The Rick Owens F/W 2015 Paris Menswear Penis kerfuffle (yes, you read that right)

So, Rick Owens Fall-Winter 2015 show "Sphinx" featured (and I do mean featured) exposed male genitalia.

I guess Owens is a bit more of a classicist, as the OG answer is, of course, Man.

And boy howdy does this show celebrate manhood. I know this is going to be a polarizing show, but personally this makes me want to jump up and down and cheer a little bit!

The Man Himself (he is wearing pants in this shot I assure you)

Photo: Yannis Vlamos -Indigitalimages.com

I have no issue with the exposure of bodies in high fashion as clothing is MEANT to accentuate the human body and high fashion is MEANT to push boundaries, EXCEPT in that there is a clear double standard when it comes to exposing men's and women's bodies in fashion.

I'm all for celebrating the female form through fashion and art, so it only stands that the male form should be celebrated too! This sort of show levels the playing field without feeling exploitative.

Note: I consider body image and exploitation questions separately from those of pure nudity but I think that deserves its own post so I'm not going to even try to address it here.

Owens has shown a trend of bucking runway expectations with notable moves such as using a lineup of forty step dancers from Washington, D.C., and New York City-based crews (Momentum, Soul Steps, Zetas, Washington Divas) in place of the usual models in his Spring 2014 show and it's nice to see that he's keeping it going.

It is however a bit sad that either move is even remotely notable in the first place. Celebration of the variability and beauty of the human form and how it looks in a designer's clothing should be the norm in fashion. The focus on a small range of looks and approaches limits creativity and is frankly pretty lazy.

Rick Owens Paris Spring 2014 - "Viscious" Full Show

As for the clothes...

Well there I'm pretty mixed. I like a lot of the coats (mmm double breasted structure in leather and tweed) and I DO appreciate how hard it is to showcase the male form without dipping into the International Male/Romance novel cover side of things, but in general he runs far too oversized/asymmetrical/slouchy for my taste and there's a distinct flavor of slightly rumpled Shaolin Monk (both in the drapey and the lighter structural pieces) and/or "naked guy who had to jump out of bed to answer the door".

image from NewNowNext - original source unknown

I'm still working on finding a video but for now here's a link to the full Style.com slideshow.
They have managed to source their pictures from comparatively modest angles so there's nothing other than chest and legs showing there.

Make no mistake however, this show was CLEARLY not supposed to be "suggestive" of nudity as this NewNowNext article more clearly... ahem... demonstrates. (link is exactly as worksafe as one could expect out of any WOMEN's fashion show, which is to say not even a little bit).

This was not a question of wardrobe malfunction, penis showing portholes are carefully placed, drapes are carefully arranged and on a whole the effect seems fairly playful.

Jan 2015 Ipsy Glambag

My Ipsy Glam Bag for this month came the other day and I have to say I'm not terribly thrilled.
(once again I get points if you sign up via the link - this is a standard Ipsy user situation)

I received
Astrida Naturals Orange Mint Lip Balm with Shea Oil
(MALIN+GOETZ) Mojito Lip Balm
LashFood Phyto-Medic Eyelash Enhancer
Probelle Into The Blue Nail Lacquer
Pacifica Natural Mineral Coconut Eye Shadow in Treasure
a sort of plasticy nautical flat zip top bag - the opposite side is white

My thoughts in brief - all products untested
I don't like mint so I suspect both lip balms are out. The ingredients on the Orange Mint one look okay but I don't like that "perfume" is practically the only recognizable ingredient in the Mojito one.

The eyelash enhancer is intriguing but I'm going to have to research it a bit before I'm willing to put it near my eyes.I hate removing mascara so a product that gives me more lash with less grindy rubbing at the end of the day is okay by me.

The polish looks nice and I like that it's 3free, but it's pretty blah as shades of blue go. Just sort of an enh greyish sky blue. It really wouldn't stand out against my skin tone very well at all and in fact I think the pedi I got for my wedding was almost exactly the same shade because that's all they had (I painted over it with a better blue when I got home).
I don't see myself ever reaching for it to wear on its own, but it may get some use in nail art.

The shadow is a pretty enough shade, but I am BEYOND set on coppery sand toned shadows, thanks.

The bag is a good size and seems sturdy, thought I do generally prefer the fabric ones,


So yeah, mostly more stuff for the trade pile... not that I ever get around to trading stuff out anyway! Though I do think that contemplating my Ipsy stuff has given me an idea as far as nail polish goes. I think I may have just solved the "what sort of flakie mani do I want" question.

Cheese plate update

I'm trying this "occasional blogging about cheese" thing out because frankly, I love cheese. I think I eat more cheese than anyone else I know, which might very well be saying something.

I'm not an expert, just a REALLY REALLY REALLY enthusiastic amateur.

Wallace And Gromit know where it's at

Ironically, I'm also lactose intolerant. Thankfully my supply of Lactase enzyme is usually prodigious enough to keep up with my adventurous palate, though there was that time I had Lactaid overnighted to my hotel at Disney because I didn't pack enough and they apparently don't sell it on site?!?

Anyway, it's one of my great loves and I'm sharing it because this is my blog and that's my life!

I'm going to try to make this a semi regular round-up post though I'm not sure what kind of time frame I will leave between posts.

I bought some cheese for myself to have a nice snack for my holiday week staycation. Then I got an ASTOUNDING amount of cheese from my In-Laws for Christmas (left side of the pic above was my fridge on Christmas night).THEN I got a C'est Cheese Cheese of the month club subscription from my Husband for my birthday the week after (right side of the pic above was January's picks)  so there's a bit more than usual to talk about right at this moment! Due to the sheer volume of cheese I ended up eating a lot of the fresher cheeses first and leaving the aged cheeses for later.

I'm not really going to talk about what I use as a vehicle for the cheese because honestly I eat it with what I have around. If I happen to use something interesting I'll mention it.

After the jump I'm going to start off with some particularly notable ones I've had in the last several weeks and fill in the gaps from there in future posts.