Hairspray Linked to Birth Defects
Filed under: Cosmetics, Beauty Tips
Hairspray Linked to Birth Defects
Bad news for stylists, hair dressers, and any woman who's a fan of big 'ol Texas hair. A new study has found a disturbing link between your hairspray habit and an alarming birth defect. Researchers claim that boys whose mothers were around large amounts of hairspray may run the risk of being born with a genital disorder.
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Scientists at the Imperial College London surveyed women who had boys born with a condition called hypospadias -- essentially, a deformity that causes the baby's urinary tract to grow where it shouldn't. According to those scientists, hairspray more than doubled the chance that the women's children would be born with this defect.
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That said, it's not all bad news. The professor who led the study told the BBC that this new research didn't not prove conclusively that hairspray was to blame.
He went so far as to say: "Pregnant women will need to make their own choices about whether or not to avoid these kind of exposures."
But that doesn't mean dousing your head in hairspray is a good idea.
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The number of hypospadias cases has gone up dramatically over the past twenty years, and many have been blaming a chemical called phthalates. As you might suspect, this chmeical is found in plastics -- namely the plasitcs used in hairspray.
Evidence is mounting, and certain types of phthalates have already been banned from hairsprays and other cosmetics.
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You might recognize phthalates -- they've been in the news quite a bit recently, but mostly due to their ability to disrupt hormones. These revelations have led the European Union to ban the substance for toys (for quite some time).
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However, before you completely freak out, while research has shown phthalates could mess with the production of testosterone in some animals (and could therefore effect the development of the urinary tract), studies in humans remain unclear.
So, while avoiding chemicals in hairspray and other cosmetics is a good idea -- particularly when you're pregnant -- you probably won't see any official word on this for a some time.
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Sissy Spacek Wears PJs on the Red Carpet
Filed under: Celebrity Fashion Mistakes, Red Carpet Trends
Four Christmases Premiere
The Four Christmases had its Hollywood premiere last night, and plenty of A-List stars showed up looking hot and full of holiday spirit. Sissy Spacek, on the other hand, looks like she just rolled out of bed on Christmas morning. Why she opted for PJs on the red carpet, we'll never know.
Read on for more missteps and style successes.
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Reese Witherspoon, one of the stars of Four Christmases, is stunning as always.
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Jon Favreau, another star of the film, went for the cool, casual look.
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Karina Smirnoff blows a kiss to the crowd as she sparkles in this adorable blue dress.
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Minnie Driver sticks to her traditional (and often unfortunate) boots and dress combo.
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Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen go for a more classic, sophisticated approach, and look absolutely fabulous.
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Katy Mixon, another Four Christmases cast member, take a risk in this bold pink dress, but her overwhelming cuteness helps her pull it off.
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For some reason Kristin Chenoweth decided she'd come dressed as a giant present -- unfortunately Halloween was last month.
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True Bella is totally adorable, as always.
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True's fellow child actor Zak Boggan is suave beyond his years in this dressy-yet-casual ensemble.
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Victoria's Secret Fashion Show
Filed under: Swimwear and Lingerie
Michelle Obama Inauguration Predictions
If expectations are high for Barack Obama, they're no less soaring for his wife -- at least in a sartorial sense. After two decades of Bush and Clinton women -- for whom style was not a sixth sense -- the inarguably fashionable and seemingly fearless Michelle Obama has trend-watchers in a frenzy. Tall and taut, with the broad shoulders and self-confidence to carry off whatever she wants, Obama has spent the past 21 months being compared to Jacqueline Kennedy. And, so far, Obama has acquitted herself well, showing off recession-friendly dresses from White House/ Black Market and pricey styles from edgy designers like Isabel Toledo, who she wore (left) last spring to a fundraiser with fashion industry heavyweights. What will she favor for the White House? StyleList takes a look at her past -- and offers some predictions for the future. And for those who think clothes don't matter, remember the words of JFK as he introduced his wildly popular wife at a 1961 State Dinner at Charles de Gaulle's presidential palace. "I am the man," Kennedy said, "who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris."
Marcel Thomas, FilmMagic.com
She hasn't even gotten to the White House, but Michelle Obama has already done more than any fashion mag to make Thakoon a household name. The Thai-born designer's dresses were perfect for several major moments on the campaign trail, including (at left) the final night of the Democratic National Convention. At right, the rose-colored silk dress as it appeared on Thakoon's runway. Mrs. Obama seems to have made no changes to it -- except the addition of three her trademark pins to the neckline. (And for those who can't afford Thakoon's four-figure price tags, the designer debuts a more recession-friendly collection at Target in December.)
