Friday, May 15, 2015

Silk Dresses: Big and Beautiful?

It is a long time since most women have been happy with the regular parades of skinny girls that present the latest creations of the top fashion designers. If the average woman was ever like these anorexic wraiths it was long before the stretch of living memory, and as Body Mass Indices continue to mount there are increasing demands for new fashions to be presented on figures that are more representative of the general population.

The healthy range of Body Mass Index (BMI) is from 20 to 25. The average for all English women in 1951 is reported to have been 24.4, within the healthy range but tending towards the upper limit. By 2004, the mean BMI had risen to 25.2 and the average woman was a little overweight. At the same time a typical fashion model had a BMI of about 18. It is obvious that this could not be representative of the typical Englishwoman and only a very small proportion of the population could relate to the models on the catwalk.

If BMI is a somewhat abstract concept, actual body measurements are easily understood. In 1951 the average waist measurement of Englishwomen was 70 centimetres (27.5 inches), and by 2004 this had increased to 86 centimetres (34 inches). How can a model with a 65 centimetre waist (25.5 inches) provide any indication of how a new dress style would look on the average woman?

But it's not only the average woman who yearns for adornment that is flattering, there are increasing numbers of women who are well above the recommended range of BMI. The proportion of Englishwomen who were considered to be obese increased from 17 percent in 1993-5 to 26 percent in 1011-13 and 45 percent of women now need dresses of size 16 and above.

While their figure shape bears little relationship to that of the typical fashion model, bigger women have their own special attraction that is appreciated by increasing numbers of men as well as by other women. This was recognised by Carole Shaw who in 1979 coined the phrase Big Beautiful Women (BBW) and started the popular women's magazine with that name. The familiarity of these initials testifies to the wide-scale appreciation of this band of sisters who are now variously described as Rubenesque, voluptuous and cuddly.

The fashion industry has been accused of waging psychological warfare in making average women feel unsatisfied with their body shape. A more sympathetic approach would seek to create various styles adapted to enhance the beauty of women of average and more generous proportions. The ultimate objective should be to help all women maximise their confidence in their own unique beauty and personality.

Ladies of discerning taste and voluptuous proportions who would like to share the glamour and prestige of high-quality silk dresses hand-made in Vietnam, an ancient home of silk production, can learn more from: http://www.curvesofsilk.wordpress.com and http://www.etsy.com/shop/curvesofsilk

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Sunday, May 3, 2015

Silk Dresses: Glamourous and Green?

No clothing material provides a greater aura of luxury and glamour than silk. For long ages, this product of a humble insect has provided the adornment of queens, courtesans and all who sought a highly visible means of displaying not only beauty but also wealth and elevated status. In modern times, vastly increased production has made this adornment of affluence available to a much wider community while providing employment and wellbeing for thousands of deprived rural dwellers in some of the world's poorest countries.

Silk production started in China around 3000 BCE, spreading to India in the second century of the Common Era and to the Byzantine Empire in the sixth century. The industry is reputed to have reached Western Europe after Roger II of Sicily attacked Corinth and Thebes, two important centres of Byzantine silk production, during the second crusade in 1147.

The essential foundation of silk production is a mulberry plantation. The silkworm larvae feed upon mulberry leaves and spin a cocoon from a continuous filament of silk. Placing the cocoons in hot water dissolves away the gum binding the filament and allows it to be unwound onto a reel. Filaments are about 1000 metres in length but are so fine that 48 are needed to be spun together to constitute a single thread, and several threads may be plied to create yarn for weaving into cloth. This natural fibre is so light that it takes 5500 silkworms to produce one kilogram of raw yarn.

Silk is a natural renewable product made by thousands of small cultivators in some of the world's poorest countries. As such, it seems to have excellent green credentials. However, silk production has been criticised by animal-welfare activists because placing the cocoons in hot water kills the larvae. Mahatma Gandhi was critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy "not to hurt any living thing".

