Posts with tag controversy

Who knew a baby shoe could cause such an uproar? Heelarious is a new brand of baby shoes designed to look like a high heel -- and while some people think it's cute and funny, others are really disturbed.

We find it quite amusing -- after all, if the kid isn't even on her feet yet, aren't shoes in general slightly superfluous? And, if you're a well-known shoe lover, we think your friends would appreciate the humor of buying your daughter baby heels. If not, are you sure you really want to hang out with them? Because we sure don't.

If there's one thing Vogue is good for, it's stirring up a controversy. This time Vogue India has gone and done it with a photo shoot featuring lower income Indian families using accessories by exclusive -- read expensive -- designer brands.

Recent L'Oreal ads in Elle, Allure, and Essence feature the always fabulous Beyonce, but the ad is garnering a lot of complaints. Why would anybody complain about Beyonce in an ad? She's a knockout, right?

Yes, except her skin looks several shades lighter than it normally does.

The ads for Feria haircolor are, as you might expect, creating a lot of controversy. L'Oreal denies any lightening of the singer's skin, saying, "We highly value our relationship with Ms. Knowles. It is categorically untrue that L'Oreal Paris altered Ms. Knowles' features or skin tone ..."

We realize it's totally hypocritical for us to get all politically correct, but every time we see Bliss FatGirlSlim a big self-righteous bug crawls up our butt. Our big, fat, girly butt.

Why did they have to name it that? Granted, the provocative name gets attention, but it also makes us vow to never, ever, ever in a million years want to buy it. Ever. And to be candid, we could use it.

What about you? Does a salty name or spicy ad campaign influence your buying decision? Or is your choice based only on whether or not the product does what it says it will do?

Urban Outfitters has made some guy a boatload of money by hocking t-shirts that fall into that narrow, frivolous space between jaded and offensive. It's a delicate art that requires finding slogans or concepts that seem controversial, yet they're still meaningless enough to avoid getting anyone's panties in a wad. Fake controversy -- that's how you build an edgy t-shirt empire.

Pissing off Jews and pro-Israel people, on the other hand, is not a good business plan at all. That's why UO was quick to pull this t-shirt from its stores and website when it noticed a sh*tstorm of real controversy building over what exactly the gun-toting Palestinian kids were supposed to mean. The designer -- LA-based Freshjive -- is apparently getting its mailboxes flooded with emails calling it anti-semitic and 'jew-hating.' We think it safe to say that this design is a lot too close to totally inflammatory.

What surprises us is that neither Freshjive or UO realized that this shirt would get people all riled up. Have you ever tried to bring up the Palestinian Conflict in light conversation? Neither have we.

[via Fashionista]

The Vogue Diet ... What is that like water, asparagus, and chewing gum? Nah not so much, it goes more like this "lose some weight or you can't be on my cover."

That's exactly what happened to Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte. The two designers received a call from a Vogue editor who suggested they get on a diet and see a personal trainer. Kate and Laura were actually fine with it because they wanted to get healthier anyways (uh huh). The 'Vogue Diet' consisted of four months of personal training and a meal delivery service.

The fashionable diet paid off as they lost a combined total of 50 pounds. They even kept a diet diary that will appear in the April issue. Of course Vogue got a lot of heat for asking the sisters to diet, and this isn't the first time. Back in 1998 Oprah actually agreed to drop 20 pounds before her cover shoot.

I don't know what to think about this. On one hand if Vogue paid for all of my weight loss needs and I kinda wanted to drop some weight anyways it wouldn't be a big deal. However on the other hand ... Vogue is straight up calling people fat. What do you all think?

Over the weekend, we received a note from a concerned reader who wanted to know what she could do to discourage the use of drug culture references/imagery in fashion advertisements. She specifically referred to the Sisley ad that Lauren post last week featuring two models snorting cocaine.

I thought the question was provocative. So here goes: what can we really do to influence what we see in advertisements?

When it comes down to what sparks change in the fashion world, it all boils down to money. You can sign petitions and write letters until you turn blue in the face, but it won't make a bit of difference unless you can also affect company sales.

If you want to let companies like Sisley know that you do not approve of their cocaine ads, stop buying Sisley clothes and ask others to follow suit. Instead, spend money on companies that choose to run responsible advertising campaigns -- i.e. ads that sell clothes not drugs.

Giorgio Armani has become the latest designer to get in trouble for a racy ad campaign. This one involves kids. Like swimsuit designer Ashley Paige, Armani is feeling the heat for showing a little girl in a bikini. The advertisement has authorities in Madrid debating on whether the image on Armani's website children's clothing website, Armani Junior should be withdrawn. Parents have complained about the ads because the little girls aren't portrayed looking like little girls but like mini versions of models. The Armani firm has issued a statement saying the matter is under review. The picture seems pretty innocent to me, what do you think?

Female models aren't the only ones feeling the pressure to be skinny. The Independent reports that male models are also required to be dangerously slim. Gone are the rather buff models that used to dominate the catwalk for men's fashion. The look now is rail-thin and that leaves male models facing the same starvation regimes that many female models have adopted.

One model, Ron Saxen has written a book called "The Good Eater" about his battle with an eating disorder. He describes the classic model diet of too much coffee, too much exercise and too little to eat. The article gives the stats for some of the models Chris Ulyatt, shown in Dior in the pic at right, is 6 foot 2 and has a 29-inch waist.

Related posts:
Manorexia is on the rise

Last week, I mentioned the provocative runway show of Antonio Miro in Barcelona, which used eight illegal immigrants as models. In a similar attempt to make a political statement through fashion, the Brazilian clothier Daspu sent sex workers dressed in its designs down the real life catwalk of the streets of Rio. Daspu was created by Davida, a organization that defends the rights of sex workers in Brazil. The name Daspu is actually a spin-off from Daslu, a famous Brazilian famous house.

To be honest, I'm not sure what to make of this trend. Part of me admires companies that take a stand on issues of social justice such as the treatment of illegal immigrants and sex workers. But another part of me feels like these fashion designers are exploiting the very people they aim to help.

What do you think?

Since the FDA approved the use of Botox injections in 2002, cosmetic treatments have become almost commonplace. No longer the domain of celebrities and west coasters, plastic surgery is often considered the silver bullet for a happier, more fulfilling life.

With teen idols like Ashlee Simpson going under the knife, many young people -- 40% according to the BBC -- are considering plastic surgery. Whether it's a nose job, breast implants or collagen lip injections, everything seems like fair game (and a good idea) to teens.

But is cosmetic surgery appropriate for teenagers?

Part of me sympathizes with teenagers who consider plastic surgery. In a world where you are told that in order to be beautiful you have to have a very specific look, it isn't any wonder that young people find it incredibly difficult to feel good in their own skin.

But I also believe that a lot of these youthful insecurities fall away with time. And if these doubts don't completely disappear, hopefully you start to realize that looks really don't make that much of a difference. (I'm pretty sure that Janet Reno is a lot happier than Kate Moss, all things considered.)

In the end, I find it incredibly tragic that young people are willing to take on a fairly significant amount of risk for a purely superficial change. What do you think? How young is too young for plastic surgery