Small Talk: The Accessory Wall

[Bees]

On 9/26/2016 at 7:49 PM, auntlada said:

Other than breast pockets on shirts, I've always wished all women's clothing had the pockets that men's clothing does.

I read an article this year about how men love cargo shorts and their wives and girlfriends hate them and want to get rid of them so their husbands and boyfriends won't wear them. All I could think was, "Where can I find some cargo shorts that will fit me?" (Actually, I want cargo pants -- specifically for the pockets -- but can't find any for women.)

This is a mystery that has been plaguing me for ages. I love cargo shorts but they don't even have them for women. I found a pair that was sort of close to cargo shorts (they're Bermuda styled) but the pockets aren't as vast as men's pockets but they do have more color variety. You can check Kohl's for that.

That's a huge reason why I prefer to wear men's jeans and cargo shorts -- much more pocket space. I like to carry my change in my pockets and a few other things. I use my purse for everything else. 

[auntlada]

I would love to wear men's jeans and shorts, but my hips are too much bigger than my waist.

[answerphone]

How about this for a challenge. What would you design for Hillary Clinton to wear on the campaign trail? Or Mike Pence's wife? Politics aside, the flattering outfits for middle age plus women are few and far between. Not everyone has Heidi Klum's figure.

[BW Manilowe]

Couldn't find a Zac thread, & this isn't really about the show, so I'm posting here.

Awhile back, maybe as far back as that team challenge to design uniforms for Susan Sarandon's ping-pong related "social club", Zac was asked to redo the "frontline" uniforms (flight attendant &, I think, customer service) for Delta Air Lines employees. What he came up with was unveiled today. There's a photo gallery of the designs at the top/middle of the article:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2016/10/18/delta-unveils-new-uniforms-60000-frontline-workers/92360172/

[auntlada]

I haven't flown in a long time. Do male flight attendants usually wear three-piece suits?

[BW Manilowe]

11 hours ago, auntlada said:

I haven't flown in a long time. Do male flight attendants usually wear three-piece suits?

I think it probably depends on the designer, the airline, & what they're looking for in a uniform for their male flight attendants.

What surprised me most was the purple/eggplant color of at least the female's uniform since it's so far off from Delta's corporate colors--airline uniforms normally include the airline's "livery" (color scheme on the plane's outside) colors; Delta's colors are red, white, & blue--none of which appear in the uniforms except on their wings. They haven't had a non-red, white, & blue uniform in a long time. I'm just surprised Zac chose purple/eggplant, of all the non-Delta colors he could've used.

[Lamb18]

I heard about this on the radio and my first thought was "wasn't there a judging comment about flight attendant uniforms this past episode or the one before?" And maybe stated by Zac himself? (or Heidi)

[7-Zark-7]

It seems practical for designers to choose models who are all within a size of each other. If you're a designer with mostly size 2 models and you make a great outfit for that one size 16 model and she gets held up in crosstown traffic (it happens in fashion week), you're fucked. But if all of your models are near the same size, you can choose someone else. Shows are way too costly for a designer to take risks of things not running smoothly.

[Vermicious Knid]

The Washington Post has a great article relevant to the discussion on creating fashion for plus size women; Online retailers seize on long-ignored market: Women size 16 and up.

Quote

Retailers have neglected those women for years, an oversight that many in the industry say comes down to bias. Designer Prabal Gurung, whose celebrity clients include Oprah Winfrey and Melissa McCarthy, says he has always offered up to a size 22, but most retailers “typically don’t buy beyond a 14.”

“Progress in the industry has still been slow,” said Gurung, who has partnered with Lane Bryant to create a line for women sizes 10 to 28. “For the longest time, they have been pushed aside.”

And, designers and stylists say, the industry’s sense of “normal” has long been skewed by runway shows and high-fashion magazines filled with rail-thin women.

I had no idea all bra sizes are based on scaling up from a 34B. Just, no.

WaPo allows a certain number of free articles per month, so if you haven't used up your allotment there's also a link to another article within this one they did on retailer Ashley Stewart that got out of bankruptcy by catering specifically to black women.

I thought Brandon's outfit was terrible and ridiculous. But they weren't going to give it to Michael because he won last week.

[jhlipton]

6 hours ago, 7-Zark-7 said:

It seems practical for designers to choose models who are all within a size of each other. If you're a designer with mostly size 2 models and you make a great outfit for that one size 16 model and she gets held up in crosstown traffic (it happens in fashion week), you're fucked. But if all of your models are near the same size, you can choose someone else. Shows are way too costly for a designer to take risks of things not running smoothly.

