DIY: Lanvin Style Chain Shoe

I absolutely love Lanvin's gold chain shoes. However, at £800 they're a bit out of my budget and any sensible amount to pay for a pair of shoes for that matter... Not to be beaten, I've fashioned my very own pair from some cheap gold chains and a pair of old shoes with some inspiration from Meagan's blog. What do you think?

Primark Padded Bras Debate

Earlier this week Primark were publicly shamed into removing a range of padded bikinis they had for seven year old girls. Pressure group Mumsnet who had set up a ‘Let Girls Be Girls’ campaign against the early sexualisation of young girls had the support of David Cameron who deemed the tops “disgraceful”, Brown soon jumped on the bandwagon saying, “All of us as parents can recognise there's something wrong when companies are pushing our kids into acting like little grown-ups when they should be enjoying being children.” And Equity Spokesperson for the Lib Dems Lynne Featherstone, not to be left out, put in her two cents with “Young children need our protection and shouldn't be the prey of greedy retailers selling them adult products.”

This issue at hand is clearly very emotive, as the word “paedophilia” tends to provoke a knee jerk reaction and is something no retailer will want to be seen as encouraging. But if you step back and think about the issue are these items really encouraging paedophilia? By definition paedofilia is an attraction to prepubescent children, so by making a girl look older is it really encouraging it? Most victims of child sex abuse are known by their attacker, the accessibility makes them a target as opposed to their clothing. Telling a child or a mother than her daughter can’t wear a padded bra is dangerously close to telling a woman wearing a short skirt that she’s asking to be raped, something which society generally sees as wrong.

So is it all just a storm in a tea cup with party leaders looking to hop on any bandwagon going in the weeks leading up to the election? Whilst a characteristically over blown headline from The Sun ‘Peado Heaven on our High Street’ seems to be evoking a moral panic of epic proportions, none the less other retailers have been brought into the debate with Tesco and Peacocks bras being slammed, and even BHS, viewed by many as a wholesome and old fashioned retailer, has been criticised for a diamante studded bra for nine to ten year olds, strapless dresses and tracksuits emblazoned with “Princess” across the bottom. But is there any criticism of the Marks and Spencer’s ‘Angel’ range of bras? Not that I’ve seen. It appears as if the top end of the high street is immune to this debate, leaving it exclusively in the hands of the affordable retailers to take the full brunt of criticism.

There is no doubt that in today’s society the line between adulthood and childhood is becoming increasingly blurred. But are these retailers the only ones to blame? Certainly not. Try looking at our media for instance, you’ll see images of Christina Aguilera advertising Sketchers in school uniform and pig-tails, open a magazine and you’ll see a fifteen year old Miley Cyrus appearing bare backed on the cover of Marie Claire, switch on the television you’ll see music videos and films suggesting that sexual performance has to be undertaken not be socially punished.

The result of which is a plethora of mixed messages for children. Girls are naturally curious about growing older, the results of which are sometimes acceptable- wearing your mum’s lipstick, putting on a pair of her shoes- fine; wearing a padded bikini top- one too far. Whilst curiosity and imitation of womanhood is given with one hand, simultaneously with the other it is forbidden.  And boys also seem immune to such pressures, they can talk or behave as sexually as they like without any consequence.

Were Primark right to sell these tops? No, selling a mass marketed notion of adulthood and sexualisation to girls who are too young to fully understand the consequences is irresponsible, but it wasn’t helped by the timing of this revelation prior to the election and consequent media frenzy. In order for the ‘Let girls be girls’ message to have any effect it has to be consistent. Retailers aren’t the only perpetuators of this idea and removing these items from stores can only go so far. Try looking to the media and asking what celebrity role models are telling your children about sexuality before Primark is vilified as being the only upholder of this message.

Primark Padded Bras Debate

Earlier this week Primark were publicly shamed into removing a range of padded bikinis they had for seven year old girls. Pressure group Mumsnet who had set up a ‘Let Girls Be Girls’ campaign against the early sexualisation of young girls had the support of David Cameron who deemed the tops “disgraceful”, Brown soon jumped on the bandwagon saying, “All of us as parents can recognise there's something wrong when companies are pushing our kids into acting like little grown-ups when they should be enjoying being children.” And Equity Spokesperson for the Lib Dems Lynne Featherstone, not to be left out, put in her two cents with “Young children need our protection and shouldn't be the prey of greedy retailers selling them adult products.”