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No, we don't expect the new First Lady to parade her abs at the Easter egg roll. But with just a few strategically placed swaths of fabric, this delicate floral sheath by Thakoon could meet the needs of the most demanding East Wing schedule.
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Back in 1982, when Nancy Reagan wore rhinestone-trimmed knickers to a dinner at the American Embassy in Paris, she was ridiculed across two continents. So it's no surprise that Michelle Obama decided to keep her thighs safely away from the runway version of Moschino's flowered silk shorts (right). What's a First Lady-wannabe to do? Moschino took the same gray-and-purple fabric and used it to bare Mrs. O's knee's in a more Donna Reed way -- a soft shirtwaist that made her look both comfortable and camera-ready for the debut of the Obama-Biden ticket in Springfield, Ill. last summer. Surely, Nancy would have approved.
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This purple silk coat and carnival-striped dress from Moschino's spring collection strikes the perfect balance between the White House need to look sophisticated and Mrs. Obama's penchant to shake-it-up.
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If fashion tells a story, Michelle Obama's fiery red confetti-printed dress conveyed every bit of her Election Night euphoria. True, the Narciso Rodriguez sheath, modified from the runway version at right, earned as many barbs as raves -- "Maybe it looked really awesome up close?" one fashion wag asked. But you won't find a trace of disappointment on Obama's face, which glowed as brightly as her $10,275 Loree Rodkin diamond earrings.
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Narcisco Rodriguez's edgy black-and-white dress would be techy enough for the You Tube generation and graphic enough for those Dinosaur Age readers of print media.
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Tall and toned, Mrs. Obama isn't afraid to experiment. She plays with color (usually favoring brights) and shape (usually body-hugging) -- and, just when you think you've figured out her fashion maxims, she veers in another direction. The cantaloupe-colored Moschino dress that she wore to her husband's acceptance of the Harold Washington Award this fall was a softer color and silhouette than her typical fare.
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Hillary Clinton made front-page news in 1993, when she co-hosted the Governors' Dinner at the White House in Donna Karan's "cold-shoulder" dress, a dramatic long-sleeved black sheath with -- surpise! -- the shoulders cut out. We're not sure the world is ready for a First Lady in a cut-out torso, but with a bit of fabric in all the right places, Narciso Rodriguez's 'bondage" gown would be a fierce addition to Mrs. Obama's don't-mess-with-me repertoire.
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Peter Soronen's fashions are fun, flirty, and fit for a woman confident enough to show off her curves. Small wonder he's earned red-carpet time from the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Hudson and Tina Fey. He's also added Michelle Obama to his roster. At left, her white delicately-patterned dress is adapted from Soronen's houndstooth check sheath.
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Vertical stripes make you look fat, say scientists
Filed under: Style in the News, Clothing
Been wondering whether or not you looked a little pudgy in your favorite striped shirt? Turns out, you do! At least, that's assuming the stripes are vertical.
A group of UK scientists decided to test the time-honored fashion adage that vertical stripes are slimming (while horizontal stripes are less flattering) -- and the results were truly bizarre. Apparently you can forget everything you thought you knew about dressing thin, because -- at least according to science -- the exact opposite is true.
The Psychology Department at the University of York showed study participants 200 sets of pictures, in which models wore dresses with both horizontal and vertical stripes. Researchers discovered that women wearing vertical stripes appeared to be a full six percent wider than their horizontally-clad counterparts.
But while you're hauling your vertically-striped shirts off to Goodwill this weekend, take heart -- it's not all bad news. This style standby has been proven false, but it turns out wearing black really does make you look more svelte. Phew!
Check out our gallery for more slimming tips.
Peaches Geldof for Agent Provocateur - her dad is gonna freak out!
Filed under: Swimwear and Lingerie
The past month of Peaches Geldof's drug-infused existence has read like a handbook on "how to drive your father insane." In mid-August the 19-year-old debutant married some random musician named Max Drummey in a quickie Vegas ceremony -- during which the 23-year-old groom never bothered to take off his sunglasses.
And now Peaches is playing the seductress for racy lingerie maker Agent Provocateur -- after modeling for the brand in Vienna back in May, she's now posing half-naked, dangling cherries above the wanton mouths of her fellow female models. Scandal!