There's also height and skin color -- what looks good on a white woman might not look good on a black woman, and vice versa.  The solution is to have a group of clones. 

Or the show can write around it.  Game shows often have a disclaimer: portions of the show not affecting outcome have been reshot, ot something like that.

[7-Zark-7]

4 hours ago, jhlipton said:

what looks good on a white woman might not look good on a black woman, and vice versa.  The solution is to have a group of clones. 

I would say there is a difference between clothes not looking their best and clothes not fitting at all, but to each her own.

[film noire]

Quote

I get the temptation to compare this to anorexia and steroid abuse, but that's a faulty parallel: these are extreme measures people take to look like the airbrushed ads they see on TV (and often impacted by mental health). Representing Tess as beautiful is not another example of this, but an attempt to do the opposite! The message is "you are beautiful the way you are". It makes me sad that this message is construed as a bad thing. 

Tim Gunn was on Bill Maher's show last week & Maher insisted (in several ways) that fat people have no place in fashion, to which Gunn said (in part) "The fashion industry is complicit with the media in general and how we portray the ideal of beauty. My belief is we need to show much more diversity in size and show that, forgive the term, but big is beautiful.” (Unfortunately, Tim also equated "dressing slovenly" with being "morally slovenly" -- hello, puritanism! -- but at least he coherently expressed why diversity is necessary in fashion.)

Edited September 19, 2017 by film noire

[jhlipton]

2 hours ago, film noire said:

Unfortunately, Tim also equated "dressing slovenly" with being "morally slovenly" -- hello, puritanism!

This is Tim Gunn after all.  I'm sure that to him, a badly tied cravat or mismatching socks are like fingernails on a chalkboard.

[film noire]

Quote

I get the temptation to compare this to anorexia and steroid abuse, but that's a faulty parallel: these are extreme measures people take to look like the airbrushed ads they see on TV (and often impacted by mental health). Representing Tess as beautiful is not another example of this, but an attempt to do the opposite! The message is "you are beautiful the way you are". 

So well said. 

Simply Be, London fashion week 2017:  I love the "fuck you" behind the models wearing their (supposedly shameful) sizes.

[sleepyjean]

I just came across this little gem on YouTube. Project Runway alum Erin "Neon Yellow" Robertson has invented the Ta-Ta Towel. For the low low low price of $45, you too can be free of the horrors of underboob sweat. Read about it here      and here.

[Tabbygirl521]

3 hours ago, sleepyjean said:

I just came across this little gem on YouTube. Project Runway alum Erin "Neon Yellow" Robertson has invented the Ta-Ta Towel. For the low low low price of $45, you too can be free of the horrors of underboob sweat. Read about it here      and here.

I don't even know what to say. And I got a kick out of most of Erin's stuff. 

[Nordly Beaumont]

If these weren't so expensive, I'd buy one. Not for boob sweat though. I garden in a hot humid area, so boob sweat is just something that happens and I don't fight it. But when I'm just sitting around the house it would be nice to have something that keeps the girls up off my tubby gut without the tight strap around my body. I may try to make my own!

Edited September 25, 2017 by Nordly Beaumont

[latetotheparty]

28 minutes ago, Nordly Beaumont said:

If these weren't so expensive, I'd buy one. Not for boob sweat though. I garden in a hot humid area, so boob sweat is just something that happens and I don't fight it. But when I'm just sitting around the house it would be nice to have something that keeps the girls up off my tubby gut without the tight strap around my body. I may try to make my own!

You make an excellent point. Now I wish I could sew. 

[sleepyjean]

1 hour ago, Nordly Beaumont said:

If these weren't so expensive, I'd buy one. Not for boob sweat though. I garden in a hot humid area, so boob sweat is just something that happens and I don't fight it. But when I'm just sitting around the house it would be nice to have something that keeps the girls up off my tubby gut without the tight strap around my body. I may try to make my own!

It looks pretty easy!

[tiramisue]

Soooo, according to that one article, Erin had the idea because she had underboob sweat and it's released with the smallest size being "big C to DD", because you wouldn't have underboob sweat with smaller breasts.

Something doesn't add up about the origin story of those things, you can't tell me she her breasts are a large C or above.

And seriously $45 for that?!

