DSquared2 has launched an ice skate / high heel boot nicknamed the 'Skate Moss', which features an eight inch heel with rubber soles.
Whilst most might flinch at the idea of walking in the US $1,485 creations, models on the DSquared2 runway managed to teeter down the catwalk in them, though the Daily Mail reports that most "looked far from secure, some with ankles on peculiar angles."
Set to hit Zappos Couture stores next month, it's predicted Lady Gaga might snap a pair up – but even the Fashion Icon of the Year herself may have trouble walking in heels this high.
Gisele Bundchen "Afraid" Of Wearing High Heels
Doctors have long warned about the dangers of wearing high heels, with Victoria Beckham recently ordered to wear flats until after New York Fashion Week due to a slipped disc.
"Victoria has been frantically surfing the web for an acceptable pair of flats, ones which don't make her look like a golf club," reported the Daily Mirror.
However, it seems some designers are coming around to the idea of flats, with Karl Lagerfeld stating at his couture show, "Luxury must be comfortable, otherwise it is not luxury."
2011年8月30日星期二
2011年8月29日星期一
Stars reveal style secrets
While it might be easier to look fabulous when top designers are knocking down your door, an A-List look still needs work.
So whether you prefer the supermodel, super-glam or super-mum approach to styling, three celebrities with completely different looks offer their expert advice:
KIM KARDASHIAN
Famed for her curves (and appearances on countless US reality shows) this stylish socialite knows how to ooze glamour.
Q. How would you describe your style?
A. "I love classic outfits injected with fun statement accessories like heels, jewellery and sunglasses. I always dress to flatter my body shape. A pair of high heels makes me feel tall and glamorous (the higher the heel, the better) and I love a good blazer with shoulder pads to accentuate my curvy figure. My dresses are usually cinched in at the waist for the same effect."
Q. Who are your style inspirations?
A. "I love Rihanna's edgy style and I've always looked up to Jennifer Lopez and Victoria Beckham."
Q. Favourite designers?
A. "My two favourite designers are Lanvin and Alexander McQueen - they make the most chic timeless pieces - but I also love mixing it up with high street brands and online sites like ShoeDazzle."
Q. Favourite red carpet outfit?
A. "I love a little black dress and pair of towering heels to make me feel glamorous for a big night."
Q. Top fashion tip?
A. "Dress for your body shape and you'll always feel comfortable in what you wear."
HELENA CHRISTENSEN
A member of the 90s supermodel clan, this Danish beauty likes to let her clothes speak for themselves.
Q. How would you describe your style?
A. "I love vintage pieces. There is so much love, passion and effort in the craftsmanship - it just looks and feels different when you wear it, so I think my style definitely has a historical feeling to it."
Q. Who are your style inspirations?
A. "I'm inspired by women who stay true to themselves - you look at them and notice the little details and how things are put together. It's beautiful when a woman has the self-confidence to show her personality in the extension of her outfit."
Q. Favourite designers?
A. "It would be so hard to just mention a few. I like Japanese designers a lot for their quirky, recognisable style but then I also love the simplicity and elegance of Belgian designers."
Q. Stand-out style moment?
A. "Working with the very old couture houses was a beautiful experience because you'd see a dress being made literally from the first stitch, by an amazing team of seamstresses, who'd been in the company for over 50 years. You see the piece evolve because they keep fitting it on you - every piece is breathtaking."
Q. Top fashion tip?
A. "Women tend to forget that they should check themselves from all directions before they leave the house - I know I certainly do."
So whether you prefer the supermodel, super-glam or super-mum approach to styling, three celebrities with completely different looks offer their expert advice:
KIM KARDASHIAN
Famed for her curves (and appearances on countless US reality shows) this stylish socialite knows how to ooze glamour.
Q. How would you describe your style?
A. "I love classic outfits injected with fun statement accessories like heels, jewellery and sunglasses. I always dress to flatter my body shape. A pair of high heels makes me feel tall and glamorous (the higher the heel, the better) and I love a good blazer with shoulder pads to accentuate my curvy figure. My dresses are usually cinched in at the waist for the same effect."
Q. Who are your style inspirations?
A. "I love Rihanna's edgy style and I've always looked up to Jennifer Lopez and Victoria Beckham."
Q. Favourite designers?
A. "My two favourite designers are Lanvin and Alexander McQueen - they make the most chic timeless pieces - but I also love mixing it up with high street brands and online sites like ShoeDazzle."
Q. Favourite red carpet outfit?
A. "I love a little black dress and pair of towering heels to make me feel glamorous for a big night."
Q. Top fashion tip?
A. "Dress for your body shape and you'll always feel comfortable in what you wear."
HELENA CHRISTENSEN
A member of the 90s supermodel clan, this Danish beauty likes to let her clothes speak for themselves.
Q. How would you describe your style?
A. "I love vintage pieces. There is so much love, passion and effort in the craftsmanship - it just looks and feels different when you wear it, so I think my style definitely has a historical feeling to it."
Q. Who are your style inspirations?
A. "I'm inspired by women who stay true to themselves - you look at them and notice the little details and how things are put together. It's beautiful when a woman has the self-confidence to show her personality in the extension of her outfit."
Q. Favourite designers?
A. "It would be so hard to just mention a few. I like Japanese designers a lot for their quirky, recognisable style but then I also love the simplicity and elegance of Belgian designers."
Q. Stand-out style moment?
A. "Working with the very old couture houses was a beautiful experience because you'd see a dress being made literally from the first stitch, by an amazing team of seamstresses, who'd been in the company for over 50 years. You see the piece evolve because they keep fitting it on you - every piece is breathtaking."
Q. Top fashion tip?
A. "Women tend to forget that they should check themselves from all directions before they leave the house - I know I certainly do."
2011年8月25日星期四
Ryle hands NewCath first loss in girls' soccer
Ryle girls' soccer coach Edmundo Echeverria did something Wednesday that three coaches before him could not do - he guided the team to a win over Newport Central Catholic.
The Raiders beat the Thoroughbreds 3-1 for their first win of the season and dropped their nemesis from the ranks of the unbeaten.
"I know we haven't beaten them in a long time," Echeverria said. "So it's a good win for us."
Junior Elise Duggins became the first player to score against NewCath this season when she connected from 15 yards with 30:47 to play in the second half.
Lauren Zembrodt made it 2-0 with 7:43 to play with a goal in the box off a pass from Meredith Murphy.
Duggins scored again for Ryle (1-3-1) with no time remaining after NewCath (3-1) closed to 2-1 in the final five minutes.
Senior goalkeeper Lindsay Otis collected seven saves for the Raiders. She received help from Olivia Coleman, who has stepped in as a replacement for all-region stopper Ellie Schmalzl. Center midfielder Jaclyn Zembrodt also made things difficult for the NewCath offense.
Schmalzl is out for the season with a knee injury. Zembrodt suffered a concussion during a July practice, her second in two years.
"We've had to change things around on defense and at stopper, but I think the girls have really stepped up with Ellie out," Otis said.
Both teams recorded seven shots on goal.
"Scoring keeps me going," said Duggins, who took four shots. "It shows I can do it and help my team win."
The Thoroughbreds had outscored their opponents 15-0 this season. They were coming off a 2-0 win against Holy Cross, which followed a 9-0 rout of Russell.
"I think we won because we've been trying to play basic soccer," Echeverria said. "We want the girls to attack the way they're facing. Before tonight, we had a lot of empty crosses. But we were more successful with them tonight."
Duggins' first score, off a crossing pass, was just the fourth Ryle goal against NewCath in 10 years. Duggins has three goals on the season.
"I thought we played hard, played a really good game," Duggins said. "We were looking for scores."
Duggins, who plays for the Kings Soccer Academy club team, led Ryle with 11 goals last season, accounting for a third of the team's scoring.
NewCath and Ryle played to a 1-all score last season, their second tie in four years. They played to a scoreless tie in 2007. Even when the Raiders won back-to-back district titles in 2005-06, NewCath was able to come up with victories over them by a combined score of 5-1.
From 2001-06, NewCath won six consecutive matches, including four shutouts.
"We haven't had a lot of success against (NewCath)," Echeverria said. "I'm not even sure when the last time we beat them, but I know it's been a long time."
The Raiders beat the Thoroughbreds 3-1 for their first win of the season and dropped their nemesis from the ranks of the unbeaten.
"I know we haven't beaten them in a long time," Echeverria said. "So it's a good win for us."
Junior Elise Duggins became the first player to score against NewCath this season when she connected from 15 yards with 30:47 to play in the second half.
