Bringing the hotness

 

LOVE HER.  This is Ms. Octavia Spencer killin' it on the cover of Elle this month.  She is plus-sized and gorgeous.  Kudos to Elle for showing us some real beauty.   Work it!

Barenaked ladies

Plus Model magazine ran an intentionally controversial pictorial in their January 2012 issue titled "What's Wrong with Our Bodies Anyway?"  The pictorial is designed to elicit shock and raise questions for the viewer.  Most of the images are gorgeous.  Here are two of the most lovely:

Katya Zharkova

 

Then there were two images that featured the plus-sized model alongside a so-called "straight-sized" model.  I'm not sure what I think about these.  They do highlight just how pre-adolescent and tiny the smaller model looks.  However, I'm not sure how I feel about comparing women's bodies in this way.  I also can't help but note the faux lesbianism in the posing, and the fact that the smaller model has her face completely obscured in each photo, which is a form of objectification.  These things strike me as a bit unnecessary, possibly creepy, and ultimately distracting from the points they were trying to make.  The photos below lack the joy of the ones above.  What do you think?  Progress or not?

(View the full pictorial here: PMM Pictorial)

Happy Halloween!

Yours truly is out having a fabulous time on a Halloween-themed vacay.  But here are some gorgeous vintage Halloween postcards.  Someday I am going to get around to making something out of these, but in the mean time I hope you enjoy them!

Toilet Tissue Couture

Have you ever been to a bridal shower and played that awful game where you make a bridal dress out of a roll of toilet paper?  No?  Wow, you must run with a classier group of friends.  Anyway, White Cashmere is a Canadian toilet paper company that sponsored some kind of contest for designers to make gowns completely out of their toilet paper. Proceeds from the fashion show benefited the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. 

These are made entirely from toilet paper.  I'm going to assume that they had access to bigger sheets of it than what you get on a standard roll, but I am still amazed.  

 

Apparently this is made of hundreds of little rosettes of toilet paper. 

Aren't you proud of me?  The combination of Canadians and toilet paper could have made for all sorts of smart-assery on my part, but I resisted. 

Trash-n-Fashion

I know I drink too much Diet Coke.  Now I have plan for all of those cans sitting in my garage waiting to be recycled.  I would look smashing in this, no?

Or how about this little party dress made out of pop can tabs and trash bags?  It was made by an eighteen-year old fashion student named Casey Hansel.

What about this fanciness?  No, it's not a Belle's dress from the 1984 Junior prom.   It's a gown made from peanut m&m wrappers.  Brillz!

This last one is made from shredded issues of Vogue.  I know I get the urge to rip up Vogue every once in a while.  Now there is a good reason to do it!

Plus Sized Pin Up Girls

This is something that makes me happy!  Les Toil is an artist who specializes in pin-up girls.  However, he's a little bit of an oddball.  He only does pin ups of plus-sized women.   Yes, you read that right.  He makes his living doing custom pin up girls, and here is a quote from his website for those interested in having one done:

"The qualifications for being a Toil Girl are quite simple actually. First and foremost, you must not be skinny. Here at the ToilTime Studios™ we believe an ample anatomy is the most desired and aesthetically pleasing an artist's model can have--and art history backs up that claim. The more curves the better, basically. So if you see Ally McBeal in the reflection of your mirror, consider yourself an unfit specimen (but, by absolutely no means, a lesser specimen. Being critical of one's proportions--be they vast or narrow--is something Mr. Toil frowns upon)."

It's strange to see big women portrayed as beautiful, and even sexy.  I love his website, and can get lost in his pin up galleries. It's refreshing to see larger ladies portrayed so lovingly! Here are a few of my favorites.

If you've got some time to kill, check out his website:  http://www.toilgirls.com/   I've known about him for at least five years, and the pin up girls change every few months.
        
And yes, if I ever have an extra $350 burning a hole in my pocket, I am totally going to become a toil girl.  I'm thinking some kind of Halloween theme, maybe with a pumpkin patch...

Black Beauties

Vogue Italia has released their May issue, which is titled: "A Tribute to Black Beauties."  It does have some gorgeous photographs.  How can you not love this?

Or this?

Okay, I'll admit that the granny-panty crotch roses are confusing me a little bit.  Nonetheless, gorgeous!

I'm not even going to go on about how one black tribute issue a year does not make up for how under-represented black women are in fashion (especially black women who don't look exactly like slightly darker white women.  Don't get me started on that.).

But can I lodge a complaint?  I just can't anymore with the tribal jewelry.  I just can't. Do we really need to go there?  Edit, people!  Haven't you ever heard that old quote from Coco Chanel?  "Before you leave the house in the morning, look in the mirror and take one thing off."   That rule applies here, y'all.  My vote is on the gigantic necklace that does not fit with the rest of the outfit. It's like tourette's syndrome in the form of an accessory.

Somebody clearly thought that necklace added something to the photo.  It does.  You know what it adds?  This: The mental image of some graying white man with a snooty fake British accent wearing loafers with no socks and an ascot standing next to the craft services table bragging:  "Take a look at this, Charles, isn't this ethnic?  It's a black model.  In a tribal necklace.  Clever, I know.  I just thought it up, all by myself.  You know, because black women are just positively exotic!" 

Remarkable Images from the Great Depression

This photo is titled: "Operating a hand drill at Vultee-Nashville, a woman works on a "Vengeance" dive bomber, Tennessee (1943)"

"Corpus Christi, Texas. Wife of a disabled World War I veteran, Mrs. Cora Ann Bowen (left) works as a cowler at the Naval Air Base."

"Jack Whinery, homesteader, and his family, Pie Town, New Mexico. (1940)"   Wow. The image on the calendar behind the mother makes for a really striking contrast.

The images above are from a really remarkable group of color photos from the Great Depression.  It is definitely worth a look.   It's at the Huffington Post.  I know, I know. Anyway, here is the link: Rare Color Photos From the Great Depression

I got inspired and searched out a few more similar images.  I'm glad I did.  These are from the Library of Congress.

This is probably my favorite.  It is gorgeous and speaks volumes. It is from the Library of Congress and was taken in 1943.  It is titled: "Operating a hand drill at Vultee-Nashville, woman is working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber, Tennessee."

"Woman aircraft worker, Vega Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, Calif. Shown checking electrical assemblies."  June 1942.  Beautiful on so many levels.