[pigs-in-space]

Can we talk about how hideous the JCPenney Project Runway line is?  The pepto pink, off-the-shoulder "bomber" jacket that really looks like a track suit jacket.  The awful velour dress that looks like a nineties reject.  Trying to make basic, boring items look interesting by adding some random lacing.

The only thing that looks remotely appealing to me is the red moto jacket, but I'd wager that it looks cheaper in person than it does in the pictures.

[BlackberryJam]

Cheap, sad fabric for every single garment. Make these with higher quality materials and they would look much better. That wrinkled, nasty satin is terrible.

[film noire]

Anybody visit The Sartorialist?

I love their vintage section - the clothing is gorgeous -- this is Riccione, Italy, 1933:

 

A woman named Sabina Yanes, Canary Islands, 1928. (She's thirteen.)

 

Seventies; a man named Gasslander on a train in Germany.

 

Marianne Breslauer

Edited September 30, 2017 by film noire

[Nancypants]

On 9/28/2017 at 10:49 PM, pigs-in-space said:

Can we talk about how hideous the JCPenney Project Runway line is?  The pepto pink, off-the-shoulder "bomber" jacket that really looks like a track suit jacket.  The awful velour dress that looks like a nineties reject.  Trying to make basic, boring items look interesting by adding some random lacing.

The only thing that looks remotely appealing to me is the red moto jacket, but I'd wager that it looks cheaper in person than it does in the pictures.

Oh my God, its all Hiddy! Allid it, every last piece!

I have to wonder if Project Runway is a joke in the fashion world.

[Wings]

24 minutes ago, Nancypants said:

Oh my God, its all Hiddy! Allid it, every last piece!

I have to wonder if Project Runway is a joke in the fashion world.

I don't think so.  Ceriano is a sought after, respected designer and he started there.  Others, too but no one  as prominent as Christian. 

[Nancypants]

1 minute ago, wings707 said:

I don't think so.  Ceriano is a sought after, respected designer and he started there.  Others, too but no one  as prominent as Christian. 

Ok, that's One dude. I'm talking bout the institution that is PR on the whole.

[meep.meep]

I think that the industry recognizes that the people who go on PR are there for publicity.  They don't do their best work on the show, but it is a way, one way, of getting noticed.

Christian Siriano has done well, but so have Chris March, Kara Saun, and Austin Scarlett.  And others who I don't hear about because I'm not really into fashion.

And what Heidi says about the fashion world is true - one moment you are in, and the next you are out.  That has happened to plenty of people who never went on PR.

[auntlada]

Moved from episode 7 thread. Because it wasn't really about the episode.

I think there is a difference in being happy with how you are or look and being proud of it. I think it is OK to be happy how you are, but I don't understand being proud of it, regardless of your size, except in the case of people who have worked hard to achieve it -- whether losing weight or building muscle or whatever. To me, being proud is for stuff you do and achieve, not for what you just happen to be. I don't think being a size 18, for example, is anything to be proud of any more than a size 0 is something to be proud of. But it's certainly something you can be happy with.

[leighdear]

Michael Costello's dresses have also been on quite a few Red Carpets.  

For some folks, the size thing is even more complicated than just having awesome clothes regardless of your size.  The biggest challenge I've found is trying to dress nicely while losing weight.  I've lost 22 pounds (slowly) in the last 7 months.  It sounds like more than it looks.  I started at a comfy size 16 and now am between a 14 and a 12.  14 is baggy and 12 is tight.  And these have to be work clothes for a very conservative and professional office.  No jeans, no t's, nothing even remotely casual though thankfully, pants are ok. 

I'd say that 75% of my work wardrobe I've either had to alter myself, or I've bought at consignment shops.  And the interesting thing is that with items like nice trousers from a few years past, I have to find a size 16 or 18 because those measurements are the same as what a 14 or 12 is now!  It's insane and takes a lot of time & effort.  

[SingleMaltBlonde]

10 hours ago, leighdear said:

Michael Costello's dresses have also been on quite a few Red Carpets.  

For some folks, the size thing is even more complicated than just having awesome clothes regardless of your size.  The biggest challenge I've found is trying to dress nicely while losing weight.  I've lost 22 pounds (slowly) in the last 7 months.  It sounds like more than it looks.  I started at a comfy size 16 and now am between a 14 and a 12.  14 is baggy and 12 is tight.  And these have to be work clothes for a very conservative and professional office.  No jeans, no t's, nothing even remotely casual though thankfully, pants are ok. 

