2012年2月29日星期三

Viola Davis' Family Back From The Oscars

The 16 year old niece of Oscar nominee Viola Davis came off of cloud nine Tuesday. The Lincoln High School junior returned from Hollywood, where she and her mother tagged along with Davis at the Academy Awards. 

Who'd you meet? What'd you see, and what about Angelina Jolie's right leg? Those are some of the questions 16 year old AnnaBella Grant told us she was bombarded with Tuesday when she got back to school.

"Oh look at the earrings," said Deloris Grant, "They're almost a million dollars that auntie's wearing."

AnnaBella Grant's aunt, Viola Davis, may not have taken home the Oscar for best actress, but the teen and her mom, Davis' sister Deloris, brought home a lot of memories from the Academy Awards.

"I like that I have the experience because it really instills in your brain that all these people that everyone's obsessed with are just like everyone else," said AnnaBella.

That didn't stop AnnaBella's classmates at Lincoln High from peppering her with questions, especially about that Angelina Jolie pose.

"They were like what did the leg thing look like," said AnnaBella, "Is there a reason she did that, do you know, and I was like I don't really talk to her."

For AnnaBella, it was more about sharing the moment with her Aunt Viola and getting her hand me down designer shoes. Lucky for her, they wear the same size.

"She gave me a pair of Christian Louboutin heels and a pair of Chanel heels, and I was really excited," said AnnaBella, "I was like hyper-ventilating and I call my best friend, and I was like 'Oh My God' and she was like 'Oh My God' and we were jumping up and down and it was bad."

The Hollywood experience, which was a first for AnnaBella, was also a treat for Deloris. "I think my daughter experiencing this with me is a moment of a lifetime, and I hope that we can do it again," said Deloris.

Deloris is confident Viola will get another nomination. After all, this was her second one.

2012年2月28日星期二

Might not have the legs but heel do...

THE MEN OF Wexford are being encouraged to wear women's shoes for a charity event in aid of Wexford Women's Refuge.

'Cycle a Mile in Her Shoes' will take place on Thursday and Friday, March 1 and 2 in the Bullring and at Tesco supermarket in Distillery Road.

The idea is that people hop on a static bike and cycle a mile while making a donation to the cause.

Organiser Kieran Mcguinness said participants are being encouraged to cycle in women's shoes.

Wexfordman Jim Walsh got into the spirit by posing for a promotional photo in red high heel shoes this week.

All the money raised will go to Wexford Women's Refuge in Distillery Road which provides shelter and support for victims of family violence.

This is the second year that the event has been run.

Last year the cycle was generously supported by members of the public and local businesses.

Everyone who contributes to this year's event will have their name entered ina draw for a weekend away in the Stillorgan Park Hotel, Dublin.

2012年2月27日星期一

Fashion's High Price: How Heels Damage the Body

The laundry list of damage that high heels can do to your body just got longer: According to podiatrists, high-heeled shoes are one of the most common causes of ingrown toenails.

This toenail problem, which occurs when the toes are compressed so that the big toenail grows into the skin, is usually nothing more than a painful annoyance. But ingrown toenails can become infected, sometimes necessitating the removal of the entire nail.

"Ingrown toenails can be painful, but many women are willing to cope with the discomfort in order to continue wearing their high heels,"Rodney Stuck, a professor of podiatry at the Loyola University Health System, said in a statement. "However, more serious complications can arise and cause permanent damage to the toenail, if they are left untreated."

Stuck suggested avoiding overly pointy, tight shoes and tight hosiery. Trimming the toenails straight across can also reduce the risk of ingrown nails. Soaking the feet in lukewarm, soapy water, drying them thoroughly and then applying a mild antiseptic can prevent infection if toenails are already ingrown.

But heels can harm more than just the toes. Research has linked high heels in youth to heel and ankle pain in older adults. One study published in October 2009 in the journal Arthritis Care & Research analyzed foot-examination data from more than 3,300 men and women and found that more than 60 percent of women reported wearing shoes with poor support, including heels, pumps and sandals, compared with only 2 percent of men. In women, wearing these shoes in the past was linked with heel and ankle pain.

Heels can even reshape the calf muscles and tendons, shortening them so that women who wear heels often may find it uncomfortable to walk flat-footed. Even ballroom dancers aren't so light on their feet when wearing heels; according to research published in 2010, dancing in heels distributes pressure toward the toes, which can lead to plantar fasciitis, the painful swelling of the bottom of the feet.

Moving up the leg, studies have also linked high heels to knee osteoarthritis, with sky-high stilettos presenting more danger than practical pumps. According to a study presented in 2010 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Biomechanics, walking in heels increases the pressure on the inside of the knee joints. Heels also alter the posture to put extra strain on the lower back, the researchers found.

