i am jennifer hudson

Jennifer Hudson on Vogue

jennifer kate hudson (born september 12, 1981) is an american recording artist, actress and spokesperson. she came to prominence in 2004 as a finalist on the third season of american idol, coming in seventh place. she made her film debut in dreamgirls (2006), which won her an academy award for best supporting actress, a golden globe award, a bafta award, an naacp image award and a screen actors guild award.

Jennifer Hudson: before and after

she won a grammy award for her eponymous debut album, jennifer hudson, which was released in 2008 on arista records and was certified gold by the riaa for selling over 800,000 copies in the united states; sales exceeded 1 million copies worldwide. additionally, it spawned the hit single 'spotlight'. her second album, i remember me, was released in march 2011 and reached number two on the billboard 200, selling 165,000 copies in its first week of release. the album was certified gold by the riaa, for shipping over 500,000 copies in the united states.

Hudson in Vera Wang

Hudson in Versace

in late 2008, after hudson's mother, brother and nephew were killed in a shooting, hudson stepped out of the limelight for three months. hudson resumed her public appearances in 2009 and has since performed at the super bowl xliii, the grammy awards, american idol and the oprah winfrey show. 

Jennifer Hudson in Jenny Packham

hudson has been described as a friend of president barack obama, who invited her to appear with him at a fundraiser in beverly hills in may 2009. she also performed at the white house at the 'celebration of music from the civil rights movement' event. her vocal range is mezzo-soprano. hudson has sold 1,280,000 albums and 2,237,000 tracks in the united states as of february 2012.

Jennifer Hudson at VH1 Divas

impressed? we're not quite done yet. jennifer hudson has also recently released a clothing line which is described to be 'for women of all shapes, with sizes available from 0 to 26.' (sounds a tad clique if you ask me) anyhow, here's a look at some of the pieces from the clothing line.

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men and ties

(from left) Prince William, David Beckham & Prince Harry

when it comes to ties, there is a full range of information available online. for instance, if you are looking for the history of ties, you can hop over to wikipedia. if you have a little more time to spare, do read this article from gq too. it's almost a course of everything one should know about the art of ties. for the rest of us, this is just a quick post to four ways of knotting a tie.

1) the four-in-hand knot

the four-in-hand knot is also known as a simple knot or schoolboy knot, the four-in-hand is believed to be the most popular method of tying ties due to its simplicity and style. some reports state that carriage drivers tied their reins with a four-in-hand knot, while others claim that the carriage drivers wore their scarves in the manner of a four-in-hand, but the most likely etymology is that members of the four-in-hand club in london began to wear the neckwear, making it fashionable. the knot produced by this method is on the narrow side, slightly asymmetric and appropriate for most, but not all occasions.

the four-in-hand knot is tied by placing the tie around the neck and crossing the broad end of the tie in front of the narrow end. the broad end is folded behind the narrow end and brought forward on the opposite side, passed across the front horizontally, folded behind the narrow end again, brought over the top of the knot from behind, tucked behind the horizontal pass, and the knot pulled snug. the knot is slid up the narrow end of the tie until snug against the collar. 

2) the windsor knot

the windsor knot, also referred to as a full windsor or as a double windsor to distinguish it from the half-windsor, is a method of tying a necktie. the windsor knot, compared to other methods, produces a wide symmetrical triangular knot. the knot is often thought to be named after the duke of windsor (king edward viii after his abdication). it was, however, likely invented by his father george v. the windsor knot is especially suited for a spread or cutaway collar that can properly accommodate a larger knot. for correct wear the tie used for a windsor knot should be about 4 centimetres or 1.6 inches longer than a conventional tie. 

to tie the windsor, place the tie around your neck and cross the broad end of the tie in front of the narrow end. then fold the broad end behind the narrow end and push it up through the inside of the loop around your neck. the left and right sides of the narrow end and the inside of the loop, now form a triangle. the third and fourth folds should complete one rotation around the outside of the knot. the fifth fold brings the broad end over the top of the knot from the front to the back. the sixth and seventh folds again complete one rotation around the knot. the eighth fold should again bring the broad end up over the top of the knot from behind; push the end down through the loop in front of the knot that you made with the seventh fold, work out any wrinkles, and pull the knot tight. if the tie is unbalanced, untie the knot and try again giving yourself more or less length to work with.

