitting that sometimes there’s nothing there at all, and sometimes that’s wonderful.

Sometimes, however, the result is less wonderful and more curiously interesting. There is a humorous saying, “Go without a bra and pull the wrinkles from your feet.” Certainly, there is a point at which mother nature’s blessings give way to the reality of gravity and what was once sexy and attractive becomes more of a comic about old age.

I strongly remember a high school history teacher who had already put in 40 years of service by the time I was in her class. She was a striking woman, over six feet tall, broad-shouldered, and a sharp wit that could cut the most caustic teen sarcasm. In her youth, she had been quite a beauty and even a bit of an exhibitionist for her time. The pictures she showed were tame compared to contemporary styles but one had cost her a teaching job when she was fresh out of college. Over the years, she had kept that “don’t care” attitude and even as she was nearing retirement she would show up at school at least once a week not wearing a bra. One would have needed to be blind to not notice. Her large, once proud breasts sagged to her waist. No need to hide the laughter, though. She made the jokes herself and loved the horrified reaction of teenage girls.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Humor aside, there are times when not wearing underwear really does make sense, especially during the summer. Restrictive clothing and heat result in moisture that just sits against the skin, which is rarely a good thing. Moisture under bras, especially those with built-in support, can result in rashes that may then rub raw and result in infection. Those skinny jeans you like so much? On hot summer days they cause perspiration that, when trapped by underwear, leads to yeast infections and other not-so-nice hygiene problems. The solution for those situations is to, a: wear loose-fitting clothing, especially skirts, and b: go commando. Your body appreciates the extra air and freedom to move.

Going commando also has its sexy side as well. The natural shape of the breast becomes more evident outside a bra. Over the past few years, exposure of side-boob has become a “thing” that has its own groups on tumblr and reddit. The sight of a woman’s nude silhouette beneath a dress of light fabric has always been enticing. Then, there’s also the fact that a large number of contemporary designs are such that wearing anything under them is either practically impossible or would be a horrifying distraction to the look, especially within the realm of evening wear. Our exhibitionist society often delights in seeing just how close to nude one can get without being arrested. Does Rhianna even own underwear?

Lingerie is wonderful and our all-to-brief look at it this week has been fun. While styles inevitably change and women’s preference shift, what women wear under their clothes is something we will always find exciting, interesting, and alluring.

Even when what they’re wearing is nothing at all.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

Beauty Is

July 10, 2015

Dangerous Fruit (2010)

Be pretty if you can, be witty if you must, but be gracious if it kills you. –Else DeWolfe

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]There once was a generation of women for whom beauty was an everyday fact of life. There was no “Casual Friday,” or lazy Saturdays where they skipped putting on makeup or just wore whatever they picked up off the floor. For women of this generation, beauty was not a social requirement as much as it was something they expected of themselves, even when others didn’t. What they wore, how they looked, how they spoke, and how they interacted was a matter of personal pride and nothing short of pure graciousness and perfection would do. They wouldn’t have gone downstairs in their pajamas, much less to the store.

I most distinctly remember a woman from this generation named Rose. Rose was already past standard retirement age by the time I met her. She and her husband had raised three boys and ran a small business in a small town in Oklahoma that wouldn’t have cared all that much had Rose taken her appearance a little less seriously. Stuck in the Northeastern corner of the state in a town that was perpetually dusty, Rose’s beauty stood out. Certainly, by the time I met her, she had more than earned the right to take a few days off from her routine on occasion, but to my knowledge she never did. She didn’t want to. Her appearance was important to her and that’s what mattered.

