Dr. Helen - On The Down Low

Around the fashion blogosphere there's plenty of posting and commentary back and forth about everything from vintage ossie clark (wendy b) to brand new balenciaga (style spy) to the greenness of vintage (zuburbia) to scarves by hermes (une femme) to strappy shoes (miss cavendish) to looks of the day (stella's roar) to all around style (of a certain age). Jump out of this little group of bloggers and we've got the brilliant bag snob girls, second city style, the coveted, the glam media girls, the daily candy girls and last but not least the incomparable fug girls.
I peruse all these blogs regularly, including the comments, and while I do see disagreement over fashion and trends, and some gentle ribbing, I never see anything truly nasty.

Dr. Helen, wife of uber blogger Glenn Reynolds asked in a post today
Low-rise pants: What's the verdict?

Since Dr. Helen mostly writes about men's rights, it doesn't surprise me that most of her commenters are men....But what does surprise is how the low rise debate quickly morphed into a discussion on women's tattoos, including the famous "tramp stamp".

Here's one comment

Women are attracted to tattoos the same way they are attracted to anything that is effortless and has zero imagination. Anyone can with 50.00 and poor judgement can get a tattoo.

What takes effort is character, humor, wit, charm, ethics, and accountability. Men find all of these traits very attractive in women, but as in all other areas of life, women want an effortless, consequence free lifestyle, thus all the sour women with no corresponding intelligence to the world they live in we see today with the personality traits of cardboard living utterly empty, fruitless, soul dead lives.

And ladies, you can cut the crap with the fake front of how your lives are so 'fulfulling' and that you're just so 'happy.' That may work on other women, but we as men can spot that snowjob a mile away. And a tattoo only gives an early warning before you open your mouth. I suppose tattoos are significant after all.. they symbolize an empty, meaningless life going nowhere because of bad genetics. It's like letting the world know up front, "Hey, I make a lot of bad choices."

Now I don't have any tattoos, and I don't particularly like them
but whoa dude...take it down a notch.

What's your opinion on low rise jeans....has the trend finally run its course?
and
What do you think about tattoos....would you get a tattoo?

Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man

In today's Pajamas Media, Dr. Helen asks why can't a woman be more like a man in terms of carrying a only a wallet instead of a giant handbag. How do men do it? One way of course it the amount of pockets provided in men's clothing. On this she quotes law professor and blogger Ann Althouse :

I used to view clothing manufacturers as anti-feminist because they gave men pockets but denied them to women. Even when they gave us pockets, they were often shallow and slanted — designed for the elegant placement of a hand, perhaps. The clothing manufacturers were part of the elaborate system designed to oppress women. I’m still a little irked about it!

Dr. Helen replies:

Well, getting irked at the clothing manufacturers or even the “patriarchy” because there are few pockets in women’s pants is rather silly, though I understand the sentiment. But it is the women themselves who are slaves to fashion. Don’t believe me? Try going to the opening of a local Sephora (a make-up store, for those of you who aren’t “in the know”) and watch the parade of women swoon and swarm through the store as if they are on a drug-induced high. Then take a look at the puzzled faces of the men or boys they’ve dragged to the place while they watch the mysterious behavior of these women who are practically foaming at the mouth about make-up and tell me that this fashion — along with a lust for purses — is anything but the desire of the women themselves doing the longing. Many women don’t want pockets for the same reason that they wear make-up. They think it makes them look good and they want to impress — mainly — other women. But enough of this.

I suppose that pockets large enough to actually hold credit cards, keys, cellphone, ipod, lipgloss, change, etc. could be designed into women's fashions but would women really like the added bulk in the silhouette? I doubt it.

Still, there must be some sort of middle ground between clothes with bulging pockets and carrying the latest and soon to be sold out 'it' bag like this Gucci Python number for $3990, measuring 17" by 14" from Saks Fifth Avenue.