FabSugar

Fab Ad? Sisley Fashion Junkie, 1

FabSugar — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 09:00:33 PDT

UPDATE: I have been informed by Sisley's parent company Benetton that these ads are fake. To see the real Sisley fall ad campaign, please visit Sisley.com. Thanks!

OK hold up. Sisley has gone too far with this ad. I normally like Sisley's racy and daring ads but this is too much - too in your face! The line of poking fun has crossed over into inappropriate. This ad is part of a series and if you look at Fashion Junkie, 2, where the fashion vice is alcohol instead of blow, I think that is as far a fashion junkie as Sisley should have gone.

Back in 2004, Benetton owned Sisley was featured in an article about how in France ultra provocative advertising isn't shocking - which is true for a lot of countries - but the US is tighter lipped about such things. While I appreciate sultry imagery and can laugh at a cheeky message, there is a fine line.

There are a couple more things I'd like to point out here. There is some nippleage on the left model - no big whoop really. And, I wonder if Chase Bank is OK with these models using one of their bank cards as a cutting device. As for the clothes, I like the deep purple dress but I really can't focus on anything but the not-so-subliminal message and the weird look in the model's eye. What do you all think?!

Source

Kate Middleton Pairs a High-Slitted Gown With Jimmy Choos For a Night With William

Allie Merriam — Wed, 09 May 2012 11:02:51 PDT

Kate Middleton and her husband Prince William arrived at Claridge's hotel in London last night. She was decked out in a long white gown from Roland Mouret, surely rivaling any of the high fashions seen in NYC at Monday's Met Gala. Kate paired the white dress with a chic pair of sky-high Jimmy Choos. The sandals revealed that Kate has her toes painted a dark berry color! Kate also wore the sandals for an event last November.

Their evening out was to meet up with the Thirty Club, a group of executives from advertising and the media. Prince William was the guest of honor and planned to give a speech. Many of his family members have had the same honor, including his mom, Princess Diana, aunt Princess Anne, and grandfather Prince Philip.

William and Kate have another big event coming up this week. The Our Greatest Team Rises gala will host Will and Kate in just a few days at an event honoring the Olympics' Team Great Britain and Paralympics Great Britain. Their social schedule in the UK is full, but the same might not be said for her sister Pippa. There are reports in the English press today that Pippa Middleton may be considering a move to NYC.

Meeting My Sperm Donor

The Good Men Project — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 10:00:50 PDT

We're happy to present this story from one of our favorite sites, The Good Men Project. Ben Sommer, conceived through alternative insemination, is a young man now and tells the story of deciding to meet his donor.

I grew up in a middle-class home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with two loving parents, both of whom are women. My conception was perhaps the most organized and scientific miracle of the modern American family - my architecture, the dream of dozens of individuals conducting their work across thousands of miles.

Objectifying Ryan Gosling

I was conceived through alternative insemination. A donor submitted his sperm to the Sperm Bank of California in Oakland (TSBC). Later, it was sent to the Fenway Community Health Center in Boston. Since opening its doors in 1982, TSBC has helped families without the ability to conceive on their own to birth over 2,000 children. Two thirds of those have ended up, like me, being raised in a lesbian household. TSBC is also the first sperm bank to offer a donor-identity-release program, which allows children of alternative insemination access to their donors' information when they turn 18.

I am not as much an oddity as you might think. As of 2005, some 270,000 children in the United States had same sex-parents. We are a generation that is just now beginning to come of age and able to share our stories. This is mine.

Growing up in a lesbian household was much like growing up in any other family unit, I imagine: vacations to Cape Cod, parents working late and sometimes not, play dates with a diverse group of friends.

I never gave much thought to that mysterious figure across the country. I never questioned the fact that I didn't have a father. As far as I was concerned I didn't need one. Is having two moms really all that different than having a mom and a dad? Parents are parents, right? I didn't see a difference at the time. My parents didn't either - at least at first.

They decided to conceive through a donor, in part, to avoid the complications that a third parent would bring. Asking a close male friend to donate, like some couples have done, can create unforeseen consequences. In the past, there have been custody battles between the donor and the parents raising the child. This was the case with a friend of mine, whose parents arranged donation from a male family friend. With a semi-anonymous donor like the man my parents chose, it would be clear who my parents were. And it was.