On one occasion, the purpose of which I don’t remember, I spent the night with Rose and her husband, a jovial man everyone referred to as Bus. They lived above their business in a house that was large and old and creaky. I was 12 years old and very apprehensive as to whether this old house might be haunted, so sleep wasn’t something that readily availed itself. Quite early in the morning, well before any reasonable person should be awake, I heard a noise down the hall. Slipping out of bed, I tiptoed down the broad corridor fully expecting to encounter something frightening. Instead, what I saw was Rose in her dressing room.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Being 12, there was much of what I saw that I didn’t understand at the time. Only much later did I realize what I had seen. Rose was already wearing a foundation that included a very large bra, an underbust corset, very high waisted briefs to which garter straps were attached, and stockings. To the side sat a full-length slip and the dress she would wear for the day. Her hair was in curlers and on the table in front of her was a collection of makeup and beauty products larger than I had ever seen outside a department store. I watched for several minutes, awestruck, as she went through her routine. Only when she moved to put on her slip and dress did I ease back to my room.

As an adult, I can appreciate everything Rose went through in an attempt to defy aging, and there’s no question her efforts paid off. There hung in her hallway pictures of her and Bus when they were younger. By today’s standards, Rose should have been a model; she was tall, shapely, and extremely attractive. Had she lived somewhere other than Oklahoma, she might have been a movie star. Instead, both she and Bus served during World War II and both were highly decorated. Where she was, the circumstances under which they lived and worked, didn’t matter. Rose made the same effort, went through the same routine, every day.

It is rare today to find anyone who takes beauty as seriously as did Rose. When I do encounter someone wearing an underbust and garters, it tends to be more as a costume than for function. I don’t think women today feel they have the time or the energy to devote to such a regimen, yet no one worked any harder than Rose did. Such beauty and graciousness is a choice.

Rose died when I was 19. She was 84. She never looked a day over 50 and she was never without a smile and a kind word. Beauty is worth the effort. [/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

All About The Booty

July 9, 2015

Painted Angels (2010)

“The bottom of a cup of coffee is not as good as the bottom of her body—which is actually in the middle of her body.” ― Jarod Kintz, I love Blue Ribbon Coffee

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Boy shorts.
Briefs.
French cut.
Hipsters.
Bikini.
Thong.
G-string.

Covering women’s posteriors is a style of fashion all its own. In contemporary society, no part of the female anatomy is more celebrated than is the gluteus maximus and the underwear chosen often has a specific purpose and, perhaps, even a non-verbal message. When it comes to what sits between them and their jeans, women are often quite picky. Sure, there are certain stages in life where one might only be concerned with which pair is clean as they stumble out of bed, but for the majority choosing underwear is a matter of both comfort and practicality. Sensual qualities may be a secondary consideration, but no one wants a pair of underwear that doesn’t fit well and results in chaffing, no matter how good it might look.

For men in a relationship, the matter of women’s underwear is dangerous and threatening territory. One day she’s wearing a thong, which he finds attractive and sexy. The next day she’s wearing briefs, aka granny panties, and he’s confused why she would choose a look so much more conservative and decidedly not sexy. When she wears something french cut and lacy, he may find them more challenging to remove during a moment of passion. And if he goes shopping with her for new underwear, the inevitable question of, “do these make my butt look big,” looms like a guillotine above his head.

Yes, not every woman bothers with underwear. We get that. But most do and for many what they wear down there may be a more significant matter than what they wear over it.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]From a position of pure practicality, each style has it’s purpose. Boy shorts, for example, minimize panty lines when one is wearing a style that hugs one’s rear end. “That time of the month” is when many women choose briefs, though they also work with high-waisted pants and sometimes even come with some form of tummy control. The high cut of French cut panties works well with skirts and dresses that have slits up to there. Bikinis are always popular because they work with just about anything, though the elastic sometimes shows depending on the style. Low-rise jeans have made hipsters more popular as they provide the comfort of boy shorts without being visible. Thongs work for the tightest of clothing and G-strings are something one wears when one has to wear something but doesn’t really want anything.

