The Bride of Frankenstein?

I admit, I watch a few reality television shows.  I am addicted to The Bachelor/ette.  I enjoy Project Runway.  I occasionally cry while watching an episode of Extreme Home Makeover. Others, I stay away from completely because I just don't get the appeal.

Today, the newest entry into the reality-tv fray has left me completely dumbfounded.  There have been shows focused on brides-to-be before.  There have also been shows focused on plastic surgery before.  But when happens when you combine the two topics?

Bridalplasty happens.

What is Bridalplasty, you ask?

It is a new reality TV show being launched by the E! Network.  According to the Hollywood Reporter:

"...brides-to-be [will] compete in wedding-themed challenges to win extensive surgical procedures. Each week, a group of women competes head-to-head in such challenges as writing wedding vows and planning honeymoons. The winner receives the chance to choose a plastic surgery procedure from her "wish list." She's given the procedure immediately, and results are shown at the start of the following week's episode."

OK - let's evaluate that description.  These women are engaged.  They aren't looking for love - they have found it.  Someone fell in love with each of them, with the person they are - looks and all - and wants to spend the rest of their lives with them.  The catch is, these women appear to be so insecure that they want EXTREME plastic surgery prior to their wedding.  I know all women want to look their best when they get married - but I, for one, plan to look like ME when I get married.

OK - moving on.  

"One by one, the women are voted out by their competitors and, according to the show's description, "possibly walking away with nothing and losing (their) chance to be the perfect bride." 

Hmmm.  So apparently, this show defines "the perfect bride" as one who has had enough plastic surgery to make her completely unrecognizable? 

But wait, there is more!  The last bride standing gets the wedding of her dreams - and the chance to FINALLY reveal NEW appearance to friends, family and the GROOM.  On her wedding day!  Yikes.

"Viewers will witness his emotional and possibly shocked reaction as they stand at the altar and he lifts her veil to see her for the first time following her extreme plastic surgery."

 

I know love conquers all, but is this groom really going to want to marry someone that was so insecure in their own appearance that they completely changed their looks before their wedding?  Someone that didn't trust he'd want to be with her just the way she was?  Does anyone else think he'd be nuts to stay with this woman?!

What kind of message is this show sending?  It's a train wreck waiting to happen, and I hope it gets canceled after the first episode.


What do you think - will you watch?

All images via Google Images and UK Daily Mail (screen caps are of Katy Perry's Hot N Cold video)

Links à la Mode

I am sure all of my readers are familiar with Independent Fashion Bloggers, but just in case you are not, and you have a blog of your own that focuses on fashion, I encourage you to check out the website.  Immediately.

Not only is it full of wonderful resources for bloggers, it is also a great way to get involved in the "fashion blog" community.  I've been a member for about a month now and have found it invaluable, particularly as a new blogger.  

That is why I am particularly honored that one of my posts was selected to be in this weeks Links à la Mode.  

To IBB: thank you so much!

To my readers: check out each of the great reads below!

Looking back, moving forward?

Edited by: Florrie Clarke of Intrinsically Florrie.

This week's links bound across time as we go from the first incarnations of the handbag, to both the glamour and reality of the mid-20th Century and the modern phenomenon of online shopping. And when, in all this, will women be happy with their bodies? Debenhams may now be using unretouched images alongside the photoshopped, but the Daily Mail and the UK's new equalities minister have decreed a new, and for a lot of us unattainable, body shape for us to aim for.

Links à la Mode: July 29th

• Amanda Lee: How to Do More With the Clothes You Have [Instead of Buying More]
• An Early-Life Crisis from Academia to Art: My 26th design project on my quest to teach myself to sew and reach 52 in a year! Also includes my own sleeve sewing tutorial and this week's project stats :
• Beyond Fabric: A thought on online shopping - is it worth building your wardrobe online?
• Blah Blah Becky: LOVING iconic British brand Whistles' AW10/FW10 lookbook
• Brooklyn Posh: starting to love thyself : the health/weight debate
• Beautifully Invisible: 10 curvy women - past and present - who are the epitome of sexy.
• Dramatis Personae: Ch-Cha-Chain- Coveting & Craving Chain Jewelry
• Fashion Limbo: 90s nostalgia after a party on a boat. I go through some memorable teenage-hood highlights
• Independent Fashion Bloggers: Fair Compensation Manifesto
• Intrinsically Florrie: Looking to the French pâtisserie Ladurée for design inspiration.
• Make the World a Prettier Place: Are women tired of distressed jeans and messy buns? It is time to leave this trend behind and dress up - even for everyday life!
• Malvestida: The Headress day... a day that's all about sharing creativity!
• Mariel's Castle: Experimenting with the newest nail trend
• Oranges and Apple: On glamorising vintage life
• Retro Chick: Friday Frock Love: Poppy Valentine
• Scene On the Street: NYC: Mod Scientist - Scene On the Street
• The Coveted: American Living $250 Gift Card Giveaway
• The Demoiselles: UK department store shuns retouching...why can't we live in the UK?
• The Embellished Life: Do you have a hankering for handbags? Enlighten yourself with the heroic History of Handbags on The Embellished Life!
• The Fashion Police: Why size should never be a fashion statement
• What 2 Wear Where: Mad Men Mania: effortlessly polished Betty Draper

