Friday, October 18, 2013

Leather Trends Blog Post

I found this via Nina Garcia on Twitter:  
http://editd.com/blog/2013/10/leather-trends-aw13/

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Lipstick Etiquette

I was taught that it's impolite to put my lipstick on at the dinner table. I was told to excuse myself from the table and reapply in the restroom. I'm sorry to say that I have not followed those instructions but I will now.  I was also taught to blot off my lipstick before taking a drink from a glass.  I'm sorry to say that I don't do that either but now I will. I found these etiquette tips on a blog so I thought I would share.

•It’s bad manners to apply lipstick in public. Rather than put on your gloss at the restaurant table or at your desk in the office, it’s best to excuse yourself and touch up in the ladies room.
•One should never apply so much lipstick it comes off on the stemware. Which is kind of hard to tell when you’re applying – I mean even a little bit can come off. I see where they’re going with this though, it’s kind of nasty to see someone’s big red lipstick stains on glasses. Always blot before you drink ladies.
•Don’t leave your lipstick blotted napkins and tissues on the restaurant or dinner party table for all to see. Discreetly fold it up and put it in your pocket or purse if you’re not near a trash receptacle.
 

Monday, October 14, 2013

Breast Cancer and Alcohol

I found this information on the "Susan B. Komen" website. I've edited it down to just the basics then added the calorie count for 7 drinks per week.

"Drinking alcohol in moderation – Is the glass half-full or half-empty?" (March 2011)

How much is one drink of alcohol?
Different types of alcoholic beverages contain different amounts of alcohol. One drink is defined as 0.6 ounces of alcohol, or:
...•12 ounces of beer (one bottle or can)
•5 ounces of wine (one glass)
•1.5 ounces of liquor (one shot)

7 beers per week=721 calories
7 shots of liquor per week=679 calories
7 servings of liqueur per week=1155 calories
7 glasses of wine per week=875 calories
7 Martinis per week=868 calories

Alcohol and breast cancer risk:
Having even just a few alcoholic drinks each week appears to modestly increase the risk of breast cancer. And, the more a woman drinks, the higher her risk of breast cancer appears to be. A pooled analysis of data from 53 studies found for each alcoholic drink consumed per day, breast cancer risk increased by about seven percent. Women who had two to three alcoholic drinks per day had a 20 percent higher risk of breast cancer compared to non-drinkers.

Why does alcohol increase the risk of breast cancer?
There are several ways that alcohol may play a role in breast cancer. Alcohol contains a lot of calories (and few nutrients). Among adults in the U.S., alcohol ranks fifth in top sources of calories. So, many of us are getting a lot of calories from alcohol and those extra calories can lead to excess weight and weight gain. The excess weight, in turn, can increase our risk of breast cancer. Heavier women tend to have higher blood levels of estrogen and higher levels of estrogen are linked to an increased risk of breast cancer.

However, in studies that assessed the link between alcohol and breast cancer risk, alcohol was found to increase risk independent of (by means not related to) body weight. One reason may be that, alcohol affects the way the body processes estrogen, causing estrogen levels to rise. These different effects of alcohol on estrogen in the body explain how it increases breast cancer risk.

Does drinking alcohol affect risk of recurrence or mortality for breast cancer survivors?
As we get older, heart health becomes especially important. This is true for everyone, including breast cancer survivors. We do not yet know if drinking alcohol in moderation has health benefits for breast cancer survivors. Study results are mixed. Some studies show no increased risk of breast cancer recurrence or breast cancer mortality, while others show a slight increase in risk.

Conclusions
No one should ever drink alcohol in excess. Drinking more than one drink per day (for women) and more than two drinks per day (for men) has no health benefits and many serious health risks, including breast cancer. However, if you drink only low to moderate amounts of alcohol, there can be some health benefits, especially for your heart. If you currently drink alcohol only in moderation, weighing these risks and benefits can help you make informed choices.

Susan Hankinson, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School offers this advice. “Moderate alcohol intake is one lifestyle factor well documented to have varying health effects in women – the increase in breast cancer risk and decrease in heart disease risk are both very well confirmed. Until we learn more about the mechanism, and possible ways to limit or eliminate the small increase in breast cancer risk with alcohol use, it will be important for individual women to weigh these risks and benefits.”

So Pretty for Fall

Friday, October 11, 2013

"Overdressed" by Elizabeth L. Cline

Copied from Amazon.com
 
"Until recently, Elizabeth Cline was a typical American consumer. She’d grown accustomed to shopping at outlet malls, discount stores like T.J. Maxx, and cheap but trendy retailers like Forever 21, Target, and H&M. She was buying a new item of clothing almost every week (the national average is sixty-four per year) but all she had to show for it was a closet and countless storage bins packed full of low-quality fads she barely wore—including the same sailor-stripe tops and fleece hoodies as a million other shoppers. When she found herself lugging home seven pairs of identical canvas flats from Kmart (a steal at $7 per pair, marked down from $15!), she realized that something was deeply wrong.

Cheap fashion has fundamentally changed the way most Americans dress. Stores ranging from discounters like Target to traditional chains like JCPenney now offer the newest trends at unprecedentedly low prices. Retailers are pro­ducing clothes at enormous volumes in order to drive prices down and profits up, and they’ve turned clothing into a disposable good. After all, we have little reason to keep wearing and repairing the clothes we already own when styles change so fast and it’s cheaper to just buy more.

But what are we doing with all these cheap clothes? And more important, what are they doing to us, our society, our environment, and our economic well-being?

In Overdressed, Cline sets out to uncover the true nature of the cheap fashion juggernaut, tracing the rise of budget clothing chains, the death of middle-market and independent retail­ers, and the roots of our obsession with deals and steals. She travels to cheap-chic factories in China, follows the fashion industry as it chases even lower costs into Bangladesh, and looks at the impact (both here and abroad) of America’s drastic increase in imports. She even explores how cheap fashion harms the charity thrift shops and textile recyclers where our masses of cloth­ing castoffs end up.

Sewing, once a life skill for American women and a pathway from poverty to the middle class for workers, is now a dead-end sweatshop job. The pressures of cheap have forced retailers to drastically reduce detail and craftsmanship, making the clothes we wear more and more uniform, basic, and low quality. Creative inde­pendent designers struggle to produce good and sustainable clothes at affordable prices.

Cline shows how consumers can break the buy-and-toss cycle by supporting innovative and stylish sustainable designers and retailers, refash­ioning clothes throughout their lifetimes, and mending and even making clothes themselves."
 
This book is available on amazon.com and on Kindle.

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

"Swing" Coats

I think Swing coats are perfect for layering over winter clothes.   This is a beautiful Vintage coat but there are many new styles available for purchase right now.
1960s Lilli Ann raspberry swing coat USA - http://pinterest.com/pin/272467846179446531/

Monday, October 7, 2013

Pinterest Link

Please check out my pin boards on my Pinterest account:
www.pinterest.com/kentuckyfashion

Lily Pulitzer