It's not only heels that cause problems. Flip-flops, with their total lack of support, can change the gait, too. The result can be pain and potential long-term joint problems.

The potential for later pain may seem far away when selecting a pair of adorable heels. But according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 43.1 million Americans have foot problems, which translates to one out of every six people in the country. Eight out of every 10 women say their shoes are painful, and women are nine times more likely to develop foot problems because of badly fitted shoes than are men.

Stuck recommended that women limit their time in heels, especially on days when walking and standing are in the cards. He also suggested that women outline their feet on inflexible cardboard and take the cut-out when going shoe shopping. If the cardboard can't fit into the shoe without being scrunched, neither can your feet.

2012年2月23日星期四

Skinny Jeans and High Heels

Skinny Jeans and High Heels: What Health Dangers Lurk in Your Closet?

High fashion has a cost — and it's not just on the price tag. Sky-high stilettos and skin-tight jeans may actually jeopardize your health, say experts who cite various health conditions, from bacterial infections to leg numbness, as evidence of the hazards of being fashion forward.

Here are a few fashion risks to be aware of, so you can avoid the worst faux pas of them all: self-injury.

Fashion culprit: Tight jeans
Health risk: Squeezing into tight pants (or cinching belts too tight) can cause nerve compression, numbness and digestive issues. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, internist Dr. Octavio Bessa of Stamford, Conn., coined the term “tight pants syndrome” in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 1993, after seeing many patients with abdominal discomfort, distention and heartburn due to ill-fitting clothes. According to Bessa's report, “the diagnosis can be made easily in the office by comparing the size of the trousers with the abdominal girth. There is usually a discrepancy of 7.5 centimeters or more.”

Fashion culprit: Stilettos
Health risk: The narrow toe box and high heels of stiletto shoes wreak a lot of havoc, including bunions, hammer toes, nerve damage, bone death, stress fractures and ankle sprains. As New York City-based podiatrist, John E. Mancuso told me (at More magazine) last March, the higher the heel, the more a person's weight is thrown forward and placed on the balls of the feet, which causes pain. “The key is either limiting stiletto wear or finding a shoe with strong arch support and good weight distribution,” Mancuso said.

Fashion culprit: Thong underwear
Health risk: Rough seams can cause chafing and small breaks in sensitive skin. This allows for fungal growth and bacterial infections, according to Dr. Deborah Coady of SoHo Obstetrics and Gynecology in New York City, a problem that may be exacerbated by tight-fitting skinny jeans. And, as Coady told More, the “heat and friction of sexual activity can make these infections worse.” She recommends protecting the skin around clothing edges with products like Aquaphor, vitamin E oil, safflower oil or olive oil.

Fashion culprit: Neckties
Health risk: Tight ties and shirt collars (67% of men buy shirts that are too small at the neck) can cut off circulation to the head, causing blurry vision, headache and tingly ears, the Wall Street Journal reports. They can also limit neck movement and increase muscle tension in the back and shoulders. Worse yet, since ties aren't washed as frequently as other clothing, they may be laden with disease-causing germs. Another good reason to go casual.

Fashion culprit: Earrings
Health risk: The Wall Street Journal reports that about 20% of body piercings develop a bacterial infection, according to a review by Northwestern University dermatologists. Also, any jewelry or accessory that contains nickel — even in tiny amounts — can cause rashes in people with nickel allergy (you might develop one in adulthood, without warning). Further, heavy, statement earrings, if worn too often, can stretch out the earring hole making it difficult to wear studs, or possibly even tear through the earlobe altogether, an injury that takes a long time to repair and heal.

2012年2月22日星期三

Manolo Blahnik: The Shoe Sculptor

In 2013, Manolo Blahnik will celebrate 40 years in shoe design — since he came to England from the Canary Islands in the 1970s and was encouraged by the Vogue supremo Diana Vreeland to focus not on fashion but on “extremities.”

As a kickoff to the coming celebrations, Lane Crawford at the IFC Mall in Hong Kong has opened a pop-up store that includes unexpected items like bags, scarves, stationery and luggage, done in collaboration with well-known brands, including Fortnum & Mason for picnic hampers.

A mix of personal objects, inspiration pieces and shoes from the archive collection are displayed in a dedicated space in the store's atrium. Ten vintage styles have even been remade, showing the originality and longevity of black patent ankle-tie sandals, mesh lace-up stiletto booties and designs inspired by artists like Piet Mondrian and Alexander Calder.

The original Manolo Blahnik store, in the Chelsea neighborhood of London, takes Mr. Blahnik back to his beginnings and to characters who marked his career.

“You know, I'm not nostalgic but when you mention Ossie Clark, I get moved and emotional because it was a period that I have fantasized in my head for so long,” the designer says. “I was like a fish in my element because I adored it.”