10 Women Who Make Being Curvy Sexy

Have you heard?  The Season 4 premiere of Mad Men is this Sunday.  Everyone I know is excited about it and Mad Man fever is seemingly everywhere.

Confession: I have never seen an episode of Mad Men.  I know, I know - how is that possible?  Everyone watches Mad Men, right?  

Nope, not me.  Mad Men has become a casualty of my efforts to avoid getting sucked into a new TV show.  Despite this, I am still very aware of the phenomenal 1960s-inspired design and fashion on the show and admire the talented cast.  I adore Christina Hendricks.  She is an unbelievably gorgeous woman who embraces her curves and carries them beautifully. Mad Men fever got me thinking about the other women who have not only embraced but also worked their curves over the years.  Here are a few of my favorites (in no particular order):

1. Christina Hendricks:  her role as the uber-curvaceous Joan on Mad Men made her a household name, but it’s her “period body” that has made her famous.  Mad Men creator Matt Weiner told the LA Times that the show looks for actors whose bodies accurately represent the silhouettes of the 1960s.  That means the women on the show have to have natural curves and normal proportions.  Christina maintains a positive self-image that is refreshing, despite running into some criticism this past Awards season.  She recently told Health magazine that back in her modeling days she gained 15 pounds when she moved to Italy.  "And I felt gorgeous!" she said.  "I would take my clothes off in front of the mirror and be like, Oh, I look like a woman. And I felt beautiful, and I never tried to lose it, ’cause I loved it."  What's not to love about a statement like that?





Esquire Russia, June 2010



2. Marilyn Monroe: It's impossible to discuss this topic without mentioning the timeless beauty of Norma Jean Mortenson (aka Marilyn Monroe).  Marilyn is the quintessential sex symbol.  She had a perfect hourglass figure, and she loved to show off that figure.  It's even been said that she liked to wear her clothing so tight that her dresses were often sewn onto her body.  To this day her actual weight and measurements are debated, and likely always will be.  Some say she would be considered "fat" by today's standards, which may very well be true if we are talking about Hollywood or fashion industry standards.  In the real world, however, Marilyn would never be considered fat.  A bombshell, yes.  Fat?  No.





Marilyn by Sam Shaw, in Amagansett, New York, 1957.



3. Beyoncé:  The word "bootylicious" is often used to describe Beyoncé Knowles.  It's actually a very accurate description.  Although there are other well-known women who are known for their "booties", it is Beyoncé that is the all around package.  Again, she has a fabulous hourglass figure that many women would love to have and many men would love to get their hands on.  She is curvaceous and proud of it.  Beyoncé told US Weekly how she feels about being curvy.  "I feel best when I’m not really thin and not really heavy – when I’m still curvy. I really believe that everyone is supposed to be different, and whatever is a natural weight for you is usually what looks best. I never want to get to that point where it’s not natural. […] I think it’s important to feel like a woman, as well as look like a woman.”  She hit the nail right on the head.  Every woman is different, and therefore every body is different. 





Sports Illustrated, Winter 2007



4. Sophia Loren: Dark.  Sultry.  Italian.  Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful women in the world, Sophia Loren is also an extremely talented actress.  Her career in film began in 1951 when she was only 16 years old.  She went on to star in over 90 films and has received much critical acclaim for her work.  At the same time, her looks and sex appeal never went unnoticed.  She knew that and she owned her curves. "Everything you see I owe to spaghetti" she said.  I wish I could eat spaghetti and look like she did!  Sophia is just as striking and voluptuous today as she was in her youth.  She even posed - at the age of 72 - in a racy spread for the Pirelli calendar, sharing the pages with Penelope Cruz and Naomi Watts among others.  Confidence is sexy, and Sophia has loads of both - innate sexiness and confidence. 