As with any fashion style, variations abound and the type of fabric and finishing can play as much into the comfort and sexiness of any given piece. Not every style works on every body and figuring out what’s best changes as one ages. Life experience, childbirth, heredity, and even some medications can dramatically affect the shape and size of hips and surrounding muscles. There are times when no amount of diet and exercise can remove what an over-active thyroid has delivered. Lycra and similar fabrics work great for those who are athletic and active, but cotton breathes better and helps avoid certain infections. Every woman knows that there’s not just one type and one style that works for them.

One thing for certain, though, is that no matter what a woman is wearing on her bottom, people are going to always look on with admiration at a well-ensconced posterior. The Western world especially is so fascinated with booty that we sing about them. Song titles ranging from Queen’s “Fat-bottomed Girl” to Sir Mix-a-lot’s infamous “Baby’s Got Back,” and even Megan Trainer’s catchy “All About That Bass,” among dozens of others. With all that attention on their back sides, it’s no wonder that what women choose to wear there is a rather important matter.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

A Shape That’s Unforgettable

July 8, 2015

Corsetted (2011). Model: Carrie Pennington

A girl should be two things: sexy and fabulous. –Coco Chanel

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Society seems to have always been obsessed with the shape of women’s bodies and women have always been looking for ways to alter their body shape to meet whatever the current fashions might dictate. Pretty much every body type imaginable has been “in” at one point in history or another. Never mind what might be natural or healthy, manipulating body proportions has been a consistent issue for women forever, presumably even dating back to the earliest cave dwellers. The ability to find a mate once depended on how a woman’s shape for her child-producing potential. If the woman didn’t meet that current standard, she could well be left out of the clan and would have to forage for herself. Women’s body issues go all the way back.

No one is exactly sure when women started undergarments designed to alter their shape, but there certainly have been many over the years. Petticoats and hoop skirts both created the illusion of broader hips while, presumably, protecting a woman’s purity. Precursors to the bra actually pushed down a woman’s breast to keep them from appearing too large. Most have, thankfully, gone so far out of style that they are now nothing more than museum pieces. Yet, at least since the 16th century, one piece has adapted and endured to become a cherished piece of a woman’s lingerie collection: the corset.

While there’s no documentation as to when corsets were first used, we do know that some of the earliest versions bordered on cruelty. The ribs were made of iron and pulled impossibly tight. Some speculation exists that they might have originally been meant as an orthopedic device, which makes a little sense despite the fact they were probably not very effective. By the mid-16th century, corsets, which were then known as stays, were more decorative and worn as external pieces over the bodice of a dress, but by a century later they were demoted strictly to underwear, beneath the bodice or other clothing.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Corsets softened considerably and became much more kind during the 18th century, though pulling one tight could be both comical to watch and deadly to experience. By the early 20th century, they were all but forgotten until photographer Horst P. Horst took the iconic photo of a woman in a corset that is the inspiration for today’s photo. That photograph brought new attention to the corset as a fashion piece with a number of variations being developed that were less restrictive to the abdomen and more supportive of the breasts.

Popularity waxed and waned over the mid-century decades, but then designer Jean-Paul Gaultier brought the corset back as an external garment in the 80s and they’ve not gone away since. Every season someone tries a slightly different variation, working them into styles from evening wear to casual streetwear. Look around and one can find a corset, or corset-type garment, for just about any occasion. They have almost become a standard part of a woman’s wardrobe and look sexy and alluring on many different body types, which give them a universal popularity.

We see a lot being said today about body shaming and its detrimental effects. While there is unquestionable validity to the movement, what ultimately matters is how a woman feels about herself. Corsets are attractive and for some women help them to feel more sexy and confident. While no one should ever feel forced to wear anything or feel obligated to look a certain way, one needs to feel good about themselves and corsets help do that. Whether over, under, or as the only garment, corsets produce a shape that is as unforgettable as the person wearing it.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

Sexy Even By Day

July 7, 2015

Sex appeal is 50% what you’ve got and 50% what people think you’ve got. –Sophia Loren

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]”Those aren’t supposed to move around that much!”

