Fat is beautiful

We docs spend a lot of time encouraging our patients to lose weight and exercize, but all the kerfuffle about fat models on magazine covers sort of misses the point.
Example One:

when JP said “Sorry. Not beautiful. And no amount of authoritarian tolerance is going to change that.”, the woke fought back:

“I love that he (Peterson) did this because it’s going to get us to talk about this issue. That is clearly an important issue to talk about. You can’t be one way. You have a whole bouquet of beauty,” Emme said.

well, aside from the health problems associated with obesity, the main problem with touting a plump lady on the cover is that the swimsuit is ugly, and makes her body look ugly. And the swimsuit, instead of flattering her, emphasizes her rolls of fat while letting her bosom sag.

and to make it worse, she is not smiling or looking happy: she is looking either mad or puzzled, and scratching her scalp as if she had dandruff.

If this is feminism, then I think they need a visit from the fashion police.

so why not use one of the swimsuits that actually flatter plus sized women?

LINK   

this is not about letting chubby women look nice.

nor is it an overlate push back at the anorexic models that high fashion imposes on society as normal, ignoring the health problems of these women: diet pills, anorexia nervosa and bullemia, with the problems of amenorrhea and in the long term, osteoporosis.

no wonder all those models don't smile and tend to look miserable rather than happy. 

the irony? the problem is the fashion industry that makes women ugly, not the men who look to oogle a beautiful woman.

Maybe it's time to go back to classic fashion styles to look nice.

Lane Bryant Catalogue from 1942:

https://chronically-overdressed.com/2021/05/27/1942-plus-size-vintage-styles-from-lane-bryant-catalog/

but the good news is that some stores are actually offering nice looking clothing for size 14 or over. 

and some stores are even offering swimsuits that cover us up, like burkinis and longer sleeves: Not just for modesty but a blessing for those of us prone to sunburn.

what brought this up was that Ruby just had a Canadian friend visiting, and she was pale in complexion and had numerous black moles (and yes she monitors them for melanoma). Me, I am not that pale but so far I've had two basal cell cancers removed from my face.

So yes, sunlight is good, but like everything it has a side effect.

Mrs Harris goes to Paris Film review

 

... 

the classsic story of a London charwoman (part time house cleaner) who falls in love with a Dior gown, and saves money to buy it.

Starring Leslie Manville, better known for playing Princess Margaret in the Crown.

Mrs Harris is a widow still mourning her late husband (who was listed as missing in action but now was relisted as dead, so she can move her live on and stop waiting for him). She cleans houses for the very rich, some of whom really don't see her ('we are the invisible women") and often talk down to her. 

But at one house, she sees a Dior dress and falls in love with it: It is the most beautiful dress she ever saw, and owning one becomes a dream for her. So she saves her money to buy the dress... 

when she has the money, she travels to Paris and manages not to get throw out of the Dior fashion house thanks to a kindly widower who takes her in on his ticket.

Her kindness impresses the lower staff, and they help her in their small ways, and in return she helps one young man to get the courage to court one of the models that he secretly has loved. And yes, she does get to buy her dress (and help the young man who helped her by pointing out that Dior could use their name on quality items for the growing middle class).

Unlike the previous film (see below) it is filmed as reality, not as a fairy tale, so the film does have a few small holes in the plot, (like why do the French people speak English). 

One does wish there was a short explanation of the early 1950s for the younger generation, who know little or nothing about the austerity of the World War II and post war era in England.

And after years of making do with dresses which were often just remakes of older clothes and often were durable rather than lovely, then women saw the very lovely and feminine Dior "new look" dresses exploded into the fashion world.

After the war period of utilitarian attires and vestiary austerity, perhaps nothing felt newer than Dior's vision. His first collection rejected the modern course of dressing established in the 1920s and 30s, which intended to liberate women from the restrictive sculptural volumes and corsets of early 20th-century fashion. Instead, he presented an image of radical femininity, achieved by tight-fitting jackets with padded hips, petite waists, and A-line skirts.

The desire of Mrs Harris for a lovely dress might seem trivial to the younger generation raised in a time of prosperity, who might not understand the need of a cleaning lady for something beautiful in her drab life.

