Short, tight jacket with tiny, lumpy trousers--I found this photo of Justin Timberlake after viewing some seriously bad clothes on the fellow in December's Esquire (U.K. Edition; see my picture below). So just what do high income and position get you these days? How about a tailor who doesn't send you out looking like a Lilliputian, twisted freak, especially if you are gaining on six feet tall? The shorty-legs illusion wrought by trousers that are too tight and have a three-inch rise, the billowing shirt with nothing to tuck it into...this is the epitome of fashion-victimhood. People are so inured to the tragic look shown here that they would likely ask what I'm talking about. Therefore, I recommend reading  my article written in 2010, entitled "Remember Elegantly-Dressed Men?"

©M-J de Mesterton; January 3rd 2012

Where Is the Waist? Editorial by M-J

Where is the waist? That's what I wonder every time I look at photos of the newest "fashions." What is new about the same old tragic clothing-concepts bobbing up again, masquerading as innovative? For the past ten years, pants and skirts have consistently been manufactured without even coming close to the waist, yet they are touted as the "latest." To paraphrase General Honoré of Louisiana, someone's "stuck on stupid." I thought last spring that the tide of bad clothes was turning, but having perused some catalogues this month, it is apparent that clothing designers  are still denying their customers ample fabric to cover their "plumber's cracks." Snide cracks about "mom jeans" and thoroughly ignorant comments calling anything that indeed does come just up to the natural waist "high-waisted" are still being heard  and read by those of us who actually remember where the waist is located on the human corpus: the place for belts, sashes, snaps and buttons is an inch or two above the navel, depending upon one's height. The designer of the human body gave us the waist as an elegant way of keeping our pants, skirts  and trousers from falling down; also to enhance our corporeal proportions. The true waist never comes below the navel, and it certainly cannot be found two inches above one's crotch. Garments are falling down from where they rest on the hips, and the fashion world has insisted on staying down in the gutter after what seems to be a devastating, permanent fall from elegant, figure-enhancing style. Fashion-victims are afraid now to go against the hideous dictum that you must wear your clothes no higher than the hip. This is a big mistake, because if one follows the lines of his or her body, they will see that clothes descending from the waist lengthen the legs, while clothes that only come up to the hips turn even the slimmest among us into pot-bellied, short and sloppy -looking people who would have been laughed-at throughout the previous decades and centuries. Wearing six-inch heels to compensate for the bad deeds done to your figure by stingy clothing manufacturers and designers does nothing but make one look even sillier. Extra-high heels will damage both your feet and back, and will not give back the height robbed from you by idiotic torso-stretching trousers and skirts. For men, extra-long trousers do not visually lengthen your legs; rather, they make you look dumpy. The fail-safe, time-tested method of developing real glamour and style is to dress in natural, luxurious cloths and fabrics from the waist-down; wear two-to-three inch heels if you are a woman, and keep your trousers from heaping into a puddle on top of your shoes if you are a man. And don't forget the stockings and socks. No one will notice that you are not blindly and self-destructively following bad fashion. But, they will wonder why on earth you look so good, while their trousers are slipping into the mire together with all sense of style. Now, there is the waist, our anchoring feature of elegant style. Pants, trousers and skirts constructed without it are a waste! © Copyright M-J de Mesterton; September 14th, 2010 Waist-to-Height Ratio and Your Health: an easy-to-use page that tells you how to find your waist, recommends its ideal measurement for your height, gender and age, calculates your body-mass index and displays one's optimum daily caloric-intake.

Duluth Trading Co. is marketing a longer tee-shirt to solve "plumber's butt". In their radio advert, Duluth takes a robo-dump on "mom jeans", furthering the perverted notion that trousers should only rise to the hips or private area. The only sensible solution to plumber's crack, a look that always inspires derision among the clivilised, is to insist on trousers that go up to the waist--you know, that region one inch above your navel.... Jeans and work-pants that start down around your lower gut or hips will never stay up, no matter how long your tee-shirt is. And who wants a billowing shirt above their low-slung trousers, making a person look preggers? That sad result makes all the snide comments and chiding about "mom jeans" ring hollow, since nearly everyone who wears their garment below waist-level is sporting what appears to be a baby-bump.