Having breasts can be a problem when one is active. Not all breasts, I suppose. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a woman with smaller breasts complain that they move around too much. But for anyone with breasts larger than a full B cup, support is not only a matter of comfort, it can seriously affect one’s health and performance. As a result, sports bras were developed with the specific goal of holding everything in place while one is exercising or engaged in sport.

As with most garments in the world of lingerie, those that actually work the best are often the most boring. Women are not huge fans of boring, though, and it didn’t take long at all before there were sports bras that look more like lycra crop tops than anything that might offer genuine support. Walk into many gyms today and one is likely to observe an array of sportswear that desperately tries to strike a balance between providing reasonable amounts of support and reasonable amounts of sexiness. Some are more successful than others. Some totally fail.

Several times in recent years I’ve heard conversations and seen articles decrying how this sport or that sport has been over-sexualized. I’ve even had pictures used for those articles (too bad the editors of the magazine didn’t know how to spell). Not everyone is happy to see women being sexy while they are running, boating, hiking, climbing, biking, rappelling, lifting weights or playing beach volleyball. Some professional sports franchises, such as the WNBA, actually go out of their way to make sure uniforms are the furthest thing from sexy possible. With voluminous shorts that go below the knees and tops big enough to house a family of four, women’s basketball uniforms more closely resemble the swimwear of the late 19th century.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Real sex appeal isn’t something that is defined by what one wears, of course. Attitude is as much a factor as anything and there’s no garment in the world sexy enough to overcome a rotten outlook that finds fault with everything and everyone. If women’s sports have become more enticing to watch, chances are it is because the women playing them are exciting. The recent women’s world cup championship is a good example. As Team USA made their way through the qualifying rounds, interest grew in a team and a sport that few people recognized as existing. By the time the final match came against Japan, the game drew more viewers than the all-star games from men’s sports such as baseball and basketball. The women’s uniforms aren’t especially enticing, but many would say thewomen’s Team USA is the sexiest on any field.

As much as anything, what one wears when working out or participating in sports follows the same rational as any other piece of clothing: does it work for the activity without getting in the way, and does it feel good wearing it? For some, that may mean an old t-shirt and baggy sweat pants. No big deal. Others lean toward what’s practical: is everything staying where is supposed to be. And some will go for the skin-tight lycra in bright colors that flaunt their presumed assets. What one wears probably says more about their general personality than any kind of a sexual statement. Are some pushing the envelope of appropriateness? Sure, and I have no problem with the argument that such boundaries need to be pushed; if men can remove their shirts, shouldn’t that rule apply to women as well? But being sexy is so much more.

The days of a woman confining her sexuality to the bedroom are, thankfully, long gone. Women want to feel sexy and be sexy all day and that includes when they’re working out or participating in sports. So we shouldn’t be surprised when the same lingerie-driven style trends one sees in the street show up in the gym as well. Personal expression doesn’t hang on a hook in the locker room. Healthy, active women are beautiful. Let’s applaud and support that in every way.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

Not Such A Secret

July 6, 2015

Pretty Flowers (2014)

I love to wear lingerie. The problem is that men always rip it off too quickly. When women are dolled up in lingerie they feel sexy. So let us wear it for five minutes. –Karen McDougal

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]I think the lingerie industry should make Madonna its patron saint. Seriously. Up until the pop singer burst onto the scene in the early 80s, bras were boring, for the most part, and certainly never seen in public. In fact, women would go to great extremes to prevent even the straps of bras from showing. I can remember my mother using tape on a blouse whose shoulder straps were just the tiniest bit narrow enough that, should she move the right direction, a bra strap might be visible. After Madonna, though, anything goes and one can pretty much get away with wearing their underwear right down the middle of the street without anyone saying too terribly much.

