“Now I have all the dates I want!” How adverts have been making us feel shitty for decades

It seems fitting that I stumbled across these vintage ads the same day I learnt that H&M has admitted using fake bodies in its online swimwear and lingerie galleries. Yep, they’ve created a computer-generated body and super-imposed models’ heads on to it, changing the skin colour to match. Because even professional models are apparently not perfect enough these days.

But now feast your eyes on these retro ads for weight-gain products (I think they actually mean ‘boob gain’ seeing as all the models still have teeny tiny waists). See, the media and fashion industries nowadays use subtle, sneaky manipulation to warp your body image and make you feel worthless, but back in the good old days they didn’t bother with any of that smoke and mirrors stuff – they just straight out told you that you were too ugly!

Hmmmm, I can’t actually decide which is worse?

Images courtesy of Retronaut

Some DIY beauty tips

This article on emergency beauty fix-its has several ideas that are kind to both your purse strings and the planet. Using oil from the corners of your nose as a lip balm?! That’s certainly sustainable!

I love homemade beauty products. When I was a nipper with pocket money that wouldn’t stretch to shelves of lotions and potions, I’d cut out all the DIY tips printed in Shout! magazine and stick them in a pink flowery folder ready to raid my parents’ cupboards. It’s so much fun cooking up concoctions and making a big mess.

A few of my favourites quick-fixes are:

• Don’t throw away make-up just because you’ve got bored of the colours – try mixing them together and see what you come up with. Use the baking technique in the article to make new eyeshadows. Lipsticks can be melted together to create new shades. Pop them in an old lip balm pot to set and apply with a brush.
• If nail varnish gets gloopy add a couple drops of nail varnish remover and give it a (careful!) shake. Makes it last far longer.
• Cheapo hair conditioner works just as well as shaving foam.
• Give drying-up mascara a new lease of life by standing it in boiling water for a few minutes. However, I’ve been warned that this can cause eye infections, so it’s up to you if you want to take the risk.

I’ll be researching some good recipes for body scrubs, sugaring, lip balms, soap and much more you can make at home, so watch this space!

(Photo by Porcelaingirl, shared under a Creative Commons License)

My guilty fashion conscience, or the tale of how this blog was born…

I am obsessed with clothes.

I love them. I love pouring over them in magazines, hunting through markets and second hand shops for them, putting them together, taking them apart, re-working them, accessorising them, dressing them up, dressing them down.

I suppose it’s a pretty shallow hobby to have, obsessing over what I’m wearing and what I look like. But every one of us has a relationship with clothes of some kind, often a a very complicated one. Each time we step out the door we’re choosing to say something to the world through what we’re wearing. And besides, clothes are fun! Dressing yourself is creative – it’s like playtime, like being a kid again.

The issue that concerns me with my clothes obsession is its ethical implications. In these credit-crunched times, us recessionistas will inevitably be cutting back on the pricier brands and turning our eye to bargain fashion. Women’s magazines are featuring ’credit crunch fashion’ specials packed with garments costing little more than a packet of crisps. But who’s made those Primark dresses which are so easy to pull of the rails without a second thought? And where do these dresses go when they inevitably start falling apart or out of fashion – on a landfill site most probably. We could always buy second hand or make and customise our own clothes but let’s face it, most of us don’t have the spare time to always do this. And when you know you can get that must-have item on the high street for only a couple of quid more than it’ll cost you to make it at home, then why bother?

So this is my aim: to blog on DIY, environmentally friendly fashion that doesn’t compromise on affordability, convinience, and – most importantly – style. I’ll be alerting you to ethical labels and boutiques that aren’t full of hesian sacks, passing on customising tips and DIY skills, as well as the normal trend-spotting and commenting.

And in an attempt to soothe both my recession-bitten purse and my ethical conscience, I am challenging myself to survive on NO new clothes – only ones I have made myself or re-worked second hand ones, the results of which I shall be sharing for your viewing pleasure. Wish me luck and follow my blog!