Model medical exams won't prevent anorexia deaths

For awhile now governments and the fashion industry have been debating having routine medical exams (costing $500 each) to screen the fashion industry for underweight fashion models are have health problems due to obsessive dieting and anorexia.

The British Fashion Council has rejected the call for mandatory medical exams, stating that the average model is only paid $500 per appearance, so who is going to pay the bill? The models or the fashion show organizers?

There is also questions about whether medical exams would be effective, as models could easily put on weight to pass the medical exam and then lose weight soon after.

Pressure on the industry has intensified in recent years, particularly after models in Brazil and Uruguay collapsed and died from medical complications arising from their ultra-thin stature. 22 year old Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos collapsed soon after stepping off the runway in August 2006. Months later her 18-year-old sister Eliana (above right) also was found dead. Both died of anorexia-linked heart attacks.

Models who have suffered from anorexia in the past, such as Carre Otis, are also pushing for more controls on how younger models are selected. Obviously the industry is pushing for the thinnest models they can find, the so-called "clothes-hanger look" that effectively causes the clothes to fall loosely on the body.

But is having clothes fall loosely on the body really an effective mean of advertising? Does it not make more sense to have models with more curves and good looks than the "skeletons" currently walking down the catwalks?

Wouldn't the fashion industry be better off if they ditched the self-imposed anorexia and controversy? Or is the industry deliberately using controversy to sell their clothes on a hapless consumer culture?

Two DIY Scarves

Hey Canada! Are you cold this winter? Get yourself a scarf!

Can't afford to buy a new scarf? Make your own!

Here is two easy ways to make your own using recycled fabric.

#1. Take an old piece of clothing you don't wear any more and cut it into one long strip using scissors. Then add turn the ends into decorative frills by cutting uniform ribbons into the ends using the scissors.

#2. Take an old shirt or blouse that has buttons and cut the shirt horizontally, and leave the button where it is. Unbutton it, reverse half of the shirt 180 degrees, and then rebutton. Voila! You now have an infinity scarf that can detach where the button is.

Welcome to fashionsalon.ca, our new domain name!

So we finally decided to take the leap and register this blog as fashionsalon.ca - which means several things.

#1. Please feel free to promote / share things you see on our website. Free advertising is awesome! Feel free to use the banner shown on the right or make up your own banner to help advertise fashionsalon.ca.

#2. We will be posting new fashion articles more often! See #4...

#3. We are looking for new fashion bloggers to join us! Email our website designer charlesmoffat@charlesmoffat.com to be added to the list of Fashion Salon writers. Charles will add you to the list and you will receive an acceptance email from Blogger for you to sign up via.

#4. We will be ramping up the content on our website (redesigning it a bit too) in an effort to make Fashion Salon more popular than ever before. The goal here is to turn Fashion Salon into a popular website for people to post fashion news, commentary and historical info.

#5. We will be dedicating more time to also promoting Fashion Salon via advertising, but every bit helps so feel free to give us a boost via Twitter, Facebook, your personal website, etc. We appreciate the help!

#6. You may have noticed the .ca in the domain name. This means we will also be posting more Canadian fashion content in the future. We will continue to post American, British and International fashion articles - but there will be a stronger Canadian presence.

Thank you for supporting Fashion Salon and making it so popular!

Just how popular is Fashion Salon? Well we recently surpassed 775,000 hits - and as we approach the big 1,000,000 we felt we should finally have a domain name dedicated to this website.

Thank you for everyone's support!

Sincerely,
Suzanne MacNevin
Montreal, Canada

Roses as a Fashion Accessory

Roses and Fashion

Roses have always been a fashion accessory. Whether they are in the form of embroidery, lace or printed on fabric, roses are a mainstay in the fashion world. From colour to shape to pattern, roses make great addition to anyone fashion repertoire. Below we will look at the great ways we can work roses into our fashion sense and also what not to do if we want to use roses in the best way.

When Roses Go Wrong

We all remember that unfortunate day when Kim Kardashian decided to wear her grandmother's couch upholstery to the biggest night in celebrity fashion, the Met's costume ball gala. Exactly what she was thinking is beyond even the most knowledgeable fashion minds. We all know it was horrible, but what exactly made it so bad. Well it was not the roses themselves. Roses can make a wonderful print when used properly. Perhaps it was the size of the roses that was the problem. The roses that were printed on the fabric were so large that they seem out of place on a human being. They seem more appropriate on furniture or as a curtain. Here is a tip when using roses as a pattern, don't make them too big.