It could be said that every luxury comes at a price to nature but silk production does not threaten the extinction of a species in the same way as, for example, the trade in ivory or rhino horn. On the contrary, the growing demand for silk can only increase the global population of silkworms. Most people would agree that silk production is much greener than the manufacture of fibres from non-renewable mineral oil. Ladies seeking to share the elegance and romance of past ages are justified in choosing this most exquisite means of adornment.

Ladies of discerning taste and voluptuous proportions who would like to share the glamour and prestige of high-quality silk dresses hand-made in Vietnam, an ancient home of silk production, can learn more from: http://www.curvesofsilk.wordpress.com and http://www.etsy.com/shop/curvesofsilk

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Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Plus Size Fashion Tips - No Need To Look Frumpy If You're Carrying Extra Pounds

As a plus sized person you've probably had plenty of awkward fashion moments when the clothes you wear just don't flatter you in the least. However, having a fuller figure shouldn't necessarily make you look unattractive as long as you know how to dress your curves well. In fact, your curves can make you look really hot if you know how to dress well.

- Balance your proportions so that your curves look very attractive in relation to each other. This will also help you present a trim silhouette, making you look less bulky. If your hips and bust are large, as they are likely to be, then you should avoid wearing tapering clothes that emphasise your bulkiness. Boot cut trousers or flared skirts will look best.

- Wear clothes that fit you perfectly, avoiding outfits that are both too loose and too tight. Ill-fitting clothes will make you look very dowdy. Many plus sized people wear large clothes or multiple layers in the mistaken belief that the clothes will hide their bulk. Clothes that skim your curves will look absolutely fantastic.

- Spend money on a well-fitting bra that gives your bust ample support and lifts it away from your abdomen. This will make you look not just slimmer but also more attractive.

- Try to choose prints that guide the viewer's eye vertically and not horizontally. This is especially important if you are a petite plus sized person. Incidentally, you should also avoid wearing small prints.

- Increasing the length of your legs with the help of high heels will help the viewer's eye go from top to bottom instead of from side to side.

- Show a bit of skin at the neck to break the monotony of a large expanse of cloth which also makes you look large. A vee-shaped neckline that is not plunging will look just right.

- Choose accessories that match your overall size. For instance, tiny bags will not look good on you because they will make you look larger than you actually are. The same applies to the jewelry that you wear. Chunky necklaces and bracelets will look great. If you wear delicate necklaces then you should be sure to layer them.

It is important to keep in mind that plus sizes come in different categories. While some full figured women have large busts, others might have wide hips or even a large tummy. Be sure to understand your body shape perfectly before you choose the right clothes and accessories that make you look your very best.

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Silk: Desirable and Decadent?

In its long history of perhaps more than five thousand years silk has been prized for its beauty, preserved as a state secret, reserved for royalty and condemned as decadent. Above all, it has been associated with women and feminine allure. Said to have been introduced by the Chinese Silk Goddess, Lady Hsi-Ling-Shih, wife of the mythical Yellow Emperor in about 3000 BCE, silkworm farming was for long ages restricted to women. Silk clothes became so popular among high society that this 'useless luxury product' was reserved by law for use only by the imperial family. Later, when silk exports reached Europe, the Roman Senate, anxious to stem the flow of gold to the East, declared the wearing of silk clothes to be decadent and immoral. Few material substances, have exhibited greater power to excite human passions than this product of a humble worm.

It seems that from the outset the Chinese realised the enormous value of silk as an export product and succeeded in guarding the secret of the silkworm for thousands of years. It is said that the Romans believed that silk came directly from the leaves of a tree but Pliny the Elder was better informed: speaking of the bombyx or silk moth, he wrote in his Natural Histories "They weave webs, like spiders, that become a luxurious clothing material for women, called silk." Roman artisans replaced yarn with valuable plain silk cloth from China, and Chinese coffers filled as they delivered silk to the Roman Empire, whose wealthy women admired its beauty.

The importation from China caused a huge outflow of gold and the Roman Senate issued several edicts to prohibit the wearing of silk, on moral as well as economic grounds: and silk clothes were condemned as decadent and immoral. One observer wrote that: 'I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even one's decency, can be called clothes... Wretched flocks of maids labour so that the adulteress may be visible through her thin dress, so that her husband has no more acquaintance than any outsider or foreigner with his wife's body.'