The down side to such public exposure, of course, is that much of the mystery has been lost. I can remember as a teen when seeing a girl in her bra was almost as good as making it to second base. Almost. There was a curiosity held beneath those heavily padded B cups that we all were desperate to glimpse and maybe even feel. That curiosity is what drove us, what kept us pursuing the young women for whom we so desperately longed. The fact that we didn’t know had me, and most adolescent boys, ready to volunteer for whatever expedition might lead us to that secret treasure so firmly encapsulated in those gentle domes of foam rubber.

Today, however, there are many times where the only remaining question is, “Are those real or does she have a very good surgeon?” As lingerie has moved from being strictly a foundation garment, bras especially have gained a great deal of transparency and many fashion designers have decided that the bra is a suitable substitute for those silly, cumbersome blouses that clog a woman’s closet. After all, why hint when one can make a bold statement? Take charge. Be the master of your sexuality. They’re going to stare at your chest anyway, so give them a damn good reason to do so. [/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Modern bras can get rather expensive. Victoria’s Secret displays some on their annual shows that are worth over two million dollars. Sure, they’re pretty, but in many ways it’s wrapping on a present you’ll never be able to open; window dressing, if you will, for a store in which you’ll never be able to shop. I’m not personally drawn to such displays of ostentation, but I’m sure there are plenty of people who are. Certainly, those are the type of bras over which one would be silly to wear anything, no matter whose name was on the label.

Most women have a collection from which they can choose, and I’ve come across a few who needed entire rooms to house their lingerie collections. There are days when one just feels like having satin next to their skin. If going out with someone who seems a bit shy about making the next move, then perhaps a little bit of lace beneath a blouse that can’t help but show it off is in order. Then, there are the days when it’s sweats and that old thing that looks as ugly as sin but does a good enough job of holding “the girls” in place while you’re feeling less than pretty. There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all bra and neither is there a single bra that works for every occasion. Lingerie just doesn’t work that way.

I never have seen anyone who would wear bras as dramatic as Madonna’s for any reason other than a costume party or photo shoot. In fact, some of Madonna’s bras would probably be a liability if one were to actually attempt wearing them in public. While bras are not the great sexual secret they once were, they still do a very good job of capturing our attention and making us all want to see what’s underneath. Sorry, dear bra, you’re about to hit the floor. Nothing personal. Good night.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

All The Possibilities

July 5, 2015

Pondering Possibilities (2006)

I was the child who would leave school and take her clothes off the second I got into the house. I made my mom buy me lingerie when I was 5 years old. I was a sicko. My mother must have been mortified. -Alessandra Torresani

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Eleven billion dollars. Think about it. That’s how much revenue lingerie generated in 2014. Eleven billion dollars for bras, underwear, and related frilly things that cover less physical real estate than a bath towel. Oh, but we love every minute of it. Since the mid-70s there hasn’t been an adolescent boy in the US or Britain that didn’t somehow manage to get his hands on the Victoria’s Secret catalog. Before that, there was always the Sears & Roebuck catalog, which could get surprisingly racy for two or three very important pages. Lingerie is that one thing on which both men and women are willing to spend severe amounts of money with rarely any complaints.

Okay, women complain more than men do. Bras are uncomfortable and depending on where purchased never seem to fit exactly right. Of course, lingerie shops counter that most women don’t know how to buy bras correctly. Most young men I know would happily volunteer to help women figure out just exactly how to find the perfect bra, but women have never been too terribly keen about taking them up on that offer. In fact, when I’ve specifically gone to a lingerie store to help a friend or model, the store hasn’t been all that accommodating to my services. Lingerie clerks seem to doubt our intentions. I can’t possibly imagine why.