Also good for the workplace, or even as a business casual accessory.

Pick A Colour, Any Colour

Roses come in so many colours and fortunately every colour makes a great fashion choice. You can always go for the standard red of a Claret rose which always makes a statement. Or you can go with the pale pink of a A Whiter Shade of Pale (yes, that is the name of the rose). For the summer time, you may want to think about wearing the bright yellow of an Absolutely Fabulous. Or you can go with your basic black. That's right roses come in black. The famous Halfeti rose from Turkey is the only rose that is black that you can find in nature. But there is also the flat roof rose which you can find at any flat roofing company. Now it is not what you thinking, roses don't grow on flat roofs, but if you go and ask your local flat roof company you may be able to get them to dunk a rose into their leftover ToughRoof flat roof tar (see How to Make Black Roses using Roofing Tar) which also talks about making preserved waterproof roses using Royal Basement Waterproofing liquid) and try making a black rose for yourself.

See the following pages if you like the idea of making your own preserved roses using bizarre materials:

Consider Crafty Roses for Valentine's Day

Reasonably Pretty Preserved Roses for Valentine's Day

Honestly I think I would just use an art fixative myself, but it is interesting to see the DIY stuff people post on the internet.

But How Do I Wear A Rose

In anyway you like. Literally, you can do whatever you want. You can wear an actual rose. You can accessorize in the most common way, i.e. place a beautiful red rose in your hair if you are a lady or in your suit label if you are a man. Or as a corsage like you would at a wedding or prom.

Or you can wear roses as a print, but beware of the advice I gave above. You can wear the colour of your favourite rose if you are looking for inspiration. Or you can wear a rose in the form of embroidery or as lace.

Really, there are so many choices out there all you have to do is decide.

Old Fashioned Winter Cloaks and Capes

Okay so I found the cape on the right on Etsy, but what I was originally looking for was old fashioned cloaks.

The great thing about old fashioned style cloaks is just how amazingly warm they keep the wearer. Even though they are open at the front and the bottom, the cloak hoards heat and traps it inside making it amazingly warm - and there is still plenty of ventilation so you never feel like you are overheating.

But finding stores that sell such cloaks are a bit hard to find. I am looking for a full length cloak, that goes down past your knees (true full length cloaks drag on the ground a bit, which means they have to be cleaned regularly).

Sort of like the ones you see in the TV show "Game of Thrones" and worn by Sansa Stark, Rob Stark, Jon Snow, Eddard Stark, etc. Below is a photo of Sansa Stark's cloak with a hood.

One of the things I like about Sansa is that she is always amazingly well dressed. Even when her world feels like it is falling apart around her, she is always surprisingly well dressed (and well mannered even when being slapped by Joffrey's henchmen). But you can see the fire of rebellion in her eyes.

Below is an example of the dress Sansa wears to her aunt's funeral:

Anyway, back to cloaks.

The only websites I can find cloaks on apparently are medieval times websites that sell "costumes" and Etsy. Below are examples of cloaks I found on Etsy and similar websites.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The phrase "One Size Fits All" means one of three things:

1. That the item of clothing in question is adjustable, often through straps, buckles, etc. However this level of adjustment doesn't always mean that it fits everyone. It just means it fits people within the range of adjustability.

2. That the item of clothing stretches. However there are limits to how far clothing can stretch. eg. If watching The Incredible Hulk on DVD, you know there is no way those pants of his stretch enough to keep covering his big green behind. He is simply too big.

3. That the item of clothing both stretches and has adjustable straps and buckles. This gives a much bigger range of comfort.

However "One Size Fits All" doesn't mean that the clothing in question is comfortable to wear - or fashionable. Often it means you will feel like a sausage being squeezed, as says one of the people in the video below which shows women of different sizes trying on various so called "one size fits all" pieces of clothing. As you can see in the video the clothing often doesn't really fit and is also uncomfortable.



I will say however that there are a few articles of clothing out there that do actually fit almost anyone and don't have to be adjusted or stretchy. They are:

Floppy Hats or Straw Hats
Certain types of Wrap Dresses (not all wrap dresses are capable)
Wrap Skirts
Large Scarves
Ponchos
Jewelry (depends on the jewelry)
Shawls
Capes
Cloaks

Basically just the clothing that by their very nature are adjustable to many different sizes.

I am not predicting there will be a huge increase in the number of people out there wearing capes or cloaks however - not unless we see a huge drop in global temperatures. (Old fashioned cloaks are super warm to wear in the winter.)