“I had the welts that were very red, hot to the touch, extremely inflamed, blistery.”It itched profusely.
I couldn’t sleep and was waking up itching.”

Miss Ritter, from Ohio, has filed a lawsuit against Victoria’s Secret in May and claims she has been contacted by dozens of women suffering similar symptoms who are now seeking permission to join her in a class action.

Her lawyers said they purchased the same bra types that Miss Ritter had bought and had them laboratory tested. They claim the tests revealed that the bras showed traces of formaldehyde, which is used in the textile industry to make fabrics crease-resistant. The lawyers believe Miss Ritter may be allergic to formaldehyde.

A US medical Web site was flooded with complaints against the underwear company. However, a spokesman for Victoria’s Secret has denied that formaldehyde is used to produce its bras.

“We have strict quality controls around our products, and we do not use formaldehyde in our bras,”
the company said in a statement. “We are sorry that a small number of people have had an issue,’ he added.
“Customer safety and satisfaction are always our primary concerns and we take seriously any issues that
our customers may have with our products.”

Ritter, and others who seek to join her in a class action, are demanding compensation.
A judge will decide next year if a class action can proceed.

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The cash expenditures immediately raised questions among campaign finance experts about their legality under the Federal Election Commission’s long-standing advisory opinions on using campaign cash to purchase items for personal use.

Politico asked the McCain campaign for comment, explicitly noting the $150,000 in expenses for department store shopping and makeup consultation that were incurred immediately after Palin’s announcement.

Spokeswoman Maria Comella declined to answer specific questions about the expenditures, including whether it was necessary to spend that much and whether it amounted to one early investment in Palin or if shopping for the vice presidential nominee was ongoing.

“The campaign does not comment on strategic decisions regarding how financial resources available to the campaign are spent,” she said.

But hours after the story was posted on Politico’s website and legal issues were raised, the campaign issued a new statement.

“With all of the important issues facing the country right now, it’s remarkable that we’re spending time talking about pantsuits and blouses,” said spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt. “It was always the intent that the clothing go to a charitable purpose after the campaign.”

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The recent revival of the supermodel shows no sign of waning and these raunchy pictures of Linda Evangelista are proof.

Photographed for a fashion spread in W magazine the Canadian beauty strikes a number of dominatrix-style poses in the 11 pictures entitled ‘Love/Hate’.

The photo layout by fashion photographer Steven Klein is one of many new projects the supermodel (who famously said: ‘I don’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day’) has embarked on recently.

With big name brands turning to familiar faces in the wake of the economic downturn, the 5 ft 9.5″ model is currently fronting Prada’s Autmun/Winter lace look campaign and was appointed L’Oreal’s international spokesperson last November. The beauty company announced a profit boost of 20 per cent since she appeared in their TV advertisements.

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Some of you may already know about this Netflix of fashion from the Sex in the City movie. Instead of plunking down hundreds or thousands of dollars for designer bags and accessories, you can borrow (rent) Prada, Chanel, Gucci and more, just like the celebrities do!

Search by designer, style, color or price point. You can borrow as a guest or a member. Members pay a monthly rate and get a 20% discount on borrowed items. You can borrow a Coach bag for $15/week, or a Hermes tote for $227/week. Sunglasses, jewelry, and belts are also available. A free shipping package allows you to drop the item in the mailbox when done and it’s returned. Easy!

Guilty pleasures, minus the guilt!

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The impetus for the stories were two still photos taken at the Cia Maritima fashion show at the end of last week. As you can see, she does not look like shes 100 lbs, and as a result of that she has been called too fat.

Meanwhile in Spain, there has been a ban on “skinny” models walking in shows, instituted by fashion show organizers in Madrid after model Ana Carolina Reston, 21, died of anorexia during a South America show in 2006. The model had reportedly consumed nothing but salad and diet soda for three weeks and died of heart failure.

Designers and advertisers continue to glamorize the rail thin mannequin. The thinner the frame, the better to display their designs. Basically hangers for their clothes, and young girls and women continue to buy into this idea that skinny is the ideal.

I think Kurkova looks GREAT! What’s wrong with a little flesh on your butt and some creases on your back. That’s what we really look like and that’s ok. No extreme diets, no retouching, we need to accept our bodies and love ourselves just the way we are.

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Male model Cole Mohr wears a dress (and carries a handbag) in the Marc by Marc Jacobs fall 2008 ad campaign, shot by Juergen Teller. The Jacobs-Teller collaboration, which began in 1997, is known for having produced some of fashion’s most memorable advertising. The inspiration for this season’s ads may have come from Filipino blogger BryanBoy, whose personal wardrobe includes handbags and minidresses (and in whose honor Marc Jacobs christened a bag from his fall 2008 line “the BB”). BryanBoy jubilantly affirms on his blog, “I’m so gay I sweat glitter!”, but the decision to showcase male femininity in the new Marc by Marc ads argues that its appeal is expected to far exceed the confines of the gay world. In fact, the ads, which will run for both the menswear and womenswear lines, are largely meant to sell the bow-fronted dress worn by Mohr, along with many others of its brand, to women.