But that said, the movie does hint to these realities, and the willingness of a lowly charlady/cleaning lady to follow her dream.

A most enjoyable film.

I give it five stars.

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Here is the background for the dresses seen in the film:

and here is the 1992 TV movie of the story, starring Angela Landsbury, Diane Rigg, and Omar Sharif as the count who befriends her.

 

Sunday school lesson for today

if you read the bible, (in an old fashioned translation) you will come across the phrase: gird your loins.

Uh, loins? 

that word isn't used much in English nowadays... 

once in awhile you read about a loincloth, (a man diaper) but outside of those cheezy historical films, one rarely see these used nowadays.

More commonly the word is known to those of us who cook, as a"top loin steak" (yum).

but what does "gird" mean?

The dictionary say one definition is to encircle or use a belt. Aha! as in girdle (yes, ladies, I am old enough to have worn one of them in the Madmen days of yore).

but it has another meaning;

intransitive verb: to prepare for actionboth sides are girding for battlegird one's loins: to prepare for action : muster up one's resources

But how does one "gird one's loins"?

the art of manliness has instructions:

Banned by facebook

No, not the neo Nazis or their ilk.

This short video. (yes is it "r" rated so you are warned).




headups Dustbury.

I sympathize, because you know, it is almost impossible for me to find one my size... so usually I ask relatives to bring me one or two whenever they visit.But the best ones are expensive: I would die for a decent Wacoal... or even a cheaper "cross your heart" style from Walmart.

Ironically, I can find clothes: Used clothes shops all over the place. But new clothes? nope, unless I get a seamstress to sew one up for me.

The History of Pom Poms

Ann Althouse discusses Pom Poms: no, not the ones you wave, but the fuzzy thingie on top of hats.

apparently the NYTimes is instructing their snowflakes to wear them to cheer themselves up in the face of Trumpie boy taking over.

leading to Althouse commenting:

By the way, is it really hard to take yourself seriously when your wearing a hat with a pompom?

I don't know. My grandson and now Naval officer Dane used to wear a knitted cap with a pom pom all the time. And he is the serious one of the family...in a Napoleon Dynamite kind of way.


Althouse also links to Wikipedia that the pompom on hats has a long and serious tradition as a decoration on military and religious caps.

Pom-poms form a conspicuous part of the uniform of French naval personnel, being sewn onto the crown of their round cap.
Belgian sailors wear a light blue version....
Roman Catholic clergy[edit] Roman Catholic clergy wear the biretta.

wikipedia commons

Father Z was just asking people to donate to a fund so seminarians can get one to wear, and I blasted him, noting they cost almost 300 dollars, and the money would be better spent if sent to pay the school fees of Africans wanting to be priests (like my friend's nephew)

But that shows the diversity of Catholicism: He is pushing tradition in worship and dress, to remind people of their heritage. I sort of prefer our old bishop in Africa who dressed like a local (white) farmer when he made his rounds of the missions, and was almost thrown out of the hospital by one of our new (European) sisters who didn't recognize him. (However, the bishop who replaced him did wear the traditional black suit and collar so he would be recognized as clergy.)

I am closer to Francis (both the saint and the pope) who says: Why waste money on these things when you have the poor? Of course, Jesus pointed out that you need a balance in these things. And of course, too much "help the poor" results in a bland colourless and mechanized life, without the joy brought to you by beauty and art.

So I apologize: If the NYTimes can promote PomPoms to rich elites to make them feel more cheerful, I guess it's okay to help pious seminarians who are trying "step by step" (to use Father's phrase) to restore tradition and dignity to the happy-happy-we-are-all-wonderful modern church services held in churches that look like the inside of an airplane hanger.

we still see vestigial of medieval dress in the world, but do people still learn what they mean in today's PC world?

 Because medieval universities often were run by churches,the Wikipedia page also notes that some universities (mainly European ones) use the Biretta as part of their academic costume.