That's not to say that it was smooth sailing. "When we first learned you were going to be a boy, we really panicked," my mother told me recently. "Who's going to teach him to throw a ball? We didn't have many male friends. There was even basic stuff, like who's going to teach him to pee standing up. That doesn't come naturally."

Read the rest of the story below.

How Some Countries Limit Airbrushed Advertisements

Anna Monette Roberts — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 03:30:13 PDT

Airbrushing and advertising have become synonymous. While Photoshop renders perfect, slender, and flawless-faced images that may sell products or magazine covers, some worry that heavily altered depictions can negatively impact women. The good news is celebrities, companies, and several countries are taking a stand against excessive and unrealistic airbrushing. This week, Israel passed legislation that will place limits on airbrushing in fashion advertisements. Israel's new rules will require all advertisers to label photographs that have received retouching. In addition, the regulations will try to promote healthier body image by requiring all models to have a minimum body mass index of 18.5, which is the minimum weight that the World Health Organization considers standard or healthy.

Australia has attempted similar measures. In 2010, Australia's youth minister Kate Ellis came up with guidelines to ban ultra thin models and heavy retouching. The initiative would require Austrian advertisers to "disclose when images have been retouched and refrain from enhancing photographs in a way that changes a person's body shape, for example, lengthening their legs or trimming their waist, or removing freckles, lines and other distinguishing marks."

Working to comb through all advertisements, the UK has an independent group called the Advertising Standards Authority, which regulates advertising across all media platforms to ensure that ads are "decent and truthful." While airbrushing is a common occurrence, the agency does ban ads that are highly exaggerated. Recently, Rachel Weisz's L'Oreal's Revitalift Repair 10 ad was banned for its excessive and misleading airbrushing. In the ad, the actress's face was devoid of wrinkles and promoted extremely false advertising.

Back in the US, we don't have specific laws regulating airbrushing, but you can pick up this month's The Economist's Intelligent Life with the cover featuring an untouched Cate Blanchett. The Intelligent Life editor Tim de Lisle explains their decision, "When other magazines photograph actresses, they routinely end up running heavily Photoshopped images, with every last wrinkle expunged . . . Cate Blanchett, by contrast, appears on our cover . . . with the odd line on her face and faint bags under her eyes. She looks like what she is - a woman of 42." Ironically, an un-airbrushed image becomes a sensational news story, but as a public, do we prefer perfect, pretty images or do we really wish to see true portrayals of our celebrities? What do you make of these types of regulations?

Sugar Shout Out: See Eva Mendes in 38 of Her Sexiest Editorials

Kimberly Timlick — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 23:55:19 PST

10 Biggest Spending Excuses and How to Squash Them

LearnVest — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:15:12 PDT

We're thrilled to present this smart LearnVest story here on Savvy!

You’re a clever gal.

Which probably means that your mind can have a, well, mind of its own.

You can talk yourself into things, out of things, even over things (he always did look kind of lame in his favorite fedora). When your mind is healthy, strong, and on the angelic side of your shoulder, talking you out of overspending, great. But when it’s a weak and flabby devil’s advocate, telling your better self, “But it’s on sale . . . and you’ll be getting that extra commission check soon,” then it’s time to bring in the big guns: a little combat training to beat those excuses into shape.

Below, your guide to creating a mind of anti-shopping steel: the top 10 spending excuses we use-and how to squash them. Think of these as squats for your spending “buts.” Now get to work, and repeat as necessary!

Excuse #1: But It's on Sale

(Also known as: It's really cheap; it's only $12.99; it's such a great deal.)

Ah, the lure of the deal. Retailers so understand that people want a deal that an entire Groupon-inspired industry has spawned from this, and outlets even create fake markdowns on their price tags. This will require a mind of steel, but you must train yourself to ignore the base price and focus only on the offered price. Your only considerations should be: (1) Whether you really need it, and (2) whether the price fits within your budget. Even big discounts can mean big spending.

Excuse #2: But I've Been Working so Hard, I Deserve It

We all work hard (unless you're born wealthy or won the lottery, in which case, um, good for you). Donna Summer put it best when she said, "She works hard for the money." That's right. We all work hard. It's not that you shouldn't use your hard-earned money to enjoy life-you should. It's just that "working hard" shouldn't be an excuse to spend. After all, it's not like your income automatically expands proportionally to how difficult work has been lately. Your budget trumps how you feel about your work stress. (But if it consistently doesn't add up, look for a job where you'll be compensated better-and check out our salary negotiating tips.)