The ads fit in perfectly with the Jacobs-Teller tradition of irreverent advertising that creates cool by appearing to scorn it. More importantly, in my opinion, these photographs are beautiful enough to sell anything. Take Jacobs’s clothes, Teller’s eye, and Mohr’s scruffy angular beauty, and how can you go wrong? Though the ads are already making waves, they are hardly without precedent. Fashion has long recognized male femininity as a stylistic, sexual, and creative force, one that can be mined for art, for love, and for money. In a celebrated recent example, downtown personage Andre J. appeared alongside supermodel Carolyn Murphy on the November 2007 cover of Vogue Paris, in a blue Burberry trench, heels, and a beard. Andre J., known for his legs, is now offering catwalk-strutting lessons to women.

With the Village Voice announcing “the triumph of the lipsticks,” and claiming that “glamorous” lesbians have conquered Manhattan, my question is this: when will female masculinity of the unabashed sort (as unabashed as the femininity of BryanBoy and Andre J.) be regarded as glamorous? Which is to say, quite frankly, when will a butch image be able to sell clothes, sell sex, sell itself?

I argue that the image of female masculinity is as subversive, as enthralling, as mysterious–in short, as powerful as the image of male femininity. Fashion has harnessed its power, flirting with female masculinity without ever quite embracing it. The legendary couturier Yves Saint Laurent famously put feminine women in pants. Photographers as powerful as Steven Meisel and Mario Testino have loved the faces of women with masculine or androgynous features, from Erin O’Connor and Hannelore Knuts to Omahyra Mota. When, then, will the beautiful “Jax,” a butch photographed often by Del LaGrace Volcano, join, say, Tyson Ballou on the cover of L’Uomo Vogue? When will she, or another masculine woman like her, be photographed for a Tom Ford campaign in such a way that straight men everywhere will flock to the store to buy her suit?

Cathy Horyn, fashion critic for the New York Times, has said that “the irony in fashion is that it loves change but it can’t actually change anything. It can only reflect a change in the air. But what changes fashion?” The answer, I think, is ourselves. To put a butch on the cover of Vogue, let us prize and defend our conviction that the experience of gazing upon her is beautiful not just for us, but for real.

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Now a counterattack to the racism of the fashion industry is coming from an unlikely source: Italian Vogue .

The NYT reports that for the July issue of Italian Vogue, photographer Stephen Meisel has photographed only black models. In a reverse of the general pattern of fashion magazines, all the faces are black, and all the feature topics are related to black women in the arts and entertainment. Mr. Meisel was given roughly 100 pages for his pictures. He also photographed Toccara Jones, a full-figure model, who became known from “America’s Next Top Model.” “I wanted to say something about weight, and I’m never allowed to do that,” he said. “I met Toccara and thought, she’s beautiful. What’s the deal with her? She’s great and she’s sexy.” The issue will be on European newsstands next Thursday and in the United States soon after.

Under its editor, Franca Sozzani, Italian Vogue has gained a reputation for being more about art and ideas than commerce. Ms. Sozzani also doesn’t mind controversy.

She said that, as an Italian, she has been intrigued by the American presidential race and Mr. Obama, which was one source of inspiration when she and Mr. Meisel began discussing, in February, the idea of an all-black issue. Also, she was aware of the lack of diversity on the runways in recent years and the debate it fueled last fall in New York, where Bethann Hardison, a former model who ran a successful agency, held two panel discussions on the topic. (video below) Ms. Hardison hopes that the Italian Vogue issue (to which she contributed) will open people’s eyes in the industry. “They need to see what they’re missing out there,” she said. This week, in its July issue, American Vogue will have an article about the scarcity of black models.

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Yes, we were bombarded with eroticized images of the male torso (complete with frontal exposure). But frankly, speaking as a woman, I am tired of being left totally ignored as a lesbian spectator of this on-going saga, (in spite of a sweet scene where Carrie and Miranda were mistaken as a lesbian couple having a romantic dinner on Valentine’s Day, when they, in fact, were two jilted straight girls).

Yes, we certainly enjoyed the experience of seeing Samantha’s beautiful body clad only in strategically-placed pieces of homemade sushi, and Charlotte’s sensual shower-scene during which she was so beside herself with happiness that she, in a moment of forgetfulness, allowed Mexican tap-water to trickle into her mouth. But couldn’t there have been one moment of physical admiration – especially by the pool in the Mexican sun – between these so-called friends? The closest we came to a simple acknowledgment of one for the other’s body was when Samantha noticed the growth of Miranda’s pubic hair enough to imply that Miranda had provoked her husband’s lack of sexual interest, and that she should schedule a bikini-wax ASAP. (Meanwhile, we all know that the actress, Cynthia Nixon, who portrays Miranda, is in actuality an out lesbian, and deserves an Oscar for her acting during the sex-scenes with her on-screen husband.)

The lesbians of the Big Apple have had enough of being ignored and swept under the rug of this fantasized portrayal of “best girlfriends” in New York City. Besides, what would this series be without the fabulous haute couture of designer Patricia Field, whom the lesbians of New York proudly claim as one of our own?

posted by Nyna
Nyna is a screenwriter and film director. She lives in Paris and New York City.

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