May

24

Titanic 3D Fashion and Ray Bans

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When it comes to anniversaries and remaking oneself, nobody does it better than Hollywood. This year marked the 100-year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and this inspired Hollywood to line their pockets with more dough off one of their biggest blockbusters ever- Titanic. They slapped on a 3D element and shipped out the story again, and that reminds me of Ray Bans unending appeal and ability to rebrand themselves every generation to stay hip and cool, despite being the old man on the block.

Ray Bans popped up after WWII in the United States, when the Aviator look became popular owing to the popularity of the shades worn on generals and pilots throughout the war. But what was once a serious tool for serious business became a symbol of life on the surfboard. How did Ray Ban manage that? Reinvention. Just like Titanic.

With the launch of the Wayfarer, Ray Ban made themselves a new image, one of popularity and mass culture more than the elitism they garnished from the Aviator model. The Wayfarer could be cool, retro, fun and wild. The Blues Brothers wore them, they were features in Risky Business, they were everywhere—and not just on TV and in movies, but on your neighbor and boss and girlfriend. Everyone had to have them, and they reinvented how sunglasses were viewed by Americans.

The popularity of the Wayfarer changed how sunglasses were seen. They went from a tool to an accessory. This was perhaps the best rebranding of all time, and Ray Ban was at the forefront of the shift from wartime utility to postwar boom.

May

17

Maternity Fashion Fun

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Maternity fashion is getting better every year, thanks in big part to the amazingly hot celebrities who have had children recently. Heidi Klum has done her best to endorse fashion while pumping out an array of kids every few years. She took it to the next level by staying on Project Runway through her pregnancy and looking as fashionable as ever. Big names like Dior, Versace and others are pulling out the stops for designer dresses and clothing for prego celebs, and all the while Hollywood is keeping it sexy with bright, fun maternity shades. No longer is it the drab, stuck-indoors-for-9-month event it used to be. Pregnant women are out there living their normal lives and doing it fashionably, and you can too.

Have a bit of fun with your sunglasses. The all-black look isn’t as fashionable as you think, so why not add in some color? Alexander McQueen sunglasses are a fun way to add flare without looking too Ed Hardy-esque. Color can also come in a more youthful form with Wayfarers by Ray Ban. Other color options include fringes and flare on the sides of otherwise black or white frames. This is a great way to add a splash without compromising your more serious side. For the working professional, this is ideal.

Don’t let your pregnancy get you down. Your body is beautiful and the miracle of life being created inside you is astonishing, awe-inspiring and frankly miraculous. Don’t think of yourself as fat, but as glowing with awesomeness, and deck yourself out like a queen.

May

9

Best Sports Sunglasses

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Being an athlete comes with a lot of gear. The equipment you need to perform at the top of your game needs to be top of the line. Here are the best sports sunglasses of 2012 and why they stand out as superior. From Okaley to Nike, we’ll walk you through the benefits of each, and what to look for in sporty eyewear.

Oakley sunglasses offer superior fit, above all else. You won’t hear someone in a high-impact sport complaining that their Okaley shades fell off. The padded ear grips give added protection from slippage, while the rounded form-fit adheres to the shape of the human head. This grip makes them one of the favorites for cyclers, vollyballers and other rough athletes.

Nike make an amazing pair of sunglasses for athletes. The real benefit here is in the R&D they’ve put into the performance-enhancing attributes. For example, the aerodynamics of the design is perfect for high-speed sports where every bit of wind drag makes a difference, as with running. Additionally, the no-slip bands mean they will stay in place, an added bonus for any athlete on the go.

Adidas takes the cake for lens quality. You’ll find all different colors and hues on Adidas sunglasses. Yellow for precision and increasing contrast, blue to decrease glare from snow and ice, red to cut the sun’s brightest rays, etc. For anyone who takes their game seriously, this is what you need: lenses that were designed to help you reach you’re “A” game.

May

2

How to Live Forever

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A lofty goal, living forever, but one that scientists are edging ever closer to. Gone are the days of the forty-year lifespan. Thanks to antibiotics and hygiene awareness we’ve doubled that to roughly 80 years in the developed world. Another 100 years and we’ll have doubled it again, some scientists claim. How? Well, breakthroughs in science are edging us closer every day, but awareness of detrimental free-radicals has gone a long way. Free radicals can be blocked and combated, slowing aging to a near crawl.