~~M-J

An exquisite, face-and-figure-flattering classic woman's suit in Islay tweed wool, offered by our sterling friend Peter in Herefordshire. This is a three-season, light wool ladies' suit that has an elegantly-tapered, back-slit, knee-length skirt and a jacket which will lend an hour-glass shape to its wearer. This is the height of daytime elegance for a woman who attends luncheons and/or business meetings.

~~M-J

Gold's Gym Circuit Trainer Mini Trampoline, 36 inch

Get fit with the Gold's Gym Circuit Trainer Mini 36" Trampoline. It is a fun way to get a low-impact aerobic workout that will build cardiovascular fitness, tone your legs, abs, buttocks, and back, and give you more energy. Results in just a few weeks. Perfect for all fitness levels.

The Health-Benefits of Rebounding

http://www.stylelist.com/2010/04/30/top-denim-trends-for-spring-2010/

Yes, follow the crowd! Make your legs look really short, and your torso appear freakishly long--and don't forget to let the clothing industry fool you into thinking that rotting denim is beautiful. Fashion dictators have levelled the playing field, so don't worry, be confident--everyone else looks just as ridiculous!

Blue Diamond Growers of Sacramento, California  See my photo and information here.

High quality, reasonably-priced, state-of-the-art skin-care is at your fingertips!

Kandace Bernal of Ulew Nature Products explains the procedure of skin-brushing.

Pure white coconut oil mixed with a couple drops of lavender oil makes a wonderful, natural emollient for lips and fingernails. The mixture is also antibacterial. I store this home-made cream in antique porcelain miniature jars with lids. The jar on the left is by Heinrich of Bavaria, and the right one is Chinese.

Cosmetics cop Paula Begoun, whom I have linked to on Elegant Survival, is presenting her first internet radio programme tomorrow, Thursday. Click here to reach the show-page.

One half-cup of water, one fourth-cup of lemon juice, one jalapeño or other hot pepper (roasted,pickled or fresh), two stalks of celery, one-half of a cucumber, one tablespoon of thick yoghurt or a half-cup of buttermilk, and one tablespoon of parsley, all whirled in a blender till smooth. Add water if necessary for processing.

Copyright M-J de Mesterton 2009

Paula Begoun, the Cosmetics Cop, was discovered last week by my husband, who was researching skin-care products. We are very impressed with her philosophy, which is in accord with that of Elegant Survival: there is always a low-priced equivalent to fancy department store products. Mrs. Begoun rates and recommends many makeup and skin-care products, which is quite generous of her since she produces a line of them. My better half ordered Paula's Choice matte-finish gel-moisturizer for both of us, since we share a skin-type. I shall review that soon, after we use it for a while.

This is Paula's advice to one of her readers about enlarged pores, published this month, August.

http://omg.yahoo.com/photos/what-were-they-thinking/3160/1#id=4

When a garment that rises to a point just below the navel is labelled as "high-waisted", you know that things are really upside-down. And the fact that this snarky critic is regularly featured on the front page of Yahoo! is another sign that the end of civilisation is near. I'd love to see what the Hell he is wearing (I can tell his gender from the blatantly sexist comments that Yahoo's staff mysteriously ignore). Apparently, this misanthrope adores the short-legged look that garments below the waist afford one.

Earth to fashion-fools: there's a reason that the middle of the body is called a waist--because it is located at the waist, and not below the navel. One cannot call the area below or at the waist "high-waisted". If you wish to see an example of "high-waisted", just look at the woman in this OMG line-up who is accused of wearing "a curtain". That is a high-waisted dress. Obviously, the nasty writer hasn't seen a real waist in so long that he 

has forgotten what it is. This sort of distortion is what's wrong with the fashion-world and its self-appointed arbiters of taste. They have none, and are trying to lead us astray so that everyone they see looks hideous.

The Green Chronicle: Common, Natural Ingredients Used for Health and Beauty 

 Please visit Face and Figure for some warm-up and core-strengthening exercise videos.