Lauren Zembrodt made it 2-0 with 7:43 to play with a goal in the box off a pass from Meredith Murphy.
Duggins scored again for Ryle (1-3-1) with no time remaining after NewCath (3-1) closed to 2-1 in the final five minutes.
Senior goalkeeper Lindsay Otis collected seven saves for the Raiders. She received help from Olivia Coleman, who has stepped in as a replacement for all-region stopper Ellie Schmalzl. Center midfielder Jaclyn Zembrodt also made things difficult for the NewCath offense.
Schmalzl is out for the season with a knee injury. Zembrodt suffered a concussion during a July practice, her second in two years.
"We've had to change things around on defense and at stopper, but I think the girls have really stepped up with Ellie out," Otis said.
Both teams recorded seven shots on goal.
"Scoring keeps me going," said Duggins, who took four shots. "It shows I can do it and help my team win."
The Thoroughbreds had outscored their opponents 15-0 this season. They were coming off a 2-0 win against Holy Cross, which followed a 9-0 rout of Russell.
"I think we won because we've been trying to play basic soccer," Echeverria said. "We want the girls to attack the way they're facing. Before tonight, we had a lot of empty crosses. But we were more successful with them tonight."
Duggins' first score, off a crossing pass, was just the fourth Ryle goal against NewCath in 10 years. Duggins has three goals on the season.
"I thought we played hard, played a really good game," Duggins said. "We were looking for scores."
Duggins, who plays for the Kings Soccer Academy club team, led Ryle with 11 goals last season, accounting for a third of the team's scoring.
NewCath and Ryle played to a 1-all score last season, their second tie in four years. They played to a scoreless tie in 2007. Even when the Raiders won back-to-back district titles in 2005-06, NewCath was able to come up with victories over them by a combined score of 5-1.
From 2001-06, NewCath won six consecutive matches, including four shutouts.
"We haven't had a lot of success against (NewCath)," Echeverria said. "I'm not even sure when the last time we beat them, but I know it's been a long time."
2011年8月23日星期二
What The Stylist Wore
Playing around with polka dots is great fun. Mix and match colours, sizes and textures for an uber playful outfit that's full of sass. By teaming this billowing blouse with a high waisted skirt I've given a slightly more grown up feel to a playful print. Bright statement heels and an over sized hat add the final touch.
[[page-break]
Playing around with polka dots is great fun. Mix and match colours, sizes and textures for an uber playful outfit that's full of sass. By teaming this billowing blouse with a high waisted skirt I've given a slightly more grown up feel to a playful print. Bright statement heels and an over sized hat add the final touch.
[[page-break]
Playing around with polka dots is great fun. Mix and match colours, sizes and textures for an uber playful outfit that's full of sass. By teaming this billowing blouse with a high waisted skirt I've given a slightly more grown up feel to a playful print. Bright statement heels and an over sized hat add the final touch.
[[page-break]
Now, this outfit does slightly remind me of an air hostess back in the day, however I don't care because I love the colour of this skirt. You can always opt for something in a berry shade or darker hue however mixing the loose shape of the shirt with a high fitting skirt and super high heels is never a bad idea.
[[page-break]
Now, this outfit does slightly remind me of an air hostess back in the day, however I don't care because I love the colour of this skirt. You can always opt for something in a berry shade or darker hue however mixing the loose shape of the shirt with a high fitting skirt and super high heels is never a bad idea.
[[page-break]
Now, this outfit does slightly remind me of an air hostess back in the day, however I don't care because I love the colour of this skirt. You can always opt for something in a berry shade or darker hue however mixing the loose shape of the shirt with a high fitting skirt and super high heels is never a bad idea.
[[page-break]
Another way to avoid looking like Minnie Mouse is to go for a polka dot dress in a loose shift shape. I loved the 70's feel of this navy and brown pussy bow neck dress and felt it gave it a really vintage element. I accessorized with a bright orange bag to add a bit of colour, and kept the look playful with a pair of snake skin flats.
[[page-break]
Another way to avoid looking like Minnie Mouse is to go for a polka dot dress in a loose shift shape. I loved the 70's feel of this navy and brown pussy bow neck dress and felt it gave it a really vintage element. I accessorized with a bright orange bag to add a bit of colour, and kept the look playful with a pair of snake skin flats.
[[page-break]
Another way to avoid looking like Minnie Mouse is to go for a polka dot dress in a loose shift shape. I loved the 70's feel of this navy and brown pussy bow neck dress and felt it gave it a really vintage element. I accessorized with a bright orange bag to add a bit of colour, and kept the look playful with a pair of snake skin flats.
[[page-break]
Playing around with polka dots is great fun. Mix and match colours, sizes and textures for an uber playful outfit that's full of sass. By teaming this billowing blouse with a high waisted skirt I've given a slightly more grown up feel to a playful print. Bright statement heels and an over sized hat add the final touch.
[[page-break]
Playing around with polka dots is great fun. Mix and match colours, sizes and textures for an uber playful outfit that's full of sass. By teaming this billowing blouse with a high waisted skirt I've given a slightly more grown up feel to a playful print. Bright statement heels and an over sized hat add the final touch.
[[page-break]
Now, this outfit does slightly remind me of an air hostess back in the day, however I don't care because I love the colour of this skirt. You can always opt for something in a berry shade or darker hue however mixing the loose shape of the shirt with a high fitting skirt and super high heels is never a bad idea.
[[page-break]
Now, this outfit does slightly remind me of an air hostess back in the day, however I don't care because I love the colour of this skirt. You can always opt for something in a berry shade or darker hue however mixing the loose shape of the shirt with a high fitting skirt and super high heels is never a bad idea.
[[page-break]
Now, this outfit does slightly remind me of an air hostess back in the day, however I don't care because I love the colour of this skirt. You can always opt for something in a berry shade or darker hue however mixing the loose shape of the shirt with a high fitting skirt and super high heels is never a bad idea.
[[page-break]
Another way to avoid looking like Minnie Mouse is to go for a polka dot dress in a loose shift shape. I loved the 70's feel of this navy and brown pussy bow neck dress and felt it gave it a really vintage element. I accessorized with a bright orange bag to add a bit of colour, and kept the look playful with a pair of snake skin flats.
[[page-break]
Another way to avoid looking like Minnie Mouse is to go for a polka dot dress in a loose shift shape. I loved the 70's feel of this navy and brown pussy bow neck dress and felt it gave it a really vintage element. I accessorized with a bright orange bag to add a bit of colour, and kept the look playful with a pair of snake skin flats.
[[page-break]
Another way to avoid looking like Minnie Mouse is to go for a polka dot dress in a loose shift shape. I loved the 70's feel of this navy and brown pussy bow neck dress and felt it gave it a really vintage element. I accessorized with a bright orange bag to add a bit of colour, and kept the look playful with a pair of snake skin flats.
2011年8月22日星期一
Nelson: Gaga's wild rural mashup
Last month Lady Gaga filmed part of her recently released video "You and I" in the countryside near Springfield, Neb.
Having not associated Lady Gaga's previous work with rural Midwestern life, I was excited to see how she would incorporate those gravel roads, cornfields and rustic barns from just over yonder with her typically avant-garde tableaux vivants.
I just watched the video. It is visually fascinating, a sort of reimagining of "Alice in Wonderland" filmed separately by John "post-Cougar" Mellencamp and Friedrich Nietzsche (or any other insane 19th-century Teutonic intellectual) and then spliced together during a rolling dust-up between the two for control of the editing computer.
Sorry. I'm just not smart enough to interpret what just happened to me.
When failing color commentary, I revert back to play-by-play.
The video opens with Miss Gaga sashaying down a gravel road toward the camera. Focus shifts from right foreground ditch weeds to Miss Gaga approaching in the distance in the left side of the frame. She is wearing a long black dress with a black hat you might expect to see on a woman at a funeral in New Orleans for Phyllis Diller.
(Oops. Too much detail for column space. Oh jeez. The video is 6 minutes, 22 seconds long! No such extravagance allowed in newspaper columns. Must go all Hemingway on this thing.)
Cut to muscular fellow in white dress shirt lifting Gaga's white dress with his caressing hands.
Close-up of Gaga reaching to her black high heels with semirobotic hand. Appears to be standing on Nebraska gravel road.
Close-up of Gaga in white wedding dress looking vulnerable and innocent as that muscular caressing guy is caressing her neck.
Four or so fragmentary images just raced by at near-subliminal speeds, and there were needles and darkness and sharp things like those Council Bluffs Interstate sculptures and then dripping ice cream and then Gaga in black mourning dress but then in Little Orphan Annie attire taking ice cream from creepy guy who, for some reason, has parked his ice cream truck on the gravel road I assume to be in Nebraska.