What are free radicals? They are cells that break down over time atop our other cells. Wrinkles, grey hair, weak bones- all the typical signs of aging are the result of free radicals going radical on our bodies. How can you combat them? For one, you can block out unnecessary sunlight. After your body has absorbed the necessary amount of vitamin D it needs daily from the sun the remainder contribute to the expansion of free radicals. Block the remainder and you’ve warded off aging. That’s why some women swear by their oversized sunglasses and claim they have reduced or limited the appearance of crow’s feet around the eyes. This can be applied over the whole body, the more sun you block the better. Why do you think Nicole Kidman hasn’t aged in a decade?

But blocking sun isn’t the only way, decreasing chemical intake and increasing natural elements in your diet has the benefit of increasing your lifespan and decreasing the aging elements in the chemically-processed foods you most commonly consume.

Apr

24

Tips for an easier fashion routine

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Fashion isn’t difficult, in fact it doesn’t even have to be a mimic of what you see in Hollywood or on TV sitcoms. Fashion is simply a direction you’ve taken in your wardrobe to signal specific things to the global audience. For example, if you are wearing Serengeti sunglasses, leather shoes and belt, a dress shirt and slacks you are signaling casual wealth, elegance and confidence. If, on the other hand, you are wearing red Wayfarers, slippers with cherries on them and a frilly skirt you’re signaling something quite different. In order to get into a good, solid fashion routine you need to assess who you are, what you want to project to the world and how you’re going to go about it.

First, toss out clothing items that don’t represent who you are. If you have random T-shirts from your college years still lingering at the bottom of your drawer pack them up! No need to clutter up valuable wardrobe real estate.

Second, find your theme or direction and go with it. Are you a designer person? Then spend your money on high-end clothing and accessories. It’s an investment but it will pay off when people see you as confidence, direct and poised. Are you a dumpster-diving diva and proud of it? Then toss out the items that don’t make you happy and leave them for another dumpster diver to discover.

Once you have this covered, you’ll be able to rich into your wardrobe blind and slip into anything and make it “you” thus making your fashion routine as simple as it can be. When you love everything you own you’ll love whatever you’re wearing.

Apr

17

Responsible Parenting and Fashion

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Raising kids is becoming harder and harder with our more modern age and lifestyles. Being a responsible parent these days involves a mountain more responsibility than our parent’s generation. You have to worry about guns in school, cancer from the sun, predators, providing in a damaged economy and much more. Still, when you break it down there are steps to take in each category to help ensure your child has the best possible chances at an ideal future.

For example, a lot of a child’s security and identity stem from their clothing. Recognizing that modern children assign each other roles in their “society” based on status, much of which is determined by a child’s fashion, is a crucial step to helping your child secure favored status in school, or at least not at the bottom of the pecking order. Designer eyewear and sunglasses are cool and can elevate your kid’s status, or it can set him or her apart as pretentious, or overly wealthy. There is a fine line to tread as a parent. Buying designer eyeglasses will benefit your child with superior quality and name branding, but don’t go too big. Ralph Lauren will suffice; the kid will get mocked for Dior or Prada eyeglasses, especially if you don’t live in an extremely fashion-conscious society like the Beverly Hills area.

Fashion is one of the small elements you have some control over, many of the other aspects of supporting your child as he or she grows up become out of your control while helping with fashion advice, supplies and demonstrating a safe and cool way to dress and address fashion, is firmly under your control as a parent.

Apr

11

Summers Best Sunglasses

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Summer is upon us (yay!) and that means fashion is in full swing around the warmer sections of the world already. You have some catching up to do, Canada. Don’t let your longer winters keep you down for the count. Get online, get your sexy Versace shades ordered and your little sundresses and tight T-shirts and you’ll be joining the party in no time.

This summer accessories make the difference. You’ll want to swaddle yourself in accessories that matter, but this season that means smaller accessories and more of them, not larger bulkier ones like last summer. Ditch the giant Prada bag in favor of a smaller, more colorful clutch. Those oversized, bug-eye Jackie-O sunglasses can be traded in for something more colorful and fun. Try MiuMiu for a bit of a kick in the wardrobe.

