iblog

Rushda: Designer handbags have always been the ultimate accessory for the fashion-conscious woman. Indeed some women have actually spent thousands on expensive designer bags, as they are said to boost the look of any outfit. One example of a such a bag is a Louis Vuitton patchwork bag which is currently being sold for a staggering £23,484: a price greater than that of a Mercedes car! I admit the bag looks kind of trendy but I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that this is crazy, especially for those who aren’t celebrities and can’t afford to splash out every day. Personally I’d like to have some money left over to put in any bag I buy!

Rushda: Marks and Spencer has recently denied claims that their changing room mirrors have deliberately been made to distort women’s body shapes and make them look thinner than they are. The scheme seems obvious: if a woman constantly finds that clothes from a particular store make her look better, then that will inevitably boost sales of clothes from that particular store. And apparently there’s no law around to forbid anyone from doing that. I’ve always heard rumours of some stores’ sizes being bigger so that women feel better about buying smaller sizes, but this is the first time I’ve heard of actually making people look smaller in the first place. I really hope that all these things are just rumours and don’t actually happen in practice, but I guess we can never be too sure.

Rushda: Most women love to wear high heels. Not only are they fashionable but they are the ultimate solution for short people who find it annoying to look up all the time. The problem is that wearing heels is often at the expense of our comfort. A whole day spent high actually tends to lower our spirits and we end up with sore feet that collapse as soon we find a seat.

What can be done? Though no one professes to make heels as comfortable as flats, there are certain measures you can take to alleviate the pain of high heels. First of all, choose a comfortable type of heel: wedges are a million times more comfy than stilettos. Also it should be obvious but make sure that any shoes you get are the right size: if a shoe doesn’t fit it will eventually be uncomfortable even if you don’t notice it immediately. Then you can make any shoe you get even comfier by adding gel pads (such as those by Scholl) specially designed to take the pressure off the ball of your foot. Lastly, not only should you make the shoe itself comfortable but there is apparently an art of walking in heels. A good walking technique can do so much to make you comfortable.

If you follow these steps you’ll hopefully be able to spend your day high in both your appearence and your mood.

Caroline: London Fashion Week has decided to introduce a voluntary code of conduct but has not followed the lead of Madrid and Milan in banning Size 0 models. Size 0 equates with a BMI of less than 18 - an unhealthy state of affairs by any definition. Although there is no direct evidence to prove that skinny models cause teenage girls to develop anorexia, there is evidence from the girls themselves that the celebration of ultra-thin models conflicts with the message being given to them of what is healthy and makes their recovery harder. The decision not to impose the ban may be indicative of the fact that the fashion industry dislikes the thought of a nanny state dictating how big their models should be. Then again, it may be the fact that sadly, the extreme sorts of fashion seen on the cat-walk look beter on skinny models with figures, the likes of which few of us will ever have.

Caroline: Well done to Marks and Spencers. They are opening a one stop bridal shop where brides will no longer have to fork out thousands of pounds on their wedding dress, at a time when there are so many other financial demands. There are twelve dresses in their collection in champagne, cream and white, costing between £59 and £175. Morning suits for the groom are also available at under £200 for the jacket, trousers, waistcoat, shirt and cravat. At the moment all this is available only online but will be hitting the High St in the near future.

Rushda: Whenever I walk to Boots I am overwhelmed by the choices of makeup, perfume and shampoo. Not only is it difficult to choose from but lots of it is also very expensive. But did you know you can order all sorts of free samples from different brands online without having to go to a store and getting confused and in debt? Check out Olay, Pantene and Original Source to give you just a few examples. Get sampling!

Rushda: New Year has long gone but thousands of shoppers everywhere are still flocking to clothes shops to try and grab last-minute bargains. For all the major fashion stores it is a tried and tested practice: out with the old and in with the new, out with the fashionless and in with the fashionable. But hold on a second, if so many people are buying what is now unfashionable, doesn’t this make these clothes fashionable? And does that not warrant them being full price? I’m probably missing something here but something seems to have gone wrong somewhere down the line.

Rushda: I sometimes wonder about the strange preoccupation most Western women have of removing almost every hair on their body as soon as it pops up. There was an absolute outrage when Julia Roberts showed up with some underarm hair at a film premiere, and quite understandably I think, she was amused at the fuss. Of course I’m not suggesting here that everyone must now leave themselves in their natural state, because obviously there are all sorts of social and aesthetic preferences. But I do want to emphasise that there shouldn’t be anything intolerable about the way a woman is naturally. Comments like, “if my wife didn’t de-fuzz she would quickly be an ex-wife!” (one of the reader comments to the article) are absolutely disgusting by any standard. In such a case, maybe the wife should indeed give her husband a divorce and he should get himself a Barbie instead.

Rushda: I’ve always thought that the point of fashion was to make you look good. But now that I see celebrities parade around in elaborate glow-in-the-dark bin liners and skimpy underwear (which probably still cost thousands of pounds), I’m a little confused. It seems that fashion is no longer about making you look beautiful. It’s more about being quirky with what you wear whilst revealing as much as possible, even if it makes you look ridiculous. “All crass and no class” says a recent fashion article which denounced the fashion sense of top celebrities such as Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. Well said I think. I personally feel that if so-called fashionable clothing just makes you look cheap and nasty, I don’t care who designed it and how much it cost, it’s ugly to me.

Virgil: The front page of my TV Guide today told me how “geek will be the image of 2007″, and I found it interesting to reflect on the inversion. There seems to be a rising chic to look a bit geeky. In the words of Big Brother 2004’s Stuart, “there’s cool, and there’s geek, and you put them together, and you get even cooler.”

There are two motivations I can see for this, and they’re linked. The simple fact of the matter is that people started using computers, and a lot. Even the trendiest of people are now completely familiar with Start Buttons, the Internet, instant chat, and error messages. Secondly, a wave of self-esteem, self-worth and self-pride swept common thought. If you’re intelligent then be proud because it really is good. If you’re geeky then that’s who you are, and you’re valuable.

The way I see this, it’s a step forward in thought that’s led to a craze in fashion. “Geek chic” is still an extreme, and there’s only one thing that’s certain about it: to the bespectacled eyes of a slightly nerdish boy, there’s nothing hotter than a slightly nerdish girl - it’s clique chic.