Oh why have you forsaken me?!

There are a few girls around campus I always look to for great fashion inspiration.  One of these girls is Hilary Zaitz.  She normally wears some amazing outfits that even I envy.  However, that was until I saw these pictures of her.

Why Hilary? Why?  There is just so much wrong with this.  First, tights and leggings are in no way formal or dressy.  I’m guessing this is some sort of “formal” held by a sorority or fraternity and therefore dressing up should have been a requirement.  You look like you rolled out of bed and had nothing to wear.  Also, even with the fact that you are very skinny, these make you look fat.  Your ass looks huge and any attraction I had towards you has all but disappeared.  I hope I never have to see such a terrible sight again, and especially never on you.  Earn my respect back.  Wear something absolutely fabulous soon.

Here’s a quick summary for all your ladies out there.  Leggings and tights are underwear.  They are sold in the hosiery section near underwear and therefore should be worn UNDER something.  It’s the name of the product people.  99.9% of people are not perfect enough to wear tights.  No one wants to see your ass cheeks in that much detail.

The demands of a fat person

While perusing the internet I commonly run across a variety of additional articles I would otherwise never read.  Today I was browsing a forum and came across a link to What do fat people want?

This fantastic webpage informs me of the vast sweeping changes the fat “community” wants the United States to change just for them.

WE WANT fat children to grow up safe from ridicule and physical violence. Such hate crimes rob fat children of their self-esteem and their hope for the future. To this end, we want schools, social service agencies, and courts to recognize, and help alleviate, the socially condoned mistreatment of fat children.

This is the only one I agree with.  I’m not going to stop thinking the way I think, but everyone is entitled to go to school and work without being ridiculed.  There is a solution though; lose some weight.  We won’t have to change any laws then.

WE WANT to be healthy. We also want people to understand that being healthy does not necessarily mean being thin.

WE WANT doctors who focus on our health and well-being, not on weight loss.

WE WANT doctors to stop pushing dangerous treatments: diets, diet pills, liposuction, and weight-loss surgery. As the New England Journal of Medicine said recently, “The cure for obesity [sic] may be worse than the condition.”

WE WANT diagnostic equipment that will accommodate us: MRIs, CAT scans, ultrasound machines, some X-ray machines, etc.

First, I love how they conveniently left out what they meant by “recently.”  This article was published nearly 9 years ago on October 17, 1999 in the New England Journal of Medicine.  The problem of obesity has drastically increased since then and the way that doctors treat this problem has also changed greatly.

Second, health and well-being in many ways is linked to being at a healthy weight.  By saying they want hospital equipment that accomodates them, I believe this article is relating to very large people.  You can be slightly overweight and still live a relatively healthy life.  It is when you are obese and weigh 30 pounds or more overweight.  In order to not fit into hospital equipment you must be horribly overweight and therefore probably suffer from serious medical problems.  Increased risks of heart disease, painful swelling of joints and diabetes are all problems that occur when you are this overweight.  Doctors want you to be healthy and helping give you a variety of options to get to that point is their job.  There is always eating less and exercising.

WE WANT health insurance companies to stop denying coverage based on weight.

WE WANT surgeons to stop refusing to operate on us unless we lose weight, just because they do not have the skill, the tools, or the technique to work with large bodies. (Ironically, sometimes the only surgery a fat person can obtain is mutilating weight-loss surgery.)

I don’t know if you knew this, but insurance companies and surgeons need to make money.  If an insurance company takes on an obese person they must either deny them or charge them a much higher rate.  This is because they are a health risk.  Obese people have a variety of health conditions that arise just because of being obese. Surgeons think the same way.  If you have a high risk of having a complication on the operating table they are not going to operate on you.  They are just thinking about money.

WE WANT the media to stop quoting inaccurate and spurious statistics about fat mortality rates. This practice only reinforces the prejudice we face.

For example, the oft-quoted figure of 300,000 fat-related deaths in America is based on a study (McGinnis and Foege, JAMA, Nov. 10, 1993) that linked these deaths to sedentary lifestyle and poor diet, not to weight!

What do 99% of obese people have in common?  If you guessed a sedentary lifestyle and poor diet then you win.  This would be the same as if the tobacco company said, “cigarette deaths aren’t caused by cigarettes, it’s the lung cancer that gets you.”  The two come hand in hand.

WE WANT the FDA to test weight-loss drugs thoroughly for safety before approving them for use by millions of consumers who are all-too-eager for a miracle pill, even when it is life-threatening. Beyond that, we question the value or wisdom of seeking medical cures for social problems in the first place.