This issue at hand is clearly very emotive, as the word “paedophilia” tends to provoke a knee jerk reaction and is something no retailer will want to be seen as encouraging. But if you step back and think about the issue are these items really encouraging paedophilia? By definition paedofilia is an attraction to prepubescent children, so by making a girl look older is it really encouraging it? Most victims of child sex abuse are known by their attacker, the accessibility makes them a target as opposed to their clothing. Telling a child or a mother than her daughter can’t wear a padded bra is dangerously close to telling a woman wearing a short skirt that she’s asking to be raped, something which society generally sees as wrong.

So is it all just a storm in a tea cup with party leaders looking to hop on any bandwagon going in the weeks leading up to the election? Whilst a characteristically over blown headline from The Sun ‘Peado Heaven on our High Street’ seems to be evoking a moral panic of epic proportions, none the less other retailers have been brought into the debate with Tesco and Peacocks bras being slammed, and even BHS, viewed by many as a wholesome and old fashioned retailer, has been criticised for a diamante studded bra for nine to ten year olds, strapless dresses and tracksuits emblazoned with “Princess” across the bottom. But is there any criticism of the Marks and Spencer’s ‘Angel’ range of bras? Not that I’ve seen. It appears as if the top end of the high street is immune to this debate, leaving it exclusively in the hands of the affordable retailers to take the full brunt of criticism.

There is no doubt that in today’s society the line between adulthood and childhood is becoming increasingly blurred. But are these retailers the only ones to blame? Certainly not. Try looking at our media for instance, you’ll see images of Christina Aguilera advertising Sketchers dressed as a school girl with pig-tails, open a magazine and you’ll see a fifteen year old Miley Cyrus appearing bare backed on the cover of Vanity Fair, switch on the television you’ll see music videos and films suggesting that sexual performance has to be undertaken not be socially punished.

The result of which is a plethora of mixed messages for children. Girls are naturally curious about growing older, the results of which are sometimes acceptable- wearing your mum’s lipstick, putting on a pair of her shoes- fine; wearing a padded bikini top- one too far. Whilst curiosity and imitation of womanhood is given with one hand, simultaneously with the other it is forbidden.  And boys also seem immune to such pressures, they can talk or behave as sexually as they like without any consequence.

Were Primark right to sell these tops? No, selling a mass marketed notion of adulthood and sexualisation to girls who are too young to fully understand the consequences is irresponsible, but it wasn’t helped by the timing of this revelation prior to the election and consequent media frenzy. In order for the ‘Let girls be girls’ message to have any effect it has to be consistent. Retailers aren’t the only perpetuators of this idea and removing these items from stores can only go so far. Try looking to the media and asking what celebrity role models are telling your children about sexuality before Primark is vilified as being the only upholder of this message.

Photocredit: ffion-nia

Stilettos and Socks

Princess and the Frog: My review

Not too come across as too big headed, but I consider myself a bit of a Disney buff. I’m 20 years old, so that would make such classics as Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and Pohcahontas the narratives I grew up on and, rather inevitably, fell in love with as a child.

Not only that, but last year I wrote my dissertation on the topic of morality in films to come out of the Disney studios, focusing mainly on what was at the time the most recent Disney Princess movie- Enchanted.

Princess and the Frog

In the process of writing my dissertation however the first entirely hand drawn Princess movie since Beauty and the Beast in 1991 was released- The Princess and the Frog and it’s about time I gave my thoughts on it.

Initially Princess and the Frog attracted a fair bit of attention because our protagonist Tiana is the first African-American Princess and therefore is the first Princess to go against the Disney mould of being fair skinned. (Ariel, Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella) That’s not to say she’s a complete first for Disney; Jasmine was from the middle-East, Mulan was of Chinese decent, Pohcahontas was Native American and Esmarelda I believe was Spanish. None the less, none of them for some reason or another were let into the Disney Princess “club” and she was, and that got people talking given the claims of racism which have fallen at Disney’s feet over the years.

Disney Morals

The general conclusion of my dissertation was that Enchanted provides a far from a perfect moral blueprint for your child to grow up with, assuming they internalise all of the ideas. However, Gisele knew what she wanted and went out to get it herself and this was a definite step in the right direction when compared to the weak and submissive females to come out of the 30s and 50s. (Snow White, pull your finger out love!)

And for the most part I think Princess and the Frog similarly updates the Disney morality to make it far more appropriate for children growing up in 2010.

Tiana displays the desirable traits of hard work and determination in the face of adversity as she works to fulfil her dream of owning her own restaurant and this represents a significant change from the Disney who seem to have always put success and dreams coming true down to “wishing on a star”, fate and destiny, as opposed to sheer hard work and graft.

The Bottom Line

Overall I must admit I liked it but it’s hard to say whether that’s for genuine brilliance or for aesthetic reasons. I am already a Disney fan, anything practically anything wrapped up in Disney magic is going to appeal to me, the cute alligator, the catchy songs and the style of animation are all things I find hard, if not impossible not to like.

