the best and the worst: week 09

this, by far, is one of my favourite weeks as a blogger. yes, the hectic schedule is there and trying to find every available moment to put in posts was tough but the best moments came when i introduced my blog to more friends and i see them cringe. that is the exact reaction i wanted from readers this week. the selection of content and images were meant to provoke a response. 

after the initial 'eek-ing', my prayer was that there would be conversation on the things that they saw on my blog. increasingly, i am beginning to believe that fashion is truly a conversation. the attitudes of fashion and movement of trends is a continual exchange of ideas. this week, the quest for beauty sailed to the extremes and i must admit that i am overall pleased with the results and responses.

however, i may be glad, we still have a job to do and that is to reward and demerit. here are the results:

best: ties that bind

this post was a 'painful' post to write because no matter how one tries to cushion the material and the angle, the act of feet binding is brutal. i would like to sugarcoat the ideas behind breaking the bones of young girls and limiting their movements but i just could not. there is not explanation to such cruelty. it is definitely good that this was the best post of the week. i am hoping that everyone would then pause to reflect on the modern day parallels. have we allowed ourselves to 'bind feet' just because we want to achieve a certain stereotype?

worst: hair i am...

i think the pattern is clear. the final friday post... and most of my friends agree that it is really a factor of time that the second friday post of the week garners a lot less attention even after much marketing efforts. 

overall, readership numbers are very encouraging. not sure if i have found the formula for The Online Edition yet but it's wonderful to know that whatever i am doing, you are enjoying it. thank you!

sexiest man alive: Channing Tatum

ps: i'm bending traditions a little because i want to send my congratulations to channing tatum for being named 'sexiest man alive'

fash'on... BAM!

waist-ed beauty

if you are a returning reader after yesterday's articles, kudos to you! i salute your level of courage and bow before your high tolerance for shocking images. anyway, we shall continue looking as some rather uncomfortable things that done in the name of beauty.

The Corset

there has always been a perception that girls appear sexier if they have waspish waists and hourglass figures, but the pain and discomfort suffered in the name of sexuality must at times have been truly awful. from ancient times through all kinds of societies, corsets persisted, and still has an impact today, though the garments are now much more user friendly.

a great number of societies considered such garments vital for sexual attraction, tight garments a form of subjugation, which women seemed happy to accept. roman slaves underwent tight lacing, middle-eastern women favoring elaborately decorated tight belts to gain male admiration. as time passed restrictive bodices, of cloth or leather became women's essentials, 15th century ones stiffened with wood, whalebone or even wrought iron, and mother of french king henry iii catherine de medici wanted thirteen inch waists and no larger among female staff. 

effect of corsets

many females suffered and died young, because wanting to show off their best sexual assets could hardly have been done in less healthier ways. women in victorian times believed a tiny waist essential for every girl because wanting to be married before reaching twenty-one with a waist measurement similar to their age, was seen as vitally important in society. this meant that corsets were so tightly laced that legs and lower bodies were often permanently numb making fainting commonplace.

that said, madonna was often seen wearing corsets on her world tour and singer alicia keys wears one in the victorian style to spice up her stage act. both britney spears and victoria beckham are often seen on celebrity nights wearing corsets, which are great for accentuating the shape, though many these days feel that these garments should carry health warnings, because they once were practically instruments of torture.

attitudes may have changed today but the appeal of the corset never died completely. hourglass figures still a powerful sexual weapon, fancy corsets readily accepted as sex toys. anything that enhances gratification has a place in society and rightly so, even naturally shapely women made more attractive with that waspish waistline and in the sexual struggle every little helps.

fash'on... BAM!