Freestylin\\\’

Chanel designer, Karl Lagerfeld, claims that it is hypocritical for people to protest wearing furs in a world that eats meat. A PETA spokesperson calls the designer a dinosaur — with outdated thoughts and style. Kira Plattinina’s company is going bankrupt, check out her website for 75% off. Vogue, along with a few other Conde Nast magazines, are facing hard hits when it comes to advertising. Dolce and Gabanna were inspired by the film The Leopard in their most recent collection, which is rich with opulence and jeweled colors. Sample sale sites such as topsecret.com are offering anonymous buying so shopaholics do not need to feel guilty for spending during a recession. Pick up Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, for some inspiring looks at the beginning of fashion photography. A fashion year in review celebrated the return of the supermodels, including Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington.

Want that awesome sporty look? Try no further than the line done by Stella McCartney for Adidas. Special gems include the Fortanima and Salju boots, both extremely stylish cold weather styles. The surprising perk? The Salju boots lace up and also fold down in such a way that make them look very couture like. They have just a tinge of patent leather on the toe, but the rest of the boot is made of canvas, making them a great selection for vegetarians.

She also designed several nice looking jackets that will look awesome on those slopes or just walking down the sidewalk. Even if you never hit the gym, you can still achieve that fresh and sporty look.

Baby P has received a lot of press attention, much of the reason being that he was seen 60 times by social workers, doctors, and police officers before his death. I often think of this little baby and know that he is one of thousands of infants and toddlers who get neglected and abused every day.

One of the best ways to honor and remember Baby P, is to remember to treat your own children with respect and love. The very basic things they need are affection, food, and care. Raising a child can be extremely stressful. But make sure you reach out to family, friends, or counselors if you feel you are overwhelmed.

I agree.

Looking for a cool and fun book for that lil tot in your life? Try Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat, edited by none other than Miss Poetess Nikki Giovanni herself. The book lets it be known that hip hop can have a very positive effect on a child’s life. It features current artists such as Mos Def, but writers from the Harlem Renaissance. It also comes with a CD containing 30 awesome performances.

Though listed for 9-12 year-olds, this gift will no doubt be loved by the head bobbin’ toddlers as well.

I am Filipina American, and I have typical Asian hair: jet black, silky, straight. Don’t even try to put a fingerwave up in there because I’ll just wind up with a forehead dripping with Dippity-Do. When my mother was younger, she would get closely cropped hairdos and get a perm in it and honestly, it looks hot. It looks like a loose-curl afro.

Recently I got my hair cut, and I asked one of the women working on my hair whether or not perms were making a comeback. She told me that not many women get perms, and it’s mostly because of all the studies that show what kind of damage a perm can do to hair.

The other woman who worked on my hair however, told me that she specializes in perms and a perm would look amazing on me. Since my hair is so healthy already, it wouldn’t damage my hair that much.

Take note that Cookie, the second stylist, is amazing at what she does and specializes in chemical treatments: color, color correction, perms, straightening.

I’ve been making fun of perms for awhile, but after seeing those vintage shots of my mom in her lil afro, I can’t hate on them too hard.

Photo courtesy bombhead.com

I’m no virgin to the whole “blog-o-sphere” crap. But I will dare to say that I haven’t been posting on here because I no longer enjoy writing about fashion. Even when I was writing for fashion magazines, I was mostly writing about relationships or short stories. Fashion is “haute” and all that, but I am so tired of the industry, and I no longer get excited about blabbing about it. The only fun thing to do is rag about people’s lack of style, but even now I think that’s not interesting. I was talking to my co-worker today about Berlin and how accepting people tend to be over there, even in regards to how you dress. It made me think about the post I wrote about my guy friends who get scared of getting beat up by frat boys because they decide to wear cardigans and leggings.

Anyway, I am changing the theme of this “fashionista” blog. It’s going to be more about relationships, lifestyle, dating, sex… that stuff interests me more anyway. The “fashion” part will be more of an accessory (har har). Maybe it will spark the intro of an entry. Bring it on!

My other blog is about toddler news, which is REALLY REALLY depressing by the way. Of course the only toddler news that makes Google news are deaths and Suri Cruise.

RIP, Mr. Fred Rogers. Did you ever know that those knit sweaters you would hang so neatly in your closet would pave the way for the young and hip of today?

A young man and his friend asked me today if cardigans were still “in”. That was such a difficult question for me to answer, because often in fashion you are dealing with multiple levels of “in”-ness. As stupid as that sounds, it really is what happens.

For instance, gaucho pants? They are not “in”, nor have they ever been “in”, from a designer standpoint. They give off camel toe, they are unflattering, they look frumpy — they just aren’t as flattering as tailored pants. It’s like a common joke with the fashionistas — “Yeah, that’s hideous, but at least they’re not gaucho pants.” However, these pants struck a chord with midwest women a few years ago and the debocle of a trend stayed with them for a long ass time. So, in a sense, they were “in” in those circlese in the midwest.

Then you also have the idea of “in” being mainsteam. Whatever you see plastered on bebe.com or what you see on an Express mannequin. Maybe you are thinking to yourself, “Hey, that’s kinda cool. It’s popping up everywhere.”

Then there’s the “in” of American Apparel, a company that tends to bring back old trends that we made fun of back in the day, but they resurrect it in a way like it was never living before. Usually, especially in the midwest, the trend gets made fun of, but then it catches on in a big way in a year, but by then the company has moved on. High waisted leggings are an excellent example of this, especially the sparkly ones. Now all the sorority sisters are loving them, all the way down to the sophomore in high school. But now the company has moved on to highlighter, acid wash, and bagginess.

So, that makes the answer to the cardigan question… cardigans are still “in”, they’ll be around for awhile, but as far as being “fresh” or ahead of the game, they are not.

I forgot my point.

My point is that cardigans are pretty safe, but if you are trying to stay ahead of the game, you might want to move on. Puppets used as gloves maybe? It worked for Mr. R.

A few months ago I ran a review on the Fischer Price Peek-a-Boo alphabet blocks. It was in the midst of the “Plastic Scare”. I still think plastic waste is horrendous, but I think I was a bit premature in labeling those peek-a-boos as a negative toy. They’re actually kind of amazing. Each letter of the alphabet is represented by a colorful block, of which much of it is transparent. Inside, you can see an object representing that letter. For instance, the letter T has a toy train on the inside. On top of that, you can turn this little latch on the bottom of the block, and it rotates the train.

My toddler enjoys banging them to oblivion right now, but I also get a kick out of them. They look like 26 little boxes waiting to be opened. I wonder when my son will start attempting to smash them open to get to the toys on the inside!

Frank Deitsch beat up his wife, kidnapped their son (without a car seat), then called his wife to tell her she’ll never see her son again.

The abducted baby is 1 year old and was last seen wearing a diaper and a Piston’s jersey.

He is believed to be headed to Kentucky. He is in a Cutlass with expired tags. License plate is BLW6780.

There is something very distinct about Frank Deitsch. He is a 56 year old man, and he weights 125 pounds, which is less than what I weigh! I’m surprised that there are no pictures of him on the internet, just the baby — who (let’s face it) looks like millions of other babies.

Call 911 if you have info.