So from ancient times silk became associated with female adornment that suggested not only wealth and high breeding but also voluptuousness and sensuality. In Europe many women believed that silk stockings added luxury to middle class dressing, giving a classic and royal look. Originally imported from Naples, the production of silk stockings was taken up in England in the sixteenth century and in later years English stockings were being exported to Italy and all over the world.

Down through the ages the high cost of silk reserved its use to queens, courtesans and the wives of rich merchants, but gradually as production increased it became affordable to more humble folk. China lagged behind Europe in this trend, and peasants were not granted the right to wear silk until the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Nowadays, with increasing prosperity, although still regarded as luxury products, silk garments are becoming accessible to millions more in many countries. In spite of the appearance of synthetic substitutes, the unique properties of this natural product maintain its allure, liberating female beauty as well as male imagination. Now every woman can be a Silk Goddess.

Ladies of discerning taste and voluptuous proportions who would like to share the glamour and prestige of high-quality silk dresses hand-made in Vietnam, an ancient home of silk production, can learn more from: http://www.curvesofsilk.wordpress.com and http://www.etsy.com/shop/curvesofsilk

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The Quality and Craftsmanship of a Large Size Women's Shoe

Whether you're choosing a pair of pumps, boots, loafers or strappy sandals, knowing the details of high-quality footwear construction and design can help you make the best purchasing decision. Women with a large size foot find it very difficult to find good quality shoes. There is also an even greater chance that your shoes are causing you some kind of pain, from calluses to pinched toes. The shape and size of your feet change in small, but meaningful ways throughout adulthood. Most large size shoes are made from stretching a small size shoe making the new longer shoe very unstable and uncomfortable. From the earliest stages of construction, a "last", or the mold around which the shoe is made, should be designed with a larger foot in min. This is extremely important. Also large-sized shoe designers should continually focus on style and comfort, heel heights, toe box widths and the overall shape of the shoe. Once a last is constructed, skilled craftsmen use it to create works of art for your feet. The result is a great shoe that's comfortable and ready for your most hectic day.

Only the very highest quality shoes are finished by hand. This includes the uppers, the inner soles, the outer soles, and the hand embellishments. When there is careful attention paid to construction and workmanship, the stitches are usually not visible, or if they are, they are fine and even. In high quality shoes the soles are glued, stitched or both, and heels are attached securely to the shoe using a steel bolt instead of just glue and nails. Higher quality shoes are made using higher quality materials including soft and supple leather, snake and other animal skins, patent leather, suede, canvas and other fabrics such as satin or silk. The soles of shoes should be made from leather stacked with other materials for durability, and the heels should be designed and constructed for stability and strength, then covered for a gorgeous finish that displays the finest craftsmanship. There's a right way and a wrong way to make shoes, and everyone knows that leather soles are the hallmark of quality footwear. Traditionally made by molding leather to a wooden last, modern technology and many new materials have mechanized much of the manufacturing for most shoes. Leather soles affixed by skilled cobblers give the shoe a polished look and the undeniable feeling of pure luxury.

Shoes should not only look gorgeous on the outside, but beautiful on the inside as well. The shoe linings that are made from natural materials are flexible and absorb perspiration better than synthetic materials. The additional padding that should be in each pair of high quality shoes, softens your step, making you feel like you're walking on air!

At Sensational Soles, you'll find an amazing selection of quality, hand-finished shoes designed to complement any outfit. Unlike most manufacturers who design for "sample size" (Size 6 or 7) and simply elongate the shoe for larger sizes, we begin all of our designs with larger feet in mind. We engineer all of our platforms, heels and toe boxes for maximum comfort and stability while constantly striving to maintain a sleek and stylish appearance. If we can't get a design just right, we don't make it.

Whether you're seeking shoes for work, a special occasion or just casual time with friends, you're sure to find the perfect pair at http://www.SensationalSoles.com.

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