Oh Jimmy Choo- why do you do what you do?

This just pisses me off. I could break it down but if you have read the rest of my blogs, you will know that in a nutshell these are my thoughts.
1) Heels + the female form = sex
2) We only see the models foot and the bottom half of the middle part of her body. This means that she is not considered to be a whole person AND because of how they have positioned her- she is only a sexual being to be gazed at.
3) As the gazer, you have to be stupid to ignore the fact that she is thin, tall, and perfectly and literally manicured. There is no hair on her legs, her nails are red (red means sex and femininity), and the defining factor of her appearance is her shoes. So I guess this means that if you love shoes you have nothing else to offer... unless you can pull of the swimsuit.

Grrrr. I get it that sex and women sell products. Heck, I want these shoes. BUT I don't want to wear these shoes knowing that this how Jimmy Choo thinks of women; dismembered.

And I am done.

My Thesis- 2 years later and other such random rants

I was flipping through an old magazine today and I saw my senior thesis images. And all over again my blood boiled. All over again I was tempted to stand up and start talking to those around me about the exploitation of women in the fashion world. Well really- the world in general... but one thing at a time.



The fact that Tom Ford (one of my favorite designers) has the most ridiculous and stupid advertising schemes of all times make me sad. He is a brilliant mind. Yes, he is a brilliant mind. But why does he use sex? Why does he use the scheme of pornvertising in general? Because it sells. Sex sells ladies and gentlemen. And it sells well.

Why? Why does sex sell? What makes it more appealing? Is it the intimacy? Is it the excitement of seeing men and women objectified. Is it the fact that we get to make up our own storylines behind the ad? Two years later, and I still don't know. Nudity doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that we only see one kind of nudity- like the above an obviously thin, white woman with huge breasts. Is this sexy? Is this what men really want of me?

I think the below picture is sexy. It shows a beautiful woman- a REAL woman. A woman who eats. A woman who is totally okay with sitting there nude and not being considered "normal." What is normal? That's a whole other topic of conversation.



Out of the two pics- which do you think is sexier?

Tom Ford... Again!

Let's get it out of the way. Isn't it fun when guys stick perfume sticks up our asses, girls? Yeahhhh no. No no.

Let me break this down. This is Tom Ford advertising his brand name scents. It is almost as if Tom Ford is showing us how dominant his brand is simply because unlike other fashion brands, he sticks paper perfume sticks up a female's butt. Boy is that power or what? By using a thin, white, and nude model he is showing his followers and gazers that he (the man with the power, or perfume sticks) is the dominant force in not only using women BUT in fashion.

Ford is literally invading a woman and is trying to make that invasion beautiful. What makes this not beautiful is that it makes the observer feel invaded. It strips any sense of power that we as women felt we had and puts us back in the secondary sphere. While he may be trying to empower the female form (I don't know the ideology behind this, I am only discussing the possible cultural effect), he pushes us back down the ladder of social standing. Once again we are not seen as active and diverse beings but instead as still and impassive tools to be used for a mans creation and will.

I dislike feeling powerless. What I would like to do is to gather a group of people in the Seattle area to sit down with me and dissect these images. I want to see past what I think and see what other people think. I believe that this is where social media forms come in. Let's discuss this stuff. Let's figure out what we can do about this stuff, IF anything. But by God let's have a voice. I am so sick of people seeing images like this and thinking that it's okay because "that's the way things are." Well things are only the way that they are because no one bothers to care. Let's care people.