Sophia in her youth (Left), Sophia at 72 (Right)



5. Tyra Banks: Full disclosure: I am not a huge fan of Tyra.  I don't care for her talk show, and America's Top Model isn't my cup of tea.  However, I do admire the way she handled the public scrutiny that came with her own weight gain a few years ago.  She gained about 30 pounds and went from having the figure of a supermodel to having the figure of an average size 12 - 14 American woman.  She not only defended her weight gain to critics, she also stayed that size for a few more years.  Today she's slimmed down again (but remains curvy!), but I respect how she handled herself throughout the more curvaceous years.





A curvier Tyra on the runway



6. Kate Winslet: I have a girl-crush on Kate Winslet.  It started back in 1997.  There was that one scene in Titanic.  That extremely sensual, sexy scene where Leo/Jack paints her nude portrait. I watched and kept thinking "wow, she isn't a stick like most actresses.  She actually has curves.  And she is doing a nude scene!"  Simple as that, my girl-crush developed.  Like Christina Hendricks today, Kate was criticized for her size when Titanic came out.  Though she is significantly smaller today than she was in 1997, I have a ton of respect for how she handled that criticism.  She has repeatedly stated that she will not let Hollywood dictate her weight and stands by that.  She holds firm in the belief that you need to be happy with your body.  While promoting "Little Children" in 2006, Kate shared that “more than ever now, I believe it’s so important to look as real and true to life as possible, because nobody’s perfect. I seem to be on a mission, but I don’t want the next generation, your daughters and mine, growing up thinking that you have to be thin to look beautiful in certain clothes. It’s terrifying right now. It’s out of control. It’s beyond out of control.” I love her attitude.  Plus, she's beautiful and quite possibly the best actress out there today.  Yeah, girl-crush.  





Harper's BAZAAR, August 2009 (Left), Madame Figaro, January 2009 (Right)



7. Sara Ramirez:  Sara joined the cast of Grey’s Anatomy in 2005 as orthopedic surgeon Callie Torres.  In interviews she has been very open about her struggles with weightloss and low self-esteem, and shares that her weight has yo-yoed from a size 6 to size 14 over the years.  Her struggles hit close to home for me, as does her acceptance of who she is now.  "I’m not going to lie" she told Glamour magazine.  "I still have days when I walk by the mirror on my way to the shower and think, oh God, I didn’t just see that! But I’ve learned to stop myself and ask, am I being realistic? What do I love about my body? What am I grateful for? The answers to those questions remind me that I’m very blessed."  I sometimes ask myself those very same questions.





Unknown Photoshoot



8. Jane Russell: Jane was a popular American film actress of the 1940s and 1950s.  Although lesser known than her contemporary, Marilyn Monroe, Jane was actually the more voluptuous of the two.  She was signed by Howard Hughes and starred in a number of his films.  She went on to also have a musical career, but while focusing on film her cleavage caused some controversy and even censorship.  The photo below where she is lounging on a haystack was a popular pin-up with servicemen during World War II.  She was a striking beauty in her day.  Jane, like Marilyn, would likely be considered overweight by today's Hollywood and fashion industry standards.  Yet, like Marilyn, she remains a popular sex symbol to this day. 





The Outlaw, 1943 (Left),  Unknown (Right)



9. Queen Latifah:  Queen Latifah is another woman who works her curves.  In an effort to get healthier, she joined the Jenny Craig program and proceeded to lose 20 - 30 pounds.  She turned 40 this year and looks absolutely fabulous.  In 2009 she told Access Hollwood that “it’s not about losing weight or what you look like. […] it’s losing it for the purposes of being more healthy.”  Being healthy should always be the #1 priority.





2010 Academy Awards



10. Mae West: Before Marilyn.  Before Sophia.  Before Brigitte.  Before Raquel.  Before Farrah.  There was Mae.  Mae West was the original sex symbol. Born in 1893, Mae West was an American actress, playwright and screenwriter.  She was an American icon famous for her voluptuous figure, quick wit, and sexy innuendos. In a February 2000 piece for Salon Magazine, Cintra Wilson stated that "[Mae] was an unstopping font of self-approval, who could justify any passion for herself, any look, any sensation, any sin; she was, in her way, truly liberated. When the fashion of the time shifted away from her body type, she adopted a different decade; West got herself up as an 1890s good-time girl in order to make the most of her womanly mounds instead of trying to bind herself into the no-hipped, no-breasted flapper look of the '20s. When she didn't like her lines, she rewrote them. When acting roles stopped coming her way, she wrote her own. When the cops came, she laughed."  She was the first sex symbol and a rebel.  
    





