Two noteworthy news stories
I read
Salon.com pretty religiously, due to three awesome regular features: Since You Asked (one of the more intelligent advice columns around), Ask The Pilot (aviation-themed stories written by, well, a pilot), and
the Broadsheet, Salon's excellent feminist blog. But today, a rather cheeky headline caught my eye:
Big Breasts for Dummies. The story has an interesting premise: While shopping with her husband in Miami, the writer, Wendy Paris, noticed a non-XXX store with a DDD mannequin in the window; she then began to investigate whether this was an isolated incident or a widespread trend in the retail industry. In other words, are DDD mannequins (this is "Mary" from
StudioRox.com) coming to Bloomingdale's next? While I understand where the writer is coming from--slightly disgusted, she asks whether the well-endowed dummies are reflective of a wider, surgically-enhanced trend in America--she seems to have a few factual errors in her reporting (there's no way the average bust size in this country is a 34B--did she take that statistic from 1970?), and, judging by the comments, which are often my favorite part of Salon, she managed to insult every natural D+ Salon reader (myself included). Many of the commenters do have a point: The lithe, size-2 mannequins in most stores not represent the vast majority of American women. (The fashion design student in me, however, notes that clothes do indeed hang better on a size 2, rather than a size 14.) While I don't necessarily think that DDD mannequins are the answer, women do come in all shapes and sizes, so maybe mannequins should too, a conclusion that the writer haphazardly, somewhat unclearly, also arrives at in the end of the story.
In sadder news,
the O.C. has been canceled. I know, this isn't really shopping-related, except that it made young fashion stars of Mischa Barton and Rachel Bilson, and that Marissa Cooper was by far the most stylish (and, yes, okay,
fictional) high school girl I've ever seen. Granted, the show hasn't been the same since Marissa kicked the bucket, and I've been pretty annoyed with the story lines so far this season (Ryan goes all Tyler Durden on us; Summer turns crunchy granola then gets kicked out of Brown; Taylor is all of a sudden not annoying; why aren't any of these kids' parents concerned that they're not going to school?). Oh well, I'll always have my Season 1 DVDs.
I read Salon.com pretty religiously, due to three awesome regular features: Since You Asked (one of the more intelligent advice columns around), Ask The Pilot (aviation-themed stories written by, well, a pilot), and the Broadsheet, Salon's excellent feminist blog. But today, a rather cheeky headline caught my eye: Big Breasts for Dummies. The story has an interesting premise: While shopping with her husband in Miami, the writer, Wendy Paris, noticed a non-XXX store with a DDD mannequin in the window; she then began to investigate whether this was an isolated incident or a widespread trend in the retail industry. In other words, are DDD mannequins (this is "Mary" from StudioRox.com) coming to Bloomingdale's next? While I understand where the writer is coming from--slightly disgusted, she asks whether the well-endowed dummies are reflective of a wider, surgically-enhanced trend in America--she seems to have a few factual errors in her reporting (there's no way the average bust size in this country is a 34B--did she take that statistic from 1970?), and, judging by the comments, which are often my favorite part of Salon, she managed to insult every natural D+ Salon reader (myself included). Many of the commenters do have a point: The lithe, size-2 mannequins in most stores not represent the vast majority of American women. (The fashion design student in me, however, notes that clothes do indeed hang better on a size 2, rather than a size 14.) While I don't necessarily think that DDD mannequins are the answer, women do come in all shapes and sizes, so maybe mannequins should too, a conclusion that the writer haphazardly, somewhat unclearly, also arrives at in the end of the story.
In sadder news, the O.C. has been canceled. I know, this isn't really shopping-related, except that it made young fashion stars of Mischa Barton and Rachel Bilson, and that Marissa Cooper was by far the most stylish (and, yes, okay, fictional) high school girl I've ever seen. Granted, the show hasn't been the same since Marissa kicked the bucket, and I've been pretty annoyed with the story lines so far this season (Ryan goes all Tyler Durden on us; Summer turns crunchy granola then gets kicked out of Brown; Taylor is all of a sudden not annoying; why aren't any of these kids' parents concerned that they're not going to school?). Oh well, I'll always have my Season 1 DVDs.
1 comment
Hi- I own that mannequin for my online lingerie (non-XXX)boutique! We were told here name was Farrah. You are right, mannequins should come in all sizes. It was very frustrating looking for the right size.
We sell high-end lingerie, specializing in hard to find sizes, like DDD. So Farrah is perfect for us!
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