Can't help self. Video drags one into nonsensical, Faulkneresque (in length, not quality) flourishes.
Things progressing too quickly to document now. Heels. Ice cream. Caressing muscular fellow. Definitely getting an innocence-devolving-into-destructive-worldliness vibe here. Upside-down scary face.
Well, now she's just flat-out naked sprawled on a gurney or maybe a sacrificial altar as the muscular fellow does erotic stuff as she writhes erotically. Is she wearing a flesh-colored top there? Does it matter, nuditywise?
Some leather daddy/industrialized masochistic porn stuff going on here.
Image of Lady Gaga in different wild, obviously haute couture black dress with some sort of tuner-racing-chiplike thing on her chin and sunglasses that look like tungsten goggles.
Shot of barn in the distance with what I'm guessing is some of that now nose-high-by-the-Fourth-of-July genetically altered supercorn in the foreground. Yet, I imagine, the corn is not perceived by Gaga as a modern marvel, but something traditional, simple, organic, pure, maybe boring? I have no idea.
We're slowing down here, spending some quality time on that gravel road.
Bam! Miss Gaga is now a greaser smoking on a piano with herself playing that piano, which sits in the middle of a crop circle. Freaky. Nice change-up there.
She seems to have had some interesting relationships.
Bunch of Lady Gaga impersonators (or Gaga herself digitally multiplied?) group dancing in an old hay barn. Nice use of dust motes.
Oh. Here's the mermaid stuff I had heard about.
Lots of splashing and writhing, and now we learn the barn has a mill attached, or maybe it's a different place.
Things start repeating themselves after 3 minutes. Realize even Gaga has a budget.
Greaser depicted as childish, sexually clumsy, possessive, volatile-to-be-cool. Probably an early boyfriend. Is this her longtime Springfield honey as a kid? Embarrassed that I can see my senior year of high school in this character.
She's running, probably away.
Muscular fellow seems to mature from Dionysian sleazebag into that gentler, kinder, more self-aware lover guy you find at the end of all romantic comedies.
Slowing down. Waters calming. Soft embrace. Clothing is back on now.
Bored at 6 minutes. Longest I've ever remained not bored by music video.
A little more tenderness stuff. We're firmly in an idyllic Nebraska now. Seen this stuff before.
Now fade to black. Thank you.
Having not associated Lady Gaga's previous work with rural Midwestern life, I was excited to see how she would incorporate those gravel roads, cornfields and rustic barns from just over yonder with her typically avant-garde tableaux vivants.
I just watched the video. It is visually fascinating, a sort of reimagining of "Alice in Wonderland" filmed separately by John "post-Cougar" Mellencamp and Friedrich Nietzsche (or any other insane 19th-century Teutonic intellectual) and then spliced together during a rolling dust-up between the two for control of the editing computer.
Sorry. I'm just not smart enough to interpret what just happened to me.
When failing color commentary, I revert back to play-by-play.
The video opens with Miss Gaga sashaying down a gravel road toward the camera. Focus shifts from right foreground ditch weeds to Miss Gaga approaching in the distance in the left side of the frame. She is wearing a long black dress with a black hat you might expect to see on a woman at a funeral in New Orleans for Phyllis Diller.
(Oops. Too much detail for column space. Oh jeez. The video is 6 minutes, 22 seconds long! No such extravagance allowed in newspaper columns. Must go all Hemingway on this thing.)
Cut to muscular fellow in white dress shirt lifting Gaga's white dress with his caressing hands.
Close-up of Gaga reaching to her black high heels with semirobotic hand. Appears to be standing on Nebraska gravel road.
Close-up of Gaga in white wedding dress looking vulnerable and innocent as that muscular caressing guy is caressing her neck.
Four or so fragmentary images just raced by at near-subliminal speeds, and there were needles and darkness and sharp things like those Council Bluffs Interstate sculptures and then dripping ice cream and then Gaga in black mourning dress but then in Little Orphan Annie attire taking ice cream from creepy guy who, for some reason, has parked his ice cream truck on the gravel road I assume to be in Nebraska.
Can't help self. Video drags one into nonsensical, Faulkneresque (in length, not quality) flourishes.
Things progressing too quickly to document now. Heels. Ice cream. Caressing muscular fellow. Definitely getting an innocence-devolving-into-destructive-worldliness vibe here. Upside-down scary face.
Well, now she's just flat-out naked sprawled on a gurney or maybe a sacrificial altar as the muscular fellow does erotic stuff as she writhes erotically. Is she wearing a flesh-colored top there? Does it matter, nuditywise?
Some leather daddy/industrialized masochistic porn stuff going on here.
Image of Lady Gaga in different wild, obviously haute couture black dress with some sort of tuner-racing-chiplike thing on her chin and sunglasses that look like tungsten goggles.
Shot of barn in the distance with what I'm guessing is some of that now nose-high-by-the-Fourth-of-July genetically altered supercorn in the foreground. Yet, I imagine, the corn is not perceived by Gaga as a modern marvel, but something traditional, simple, organic, pure, maybe boring? I have no idea.
We're slowing down here, spending some quality time on that gravel road.
Bam! Miss Gaga is now a greaser smoking on a piano with herself playing that piano, which sits in the middle of a crop circle. Freaky. Nice change-up there.
She seems to have had some interesting relationships.
Bunch of Lady Gaga impersonators (or Gaga herself digitally multiplied?) group dancing in an old hay barn. Nice use of dust motes.
Oh. Here's the mermaid stuff I had heard about.
Lots of splashing and writhing, and now we learn the barn has a mill attached, or maybe it's a different place.
Things start repeating themselves after 3 minutes. Realize even Gaga has a budget.
Greaser depicted as childish, sexually clumsy, possessive, volatile-to-be-cool. Probably an early boyfriend. Is this her longtime Springfield honey as a kid? Embarrassed that I can see my senior year of high school in this character.
She's running, probably away.
Muscular fellow seems to mature from Dionysian sleazebag into that gentler, kinder, more self-aware lover guy you find at the end of all romantic comedies.
Slowing down. Waters calming. Soft embrace. Clothing is back on now.
Bored at 6 minutes. Longest I've ever remained not bored by music video.
A little more tenderness stuff. We're firmly in an idyllic Nebraska now. Seen this stuff before.
Now fade to black. Thank you.
2011年8月19日星期五
Lady Gaga: Weirdest Thing She's Ever Done in Public
Lady Gaga's done it again. Just as she has so often plagiarized—er—imitated Madonna's music and performance style, the Judas singer is now beginning to manifest a Madonna-like talent for self-reinvention. Recently, La Germanotti was photographed sashaying around Los Angeles, wearing a normal looking outfit of black cocktail dress, regular high heels, and purse. More recently still, she was snapped engaging in an activity that most people—fans and foes alike—would never have imagined possible for such a gloriously edgy artiste.
Lady Gaga was recently photographed in her most bizarre display of public exhibitionism to date. The famous pop star provocateur recently popped down to Mexico where she was snapped... surfing. Yes, Lady Gaga climbed out of her giant egg long enough to catch a ride on a giant wave. Clad in a normal black bikini in lieu of a meat suit, the Born This Way singer climbed on a board and rode it as if she was born to surf. She was actually able to stand up on it for a while. Amazing the feats she can accomplish when she's not wearing those heel-less high heels. According to TMZ, "surfing in Mexico on Tuesday... is the weirdest thing she's done yet."
Whether you agree or not, you peruse photos of Lady Gaga channelling Keanu Reeves in Point Break. Or maybe she was just trying to show fellow celebrity surfer Lindsay Lohan that she can do it, too. Whatever.
Lady Gaga was recently photographed in her most bizarre display of public exhibitionism to date. The famous pop star provocateur recently popped down to Mexico where she was snapped... surfing. Yes, Lady Gaga climbed out of her giant egg long enough to catch a ride on a giant wave. Clad in a normal black bikini in lieu of a meat suit, the Born This Way singer climbed on a board and rode it as if she was born to surf. She was actually able to stand up on it for a while. Amazing the feats she can accomplish when she's not wearing those heel-less high heels. According to TMZ, "surfing in Mexico on Tuesday... is the weirdest thing she's done yet."
Whether you agree or not, you peruse photos of Lady Gaga channelling Keanu Reeves in Point Break. Or maybe she was just trying to show fellow celebrity surfer Lindsay Lohan that she can do it, too. Whatever.
