The Hard Truth

Last night I scurried over to the Hammerstein Ballroom for the Heart Truth Red Dress Collection fashion show; a parade of mostly B-list celebs, trotting down the runway in red designer dresses to raise awareness about heart disease in women. Said celebs included Biggest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels, the less famous family members of the uber famous Kardashian sisters, a few daytime TV hosts like Savannah Guthrie and Wendy Williams, and some awkward-walking but super in-shape athletes. The highlight, I thought, was Kelly Osbourne in Zac Posen and her very purple side-swept hair.

Along with being sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the show was put on by Diet Coke. Huge logoed signs hung from the balcony, mini cans were handed out upon entering the venue, more cans were provided in the swag bags, as well as free t-shirts donning the hideous logo. 

I found this to be ironic to say the least - and extremely troubling to say some more. The third ingredient in Diet Coke, Aspartame, is an artificial sweetner made of methanol, phenylalanine and aspartic acid.  And guess what it's been known to cause? You guessed it, diabetes! Oh, and weight gain. Not exactly heart health friendly. Though the FDA has looked the other way, the American Diabetes Association reports:

"Aspartame is particularly toxic for diabetics because it disrupts the body’s normal response to glucose, which is to cause the pancreas to release insulin. The main symptom of diabetes is high blood sugar due to the body's inadequate production or utilization of insulin. Therefore, aspartame is doing exactly the opposite of what diabetics need. Astoundingly, Big Pharma claims that because aspartame has no calories, it is therefore an appropriate dietary supplement for diabetics. Nothing could be further from the truth."

Yeah from the HEART TRUTH! Get it? Anyway, what a shitty way to have to make your health mission heard - by partnering with the health devil. (Kind of like Beyonce joining Michelle Obama in the "Let's Move" campaign, followed by a $50-mil endorsement deal with Pepsi). 

I'm truly saddened by the whole thing. But at least I got to see that skanky chick from Friday Night Lights. 
 

Margiela for H&M Jeans...aka the updated JNCO

Well I never thought I'd see the day. JNCOs are back, guys. Only now, instead of being worn on skaters, punks and weirdos with chains and glow-in-the-dark stuff, they're disguised as some weird accessible-high-fashion-collab between Maison Martin Margiela (MMM) and H&M. If you ask me that's too many M's for one collaboration.

Anyway - the ultra baggy saggy pant is back - check out 90's JNCO versus 2012's version:

Oh and in case you're wondering: yes I did have JNCOs back in the day, and yes, I'm fairly interested in these totally horrendous H&M ones.

In which No Doubt's people rip off Kate Lanphear's people...

Obviously I'm a 90's girl all the way, and I have a profound soft spot in my heart for the band No Doubt - and Gwen Stefani in particular. But dammit guys!! Somebody's doing somebody a huge amount of dirty...

Two years ago, jewelry designer Eddie Borgo convinced his friend (and ELLE style director) Kate Lanphear to model for his online campaign. It was shot by the superbly talented Paul Maffi, and this is the fucking awesomeness that came out of it:

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 Then a few days ago, No Doubt teamed up with Major Lazer and Busy Signal for their "Push and Shove" video - and here are some screenshots I snagged that looked...familiar. 

So like, I'm not trying to go around pointing the finger or anything, but...Yes I am, I'm pointing the finger. That's thievery. Straight up.

where culture meets style??

Is this seriously a New York Times headline - "Where Culture Meets Style"? WHERE DOES CULTURE EVER NOT MEET STYLE? Ugh NYT, I really do want to love you, but you keep giving me reasons not to. Stop that.

LEATHER OVERALLS

If I don't get my hands on these when they come out, I will surely cry. And I know I won't, because they will definitely cost more than my rent. So please pass the tissues...

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In other news, I know I've been so sucky at posting. I've been doing things like this instead:

If you're inclined to follow my yoga thoughts instead of my style thoughts, you can follow me on the Strala Yoga blog, where I post every Tuesday as "The Newbie Yogi".

That's all.

Strala-la-la-la

Hey fashion & style weirdos,

I've got some news! Though my heart lies in all things style, my mind & body are recently fully consumed by yoga.

I met Tara Stiles, the owner of Strala Yoga, after hitting up a few of her classes in SoHo. Everything about that place is charming - the teachers know everybody by name, they play music during the classes, everybody is always smiling and happy. It's weird...I think yoga does that...like, makes people happy and smiley. Just the act of doing it and getting into it. Creepy. But awesome.

So to make a long story short, I approached Tara (aka the Yoga Rebel) and proposed a blog series, "The Newbie Yogi" - chronicling the journey of a yoga beginner (me) - and all the thoughts and tips and experiences that go along with it.

So hop on over to the Strala Yoga Blog!! Click HERE to read my first entry!

NYTimes says shredded denim is...back?

Dear New York Times,

Look, you know I love you...but cotdamn sometimes your trend reports are so very sad:

You say shredded denim "has turned up again"...as in, it went somewhere...and now it's like, back...so now it's a must-wear...again.

Shredded denim - like leather jackets or white v-necks or or trench coats - isn't new, it never left, and it probably never will. Granted, if the shredded denim was suddenly pink or yellow or green, that would be noteworthy.

But plain denim??!! C'mon NYTimes!! I believe in you! I want you to be on-trend! Please dig a little deeper.

With love,
Mihal