But looking strictly at the narrative, and then comparing it to the latest films to come from Pixar, like Up, Toy Story 3 and Wall-E I’ve got to admit that I found all of these films far more watchable and enjoyable than I did Princess and the Frog. Maybe it’s because I’m not 8 anymore but I maintain that the best children’s films are those that can be enjoyed by adults and children alike, and so far Pixar’s attempts seem to be far more qualified at doing that than Disney’s hand drawn nostalgia films are.

Tangled

Later this year we will also see the release of Tangled (based on Rapunzel), said to be a hybrid of hand drawn animation and CGI so that images appear more like paintings on the screen so it’ll be interesting to see once again whether what Disney has made its name for, adapting classic narratives with its Disney stamp, is really working anymore when up against the excellence of Pixar.

82nd Annual Academy Awards: Oscars and Oscar after parties.

On Sunday 7th March the 82nd Annual Academy Awards took place in Hollywood. I've picked out a few of my favourite dresses above.

Starting with Sarah jessica Parker and working clockwise, SJP wore an unusual Chanel couture gown which suited her figure and style perfectly. Kate Beckinsale looked stunning as normal in a silver Kaurfman Franco gown at the Vanity Fair after party. I liked her hair in loose curls and the cut of the dress works with well her petite frame.

Olivia Wild possibly is my favourite of the night. With a red clutch and red lipstick, the nude coloured dress from Roland Mouret looked stunning. Victoria Beckham wore a dress from  her own Fall 2010 collection and pouted for England as normal.

Hilary Swank possibly was the biggest risk taker of the night, wearing an Armani prive dress cut down to her navel leaving little the imagination. She was one of the only females to do anything remotely daring and pulled it off well.

A dress similar in style but less revealing came from Vanessa Ann Hudgens, but when you're on the arm of Zac Efron who's really going to be looking at what you're wearing? Even if you do insist on pulling that "I know something you don't know" coy smile/smirk in EVERY photo that's taken of you.

Katie Perry broke the Oscar's golden rule by wearing a red dress on the red carpet. Luckily we managed to distinguish her from the background and she did look pretty good. The strapless mermaid style dress from Zuhair Mohad looked good on her curvacious figure.

Rachel McAdams worked the massive train in a printed Ellie Saab couture gown which looked gorgeous.

Overall my favourites of the night have to be either Kate Beckinsale or Olivia Wild. Would've liked to have seen more unusual interesting dresses, everyone seems to sticked with block colours and there wasn't anything which particularly caught my attention. Anyone else have favourite's I haven't mentioned?

Trend Report: Motorcycle Jeans

Set to be the only way to wear your denim in 2010 is the Motorcycle jean. A new take on the skinny jean, these have panelling and added piping detail on the knees to give that "biker chic" look which has been around for a while. Already shown by Balmain in S/S 2009 and the favourite of celebrities including Rihanna, Victoria Beckham, Nikki Hilton, Katie Holmes and Cameron Diaz (all pictured) they are both flattering and edgy.

Dress them up with a biker jacket and some heavy boots like Nikki Hilton, or down like Katie Holmes with a simple jumper and flats. If the £868 price tage on the Balmain pair (and that's reduced from £1,240, eek!) is a bit out of your budget, Miss Selfridge and Topshop have some more affordable pairs for £38 and £48.

Vogue’s Best Dressed 2009: Alexa Chung

Vogue’s Best Dressed 2009 list has been published and Alexa Chung won the top spot, beating off fierce competition from Cheryl Cole, Emma Watson, Michelle Obama and Lady Gaga.

She has apparently won over the Americans since she set sail for the USA earlier this year (despite her TV show being cancelled after its second series) who like her “Brit-girl-abroad quirky sense of style.”

Alexa’s style typically includes a vintage tom-boy feel which is still feminine, pairing vintage items with high street and designer alike. For example, at the 2009 Emmy’s she wore a Topshop leopard print coat and dress (top center), whilst she is often seen in Chanel shoes and wearing her name sake bag by Mulberry (bottom right).

Although she often opts to reveal her legs, large jackets and blazers compliment her style whether she’s dressing up or down. Pairing a bold Jason Wu red dress with black flats at the Vogue Fashion Fund Awards (bottom left) is a refreshing take on red carpet style, steering clear of sky scraper heels which perfectly suits her signature look.

Whilst Alexa has been criticized for topping the Best Dressed list despite her skinny frame, I think she is giving a positive message about body image. The prevailing message should be that no matter what you size, large or slim, you can create still your own style and be comfortable it in, which I believe Alexa Chung personifies.

Images taken from It’s On Alexa