I'd say that 75% of my work wardrobe I've either had to alter myself, or I've bought at consignment shops.  And the interesting thing is that with items like nice trousers from a few years past, I have to find a size 16 or 18 because those measurements are the same as what a 14 or 12 is now!  It's insane and takes a lot of time & effort.  

Have you looked at Gwennie Bee?  

[BabyVegas]

On ‎9‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 7:46 PM, auntlada said:

I think there is a difference in being happy with how you are or look and being proud of it. I think it is OK to be happy how you are, but I don't understand being proud of it, regardless of your size, except in the case of people who have worked hard to achieve it -- whether losing weight or building muscle or whatever. To me, being proud is for stuff you do and achieve, not for what you just happen to be. I don't think being a size 18, for example, is anything to be proud of any more than a size 0 is something to be proud of. But it's certainly something you can be happy with.

I don't think the pride is because of your size, so much as being proud in spite of it. How often do you see someone who is a size six and does almost no work to maintain that size being proud of it? Rarely, because it's just not necessary. For many larger women (and when I say larger, I'm saying pretty much anything size 12 or over), the fashion industry has spent years and years telling them, both covertly and overtly, just how unwelcome they are. For example, Macy's hides its plus size section in the basement of most of its stores. Nordstrom has a very limited selection in-store of plus size items and most of what they have has to be ordered online. The clothing at Lane Bryant has been mocked in pretty much every available fashion forum. And that's without even getting into a lot of the issues of racism (for example, different ideal body types for POC) and classism (obesity has long been associated with being poor and is still often seen that way) that are part of why plus-size people have a very fraught relationship with the fashion industry. The positivity that you're talking about is primarily a way of saying "I don't care if you don't think I should exist, I do exist and I am not ashamed to exist."

[film noire]

On 9/30/2017 at 10:46 PM, auntlada said:

 I think it is OK to be happy how you are, but I don't understand being proud of it, regardless of your size, except in the case of people who have worked hard to achieve it 

I agree that's how it should be, but then again: To look at a body the world hates and say, "You are beautiful"  is a huge achievement. 

And it doesn't fall like a ripe plum into the hand; you have to work to get there.

So there's rightful pride in having achieved that --  in having escaped the self hatred and self disgust the world forces onto any woman who is not a size 0, never mind a size 22 -- that takes everything to accomplish.

Edited October 2, 2017 by film noire

[jhlipton]

10 hours ago, BabyVegas said:

The positivity that you're talking about is primarily a way of saying "I don't care if you don't think I should exist, I do exist and I am not ashamed to exist."

Exactly, as well as what @film noire said.  Think of the " gay and proud" and "black and proud" movements.  Neither being gay or black is something that a person worked to achieve, but facing the hate and holding your head high is.

[bostonbarney]

15 hours ago, BabyVegas said:

...(obesity has long been associated with being poor and is still often seen that way) that are part of why plus-size people have a very fraught relationship with the fashion industry. 

 

Actually, back in the day (waaay back in the day), extra meat on the bones was desirable because it indicated that you were wealthy enough to have enough food to eat. "Rubenesque" wasn't always a dirty word :-)

[leighdear]

21 hours ago, SingleMaltBlonde said:

Have you looked at Gwennie Bee?  

I did check out the subscription rates and some of the samples, and I just don't want to spend that much money on stuff I can't try on first.  The styles are pretty "current", and a bit too much for my conservative office.  And the whole mailing thing, coming in and going out is a hassle.  I just don't want to put that much effort into it. 

Browsing through my 2nd hand stores on Saturdays is cool by me.  

[Nancypants]

Next season: makeup by Wet n Wild, use the Dollar Store Accessory Wall THOUGHTFULLY!

[gingerandcloves]

I find it kind of strange, that the show can attract fairly well-known people as guest judges (and even permanent judges), but can't seem to attract companies to sponsor the hair/makeup/accessories. It can't be *that* expensive to provide those items, and you'd think the exposure would be worth it. 

[AntAnn]

You’d think so, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Walmart or Amazon will be sponsoring in the the near future (no disrespect meant to those who work or shop at Walmart or Amazon.) JMO and i’m rather snarky tonight ;)

[AZChristian]

Did anyone watch "The Little Couple" last night?  I'm always impressed with Jen's clothing, and they showed her going to the boutique where she shops.  Her designer / alterations expert is Chloe Dao, winner of Season Two (back when the show was about sewing and designing beautiful clothes).

