Fashion

The loyal Whale Army and fashionistas everywhere have been reading my posts this week on the Green Fashion Watch and Metiria Turei’s questionable attempts at smartening herself up by paying thousands and thousands of dollars for designer clothes from an extremely posh Auckland designer called Adrienne Winkelmann.

via Kottke

A fascinating look at the hairstyling techniques of the Roman Vestal Virgins:

Studying translations of Roman literature, Ms. Stephens says, she realized the Latin term “acus” was probably being misunderstood in the context of hairdressing. Acus has several meanings including a “single-prong hairpin” or “needle and thread,” she says. Translators generally went with “hairpin.”

The single-prong pins couldn’t have held the intricate styles in place. But a needle and thread could. It backed up her hair hypothesis.

In 2007, she sent her findings to the Journal of Roman Archaeology.

As a proper bloke who prefers RM Williams boots to shoes, and wearing hunting boots as often as I can I fail to properly understand why women wear high heals…until now:

Ask a woman why she endures the awkwardness and discomfort, and she’ll probably respond, “They make me look, and feel, more attractive.” Newly published research suggests this perception is accurate, but perhaps not for the reason you’d expect.

It’s not the artificially increased height that turns heads. Rather, it’s how such footwear changes the mechanics of a woman’s gait.

“High heels may exaggerate the sex-specific aspects of the female walk,” a University of Portsmouth research team led by psychologist Paul Morrisreports in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior. While noting that preference in footwear is based in part on culture norms, they argue the enduring popularity of high-heeled shoes suggest their fundamental appeal stems from a deeper impulse.

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Len Brown was down at NZ Fashion Week today when a model went for a skate…so desperate for attention he is he fair leapt from his seat to save her. Fortunately one of my tipsters was there to catch the event.

It is pretty embarrassing falling over in the first place but even worse being rescued by the sneaky Len Brown…who is a couple of inches shorter than the model. Here he is going for the grope.

The AUSA executive protests “borrowing to live”.

Unfortunately one fool, Sam Bookman, forgets to take off expensive Calvin Klein underwear while doing so.

Perhaps should stop buying heinous overpriced undies if he can’t afford basics.

I have noticed that some younger typically hipster fools about are into those big hole ear piercings…it took about bit of research but I have found out that they are pofficially called “flesh tunnels” or scalpelling.

Scalpelling is a body art procedure similar to body piercing for the creation of decorative perforations through the skin and other body tissue, and is most commonly used as a replacement for or enhancement of ear piercing. Whereas piercing is typically performed with a hollow piercing needle or an ear piercing instrument, scalpelling is performed by using a scalpel to cut a slit into the skin. Unlike dermal punching, no flesh is removed. The technique can immediately produce holes with a larger diameter than can be achieved by piercing. This is a more rapid means of accommodating larger gauge jewellery than stretching, a technique whereby piercings are enlarged by inserting gradually larger jewellery. Scalpelling is performed to quickly achieve a large-gauge piercing, when scar tissue is preventing further stretching, if tissue has thinned to the point where further stretching could cause it to break, or to combine two closely placed piercings into one hole.

I simply don’t get it…what is the point? What sort of fool does this?

Looks like Mullet Dresses are all the rage overseas. I wonder if a mullet dress could help Paula Bennett out west this election?

Animal Prints are trending in fashion right now.

Sometimes when you cling onto something for long enough it just comes back in fashion.

Bianca Jagger in her trademark leopard print at the Serpentine Gallery summer party.

John Key is too sexy. A new take on his recent Rugby World Cup modeling experience.

The Boston Globe attempts to explain why we loathe the mullet.

At this point, it’s fair to say that the mullet is as reviled as a hairstyle can possibly be. Any doubt was erased last week, when Iran’s move to ban the ’do earned the member of the axis of evil not its usual international condemnation but a PR boost.

As New York comedian Ophira Eisenberg observed: “I am not a fan of any government giving guidelines on how people can look, but when I read that Iran banned the mullet I thought, finally, they are doing something right.’’

The mullet and a number of other styles got snipped for being “decadent,’’ but with all due respect to Iran’s culture ministry, that’s not the hairstyle’s only problem. Why does the mullet elicit such loathing? Perhaps it’s the haircut’s creepy, suggestive slogan: Business in front, party in the back. Heh, heh, heh. Or the in-your-face attitude of its devotees.

Monday Mullets - Former Red Sox pitcher Dennis Eckersley (left) and Full-House star John Stamos (right) were well known for their mullets.

Short on top, long in the back, the mullet has been worn by beloved pop culture figures from the Sphinx to Paul McCartney to Florence Henderson. A style staple throughout history, it exploded in popularity in the 1980s, sucking in everyone from Bono to Steve Perry of Journey to ninth grade boys across the US. The mullet is not without practical uses: It allows nice visibility under, say, a helmet, while shading the neck from the sun. Nevertheless, the mullet years ago turned into the red rubber nose of the coiffure world.

And not an appealing one, according to Tom Connolly, an English professor at Suffolk University and a pop culture commentator. “There is such an aggressive/humble arrogance that goes with it: ‘I’m just a country boy — do you want to go out with me?’ ’’

“It’s not a haircut,’’ Eisenberg quips, “it’s a lifestyle.’’