Read on for more spending excuses.

Bare Escentuals Blindly Casts Its Fall Campaign

Jaime Richards — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 05:03:07 PDT

For Bare Escentuals' latest campaign, dubbed Be a Force of Beauty, executive chairman Leslie Blodgett and her team didn't look to celebrity spokesmodels to participate in the brand's ads. In fact, they didn't even look at the models to be featured in the campaign. In an approach pretty much unheard of in traditional advertising standards, the beauty company instead chose to run a blind casting call.

"We wanted to pick women based on what they stood for," Blodgett explained. "We thought, 'Are they people we want to spend time with? Do they have a voice, and do they have something to say?'" It all started with 271 women - a pool of models and actresses, (so how bad could the results really be?) - and an online questionnaire. To see more about how it all went down, just keep reading.

Giving Vintage Posters a Shot

Julia Millay Walsh — Mon, 09 May 2011 08:40:00 PDT

I've never been a big fan of vintage advertising posters - particularly the reproductions. But after coming across this adorable kitchen corner, I realized maybe it's not so much the poster I have a problem with but the way they're displayed. The sprightly yellow paint and striped and botanical textiles pull out all of the colors from the poster in a sweet and peppy fashion. The scale of the poster is also just right for this corner and gives the room height. Plus, the vintage cakestand, pitcher, and glassware on the table chime into the retro look of Les Cycles Alcyon.

I thought I'd round up a few more vintage posters for y'all, in case you're also liking the look!

Photo by Justin Bernhaut

9 Techies on the Forbes List of 100 Most Powerful Women

Kelly Schwarze — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 13:44:44 PDT

Forbes's list of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women has been released, and we're excited to see quite a few techies in the group.

Forbes selects candidates within six categories: billionaires, business, lifestyle (including entertainment and fashion), media, nonprofits, and politics. From those categories, each person is ranked upon three metrics: "dollars, a traditional and social media component, and power base points."

Nine women with technology connections made the prestigious list. Find out who they are and their rankings below.

5. Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook - According to Forbes, Sheryl has helped to grow active Facebook users to represent 11 percent of the world's total population. She is also an outspoken advocate of empowering women in the workforce.
6. Melinda Gates, cofounder and cochair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - A computer scientist in her own right, Melinda Gates now focuses on the foundation named after her and husband. In the last year alone, the organization gave away $2.4 billion in global charitable contributions with an emphasis on immunizations.
16. Susan Wojcicki, SVP of Advertising, Google - Dubbed "the most important Googler you've never heard of," Susan was the one to rent her legendary Palo Alto garage to the Google founders. She currently oversees AdWords and mobile advertising products and is responsible for bringing in 96 percent of the company's total revenue.
20. Cher Wang, cofounder and chair, HTC; VIA Technologies - As cofounder of Taiwan-based HTC, Cher has grown the company to be the maker of more than out of every five smartphones.
37. Carol Bartz, CEO, Yahoo! - As CEO of the Internet search engine, Carol has made Yahoo! into a leading digital media group with an audience reach over 700 million.

The remaining four most powerful women with a tech focus after the break.

Carine Roitfeld Announces Her First Project After Leaving Vogue Paris

Chi Diem Chau — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 07:11:17 PDT

After much speculation regarding who, what, or where Carine might be heading to after leaving Vogue Paris, Roitfeld has finally announced her next gig as a guest editor, muse, and stylist for Barneys New York's multifaceted Fall 2011 initiative. "For me, Barneys has always been the biggest name in luxury department stores, so to be able to participate in this project with them, and be visible during the next fashion week in New York, is my dream come true," said Roitfeld. "To a French girl, it's a big, big dream."

In addition to styling and editing Barneys's advertising campaign - which will be shot by her close colleague Mario Sorrenti - catalog, and Fall mailers, Roitfeld will play a part in styling Barneys's famous Madison Avenue windows, set to unveil in September. Barneys customers will also be treated with a short Sorrenti-shot film, showing them a more personal side of Roitfeld highlighting her views on fashion and style. "Barneys is about a sense of surprise and discovery, and Carine is a reminder that fashion needs a sense of the unexpected," said Mark Lee, Barneys CEO. We can't wait to see Carine's work at Barneys; are you excited as well?