Still, lingerie is one of those things on which most men and women can agree help define sex appeal. As much as we might find nudity enticing, there is still something about the tease, about the hint of what might be there without actually seeing it, that drives men crazy and elevates a woman’s self-confidence. I would dare say that with the right lingerie a woman can get a man to do her complete bidding with eagerness without the poor sap ever realizing the degree to which he is being manipulated. Lingerie puts women all the more securely in the driver’s seat for any sexual activity their lover may desire with an element of beauty and fashion that is every bit as high-end as the fanciest evening gown.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Yes, there is the practical aspect of lingerie. Some women need bras to help prevent sagging, especially after they’ve nursed a child or 15. Some women use bras to make up for the fact there really isn’t much there to hold. Others use lingerie to help define their shape and there are even lingerie pieces that help those who’ve had surgeries maintain a sense of femininity. Not everything within the lingerie segment is meant to be sexually enticing. In fact, the practical element is most likely the larger part of that eleven billion dollars, though if there are any real numbers in that regard I couldn’t find them.

Still, say the word lingerie and it is the sensual side of the business to which our minds most immediately turn. We think of lace, silk, and satin, carefully design and crafted to entice, to capture our attention, and arouse our senses. We want lingerie to be sexy whenever possible. No one likes wearing boring underwear, though every woman has some. There are, after all, laundry days, or that time of the month when the last thing one wants is to attract attention on which one cannot follow through. Women would much rather slip on the silk and the lace, to feel the soft fabric next to their even softer skin, and to think throughout the day about the encounter that might come at the end of the day.

So, this week we look at lingerie and consider just a few of the more common possibilities. We won’t cover everything, mind you, and if you look around the Internet you’ll find plenty of lingerie designers that even more enticing and provocative than Victoria’s Secret ever thought of being. Lingerie gives women the chance to be naughty beneath their nice, soft beneath the hard, and sensual beneath the strict. What could possibly be more wonderful? We hope you won’t miss a day![/one_half_last]

Photography / PotD

Right Smack In The Middle

June 10, 2015

Pin This (2012)

“More than ambition, more than ability, it is rules that limit contribution; rules are the lowest common denominator of human behavior. They are a substitute for rational thought.” ― Hyman G. Rickover

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Stop and think for a moment what you might do if there was no one to tell you no. Ever. You want ice cream for breakfast? Go for it. Wear a yellow jumpsuit to a funeral? Sure, why not? Build an elevator into space? Others have talked about it, let’s see how you do. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to innovation and progress is the fear that someone will object to what you do. There are too many people who are afraid of upsetting the status quo and that keeps them from ever venturing into an area of imagination and experimentation that could quite possibly lead to fantastic inventions and dramatically wonderful changes in society. But first, one has to be willing to break the rules.

Breaking the rules in photography is actually rather easy. First, there are too many damn rules and most of those are under-supported and fail to take into account all the possible variations one might encounter when shooting. Second, those rules are generally not explained too terribly well, even in photography courses, and some of them are so confusing as to make it difficult to know whether the rule is actually being broken or not. Breaking photography rules is about as easy, and pretty much as earth shattering, as rolling out of bed in the morning.

Breaking the rules of society, not just society in general, but the very specific society of which you are immediately and constantly a part, is more difficult, though. Why? Because you have to live there. If you venture out and make a mistake, the people around you know about it, and might possibly remind you. Constantly. Cruelly. Taking risks to do something as different as changing the brand of coffee used in the office means taking on the possibility that others, especially the boss, might disagree. Breaking rules in life, no matter how small they are, can have some very large consequence and that risk is enough to keep the majority of people quiet and toeing the line.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Today’s image is sneaky and breaks a visual framing rule that may not be noticeable to anyone who is not a photographer or works with visual layout on a regular basis. This is one of those violations of good imagery that rather sneaks past the rule checkers without immediately setting off any red flags. The model is attractive. The set looks good. There are strong leading lines. Makeup, hair, accessories, styling, are all pretty much on point. This is such a quiet little bit of rule breaking that some might not even think that it is worth mentioning at all.