No one is given medication without being told the risks.  You are not forced to take any pill or have any surgery done on you.  It’s not the FDA’s responsibility to make choices for you.

WE WANT doctors and health professionals to heed the New England Journal of Medicine’s January 1, 1998 editorial, “Losing Weight-An Ill-Fated New Year’s Resolution,” when it says:

“Doctors should do their part to help end discrimination against overweight [sic] people in schools and workplaces. We should also speak out against the public’s excessive infatuation with being thin and the extreme, expensive, and potentially dangerous measures taken to attain that goal. Many Americans are sacrificing their appreciation of one of the great pleasure of life–eating–in an attempt to look like our semi-starved celebrities. Countless numbers of our daughters and increasingly many of our sons are suffering immeasurable torment in fruitless weight-loss schemes and scams, and some are losing their lives.”

No one is telling the obese people to become wafer thin.  This article is not about discrimination.  It’s about how stupid and crazy diets are.  People just need to learn that they don’t have to eat everything around them.  Eat so you are full and eat healthy.

Stop eating so much. You’ll save money, feel better, look better and overall have a better life.  Plus then you wouldn’t have to write such dumb articles that cause me so much anger.

Being fat is a race?!

Lending heft to an anti-bias campaign

What is going on with this country?!

This article talks about giving protection to the two-thirds of the nation that is obese in the same way that various races are protected.  In the article a woman talks about losing a job once her potential employer saw her in real life.  Well, that just sucks for her.  Unfortunately the way that you look has always mattered in job interviews.

People have always known that they need to look good and “put their best foot forward” on their first face to face interview.  You wouldn’t go to an interview in torn up jeans and a t-shirt, would you?  How is this any different than going to a job interview 50 pounds overweight.  They both show a lack of attention and respect for your own appearence.  A person who is overweight has a choice about how to  manage their weight.  I’m not talking about being 10 or 15 pounds overweight.  I’m talking about people that let themselves become obese.  This shows to a potential employer a variety of things about your personality.  Staying fit and thin shows that you are willing to make time to keep yourself healthy.  This is vastly different than the other reasons that people are protected by the law against discrimination.

People are protected against discrimination for reasons that they cannot control.  A person cannot control what skin color they are.  They cannot control what ethnic origin they have.  This is why people are protected by the law against discrimination.  Skin color and race have no direct corrolation to work ethic and how you live your life.  However, when I look at someone who is obese I can say with great certainty that they at least do not take out time to work out regularly or watch what they eat.  Instead of wasting all this time trying to pass new legislation, why don’t you get your fatass up and go work out.

Tights are not pants

The war against tights not being worn as pants has taken a great stride in the right direction.  In the May issue of Nylon there was a great article about just this issue.  Check out tights are not pants. Also keep your eyes out around campus for these flyers.  I will definitely be posting them up around.

Finally it’s spring!

The sun was out shining brilliantly across the Cornell campus today.  Thermometers were pushed, at least briefly, above 70 degrees.  I was, of course, dressed fabulously for the first real day of warmth on campus.  The problem is that many, if not most, students immediately switch from cold weather clothing to way too hot weather clothing.

I was very thankful I did not have any objects with me that I could use to easily gouge out my eyes today.  Time and time again my eyes were raped with visions of bright neons clashing.  There were shorts that revealed far too much cellulite.  I couldn’t seem to get away from mandels and crocs no matter where I walked.  I’m going to predict what will become the three worst trends of Spring and Summer 2008.

Tights

Tights really are amazing.  During the winter they allow a girl to wear things that they never could wear before during the cold weather.  Dresses and skirts become viable options during even the coldest times and tights can easily be used to help transition into the summer.  Notice I said they can be used to accent a dress or skirt.  I never said they can be used as pants.  That is why tights will definitely become a constant assault on my eyes.  There is only maybe 1% of the entire world’s population that can wear tights as pants.  Unless you KNOW you have an amazing rear-end and pair of legs, you CANNOT wear leggings as pants.  Do you not notice how the leggings form around every curve on your body?  Well I definitely notice!  Your shaking ass cheeks and flabby thighs constantly accost my vision.  Thank God I don’t anything really heavy or I might vomit.

Mandels

You know exactly what kind of footwear I’m talking about.  This is the sandal you would wear if you’re going out hiking and need to wear a sandal that won’t fall off.  However, men and women alike feel that this is the exact type of footwear they should wear on a regular basis.  These stick out like a horribly sore, pus oozing, gangrene infected thumb.  The only thing that could be worse is wearing a croc.  These might not be so terrible, but usually the people wearing these feel their clothing must be equally “comfortable.”  This usually means terrible fitting shorts and wife beaters.  Unless you are planning on the mainland flooding anytime soon, get some real footwear.