2011年8月16日星期二
Extended wear of high heels can cause foot damage
High heels make you look great, improve your figure, and are the final touch to a fashionable look, but if high heels do wonders for your appearance, they don't do a lot for foot health.
Dr. Michael Nirenberg, a podiatrist at Friendly Foot Care in Crown Point, says he doesn't discourage women from wearing high heels occasionally. "Once or twice a week is going to do minimal damage to your feet," he says. "If you wear heels over a long period of time, then you can do permanent damage to your feet and your body."
Dr. Nirenberg says that although high heels make you look taller in the short term, in the long term they cause you to become shorter as your body adapts to the shoes. He says your back will begin to curve and your buttocks expand out and you end up the same height you were without heels.
High heels also put all your weight on the front of the foot, which compresses the toes and the ball of the foot, leading to injuries such as the unlovely bunions, hammertoes or painful pinched nerves called neuromas.
And don't think you can wear high heels until you begin having a problem. Studies have shown that if you wear high heels and stop wearing them, later on you're more likely to have foot problems.
"Constant wearing of high heels change the feet permanently," Dr. Nirenberg says. "They also change the way all your joints in your body are aligned. Heels, even the small ones, cause you to fall forward, and the body compensates by contorting the back and changing the positioning of the shoulders and neck, making you prone to herniated discs. You also use the joints and muscles incorrectly, because you're not walking in a natural way. The Achilles tendon also shortens and you'll have pain whenever you wear a flat shoe. You can lengthen that tendon over time, but it depends upon how long you've been wearing high heels. A podiatrist can help."
When wearing heels, Dr. Nirenberg says the lower the heel the better. The platform sole is better than stilettos because they spread the weight more evenly over the ball and heel of the foot. "The high heel inserts help, too," Dr. Nirenberg says, "because they spread the weight and provide cushioning. Shoes should not hurt, even high heels. Make sure yours is the right size, and if your high heels begin to hurt your feet, you've worn them long enough."
Dr. Michael Nirenberg, a podiatrist at Friendly Foot Care in Crown Point, says he doesn't discourage women from wearing high heels occasionally. "Once or twice a week is going to do minimal damage to your feet," he says. "If you wear heels over a long period of time, then you can do permanent damage to your feet and your body."
Dr. Nirenberg says that although high heels make you look taller in the short term, in the long term they cause you to become shorter as your body adapts to the shoes. He says your back will begin to curve and your buttocks expand out and you end up the same height you were without heels.
High heels also put all your weight on the front of the foot, which compresses the toes and the ball of the foot, leading to injuries such as the unlovely bunions, hammertoes or painful pinched nerves called neuromas.
And don't think you can wear high heels until you begin having a problem. Studies have shown that if you wear high heels and stop wearing them, later on you're more likely to have foot problems.
"Constant wearing of high heels change the feet permanently," Dr. Nirenberg says. "They also change the way all your joints in your body are aligned. Heels, even the small ones, cause you to fall forward, and the body compensates by contorting the back and changing the positioning of the shoulders and neck, making you prone to herniated discs. You also use the joints and muscles incorrectly, because you're not walking in a natural way. The Achilles tendon also shortens and you'll have pain whenever you wear a flat shoe. You can lengthen that tendon over time, but it depends upon how long you've been wearing high heels. A podiatrist can help."
When wearing heels, Dr. Nirenberg says the lower the heel the better. The platform sole is better than stilettos because they spread the weight more evenly over the ball and heel of the foot. "The high heel inserts help, too," Dr. Nirenberg says, "because they spread the weight and provide cushioning. Shoes should not hurt, even high heels. Make sure yours is the right size, and if your high heels begin to hurt your feet, you've worn them long enough."
2011年8月15日星期一
Gemma Halliday turns to Indie Publishing
For Gemma Halliday, author of the In High Heels series of contemporary romantic mysteries, her writing career has been both highly successful and gratifying. Unfortunately, the publishing industry is just that: an industry. When she chose to part ways amicably with her publisher, Dorchester, when the traditional imprint explored some different directions, Halliday had the foresight to request the rights to her backlist titles, a move that spelled a renewed life for the previously published books.
All of Halliday's books in the series, beginning with her 2005 release Spying in High Heels, but with the spike in popularity of e-readers fans began clamoring for digital access to the series. Halliday decided they had to be available as ebooks somehow. As luck would have it, the re-acquisition of the rights to her books came along almost at exactly the same time that Barnes & Noble launched its digital self-publishing platform PubIt! Since that launch in October 2010, Halliday has been hard at work on more titles to indie publish.
“I have since put two full-length novels and a few short stories on PubIt! that have not been in print previously,” says Halliday of her titles that are only found on e-reader. “I'm still traditionally publishing other new titles through HarperCollins/Harper Teen and St. Martin's Press, so it's almost like I'm straddling both worlds. I've only had positive responses from the traditional publishers that I'm with when they learn that I am also self-publishing other titles. It wasn't like jumping from one world to the other, it was more like a great relationship between both publishing models. My publishers are actually looking at my self-published numbers and working on some crossover publicity, so this has been a great relationship.”
Halliday described the usual scenarios that cause authors—even bestselling traditionally published authors—to consider indie publishing, such as control over the work; one key aspect that really appeals to the mystery writer is the freedom from outside deadlines that are necessary in the publishing industry. Moreover, Halliday's work with PubIt! has been such a rewarding experience that she's revisiting In High Heels with a new title in the series, Fearless in High Heels, slated to be released solely to ebook in December.
“Spying in High Heels was the first book I had ever published and sold, so the fact that it's getting a fresh life to a new group of readers through ereaders is really exciting to me. This is series was great, but my editor and I had decided to end it on a high note after five books. But now it's getting such a new life through PubIt! and I'm getting so much more exposure than it did when it was strictly print, so now I'm writing a new book in the series. I've missed those characters and it's like visiting old friends to get to see them again. I plan on just self-publishing it right now, and I might consider a self-publishing print edition for fans who love physical books, but I think I'll keep that new one strictly indie.”
All of Halliday's books in the series, beginning with her 2005 release Spying in High Heels, but with the spike in popularity of e-readers fans began clamoring for digital access to the series. Halliday decided they had to be available as ebooks somehow. As luck would have it, the re-acquisition of the rights to her books came along almost at exactly the same time that Barnes & Noble launched its digital self-publishing platform PubIt! Since that launch in October 2010, Halliday has been hard at work on more titles to indie publish.
“I have since put two full-length novels and a few short stories on PubIt! that have not been in print previously,” says Halliday of her titles that are only found on e-reader. “I'm still traditionally publishing other new titles through HarperCollins/Harper Teen and St. Martin's Press, so it's almost like I'm straddling both worlds. I've only had positive responses from the traditional publishers that I'm with when they learn that I am also self-publishing other titles. It wasn't like jumping from one world to the other, it was more like a great relationship between both publishing models. My publishers are actually looking at my self-published numbers and working on some crossover publicity, so this has been a great relationship.”
Halliday described the usual scenarios that cause authors—even bestselling traditionally published authors—to consider indie publishing, such as control over the work; one key aspect that really appeals to the mystery writer is the freedom from outside deadlines that are necessary in the publishing industry. Moreover, Halliday's work with PubIt! has been such a rewarding experience that she's revisiting In High Heels with a new title in the series, Fearless in High Heels, slated to be released solely to ebook in December.
“Spying in High Heels was the first book I had ever published and sold, so the fact that it's getting a fresh life to a new group of readers through ereaders is really exciting to me. This is series was great, but my editor and I had decided to end it on a high note after five books. But now it's getting such a new life through PubIt! and I'm getting so much more exposure than it did when it was strictly print, so now I'm writing a new book in the series. I've missed those characters and it's like visiting old friends to get to see them again. I plan on just self-publishing it right now, and I might consider a self-publishing print edition for fans who love physical books, but I think I'll keep that new one strictly indie.”
2011年8月12日星期五
Horseflesh and High Society
They started descending from the clubhouse 20 minutes or so before post time, owners and breeders and racing officials and whoever else secured a much-coveted pass. They parted gamblers and picnickers and strode purposefully into one of the most venerable enclosures in American sports, the paddock at the Spa.
They have ostensibly come to watch the horses saddled for the ninth race here Wednesday, but the $3,000 suits on the men and the hats and high heels of the women tip off that there is a whole lot more going on. The bronze statue of Sea Hero, the 1993 Kentucky Derby and Travers Stakes winner, in its grassy center is a nod not only to the history of this racetrack, but to its aristocracy as well.
Sea Hero was owned by Paul Mellon, a man of letters, a philanthropist, an art connoisseur and a sportsman of the kind that are rare these days. In 1971, his colt Mill Reef had captured the Epsom Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and Sea Hero made him the first owner to conquer horse racing’s three most prestigious races.