From the start, Mr. Blahnik had a vision of shoes and how women's feet should look — an idea that ran against the flow of the hefty platform shoes of the 1970s that have recently returned.

“My theme was so light that it was completely against the grain of what was going on,” he says. “I still do that type of vision. I still do the same type of shoes.”

Taking up the colorful pens that sit in boxes on his desk, the designer draws with clear strokes his latest idea: heels made up of a line of round beads, inspired by the shape of a necklace.

Like other shoes with a tongue of raffia fringe or black and white zigzags, there are echoes of the Africa that lay across the water from his childhood home. He also would absorb North African music on the radio owned by his disciplined Czech-born father.

“I started to discover Radio Casablanca — this music, fantasy music — all the songs of an Arab culture of music — and I was hooked to that,” he says.

How are the decorative drawings, meticulously done and delicately colored, transformed into three-dimensional shoes framing the foot?

“Ah! This is a very painful process — sometimes, to get what you want, it's going to be months,” says the designer. “I do the little sketch, which is easy. Sometimes it's very successful, sometimes I flop so I have to change it a million times. The same thing for the heel; it has to be really perfect also.

“I do it all myself. First I do the last, maybe using the same one as last year and changing a thing or two.

“I do the thing in wood, filing the board. Then it has to be done in plastic. Now they do it horribly with computers and things — but I don't work that way.”

How much does his vision of shoes come from inside himself or from childhood, watching his mother with her shoes?

“I always try to analyze this, to know if I was genetically born like that, whether it was something creative in me that happened to be shoes,” says Mr. Blahnik, recalling his mother's elegance and his father's rigidity, demanding tidy clothes and clean nails to sit down at the table.

The first attachment to feet and shoes came from a visit to a Madrid museum, examining sculptures of human feet and animal paws.

“I always like the pose of the animals, much better than the faces,” he says. “I don't know why, don't ask me. This is nothing to do with fetishes or sensuality. I love the expression of the feet.”

The person who put him on his career path was the redoubtable Vreeland, whose American magazine career included encouraging young talent and whose image is framed on his office walls.

He recalls his first trip to New York, when he made his presentation of fashion drawings “obviously in a state of panic and terror and anguish when I got to see her.”

“I went in with a huge pile of imaginary designs for theater, because I wanted to be a theater designer, film designer. I was derailed by Mrs. Vreeland and I was very happy that it happened.”

Why the adoration of high heels?

“You walk differently in high heels — and with a shoe that is uncomfortable you walk badly,” he says. “So the shoe has to be light, beautifully centered, the heel balanced, perfection. And this is what attracts me to somebody who knows how to walk in high heels.”

What other countries have been a source of inspiration? He thinks of Spain, his mother's native country and songs sung by the maids.

Then there is Russia.

“Once I went to the Kremlin 10 years ago and I was completely possessed by Catherine the Great, her lovers, her dresses, her colors. I was totally mesmerized by these things.”

And there is the cinema, the fascination of early Italian movie actresses like Anna Magnani. And, of course, there's Sarah Jessica Parker, whose character in “Sex and the City” made his name across America.

If a history of Manolo Blahnik is written, the writer will know where to look: in the designer's home in Bath, in the western part of England, where he keeps 19,000 pairs of his shoes.

2012年2月21日星期二

Paris Fashion Week: Roland Mouret to unveil signature shoes

Roland Mouret is the latest designer to announce a signature footwear line, with the collection to be unveiled at Paris Fashion Week March 2.

While the French creator may be best known for iconic pieces such as the Galaxy dress, he has always had a passion for footwear and just last year was named creative director of designer shoe and handbag label Robert Clergerie.

Initially a signature collection had been planned as part of that collaboration, but it has now been announced that Mouret's new footwear line will be separate. WWD reports February 20 that the creator will continue as Clergerie creative director, but the two collections are “different in style.”

    Fashionistas will be able to see Mouret's signature line, comprising six types, at his catwalk presentation during Paris Fashion Week March 2. There are court shoes, T-straps, and boots, with all featuring an “R” shape from the side formed by the heel and the platform sole's curve.

    While prices have not yet been finalized, the collection is expected to sell at Mouret's flagship store in London's Mayfair.
The creator was keen to emphasize the collection's practical element.
"These are shoes that women can wear day-in and day-out,” he explained.
"They have a masculine feel, a daytime attitude, and they are not too precious. And, although they have a high heel, they are really comfortable. My challenge was to balance sexiness with comfort.”
The ongoing Fashion Week season has seen a number of designers venturing into the field of footwear. Sibling duo Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte revealed their first mono-branded shoe line during the recent New York Fashion Week, while Narciso Rodriguez showed an accessories collection comprising seven shoe styles and eight handbags in the Big Apple.

2012年2月20日星期一

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