Mae West, Dates Unknown

Sophia Loren once said "I think the quality of sexiness comes from within. It is something that is in you or it isn't and it really doesn't have much to do with breasts or thighs or the pout of your lips."  I agree.  Each of these women is different.  Each is sexy.  Each is beautiful.

Do you disagree with any of the names on this list?

Who would you add?

All images courtesy of Google images

Size 14 Is Not Fat Either... It's Invisible

Blogging is a new thing for me.  I am learning as I go, and have just started to tell a few of my closer friends that I am doing it.

As you can probably tell, I am trying to keep my blog fairly anonymous.  That may change down the line somewhere, but the main reason for that is my identity.  My parents are both European, and although I was born in Cleveland, Ohio,  I have a very unique name as a result.  Chances are, if you Google my name, you’ll find me.  Heck, if you were to Google my first name with some key words, you’d find me.  So anonymous it is!

The few friends that are aware I have a blog have asked what the name, Beautifully Invisible, means. 

When I started this process selecting a name was actually one of the toughest things for me. 

I wanted something that would reflect the content of the blog, but also reflect me, as a person.   The name came to me one evening as I was exploring a few sample sale sites.  It seemed like every time I clicked on a skirt, pair of jeans, or dress I was interested in, the sizes stopped at 10. 

Me?  I am a pretty consistent size 14 with the occasional 12 thrown in.

At my smallest, I was a 9/10 and that was back in my college days.  And I thought I was big back then. 

Today I am confident in myself and who I am.  Could I stand to lose some weight?  Yes.  But I regularly work out and eat healthy, and it isn’t happening.  I’ve grown to accept the 14 I am now.  I know I am nice-looking, and being a size 14 doesn’t take away from that.  In fact, I am a curvy size 14, and I think that just adds to my looks if anything.  If I lose weight down the road, I won’t complain, but I am happy in the skin I am in.  Usually.

 

I haven't read this novel, but I love the title!

Back to the title of this blog.  So there I was, trying to spend my money on some gorgeous new clothes with no luck because of my measurements. 

The same thing has happened to me while checking out certain pieces on shopbop, net-a-porter, intermix and countless other sites.  

The same thing happens when I walk into certain bricks and mortar stores (especially boutiques!).   

I am out-sized of so much of the great, fashionable clothing I love. 

To make matters worse, there are some great sites out there for plus-sized woman, but my measurements are generally too small for the items they sell.  Seriously? 

So here I am, your average American size 14 wannabe-fashionista, and I can’t wear half the things I love and lust over. 

 

I love you Alexander McQueen Cashmere and Silk-Blend Sweater Dress

I am completely invisible.  How does that happen? Is this only  my imagination?

I started doing some research online and came across a great Los Angeles Times piece by Emili Vesilind that addresses this every issue:  “Fashion’s Invisible Woman.”

Turns out it’s not my imagination after all.

This quote is from the LA Times piece:

“ When Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld, who spent most of his adult life battling a serious weight problem, created a capsule collection for H&M in 2004, the newly svelte designer was incensed that the retailer manufactured the collection in larger sizes. "What I designed was fashion for slender and slim people," he said. And in an interview in the March issue of Harper's Bazaar, he sniffed, "The body has to be impeccable . . . if it's not, buy small sizes and less food."

This, my friends, seems to be the philosophy that too many of the designers out there follow today.

Yes, there are designers out there who DO have lines for us “bigger” girls.  But not enough. 

Yes, there are non-high fashion brands I absolutely adore out there that sell size 14s.

Like H&M and Ann Taylor Loft for instance.  But make sure you buy what you want ASAP because that size 14 will be out of stock very quickly.   

I love shopping at Nordstrom, but I am usually sized out of items in their high-fashion Savvy Department.    

There are some great boutiques in the Cleveland-area as well, like Banyan Tree, but again, I am often sized out of clothing because the designer simply doesn’t make the item in my size.

There are so many blogs out there that I admire, and blogger’s whose style I admire, but sometimes I am too afraid to even try to buy from a new source because of the sheer possibility I will be disappointed.  

So I stick to what I know works.  And I have mile-long lists of things I want to buy but can’t because I am invisible.

Guess I'll have to stick to spending my hard-earned cash on accessories and shoes! 

 

 





I love you Proenza Schouler PS1 medium leather satchel.

I love you Yves Saint Laurent Tribute Suede Sandals.

(All images either from google images or net-a-porter)