Tights…yes, again

Tights are going to be so horrible this season, I had to write about them again.  I just can’t think of anything that ruins my day more than seeing a pair of tights hugging a behemoth ass as it jiggles[walks] along.  This trend is even worse than the skinny jeans trend that has been going on for a couple years now.  The same girls that think they can wear skinny jeans, now think they can wear leggings.  At least with skinny jeans I didn’t have to see your fatass generate gravity waves so large I need to fear a tornado coming down.  Please, have mercy on not just my eyes, but the eyes of the entire world and wear a longer top.

I have decided to start amassing a collection of the worst offenders. So, girls, if you plan on walking around wearing tights like they are pants, you might end up here with your ass hanging out. Literally.

Mine eyes! They melt!

Is the world coming to an end? Has the world decided that living decadently and not in a healthy manner is normal enough that people now should think it is OK?  Well, recent news from the UK leads me to believe just that.  A size 16 British girl is in the final runnings to be Miss England. This is wrong in so many ways; for fashion and for the health of the world’s young girls and boys.

In article they quote Stevie Walters, of Models Plus, the model agency that signed the girl, as saying, “Chloe is gorgeous-looking and we are sure she will be snapped up by fashion companies who want to project a realistic and achievable image to their customers.” No large fashion house will ever accept a size 16 girl to model their clothing. Clothing just does not flow or look as nice on a model of that size. There is a scandal that is running rampant in Europe about the desire to use smaller and smaller girls. Is there a scandal where the lines want to use larger models? No! Using the larger model is only used to market clothing to the masses. A couture line has absolutely no need to market to any “normal” sized person. If you want to wear couture you will either lose the weight to wear the sample sizes or pay the money to get it custom made. Designers know this and do not care about designing for any larger women.

The possible proliferation of larger models is also detrimental to the health of men and women all around the globe, both young and old. If girls think that being fat is OK they will exercise less and eat more foods that are high in fats and sugars. At least now girls know for the most part that they should try and be thin and know that being fat is both ugly and not healthy. If girls start to get fatter on average why should men try and stay fit? The fatter women models will also eventually lead to a more obese male population. Married men for the most part eat what is cooked for them and this will just be whatever the wife thinks is fine to eat.

Many people try and defend girls around size 16 saying that this size is not fat and is just a normal healthy woman. My guess of the size of a normal, healthy woman is a size 6 or 8. In order to confirm my suspicions I went out and did some searching on Google. A size 8(US) is the normal dress size according to this site You can go out and look this up for yourself. This girl is over the average size and is overweight by any medical standards. Being overweight is unhealthy and can lead to an increase in cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

We cannot not indulge people who have an eating disorder. It is for their own good and the good of all society that we help them reach a healthy weight. England, make the right choice and vote in a beautiful, not overweight girl to represent your country.

Traveling

So, it’s that time of the year again. Everyone needs to travel to get home and see their family.  For me that involves some fun layovers at all hours of the day.  At every layover I see a variety of styles and fashion choices.  But, tonight I’m not here to talk about what you should wear in the airport. Instead I’m here to talk about what one girl should not have worn.

I got on a shuttle bus to go to another terminal and I spotted the most appalling outfit I’ve seen in quite some time. I tried unsuccessfully a few times to get a picture.  She was very sneaky. So instead I get to tell you about the horror that was her outfit.

The girl’s outfit gave off the vibe of a Brooklyn girl.  She walked as if she owned the place.  The first time I saw her was from the front and all I could see was her top.  She wore a bright blue top. Now, normally I would love this color. It was very vibrant and screamed winter time sheik.  Her problem was that this top was a bit too big or cut oddly so her cleavage exploded out of it.  Thank god she had a bra on, but at the same time I cringed because she had a bra on.  It was the most in your face leopard print pattern possible.  My eyes actually hurt from looking at this extreme contrast.  What made her think that this was a great look?!

The rest of her outfit was actually quite fabulous.  She wore some great dark, skinny True Religion and a pair of amazing black heels.

I think this girl needed to wear this outfit; she didn’t have a choice.  She was chubby and her face was a total mess. I don’t think any more makeup could adhere to her face.  Even with the three pounds of makeup I could see all her acne and nothing could help her giant schnoz.  What’s this teach us? Don’t trash like a you’re going to a crazy nightclub when you’re going to the airport.  If you do then I’m just going to think you’re a prostitute or total slut and I might ask for some help in the bathroom.