“I have been an amateur in every phase of my life; an amateur poet, an amateur scholar, an amateur horseman, an amateur farmer, an amateur soldier, an amateur connoisseur of art, an amateur publisher, and an amateur museum executive,” he wrote in his wryly titled autobiography “Reflections in a Silver Spoon.” “The root of the word ‘amateur’ is the Latin word for love, and I can honestly say that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the roles I’ve played.”
There were plenty of folks enjoying themselves before the ninth race and one of them, Cot Campbell, the managing partner of Dogwood Stable, was a gentleman who, indeed, had relished the many parts he has played over 84 years. He wore seersucker and a smile as bright as his pastel tie.
He has been a water ski show master of ceremonies, a sportswriter, an apprentice mortician, an advertising copywriter and an author, as well as one of the pioneers of syndicated ownership, selling pieces of horses to various owners. His autobiography is wryly and reflectively titled as well: “Memoirs of a Longshot.”
Now, Campbell greeted his partners and competitors as his colt, Mine Train, circled the tree with a slightly askew white and red board hammered in its bark and No. 1 painted in red.
With 17 minutes to post, a bell echoed from the winner’s circle, a nod to the time before public address systems existed and reminding horsemen and horseplayers a race was nearing.
Three minutes later, 10 small men in a rainbow of Day-Glo silks and goggles hanging from their necks paraded in and fanned out to the various numbered trees to meet their trainers and owners. Campbell threw an arm around his jockey Ramon Dominguez, who was wearing the green and gold colors of Dogwood.
“Riders up,” the paddock judge Neal Cutrone called in the voice of a high school principal.
Dominguez and his brethren were launched into their saddles. Ten horses with 10 smiling jockeys on their backs circled the paddock once and headed to the track.
“You on the winner today, Ramon?” a horseplayer shouted from the other side of the rail.
Dominguez, rocking atop his colt, smiled.
Campbell and the other owners and their camps followed them. They could not see the bugler Sam Grossman, but they heard him blow the call to post.
There were smiles and shivers and a transcendent moment enjoyed. Hope, as they say, sprang eternal with seven minutes left to post time. No one had yet lost.
They have ostensibly come to watch the horses saddled for the ninth race here Wednesday, but the $3,000 suits on the men and the hats and high heels of the women tip off that there is a whole lot more going on. The bronze statue of Sea Hero, the 1993 Kentucky Derby and Travers Stakes winner, in its grassy center is a nod not only to the history of this racetrack, but to its aristocracy as well.
Sea Hero was owned by Paul Mellon, a man of letters, a philanthropist, an art connoisseur and a sportsman of the kind that are rare these days. In 1971, his colt Mill Reef had captured the Epsom Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, and Sea Hero made him the first owner to conquer horse racing’s three most prestigious races.
“I have been an amateur in every phase of my life; an amateur poet, an amateur scholar, an amateur horseman, an amateur farmer, an amateur soldier, an amateur connoisseur of art, an amateur publisher, and an amateur museum executive,” he wrote in his wryly titled autobiography “Reflections in a Silver Spoon.” “The root of the word ‘amateur’ is the Latin word for love, and I can honestly say that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the roles I’ve played.”
There were plenty of folks enjoying themselves before the ninth race and one of them, Cot Campbell, the managing partner of Dogwood Stable, was a gentleman who, indeed, had relished the many parts he has played over 84 years. He wore seersucker and a smile as bright as his pastel tie.
He has been a water ski show master of ceremonies, a sportswriter, an apprentice mortician, an advertising copywriter and an author, as well as one of the pioneers of syndicated ownership, selling pieces of horses to various owners. His autobiography is wryly and reflectively titled as well: “Memoirs of a Longshot.”
Now, Campbell greeted his partners and competitors as his colt, Mine Train, circled the tree with a slightly askew white and red board hammered in its bark and No. 1 painted in red.
With 17 minutes to post, a bell echoed from the winner’s circle, a nod to the time before public address systems existed and reminding horsemen and horseplayers a race was nearing.
Three minutes later, 10 small men in a rainbow of Day-Glo silks and goggles hanging from their necks paraded in and fanned out to the various numbered trees to meet their trainers and owners. Campbell threw an arm around his jockey Ramon Dominguez, who was wearing the green and gold colors of Dogwood.
“Riders up,” the paddock judge Neal Cutrone called in the voice of a high school principal.
Dominguez and his brethren were launched into their saddles. Ten horses with 10 smiling jockeys on their backs circled the paddock once and headed to the track.
“You on the winner today, Ramon?” a horseplayer shouted from the other side of the rail.
Dominguez, rocking atop his colt, smiled.
Campbell and the other owners and their camps followed them. They could not see the bugler Sam Grossman, but they heard him blow the call to post.
There were smiles and shivers and a transcendent moment enjoyed. Hope, as they say, sprang eternal with seven minutes left to post time. No one had yet lost.
2011年8月11日星期四
Most Shocking Images of Fashion Victims
Throughout the years, fashion enthusiasts have endured a lot in the name of style and designer trends. Women, in particular, have been a victim of fashion during different eras in history due to the societal pressure of conforming to the silhouette in vogue at that time.
From corset string stretches to unreasonably high heels, the need for a perfect figure has always been there.
The term, fashion victim, has been actually coined by the famous fashion designer Oscar De La Renta to identify a person who is unable to draw the line between style and faddishness.
Fashion victims, by their characteristic inability to recognize boundaries, may aspire for the extreme end of what are available, seeking expensive products, believing that the outward display of such items will draw admiration in proportion to their actual or apparent cost.
Even during some of the most high-end fashion shows, certain odd fashion lineups make one question the very standards and basics of true style.
From corset string stretches to unreasonably high heels, the need for a perfect figure has always been there.
The term, fashion victim, has been actually coined by the famous fashion designer Oscar De La Renta to identify a person who is unable to draw the line between style and faddishness.
Fashion victims, by their characteristic inability to recognize boundaries, may aspire for the extreme end of what are available, seeking expensive products, believing that the outward display of such items will draw admiration in proportion to their actual or apparent cost.
Even during some of the most high-end fashion shows, certain odd fashion lineups make one question the very standards and basics of true style.
2011年8月10日星期三
Miranda Kerr confesses: "My son loves red lipstick!"
Today in Melbourne, Miranda Kerr made a special appearance alongside David Jones GM David Bush to talk us through the department store's trends for the season. During her chat, she talked about her love of Sydney label Lover (a new David Jones signing she's been wearing everywhere lately), her fondness for summer's bright shades, and how high heels are her only exception to comfort dressing.
She also talked about her baby boy Flynn's taste in seasonal beauty looks: "My son loves red lipstick!" she laughed. "He's always covered in it."
Short of a J-Crew style scandal about gender-norms, there was very little to cause controversy at the supermum's apperance. However, hoping to get the model, who has an organic beauty line and is passionate about environmental issues, to talk sustainability, we sent our eco columnist Tullia Jack along to the showing to speak to her.
Here's what she had to say:
Belying the grey skies, Fashion Ambassadors Miranda Kerr, Samantha Harris and a bevy of models took to Bourke St today to preview David Jones' Spring Summer 2012. Predictably pretty dresses in brights and florals dominated, with a plethora of floaty fabrics pitched squarely at race goers. Heels were sky high, strappy nudes with ‘pops’ of colour. Beauty tended towards tanned. David Jones has once again presented the inevitable glambot fare for our hordes of inanely attractive men and women.
Queen of the Glambots, Miranda Kerr, perpetuating beauty, elegance and charm showed her personable side today chatting with David Jones General Manager David Bush about her take on the upcoming season’s trends. According to these oracles the key trends for Spring Summer 11/12 are Purity: layering textural white on white, Kaleidoscope: sheers, colourful prints and billowy silhouettes and Safari Luxe: animal prints, neutral palettes and geometric detailing.
The model casting was wonderful, Samantha Harris is looking more beautiful every season, and local girl Claire Quirk shone in a selection of the best of Australian design. David Jones have done an excellent job of curating some of the most exhilarating Australian designers around. Dion Lee, Megan Park and Bianca Spender’s looks were all completely water tight, and despite DJs contrivedly mainstream styling, still managed to hint at individuality.
I was hoping to use this opportunity to chat with Miranda Kerr and David Bush about their approach to sustainable fashion, but found the highly controlled sound bites fairly impersonal, so here is a far more intimate cut and paste from the DJs website:
David Jones is committed to managing our operations in an environmentally sustainable manner, by investing in efficiency measures that minimise the impact that the business has on the environment, and by developing robust management systems to ensure transparency and confidence in environmental reporting.