What’s wrong is that the model is positioned right smack in the middle of the frame, which is actually a fairly strong framing no-no. We would much rather have positioned her slightly to the right just a bit. Making the rule violation even worse is that the positioning puts the dead center of the image right at the model’s crotch. Awkward. And now that I’ve mentioned it, you won’t be able to not notice. We went ahead and broke this rule for two reasons. 1. The leading lines created by the car put our eyes there whether we like that or not. 2. Size restrictions of the frame made it impossible to move left or right without creating additional visual problems. Sometimes we have to decide which rule to keep and which to ignore.

Earth shattering? Not hardly. You’ll go on about your day and quite possibly won’t give it a second thought, unless you spending time looking at a lot of pictures. The picture won’t cause the overthrow of any dictatorial government or change the economic policies of the Midwest. But our whole purpose this week is to reinforce the idea that breaking rules is not something we should be afraid to do. Should we give thought to the consequences? Yes. But if more of us were willing to break rules, even the simple one such as this, we might be surprised at how wonderful the changes would be.[/one_half_last]

fashion

Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.—Coco Chanel

5 Signs You Are A Fashion Failure

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An artist must never be a prisoner. Prisoner? An artist should never be a prisoner of himself, prisoner of style, prisoner of reputation, prisoner of success, etc.—Henri Matisse

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What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter – a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue.—Henri Matisse

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There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.—Henri Matisse

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Everybody always says that I’m the girl next door, which makes me think that y’all must have a lot of weird next-door neighbours.—Kelly Clarkson

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Women’s fashion is a subtle form of bondage. It’s men’s way of binding them. We put them in these tight, high-heeled shoes, we make them wear these tight clothes and we say they look sexy. But they’re actually tied up.—David Duchovny

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You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.—Dr. Seuss

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

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I am a strong woman with or without this other person, with or without this job, and with or without these tight pants.—Queen Latifah

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

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The whole thing of clothes is insane. You can spend a dollar on a jacket in a thrift store. And you can spend a thousand dollars on a jacket in a shop. And if you saw those two jackets walking down the street, you probably wouldn’t know which was which.—Helen Mirren

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Blue jeans are the most beautiful things since the gondola.—Diana Vreeland

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A friend sat next to a nun on a plane. He asked her what she missed most. “Wearing blue jeans,” she replied. —Amy Krouse Rosenthal

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Anyone who is secure about herself shouldn’t be threatened by the ads I do. What we’re doing is fun—if you have any sense of humor at all! —Calvin Klein

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Fashion is mysterious, as a rule. Why are blue jeans a classic? You just hit on something that happens to be timeless and right.-Diane von Furstenberg

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I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity – all I hope for in my clothes. -Yves Saint-Laurent

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There is something vulnerable about showing your tattoos to people, even while it gives you a feeling that you are wearing a sleeve when you are naked. —Lena Dunham

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I always say: To be well dressed you must be well naked. —Oscar de la Renta

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Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months. —Oscar Wilde

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My mom was sarcastic about men. She would tell me Adam was the rough draft and Eve was the final product. She was a feminist minister, an earth mom who wore a bra only on Sundays. —Daphne Zuniga

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Be pretty if you can, be witty if you must, but be gracious if it kills you. –Else DeWolfe

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“The bottom of a cup of coffee is not as good as the bottom of her body—which is actually in the middle of her body.” ― Jarod Kintz, I love Blue Ribbon Coffee

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A girl should be two things: sexy and fabulous. –Coco Chanel

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Sex appeal is 50% what you’ve got and 50% what people think you’ve got. –Sophia Loren

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I love to wear lingerie. The problem is that men always rip it off too quickly. When women are dolled up in lingerie they feel sexy. So let us wear it for five minutes. –Karen McDougal

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I was the child who would leave school and take her clothes off the second I got into the house. I made my mom buy me lingerie when I was 5 years old. I was a sicko. My mother must have been mortified. -Alessandra Torresani

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“More than ambition, more than ability, it is rules that limit contribution; rules are the lowest common denominator of human behavior. They are a substitute for rational thought.” ― Hyman G. Rickover

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