3) the half-windsor knot

the half-windsor knot, also known as the single windsor knot, is a way of tying a necktie which produces a neat, triangular knot. it is larger than the four-in-hand knot and pratt knot, but smaller than the windsor knot. the half-windsor is derived from the windsor in that it is only brought up around the loop on one side rather than both. it works well with light and medium-weight fabrics.

to tie the half-windsor, start with the wide end of the tie on your right and extending a foot before the narrow end. cross wide end over narrow and turn back underneath. bring it up and turn it down through the loop. pass the wide in from the front, from the left and to the right. then, end up through the loop, and put it down through the knot in the front. tighten the knot carefully and draw it up to the collar.

4) the pratt knot

the pratt knot is a method of tying a tie around one's neck and collar. it is also known as the shelby knot and the pratt-shelby. the knot was invented by jerry pratt, an employee of the us chamber of commerce. he had been wearing his tie in the pratt knot for some twenty years before it became popular after tv personality don shelby wore it on air. the new york fashion press then promptly attributed the invention of the knot to shelby.

the pratt knot is unusual in that its starting position is 'reverse side out'. it uses less length than the half-windsor or windsor knots and so is well suited to shorter ties or taller men. unlike the four-in-hand knot, the pratt method produces a symmetrical knot. it is of medium thickness. in Italy, it is simply referred to as the 'nodo alla milanese' (milan style knot).

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the best and the worst: week 08

what an interesting week this was! in particular, president barack obama was re-elected into office for a second term. 

hugz!

in the last forty years of american history, no incumbent has been returned to office with a national unemployment rate over 7.5%. the current unemployment rate in the usa is 7.9%. of course, here in singapore, most that i spoke with are happy with the win. i do have certain opinions about both camps but i shall reserve them for coffee talk.

anyway, this week was a return to fashion writing. though i need to confess that there was not much writing that needed to be done. a large portion of it was to copy, paste and format. that said, it was a good return to talking about clothes as compared to history and animals. 

so, any lessons that i learnt this week? definitely! i am no longer an over-achiever but i have gone past that to become an over-doer. i just keep doing. keeping an exercise regime, going to work and writing... i have somewhat figured out a system that i have to strictly adhere to in order for my life to not spin out of control. *pats on the back* i live another week to write you the best and the worst. 

*drum roll* the results!

best: haute, haute, haute

everyone loves a title with a double meaning. i guess it's always encouraging to have readers appreciate the wit. i can write nasty and flaming posts like these but i do it not out of spite or malice. instead, it is to make readers laugh. laughter, i strongly believe, is the best medicine. anyway, it's good to see the opening post of the week make it to number one again (the last time this happened was in week four). personally, i actually like the first post of the week because it usually coveys my personal thoughts and the 'writer' in me speaks more freely. once the rest of the week's material come about, i am often bounded by the content.

as for the worst post of the week...

worst: massaro

why, why, why? i actually like the material in this post and i thought it would be refreshing for readers to realise that haute couture is not all about clothes. shoes form an integral part of couture fashion as well. plus, massaro does have an entire range of pretty footwear. it was a tad disappointing to see the post fall flat with a single digit readership. hopefully it gets better. this is the third time that the final 'content' post hit rock bottom. well, let's hope that it doesn't happen too often.

in closing, i truly appreciate ALL your support of The Online Edition. it's wonderful to see unique views daily but what gets me going are also all the return visits that you make to this blog. that shows my writing is interesting and relevant enough for a second glance. i will try to better myself with each week!

fash'on... BAM!