What does that mean and what are they actually doing? I am hoping, dear readers, to find out more and get some advice from the taste-making glambots on how they incorporate sustainable fashion in their wardrobes. In the mean time what is everyone else doing?
She also talked about her baby boy Flynn's taste in seasonal beauty looks: "My son loves red lipstick!" she laughed. "He's always covered in it."
Short of a J-Crew style scandal about gender-norms, there was very little to cause controversy at the supermum's apperance. However, hoping to get the model, who has an organic beauty line and is passionate about environmental issues, to talk sustainability, we sent our eco columnist Tullia Jack along to the showing to speak to her.
Here's what she had to say:
Belying the grey skies, Fashion Ambassadors Miranda Kerr, Samantha Harris and a bevy of models took to Bourke St today to preview David Jones' Spring Summer 2012. Predictably pretty dresses in brights and florals dominated, with a plethora of floaty fabrics pitched squarely at race goers. Heels were sky high, strappy nudes with ‘pops’ of colour. Beauty tended towards tanned. David Jones has once again presented the inevitable glambot fare for our hordes of inanely attractive men and women.
Queen of the Glambots, Miranda Kerr, perpetuating beauty, elegance and charm showed her personable side today chatting with David Jones General Manager David Bush about her take on the upcoming season’s trends. According to these oracles the key trends for Spring Summer 11/12 are Purity: layering textural white on white, Kaleidoscope: sheers, colourful prints and billowy silhouettes and Safari Luxe: animal prints, neutral palettes and geometric detailing.
The model casting was wonderful, Samantha Harris is looking more beautiful every season, and local girl Claire Quirk shone in a selection of the best of Australian design. David Jones have done an excellent job of curating some of the most exhilarating Australian designers around. Dion Lee, Megan Park and Bianca Spender’s looks were all completely water tight, and despite DJs contrivedly mainstream styling, still managed to hint at individuality.
I was hoping to use this opportunity to chat with Miranda Kerr and David Bush about their approach to sustainable fashion, but found the highly controlled sound bites fairly impersonal, so here is a far more intimate cut and paste from the DJs website:
David Jones is committed to managing our operations in an environmentally sustainable manner, by investing in efficiency measures that minimise the impact that the business has on the environment, and by developing robust management systems to ensure transparency and confidence in environmental reporting.
What does that mean and what are they actually doing? I am hoping, dear readers, to find out more and get some advice from the taste-making glambots on how they incorporate sustainable fashion in their wardrobes. In the mean time what is everyone else doing?
2011年8月8日星期一
Lollapalooza recap: Day one
It's was 20 years ago today, Perry Farrell told the bands to play. O.K., maybe not to the day, but two decades ago the Jane's Addiction lead singer took a concept already popular in Europe and gave it his own alterna-twist. Huge music festivals like Reading and Glastonbury always bring in huge crowds on the other side of the pond. Lollapalooza took that same idea but then advanced it a step further, putting that bill of acts on the road. The results: huge piles of money and Generation X went from the underground to the mainstream.
A few years in, Lolla lost the plot. The booking became less adventurous, box office dried up, and the brand name was put in the mothballs. Fast forward to 2005. The undertaking moves itself to Chicago, re-brands itself as a three day Destination Festival, digs in at Grant Park, and oh do the people come. The 20th Anniversary version is the biggest yet, with all 270,000 tickets sold out in advance. Here's what went down:
Day 1
Lollapalooza 2011 is under way and Jenn Wasner is pissed! The Wye Oak singer/guitarist/keyboardist is struggling mightily with a faulty guitar amp. Songs are started and aborted. Then not one, but two, of her effects pedals blow out. Three songs into the set, technical difficulties are finally in the rearview mirror. “Should we start that one over?” she asks, and the crowd responds in the affirmative. “Holy Holy” finally drifts across the north end of Hutchinson Field accompanied by a look of relief on Wasner's face. Tragedy is narrowly averted.
The Vaccines deliver facelift-tight versions of songs from their eponymous debut. “Wet Suit,” “Norgaard,” and “If You Wanna” sounded sumptuous blasting across the city's frontyard. Although their performance seemed by-the-numbers at times, the sharp, melodic songwriting certainly lived up to its advance buzz.
When they married their hip-hop beat to chunky guitar riffs, The Naked And Famous had the ever-growing crowd eating out of their hands. The energy during “Young Blood” was manic and it translated into the audience, who seemed to hang on every note and seemingly knew every word to every song.
With her spangled dress and an oversized voice, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals came roaring out like an updated version of Ike & Tina Turner. As her band churned behind her, she vamped, twirled, and flashed an oversized smile with teeth brighter than the sun.
Teri Gender Bender, lead singer and guitarist for Le Butcherettes, stepped on stage in a proper dress and high-heels. She was also wearing an apron that looked as if she had just slaughtered a lamb. If ever there were a metaphor for what was about to transpire, a better one cannot be imagined. She seemed immediately possessed by the music, a demure smile soon turned into a demonic scowl. She twitched, thrashed, contorted and let the music play her. The songs, drawn mostly from the debut Sin Sin Sin were dark but spacious, which left plenty of room for the violence and aggression contained within. By the end of the set, her practical shoes were catapulted into the audience and the drummer emptied the contents of his stomach all over his kit. This was the set of the weekend.
Allison Mosshart of The Kills stalks the stage like one of those panthers you see at the zoo. It hangs close to the bars hoping, waiting for a chance to strike at something. Unlike her feline friend, Mosshart is actually allowed out of confinement. Behind her, guitarist Jamie Hince gives her a skuzzy-blues soundtrack for her feline tendencies, something that's more hunt than it is dance. Given that the duo are more accustomed to dark nightclub settings, the bright sunlight made their set feel even more dangerous, like a killer was standing right next to you.
High art met metal during the afternoon set from A Perfect Circle. Maynard James Keenan (who also fronts the metal band Tool) stood stoic, back, and to the left of his band. The stage resembled a war-zone bunker. Netting backdrops framed ammunitions trunks that served as platforms for keyboards and a drum kit. Fitting really, since Keenan seemed to be singing about the end of the world.
Conor Oberst, the singer who performs under the moniker Bright Eyes, has been saying for some time now that this was the last run for his band. Whether or not it's true, his set in the late afternoon certainly felt like a retrospective, a collection of should-have-been-hits from a catalog that has acquired some surprising heft through the years.
Day 1 headliner Coldplay seemed determined to convince an audience that they still mattered. Fortunately for them, they seemed to be preaching to the converted. Frontman Chris Martin was a powder keg of limitless energy. Good thing, since his band seemed more than happy to defer to him. At one point during a solo, Martin appeared to push guitarist Jonny Buckland to the forefront of the stage, a polite way of saying “There are three other band members, you know.”
Like other superstars, Martin was obviously the attraction. His presence was infectious. Whether he was pounding on an acoustic guitar or planted at an upright piano, all eyes were glued to him. It didn't hurt that he was armed with a songbook filled with user-friendly sing-alongs and a falsetto that make the ladies swoon.
A few years in, Lolla lost the plot. The booking became less adventurous, box office dried up, and the brand name was put in the mothballs. Fast forward to 2005. The undertaking moves itself to Chicago, re-brands itself as a three day Destination Festival, digs in at Grant Park, and oh do the people come. The 20th Anniversary version is the biggest yet, with all 270,000 tickets sold out in advance. Here's what went down:
Day 1
Lollapalooza 2011 is under way and Jenn Wasner is pissed! The Wye Oak singer/guitarist/keyboardist is struggling mightily with a faulty guitar amp. Songs are started and aborted. Then not one, but two, of her effects pedals blow out. Three songs into the set, technical difficulties are finally in the rearview mirror. “Should we start that one over?” she asks, and the crowd responds in the affirmative. “Holy Holy” finally drifts across the north end of Hutchinson Field accompanied by a look of relief on Wasner's face. Tragedy is narrowly averted.
The Vaccines deliver facelift-tight versions of songs from their eponymous debut. “Wet Suit,” “Norgaard,” and “If You Wanna” sounded sumptuous blasting across the city's frontyard. Although their performance seemed by-the-numbers at times, the sharp, melodic songwriting certainly lived up to its advance buzz.
When they married their hip-hop beat to chunky guitar riffs, The Naked And Famous had the ever-growing crowd eating out of their hands. The energy during “Young Blood” was manic and it translated into the audience, who seemed to hang on every note and seemingly knew every word to every song.