You’re old…too old

So when I’m stuck in the airport during the holiday season I tend to look around and notice what people are wearing.  In the Charlotte airport this weekend while waiting for my flight to Syracuse I was both horrified and pleasantly surprised at the very same gate.  Of course, I’ll be giving the bad news first.  In lieu of pictures I will be forced to just describe the women.

The first woman walked into the seating area and the only thing I could notice at first was her legs.  I was disgusted and at the same time couldn’t stop looking.  They were dark and covered in sun spots.   The tan was obviously burned into her permanently by her weekly daily trips to the tanning salon.  I could almost smell her skin burning and the cancer forming.  She had that old woman body shape that you would imagine goes with a pair of legs like this.  Her legs were slender but her torso was a bit round.  I’m guessing she was very proud of her legs not being fat and that is why she chose to wear those shorts.  There is a level of decency that you should gain as you age.  There is no need to parade around in shorts at that age, especially at the end of November.  Her skin was disgusting and the mere sight of them made me glad I hadn’t eaten all day; otherwise, I would have thrown up.

The second woman was a great vision and showed how she has grown into her style and maturity.  Both of the woman I would have guessed were in their late 40s to early 50s.  The main difference between the two woman was the health of their skin.  The second woman wore a cream sweater dress with a slightly longer matching sweater on top.  She wore knee high boots so some skin was showing.  It was apparent this woman took care of herself in her youth.  Obviously her skin was not that of 18 year old, but it did not have sun spots and a horrible baked look.  Please girls, think before you tan or else you’ll be that awkward old lady walking around in shorts making me puke in the future.

You’re … Wow! white socks …

So, I’m thinking to myself today about how excited I am about wearing cropped pants this spring, when I see someone wearing some shorter pants. Is this a fashion forward Cornellian?! No, of course not. Instead I lose all train of thought and can only see the brightest white socks on Earth glaring at me. I am fairly sure that he was in no way intending to try and create any sort of fashion statement. I can say this with great certainty because no fashionista would be caught dead with the look he had. If you want to wear cropped pants, please no socks. If you must wear socks wear something that really stands out and compliments your outfit. It lets people know you intended to show off your socks and want to make a statement.

You’re actually too lazy to dress well

So, in the school paper today there was an article entitled “Fashion 102: Intro to College Couture.”  I enjoy reading what someone else in the school thinks about the current fashion scene both here on campus and around the world, but this is just terrible.  This whole article is just filled with paltry excuses as to why college students, for lack of a better way to put it, dress like shit.  The author, Dana Mendolowitz, lists off three main reasons as to why college students like slobs and years behind the fashion world.

First,  she states that college students dress to stick to the weather.  There clearly is no way to dress fashionably while staying warm!  It’s not like clothing designers are not making up-to-date fashionable coats and sweaters. Oh wait, yes they are!  I can go to any major fashion forward e-store, such as Nieman Marcus or Net-A-Porter, and find plenty of great winter clothes that are on the cutting edge of fashion.  Without too much searching I can also look around on BlueFly or go to the mall and find great deals on fashionable outerwear.  Ok, so maybe Dana’s next reason will really support why college students don’t pay attention to fashion.

Dana then goes on to say that college students develop a “certain libe chic,” because of the long hours many students put in at the libraries study all over campus.  Let me get this straight; students go and do work outside of their living space for hours every day.  This sounds oddly similar to what adults outside of the college environment call work.  Yes, this is a far off concept to many, but people do go and do things they don’t necessarily want to do for many hours every day.  I would love it if any student at Cornell could tell me more than a handful of companies that allow pajama pants, sweat pants or gym clothes as appropriate daily wear to work.  So, why is this appropriate clothing for the library?  SURELY Dana’s last point will tell me why college students can’t dress themselves.

Dana’s final reason is that college students don’t have the time and/or money to build and maintain a proper wardrobe.  This is pure rubbish.  If you are wearing clothes, then at some time you had the money to buy those clothes and therefore could have used that money to buy something more stylish.  I thoroughly understand if every student does not have a couple hundred dollars to update their wardrobe every season, but whenever students find themselves buying clothing, they can very easily buy things that look good and will last.  There are many items that will always stand the test of time and fashion, classically fashionable items.  The dark colored peacoat, the slim suit, the little black dress, nice slacks and many other items will look great for years to come.

Dana’s article is just adding to the problem.  If students see more articles like this they will feel that continually diminishing the level of dress on campus is acceptable.  Soon dressing up for class will mean jeans and a t-shirt and the norm will be just rolling out of bed and wearing whatever you fell asleep in.  I for one think that every student capable of getting into Cornell or any college for that matter is more than capable to dress themselves well on a daily basis and does not have any excuse to do otherwise.