threading

a few days before the wedding, my sister and I went to get our eyebrows threaded at a shop near the campus. I'd gotten my brows plucked before, a dreadful experience I really hated. But a coworker recommended threading and I always wanted to try it. She said that her Taiwanese grandmother told her that brides would get their entire face threaded before the wedding. I wonder if that was to give them a super smooth face. My coworker has since gone to waxing, but I can't bear to think of letting anyone put hot wax near my eyes or face.

It was the Saturday of the big Tennessee game (which Cal won! go Bears!) so we had to pay extra to even park somewhere.

There was a line of women at the shop and I'm thinking it will take an hour to get through folks, but each session was about 5-7 minutes, done!

Pros: Because they take the hair off in a line, it's much easier for them to see the shape of the brow immediately. They yank a whole line of hair in a blink. No stabbing the eye area. really easy to get the under brow area. Super clean look. less than $10.

Cons: well like most hair removal it hurts (I don't know how most women can sit there without flinching.) And in my case I was allergic to the finishing oil they put, which went away with soap and water. (glad it wasn't the day of the wedding!)

We were hooked! Best damn eyebrow experience we've ever had!

rummaging the closet

My brother is looking for his sense of style. It doesn't happen overnight and if anything it happens over time.

I have to say I've come to a happy medium with my closet. Oh there's always something that I can't quite let go of, but for the most part the clothes fit and not just fit but fit well. And while I know my weight hasn't really fluctuated, except a few pounds up or down as it regularly does, alot of people recently have been asking me if I lost weight. To which I smile graciously, thank them, and say no. And I think alot of that has to do with the style of clothing that I've been putting together. They say it all the time in the style shows, wear the right clothing and suddenly you have a figure you didn't think you had.

I've had help along the way from various fashion mags, and most especially very supportive friends (both male and female, hetero and not) giving various tips, hints, and reactions.

I'm glad that when I was growing up I wasn't too enthralled by having the latest fashions because I think it's made it alot easier for me now to pick clothing not because everyone else is wearing it but because it works for me.

Growing up my sister and I shared alot of clothes, or more like I would borrow her clothes and she would scream at me, but that's what you get for sharing a room and a closet. ha! Anyway, now that we're past all that puberty body changing stage, it turns out that although we look alike, we have completely didn't body shapes so we don't do so much clothing exchanging any more.

We've also done a reworking of the hubby's closet, changing colors around, getting rid of anything that doesn't fit right. I mean, if you think about, why wear something that doesn't fit right, you're just asking to be irritable. And while it's sad that an old pair of pants no longer fits the way it did in college, maybe it's best that you don't and they don't.

We're also making sure our closets are filled with the basic fashion essentials. For both closets: slacks in black, gray and khaki, button down shirts in white and light blue, two pairs of good jeans. For him: a black and/or blue suit (refitted every 2 years or so), black and brown dress shoess. For her: pair of black or brown comfortable pumps, black/white tank top, turtlenecks. And then build off there.

It's easy enough to get rid of the ill fitting and worn out clothing. Done. One tip to figure out how to get rid of the rest, as you pull out hangers of clothing to wear, put them back in the closet at the end of the rack so after a couple of months the stuff on the other end is probably stuff you didn't take out at all (the when was the last time you wore this side). Another tip I liked was sorting clothes in color order so you know that when you go out, you really don't need to buy another short sleeved black shirt, now really?

The biggest myth I've busted with myself in terms of changing my wardrobe is that I thought it would cost a whole hell of alot. But just because I take something out of the closet doesn't necessarily mean I replace it. Maybe I had too many khaki slacks. And if you shop well enough, you don't always have to go to Ross to find everything because there are still really good deals at outlets (love Nordstrom's outlet) and department store sales, you just have to be patient and have faith that the thing you want will come. I've often gone to stores trying on several items and walk away with nothing and I've also gone into stores thinking I won't buy anything and yet come out with bags.

When I was young, I thought people into fashion and style were snooty and/or shopaholics and while there are those, like most things it doesn't have to be that way.

a poser

The hubby can't stand America's Top Model, but it's one of my favorite shows. I'm actually studying the show. The hubby does various portraiture and wedding photography gigs and I'm usually the assistant. And I'm usually the one posing the people and in particular the women.

So I watch Top Model to understand how models create illusions. And I've come to see it as a craft, a very demanding craft with high expectations of body image. It's not something I would want to do personally. Having gone through various photoshoots for the wedding, I've come to realize too that models work hard because those interesting angles take some flexibility and strength to hold. Plus, they are really helping the photographer create the image they are looking for, so there's a bit of mind reading involved.

One of the more fascinating episodes was one where they had to take a photo for a women's magazine and one for a men's magazine. While the women's magazine shoot was soft and romantic, with the women staring off somewhere, the men's magazine had a harder look, that the models had to give a look that broke through the page, that "I want you" kind of look that draws men's attention. What models are really doing is developing the ability to be any image people want them to be. They are quite chameleon that way.

It's unfortunate that there is a great deal of pressure in the modeling industry to be a certain size, height, weight. Because beauty is everywhere and in everyone. In portraiture and in wedding photography, it's about finding people's beauty and guiding them in such a way to reveal that beauty and perhaps once in a while allow them to be someone else. To find the best in people and to help them show that off.

Addendum: Real Simple has tips on taking good photos.

why european men are sexy

Part of the reason European men are sexy is that men's fashion in Europe blows away anything found in the US! OK, if you knew the right stores here, you might be able to find some good stuff, but in Europe in the Metro areas there is one on every other corner.

The hubby is looking to upgrade his busines warddrobe, so we ended up looking at a men's clothing store in France with Italian suits. In the US, it's almost implied that the "good" dressers are all gay men, and that's just sad, but it really holds back men. I mean, why would I as a hetero woman want to think that all hetero men are bad dressers? .

Our cousin's husband said he hated American clothes, when he lived in San Diego he had to dress like a beach bum or dress in the 3 colors that Banana Republic sells.

Everywhere we went it was a delight to see the color and pattern combinations they wore in their suits and ties. Part of the reason women like men in uniform is because those uniforms are cut and fitted to the men who wear them. The military wants their people to look good, not shabby.

In London the color was hot pink with nice bold colors that stood out that made you turn your head and look.

A friend of mine who works at home has decided to make sure to dress up for work at least twice a week. He finds that he does get more looks, but then he admits that dressing better than most men is not that hard.

But that's the irony isn't it, women like men who dress well, but the societal image of a good male dresser implies that he's unavailable which would apply to the hubby. But it makes me sad for single guys, it just puts them between a rock and a hard place.