With her spangled dress and an oversized voice, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals came roaring out like an updated version of Ike & Tina Turner. As her band churned behind her, she vamped, twirled, and flashed an oversized smile with teeth brighter than the sun.
Teri Gender Bender, lead singer and guitarist for Le Butcherettes, stepped on stage in a proper dress and high-heels. She was also wearing an apron that looked as if she had just slaughtered a lamb. If ever there were a metaphor for what was about to transpire, a better one cannot be imagined. She seemed immediately possessed by the music, a demure smile soon turned into a demonic scowl. She twitched, thrashed, contorted and let the music play her. The songs, drawn mostly from the debut Sin Sin Sin were dark but spacious, which left plenty of room for the violence and aggression contained within. By the end of the set, her practical shoes were catapulted into the audience and the drummer emptied the contents of his stomach all over his kit. This was the set of the weekend.
Allison Mosshart of The Kills stalks the stage like one of those panthers you see at the zoo. It hangs close to the bars hoping, waiting for a chance to strike at something. Unlike her feline friend, Mosshart is actually allowed out of confinement. Behind her, guitarist Jamie Hince gives her a skuzzy-blues soundtrack for her feline tendencies, something that's more hunt than it is dance. Given that the duo are more accustomed to dark nightclub settings, the bright sunlight made their set feel even more dangerous, like a killer was standing right next to you.
High art met metal during the afternoon set from A Perfect Circle. Maynard James Keenan (who also fronts the metal band Tool) stood stoic, back, and to the left of his band. The stage resembled a war-zone bunker. Netting backdrops framed ammunitions trunks that served as platforms for keyboards and a drum kit. Fitting really, since Keenan seemed to be singing about the end of the world.
Conor Oberst, the singer who performs under the moniker Bright Eyes, has been saying for some time now that this was the last run for his band. Whether or not it's true, his set in the late afternoon certainly felt like a retrospective, a collection of should-have-been-hits from a catalog that has acquired some surprising heft through the years.
Day 1 headliner Coldplay seemed determined to convince an audience that they still mattered. Fortunately for them, they seemed to be preaching to the converted. Frontman Chris Martin was a powder keg of limitless energy. Good thing, since his band seemed more than happy to defer to him. At one point during a solo, Martin appeared to push guitarist Jonny Buckland to the forefront of the stage, a polite way of saying “There are three other band members, you know.”
Like other superstars, Martin was obviously the attraction. His presence was infectious. Whether he was pounding on an acoustic guitar or planted at an upright piano, all eyes were glued to him. It didn't hurt that he was armed with a songbook filled with user-friendly sing-alongs and a falsetto that make the ladies swoon.
2011年8月7日星期日
Woman Accused Of Murder By Stiletto—Are High Heels Deadly Weapons?
This week, high heels became exhibit A in a crime scene. A Georgia woman allegedly murdered her boyfriend with the pointy heel of her shoe. 46-year-old Thelma Carter is in custody after her live-in partner, Robert Higdon was found dead in their trailer with stab wounds believed to have been caused by her spiked high heel.
Here’s where it gets stranger: this is not the first stiletto attack of 2011. In fact there have been at least five by my count.
With a tally of five assaults and one murder in the past year alone, the stiletto heel is looking less like a fashion statement and more like a deadly weapon. And in some states, it technically is.
“According to the California Penal Code, a deadly weapon is a firearm or any other instrument used with a force that is likely to produce great bodily injury,” writes L.A. criminal defense Attorney Stephen Rodriguez on his ‘Legal Dictionary’ website. “Consequently, cars, broken bottles, rocks, even the heel of a stiletto can qualify as a deadly weapon if it has been used to intentionally injure the victim.”
In other words, when you’re walking around in your most favorite and least comfortable shoes, you’re armed and dangerous.
Here’s where it gets stranger: this is not the first stiletto attack of 2011. In fact there have been at least five by my count.
- In January, a stripper was charged with aggravated assault when she allegedy beat her co-worker in the face and head with the sharp heel of her shoe.
- In February, a 22 year old woman was arrested for brutally attacking two other women outside a bar in the UK with her stiletto.
- In June, two men were attacked in separate incidents by a woman wielding a sharp-pointed heel in a bustling town center. Both were sent to the hospital with serious head and eye injuries.
- In July there two stiletto attacks: One involved a male British soccer player who got into a brawl over his girlfriend and borrowed a woman’s stiletto heel to slice his nemesis’ scalp.
With a tally of five assaults and one murder in the past year alone, the stiletto heel is looking less like a fashion statement and more like a deadly weapon. And in some states, it technically is.
“According to the California Penal Code, a deadly weapon is a firearm or any other instrument used with a force that is likely to produce great bodily injury,” writes L.A. criminal defense Attorney Stephen Rodriguez on his ‘Legal Dictionary’ website. “Consequently, cars, broken bottles, rocks, even the heel of a stiletto can qualify as a deadly weapon if it has been used to intentionally injure the victim.”
In other words, when you’re walking around in your most favorite and least comfortable shoes, you’re armed and dangerous.
2011年8月3日星期三
Tigers in high heels? Latvian women in business
Despite the idea that discrimination of women in business is rampant in Latvia and the Baltic States, studies by both local and international groups have shown otherwise. There is also a common misconception that women are not able to work in the fields they choose, as those fields are predominately oriented towards male workers. Women’s business NGO Lidere annually publishes a study of “Latvian Entrepreneurial Women.” The study found that in recent years, even since the early 2000s, 72 percent of women have been able to work in the field of their choice. The main obstacle to overcome (at 33.8 percent) was financial, while the negative attitude towards women in business only accounted for 1.8 percent of the overall troubles facing women in business.
“We all know that there are more men than women in business. One of the most frequently proposed reasons for this is that, compared to men, women are less confident in their abilities, they are not as willing to risk and many think, ‘What will happen if I fail?’” says Irina Petersone of the Women’s Association Lietisko Sieviesu Apvieniba.
“At the same time, women have a higher sense of responsibility. Women as business partners are honest, they can be trusted. Women are determined and focused - they will make every effort to accomplish their mission and to implement the project. All these features are needed in business. It follows that business is also suitable for women,” explains Petersone, highlighting the ongoing project together with Sweden on business mentoring for women.
The business atmosphere in Latvia, some say, is already ahead of its neighbors in terms of equality.
Highlighting a difference between Latvia and Lithuania, we can look at the Lithuanian company Olialia, a ‘blondes only’ company which gained international press last year for their plans to operate a resort in the Maldives exclusively with blonde staff. The company has a hugely diverse portfolio, with business ventures ranging from ice cream and bus services to nightclubs and cosmetics. The only issue that some have is the inherent discrimination, and also inequality the company presents.
“Not only is the ‘blonde island’ idea demeaning to women, but borderline racist,” said Margarita Jankauskaite, director of the Lithuanian Center for Equality Advancement.
“I am ashamed that this initiative came from my country. This only sends a message to the world that Lithuania is a country of cheap beer and cheap blond women,” Jankauskaite continued.
However, the company has been praised for its highly successful, if not scantily clad, marketing. Something that the Latvian Association of Blondes has picked up on in recent years, starting with its annual Blonde Parade for charity. However, this company of blonde women has seen profits in the past year jump over 100 percent, with a brand recognition of 99 percent in Lithuania. The company, in cooperation with business partners, operates in 75 business sectors, with over three million euros in sales alone.
Should Latvians play up their blonde image to make money? Or is Latvia more focused on achieving a balance in the work place, not carving out a specific corner in which women can operate?
Latvia seems to be headed towards promoting equality, but not going too far as to create an imbalance for men. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Latvia’s former president, has come out publically to emphasize that, despite stereotypes or differences, the focus should be on ability, and not gender.
What has made the former Latvian president’s viewpoint so quotable abroad is that it strongly urges people not to be so wrapped up in promoting one gender’s rights and equality that the other gender suffers as a result.
“When I was elected president, without looking at my biography or leadership abilities, often I was asked – how do you feel as a female president? I would answer that I couldn’t compare it, because I have never been a male president, and that the position of president is such that there are no women or men, but a simple president. Parents, teachers and society should be encouraged to teach children to feel comfortable and be aware of their rights, regardless of sex, as they deserve the same respect,” said Vike-Freiberga.
“I wish to remove obstacles step by step, eliminate unseen doors, as well as visible violations, inequality and, if that does not work immediately, do not quit! I urge women not to lose courage, diligence, but to go to their goals and develop their potential,” said the former president at a recent conference.
