Christian Wrestling Garb

JESUS DIDN'T TAP is a line of wrestling wear for Christians.

Posted By: Paul - Tue May 19, 2009 - Comments (11)
Category: Fashion, Religion, Martial Arts

Weird… Handbags?

New research out this week says that women's handbags are getting bigger, and so are providing bigger rewards for criminals. Most worryingly, according to ID fraud experts CPP, these larger bags are encouraging women to carry around personal documents such as their passport, bank statements or payslips that are indispensable to an identity thief, leading to an increase in cases of bag theft. And it's not just women at risk, the same research also reveals that 1-in-10 men now tote a "man-bag", most with personal documents inside (Telegraph).

Unfortunately, the advice to keep an eye on your handbag came too late for one member of the UK's "Serious Organised Crime Agency" (a sort of British FBI). On arriving at the main airport in Bogota, Colombia, to gather information on the drug cartels there, the unnamed agent managed to lose her handbag, and with it the memory-stick she was carrying containing the names and addresses of dozens of SOCA's informants and operatives. According to sources the agent is "a lovely girl but a bit daft and scatterbrained", just the sort of person to be transporting information vital to your country's war on drugs then (The Australian).

Of course, it's not always what's taken out of your handbag that can get you into trouble. A Melbourne woman faces five years in a Thailand jail for stealing a beermat, even though two people have come forward and testified that she is innocent and they hid the mat in her handbag. The woman's lawyer has appealed to the Prime Minister of Thailand to intervene in the case (ABC News).

Somehow I don't think the same excuse would work for Teresa Tambunting though. Tambunting, who worked for Jacmel Jewelry in New York, is alleged to have fashioned a hidden pocket in the lining of her handbag and smuggled out over $12 million in gold over the course of 5 years. Surprisingly, money doesn't seem to have been the motive, and soon after the company began an investigation into the higher than expected "manufacturing losses", Tambunting returned a suitcase containing 66lbs of gold pellets. Police later recovered another 447lbs from her Scarsdale home (The Times).

But even loaded with gold, Mrs Tambunting's handbags would fare a poor second in value to those of a certain Mrs Beckham. Victoria "Posh" Beckham, perhaps in a bid to be to handbags what Imelda Marcos was to shoes, has amassed an incredible collection of over 100 designer handbags. Specifically, they are all by one designer, Hermès, and all of one design, his extremely desirable (apparently) "Birkin" model, named for actress Jane Birkin, which start from around $7000 a piece. Beckham's entire collection, which she refers to as "an investment", is worth an estimated $2.3 million (Female First).

Posted By: Dumbfounded - Tue May 19, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Crime, Fashion, Law, Diplomacy and Foreign Relations, Goofs and Screw-ups

Scar Jewelry

It's my scar allows you to turn your scar into jewelry. Just send them a picture of your scar, and they'll make an artistic rendering out of wax and then cast the piece in the metal of your choice.

The site claims that having your scar turned into jewelry can be empowering. I imagine it could also be a great form of creepy revenge. If someone accidentally injures you, give them the scar they caused you as jewelry and make sure they wear it all the time!

Posted By: Alex - Mon May 11, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Fashion

Alisa Chan

This young woman named Alisa Chan exhibits superior design and sewing skills. She should be applauded for her manual dexterity alone.

Posted By: Paul - Sat May 09, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Body Modifications, Costumes and Masks, Fashion, Geeks, Nerds and Pointdexters, Performance Art, Sex Symbols, Roleplayers and Re-enactors

Political Poster Dress

Look magazine for August 20, 1968, contained this image, with a small bit of text detailing how famed illustrator Norman Rockwell licensed his images to a firm called Sterling Paper Fashions to produce these election-year paper dresses. How much do you imagine they'd be worth today on the vintage fashion market or elections collectible market?

Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 28, 2009 - Comments (10)
Category: Fashion, Politics, 1960s, Yesterday’s Tomorrows

Ferguson Safety Smock

Why you should buy a Ferguson Safety Smock:

• They're virtually indestructible.
• They have no hard fasteners that can be filed into weapons.
• They have no nylon hook-and-loop fasteners that can be torn off and used as a rope.
• They include a sanitary belt "designed for self-destructive females on their menses."
• Plus, they make a great fashion statement!

Posted By: Alex - Tue Apr 28, 2009 - Comments (7)
Category: Fashion, Prisons

Human Hair Clothes

CraftStylish.com has collected instructions on how to make yarn out of just about anything: newspaper, VHS tape, plastic bags, or human hair.

They link to a story about a Romanian woman, Ioana Cioanca, who made an entire wardrobe for herself out of her own hair. She's quoted as saying, "Long years I had to wait for my hair to grow so as to make clothes from it but I managed and I am very pleased now."

If you ever want to end a date early, that sentence, said exactly like that, could scare away almost anyone.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Apr 24, 2009 - Comments (4)
Category: Fashion, Hair Styling

Buruma

Apparently, among the many specialized Japanese fetishes is a fascination with "buruma," the Japanification of "bloomers". These gym shorts for females can look like panties or hotpants. But they can also look like surprisingly unsexy old-lady underwear, as seen to the right. (Well, relatively unsexy, compared to other versions.)

For a galley of buruma images, most definitely NSFW, visit this site. You will probably have to click on the button labeled TOGGLE VISIBILITY OF MATURE CONTENT.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Apr 07, 2009 - Comments (2)
Category: Fashion, Underwear, Sexuality, Asia

Follies of the Mad Men #62

[From Playboy magazine for September 1971.]

Please parse the logic here for me. We'll use feminism to sell ugly shoes for men? I just don't get it....

Posted By: Paul - Mon Apr 06, 2009 - Comments (7)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Fashion, Shoes, Feminism, 1970s

Follies of the Mad Men #61

[From Playboy magazine for September 1971.]

Oh, yeah, a belt your Dad would wear back in 1971 could trigger all that groovy hippie stuff. Note the sign that uses Frank Zappa's name for cachet. Did he sue, I wonder?

Posted By: Paul - Tue Mar 31, 2009 - Comments (10)
Category: Business, Advertising, Products, Fashion, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, 1970s