Necklaces and jewelry are back in style, and not the play junk of previous years. Instead, we’re looking for ethnic, multicultural stuff that has some weight to it. Several strands of bronze chain with feathers or topaz are a start in the right direction. Rings are also hot again this year after a brief few years on hiatus. Think small and charming, not bulky and artificial.

For shoes, creativity is the name of the game this summer. You’ll want something that no one else has. So look for the ultra unique. They don’t have to be designer, or even that design-worthy. They just need to stand out in a unique way, and not a flamboyant call-for-attention way.

Apr

5

Vitamin D and Happy

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One of the most important vitamins for the human body comes directly from the sun. It’s vital to our survival and mental health. Why then do we go to such lengths to shield ourselves from the sun when we need the vitamin D in order to live? Without protecting our eyes with those sexy Prada shades the sun could cause damage or even blindness. Without protecting our skin from more than we need, we can develop melanoma. Without wearing a hat, the sensitive skin on our heads would burn and peel. Yet the exact right amount of sun can mean the difference between depression and a healthy mental state, or between a dehabilitating deficiency and perfect chemical harmony.

Vitamin D is essential for mental health. A mental disease known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D, ironically) effects millions in the US and Canada every year. Without access to the sun our bodies start to shut down, begging us for access to vitamin D and to nature. People who live in remote cold villages where the sun isn’t available report higher rates of suicide and severe depression as a result. One way to cope with S.A.D in winter is to go to a tanning booth, which tricks the mind into releasing the chemicals needed to temporarily boost happiness. The rays don’t include the healing vitamin D, which you’ll need to take in pill form throughout the winter.

The best and healthiest way to absorb vitamin D is from the sun directly, even in winter. Naturally you’ll have to expose some of your body to the elements, which is a risk in itself, in order to do this. Weight the risk carefully before taking action in extremely cold climates!

Mar

29

Eyeglasses for the Office

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Not all models of eyeglasses are created equally. Some are more professional, and for the office these are the designs you should lean toward. That doesn’t mean they can’t be fun and wild, but there are specific requirements for a pair of eyeglasses to be considered office appropriate. From Ralph Lauren to Dior, everyone has at least a few models that are acceptable for even the most conservative of office places.

Requirement 1. Office eyeglasses should first and foremost be functional. Even in positions where you interact with others a lot, the majority of the time you’ll be working on things solo. This means you need to be comfortable and your eyeglasses need to be functional. That means not slipping off every time you look down at a document. Anti-glare coatings are great for offices were you are surrounded in bad lighting and the glare from your computer. Functionality is key in office eyewear.

Requirement 2. Unless you work in the art or fashion industry then your glasses should probably be more conservative than your personality, especially if you’re flamboyant and wild when not in the office. A little funk is fun, a lot just indicates insanity.

Requirement 3. Your glasses should say something about you as a person. If you’re into sports then your glasses can be sporty. If you’re into cats, then cat-eye frames are acceptable. If you’re not especially fashionable you can find simple designs by major brands like Prada and Armani that will up your street credit and add a bit of spice to your wardrobe.

Mar

22

Sports and Designer Fashion

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Being sporty doesn’t mean you have to wear sports fashion. You’re not relegated to Oakleys and Nike, but even if this is what you decide you want, these major sports brands have been hard at work in recent years trying to make sports brands as fashionable as other high-end designer brands. And with great success, too!

Check out the fashionable lad in the image here, those are sporty Oakley shades, and offer the same performance-enhancing attributes of other Oakley shades, but without the neon yellow or green that most sporty eyewear boast. Still, the man commands a certain amount of fashionable respect for his choice of sleek, black and smooth Oakleys. Sporty, modern and clean-lined. He could easily wear these with a suit or with shorts and a T-shirt.

Sports are becoming more popular and fashionable than ever. Jeremy Lin has become a household name overnight, and I’m betting you could name a dozen other famous athletes who have been in the media in recent months. And when they are not on the court, they remain in the spotlight. What they wear is important. You hardly ever see a famous footballer or hockey player off the court and not dressed professionally or fashionably.

Some of the smartest dressers, athletes have become celebrities in their own right. They are dating musicians, move stars and other famous athletes, and they are at the top of their game. With this kind of public scrutiny and attention how could they not up the ante and dress like the superstars that they are.

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