Regardless of the economic crisis’ silver lining that some businesses may be seeing, 44 percent of women in Latvia do in fact find it hard to start up businesses, and thusly, the Latvian Land and Mortgage bank recently began targeting businesses owned by women.
“We have given out about 44 million euros to businesses, about 15 million euros to those businesses owned by women,” says Juris Cebulis of the Latvian Land and Mortgage bank, “especially in rural areas where women are no longer employed on farms. It has a social aspect since it provides new jobs.”
These businesses range from bakeries and travel organizations to small businesses. One does not have to already be in business to start up their own business; in fact, the majority of women surveyed reported that they started their business coincidentally, and there are many talented women in Latvia who would like the opportunity to be business owners.
“But it is clear that someone who has a natural talent for business should be in business, and there are a lot of women who should be in business,” continued Cebulis.
But how does the propensity towards moving to big cities and abroad to start business affect life locally? By taking away the workforce, many rural areas are faced with a large worker deficit. However, tourism and food production have always remained steady in rural areas, and now, with the loans from the local bank, one entrepreneur, Vija Ancane, can run her bread museum, bakery and shop, attracting a number of tourists, both from Riga and from abroad.
“When I started my business, I had a lot of questions, and I have to say that it is the governmental department’s bureaucracy which can kill anyone. If you approach them with a simple question, such as ‘Can you explain this to me?’, they act superior. ‘Who are you? How dare you ask us?’” explained Ancane.
What has Ancane learned from her experience? “I think now that women should come together and solve their problems together. This is why we also set up a women’s club in Aglona (the aptly named ‘Forget-me-not’s’),” said Ancane. Her son, currently working abroad, will return to Latvia next year to help her in her business venture. Another positive sign of growth, as citizens, in however small numbers, begin to return to Latvia to seek business opportunities.
What does the future look like for Latvian and Baltic women in business? Looking at the recent rise in businesses owned and operated by women, one could say the outlook is positive. However, one of the latest issues brought up by the European Commission, to impose quotas on women in business, has former President Vaira Vike-Freiberga reeling. “What does it actually mean to have quotas? It’s to say we don’t have enough competent or interested women to do a certain job,” Vike-Freiberga told the EUobserver earlier this year.
In fact, these quotas, an idea borrowed from Norway, are heavily supported by the European Parliament and, if voluntary steps are not taken, the European Commission vows to create binding legislation. The idea is to urge EU businesses to hire women to their executive boards by 2012 or face a mandatory quota of 40 percent. Presently, women make up about 10 percent of directors and 3 percent of CEO’s in Europe’s largest companies.
“We all know that there are more men than women in business. One of the most frequently proposed reasons for this is that, compared to men, women are less confident in their abilities, they are not as willing to risk and many think, ‘What will happen if I fail?’” says Irina Petersone of the Women’s Association Lietisko Sieviesu Apvieniba.
“At the same time, women have a higher sense of responsibility. Women as business partners are honest, they can be trusted. Women are determined and focused - they will make every effort to accomplish their mission and to implement the project. All these features are needed in business. It follows that business is also suitable for women,” explains Petersone, highlighting the ongoing project together with Sweden on business mentoring for women.
The business atmosphere in Latvia, some say, is already ahead of its neighbors in terms of equality.
Highlighting a difference between Latvia and Lithuania, we can look at the Lithuanian company Olialia, a ‘blondes only’ company which gained international press last year for their plans to operate a resort in the Maldives exclusively with blonde staff. The company has a hugely diverse portfolio, with business ventures ranging from ice cream and bus services to nightclubs and cosmetics. The only issue that some have is the inherent discrimination, and also inequality the company presents.
“Not only is the ‘blonde island’ idea demeaning to women, but borderline racist,” said Margarita Jankauskaite, director of the Lithuanian Center for Equality Advancement.
“I am ashamed that this initiative came from my country. This only sends a message to the world that Lithuania is a country of cheap beer and cheap blond women,” Jankauskaite continued.
However, the company has been praised for its highly successful, if not scantily clad, marketing. Something that the Latvian Association of Blondes has picked up on in recent years, starting with its annual Blonde Parade for charity. However, this company of blonde women has seen profits in the past year jump over 100 percent, with a brand recognition of 99 percent in Lithuania. The company, in cooperation with business partners, operates in 75 business sectors, with over three million euros in sales alone.
Should Latvians play up their blonde image to make money? Or is Latvia more focused on achieving a balance in the work place, not carving out a specific corner in which women can operate?
Latvia seems to be headed towards promoting equality, but not going too far as to create an imbalance for men. Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Latvia’s former president, has come out publically to emphasize that, despite stereotypes or differences, the focus should be on ability, and not gender.
What has made the former Latvian president’s viewpoint so quotable abroad is that it strongly urges people not to be so wrapped up in promoting one gender’s rights and equality that the other gender suffers as a result.
“When I was elected president, without looking at my biography or leadership abilities, often I was asked – how do you feel as a female president? I would answer that I couldn’t compare it, because I have never been a male president, and that the position of president is such that there are no women or men, but a simple president. Parents, teachers and society should be encouraged to teach children to feel comfortable and be aware of their rights, regardless of sex, as they deserve the same respect,” said Vike-Freiberga.
“I wish to remove obstacles step by step, eliminate unseen doors, as well as visible violations, inequality and, if that does not work immediately, do not quit! I urge women not to lose courage, diligence, but to go to their goals and develop their potential,” said the former president at a recent conference.
Regardless of the economic crisis’ silver lining that some businesses may be seeing, 44 percent of women in Latvia do in fact find it hard to start up businesses, and thusly, the Latvian Land and Mortgage bank recently began targeting businesses owned by women.
“We have given out about 44 million euros to businesses, about 15 million euros to those businesses owned by women,” says Juris Cebulis of the Latvian Land and Mortgage bank, “especially in rural areas where women are no longer employed on farms. It has a social aspect since it provides new jobs.”
These businesses range from bakeries and travel organizations to small businesses. One does not have to already be in business to start up their own business; in fact, the majority of women surveyed reported that they started their business coincidentally, and there are many talented women in Latvia who would like the opportunity to be business owners.
“But it is clear that someone who has a natural talent for business should be in business, and there are a lot of women who should be in business,” continued Cebulis.
But how does the propensity towards moving to big cities and abroad to start business affect life locally? By taking away the workforce, many rural areas are faced with a large worker deficit. However, tourism and food production have always remained steady in rural areas, and now, with the loans from the local bank, one entrepreneur, Vija Ancane, can run her bread museum, bakery and shop, attracting a number of tourists, both from Riga and from abroad.
“When I started my business, I had a lot of questions, and I have to say that it is the governmental department’s bureaucracy which can kill anyone. If you approach them with a simple question, such as ‘Can you explain this to me?’, they act superior. ‘Who are you? How dare you ask us?’” explained Ancane.
What has Ancane learned from her experience? “I think now that women should come together and solve their problems together. This is why we also set up a women’s club in Aglona (the aptly named ‘Forget-me-not’s’),” said Ancane. Her son, currently working abroad, will return to Latvia next year to help her in her business venture. Another positive sign of growth, as citizens, in however small numbers, begin to return to Latvia to seek business opportunities.
What does the future look like for Latvian and Baltic women in business? Looking at the recent rise in businesses owned and operated by women, one could say the outlook is positive. However, one of the latest issues brought up by the European Commission, to impose quotas on women in business, has former President Vaira Vike-Freiberga reeling. “What does it actually mean to have quotas? It’s to say we don’t have enough competent or interested women to do a certain job,” Vike-Freiberga told the EUobserver earlier this year.
In fact, these quotas, an idea borrowed from Norway, are heavily supported by the European Parliament and, if voluntary steps are not taken, the European Commission vows to create binding legislation. The idea is to urge EU businesses to hire women to their executive boards by 2012 or face a mandatory quota of 40 percent. Presently, women make up about 10 percent of directors and 3 percent of CEO’s in Europe’s largest companies.
2011年8月1日星期一
We Could Live In Rachel Zoe’s Closet
You’ve oohed and ahh-ed over the fashion closet at Zoe HQ, but what exactly does Rachel Zoe‘s personal closet look like? The stylist and budding fashion designer let ABC News’ Juju Chang into her room-sized closet, which houses the clothes she wears. Of course there were designer threads and It-bags, but Zoe’s wall of signature sky-high heels captivated Chang the most. Zoe reveals that she wore her dangerously high stilettos and platforms while carrying son Skyler Morrison, but says the shoes must come off before she holds him now. We would most definitely love to live in Zoe’s closet, not only because it holds her clothing collection, but also because there’s so much space. Yeah, we’re jealous!
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