The robes are now worn by all and sundry, (even kindergarten graduations wear gowns DUH)...but originally they were uniforms, and the color and sashes and hats varied with your degree. If I remember correctly, our graduation robe was black, but our sash was Green for MD. 

and one of our professors, who was one of the German Jewish professors hired by our medical college after Hitler threw them out, had a biretta instead of a mortarboard...or maybe it was a professional Tam, 

Asian Journal article on Academic gown history.

Tam Tams are typically used for Doctoral degrees, though some Master’s programs do use them. Tams are made from velvet, and usually have a ribbon over the fabric, and in black.

Color variations do occur with some colleges. The number of sides vary, and can be four, six, or eight-sided, eight, six, or four sides. Four-sided is usually only used for Master’s degrees, while six and eight sided are used for Doctor’s degrees depending on which the University prefers.

Tams are “poofed” at the top instead of flat, and come with a tassel usually in gold, with one or two buttons and sometimes in a gold bullion color.

Mortarboard or cap Mortarboards are flat rather than “poufy” at the top, are not made from velvet, and are also usually black but come in a variety of colors and variations are more frequent than with tams.

Mortarboards have only four sides, and typically have a tassel with a single button at the top, usually in the color of the degree-granting institution. Tassel is worn on left after graduation (on right before the big moment). Usually black for undergraduates, but Masters have the option of wearing discipline color while Doctors usually wear gold.

(AJPress) Source: “The History of Academical Dress in Europe Until the End of the Eighteenth Century,” by Hargreaves-Mawdsley, WN, Oxford University Press 1963

Factoid of the day

The History of the (Medieval Irish) Mullet.

In the medieval period the Gaelic Irish sported a hairstyle known as a cúlán (pronounced cool – awn). This was described in the 1297 parliament as having their “heads half shaved and grow their hair long at the back”. This parliament in Dublin banned Anglo Normans cutting their hair in this fashion describing it as “degenerate”. The Anglo Normans had no time for such hair cuts believing that long hair was a sign of femininity...

The 1297 parliament was convened “to establish peace more firmly” and issued a range of edicts to try and establish some control over a land that increasingly lawless. They banned Anglo Normans dressing in native Irish dress or cutting their hair in this fashion in an effort to visibly distinguish and seperate the two groups.

Congratulations to BryanBoy

who got mentioned as a major fashion blogger in InStyle.

I don't link to him because this is a PG rated blog, and I rarely cover fashion, but BryanBoy is famous in the Philippines as our number one blogger.

Stuff below the fold

Modesty making a comeback? as in self respect, not prudery...
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It's hard for us "full figured gals" to be modest...often we find our clothes don't fit right.
here is a "bounce o meter" guide that shows what I mean...
Don't laugh...bouncing can cause skin abraisions and even galactorrhea...
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Webecoist has a list of Frankenfoods: The good, the bad and the ugly...
Golden rice could prevent vitamin A deficiency, a major cause of blindness in some third world countries.
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Homemade cough remedies...
Here in the Philippines, we use ginger tea...
but chocolate works too....and I use either coffee or strong tea for coughing...the caffeine relieves mild asthma that can cause coughing.
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Green golfing...use a Llama instead of a golfcart to carry your bags, and walk...
but watch where you step...
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Death by algae... Nitrogen waste from farming increase the amount of sea lettuce, which releases Hydrogen Sulfide gas as it rots.
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and your heartwarming story of the day:

Lucky the Box turtle had his front legs bitten off by a Racoon. He has now had furniture sliders fitted under his shell so he can slide around Photo: BARCROFT

Regency dresses: The fashion of Jane Austen

Attention Jane Austen Fans: Pemberly Couture blog discusses how she makes regency gowns...
She sells them at Etsy, but if you can't make your own patterns but want to dress up as Elizabeth Bennett, Regency Patterns can be HERE. (includes e-patterns).
and yes, she also sells Doll patterns...

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and, for the men:


Cravats were wrapped tightly around the neck ending in bows of varying length. Cravats, at this period, were sometimes as much as a foot high, with the points of the collars rising half-way up the face and obliging gentlemen to keep their chins and their heads well up in the air.


And you thought tieing a neck tie was hard...