[Beaner]

Not sure if there was a preview of "client on the go" challenge this week. Of course we'll have the "treat" of the twins face off, the cheating scandal revealed, real housewife judge whose name escapes me...lots to look forward to, lol! I'm wondering what the actual challenge is for the designers. Did they preview that piece of it? I can't seem to remember.

[Nancypants]

I hope they use a double elimination THOUGHTFULLY. But only After forcing one twin to throw the other under the bus.

[jhlipton]

I haven't seen anything to support @bibblebop's contention that they are alive when skinned.

Edited November 5, 2017 by jhlipton
Topic already exists

[Kristimar]

On 10/18/2016 at 3:59 PM, BW Manilowe said:

Couldn't find a Zac thread, & this isn't really about the show, so I'm posting here.

Awhile back, maybe as far back as that team challenge to design uniforms for Susan Sarandon's ping-pong related "social club", Zac was asked to redo the "frontline" uniforms (flight attendant &, I think, customer service) for Delta Air Lines employees. What he came up with was unveiled today. There's a photo gallery of the designs at the top/middle of the article:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2016/10/18/delta-unveils-new-uniforms-60000-frontline-workers/92360172/

I know this is over a year late, but I sure didn't see any Delta attendant on a recent trip out of the country in anything like Zac's designs. The only one that sticks in my brain happened on the long haul to London. I was in premium economy, just behind the 'veil of status' that separated me from the elite. When we were being served snacks, I could see the marked difference. The well-put together attendant in first class was wheeling a small cart serving snacks from a three-tiered tea tray, serving drinks out of glasses. The attendant we had looked as if she had just stepped out of a hot kitchen. Her hair was disheveled, her face was 'moist' and the tail of her blouse was coming out of her waistband. It was... sad. Just really sad.

[enoughcats]

Did Brandon study the Vogue Pattern book?

This pattern may no longer be available (which implies it's been out for a while), but it does have lots of dangly things, about the same density that Brandon uses.

https://voguepatterns.mccall.com/v1347

[Jesse]

Looking for information on "modest fashion," I found this article that I thought did a good job of laying out the discussion points people have been hashing over here.... http://www.refinery29.com/2017/01/134958/modest-clothing-fashion-trend

[hula-la]

On 2017-11-11 at 11:41 AM, Jesse said:

Looking for information on "modest fashion," I found this article that I thought did a good job of laying out the discussion points people have been hashing over here.... http://www.refinery29.com/2017/01/134958/modest-clothing-fashion-trend

I was coming to post something similar from the New York Times. I like your article, @Jesse as it will make for great discussions with my fashion merchandising students https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/t-magazine/modest-fashion-clothes.html?mc=adintl&mcid=facebook&mccr=subscribers&subid2=yellow&ad-keywords=GlobalTruth&subid1=TAFI&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com

[enoughcats]

I went shopping at Mood today, Mood NYC, that is.  From the comfort of my home in Tennessee.  I didn't even get designer fabrics first.  I needed heavy weight denim in the color black and the limited local fabric stores didn't have it.  Nor did the upholdstery story I have ordered from in north central Indiana. 

I hadn't been to the mood website in a long time (since checking the hours of the one in LA before our trip out there.)  I found the fabric I wanted. Their website worked well.  Then I had to go and look at the designer fabrics....you can probably guess the rest. (but just one piece).  

It was fun.  Highly recommended for a cold winter's day.

[chitowngirl]

7 hours ago, enoughcats said:

I went shopping at Mood today, Mood NYC, that is.  From the comfort of my home in Tennessee.  I didn't even get designer fabrics first.  I needed heavy weight denim in the color black and the limited local fabric stores didn't have it.  Nor did the upholdstery story I have ordered from in north central Indiana. 

I hadn't been to the mood website in a long time (since checking the hours of the one in LA before our trip out there.)  I found the fabric I wanted. Their website worked well.  Then I had to go and look at the designer fabrics....you can probably guess the rest. (but just one piece).  

It was fun.  Highly recommended for a cold winter's day.

Did you see Swatch?

Edited November 14, 2017 by chitowngirl

[enoughcats]

25 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

Did you see Swatch?

Nope, because I did my shopping though my PC.  In California I did meet the dog out there.  If you are a fan of Swatch (who isn't), the Mood Store has so much more now.  Lots of choices of bags for carrying fabric and lots of Swatch images.  

[Diane Mars]

I'm not sure where to put it, so it will be here...

https://www.boredpanda.com/celebrity-outfits-recreated-2-tom-lenk

I hope you'll like it, because I'm sure you'll take the references and why I wanted to share :)