We're sure daddy is none too pleased about this latest batch of naughty behavior, but there's no denying that his daughter looks hot! It seems Peaches will make a fine replacement for Kate Moss fronting our favorite brand of sexy undies.
Modeling crash course - Top 10 runway falls (video)
Filed under: Runway Trends, Celebrity Fashion Mistakes, Fashion Week
Fashion Week is in full swing, and gorgeous models are strutting their stuff in stunning designer wares. Most runway shows are the pinnacle of poise and grace -- but let's be real: those are some serious heels, and tumbles, trips or the occasional face plant are inevitable. Here's our top 10 favorite fiascoes, starting with Miss America's topple at the most recent Miss Universe pageant (and if you thought that was bad -- just wait 'till you see what happens when there's a gaping hole for the models to contend with!).

Calvin Klein - 40 years of shock, awe, and fantastic fashion
Filed under: Fashion Week
Calvin Klein Advitorial Retrospective
This month marks the 40th anniversary of the Calvin Klein design empire -- a business started with $10,000 in 1968 that today earns billions of dollars in revenue every year, and has become one of the most recognizable fashion labels on the planet.
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In 1980, a 15-year-old Brooke Shields cooed that "nothing gets between me and my Calvins." CBS refused to air the spot but the campaign made the model and the designer household names.
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Though his business is clothes, Klein is perhaps best known for his racy ads for fragrances and undies, which always managed to embrace the next big thing -- and infuriate the establishment in the process. This controversial Obsession ad from the 90s features then barely known model Kate Moss.
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Parent groups routinely decried the raunchy ads targeted at teens, like this 90s TV ad that sent sales of the popular CK One fragrance skyrocketing.
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Called "child-porn" by youth advocates, this racy 1995 billboard was publicly condemned by President Clinton. It was quickly pulled, but solidified Klein's reputation as a provocateur (and sold a lot of jeans).
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Playful, or pedophilia? Four years after the CK Jeans scandal, Klein claimed these children's underwear ads captured the "warmth and spontaneity" of a family photo album -- but the American Family Association called them pornographic. A mere 24 hours after their release, the ads were yanked.
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Before Mark Wahlberg was hanging with an "Entourage" his crew was the Funky Bunch and he was best known for dropping his pants, grabbing his crotch, and posing in his Calvin Klein skivvies.
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If he didn't shoot them in their skivvies, the designer dressed the young and gorgeous when they were in character. Alicia Silverstone rocked this barely-there CK ensemble in the 1995 movie Clueless. "It's a dress," she told her on-screen dad (played by Dan Hedaya). "Says who?" He stammered -- to which Silverstone famously replied: "Calvin Klein!"
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Klein has never been one to shy away from scandal. The designer is credited with discovering superwaif Kate Moss and turning her into a supermodel in the 90s. When she was busted for cocaine in 2005, he promptly put her to work on another campaign.
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You know you've arrived when someone writes an unauthorized biography and "Obsession: The Lives and Times of Calvin Klein," which was published in 1994, chronicled not just the designer's rise to fame, but all the drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex that came with it. The book stopped just short of calling Klein a closeted homosexual and implied his marriage to second wife Kelly Rector was a sham. They divorced in 2006.
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New York Fashion Week - Spring '09
Filed under: Fashion Week
Styledash is now the new StyleList blog!
Welcome to the new Styledash! For months we've been creating a partnership with StyleList, the number-one fashion site on the web, and today that work is paying off: Styledash is now the StyleList blog, providing up-to-the-minute news and commentary on everything fashion and beauty related.
You may have noticed our site's incredible growth recently, and now -- thanks to that collaboration -- we'll be able to bring you even more fantastic fashion goodness throughout the day. We'll still be running all your favorite features, plus the news, views and gossip you rely on -- all from this sexy new site with a (slightly) different name.
Our old address automatically redirects here, and all of our old posts have moved with us but if you'd like to update your bookmarks, our new address is http://stylelist.com/blog. We've also reorganized the categories to make it easier to find what you love, and made it simple to keep tabs on trends with our "What's Hot" module at the top of the page -- just click on whatever you're interested in, and away you go!
So, take a look around, and let us know what you think. We couldn't be more excited about our new look and our new home on the StyleList blog!
Beauty pageant for nuns
Filed under: Style in the News
Ever seen a really hot nun? Neither have we. In fact, it feels a little immoral (and just...icky) to even imagine a sexy sister stunning visitors at her local convent -- but one Italian priest feels differently.


















