Style AND substance, our hand painted silk robe, ideal for Spring

I went to see Avatar last week. Did you really? Yes I did. It was nosiness . I had to see what all the fuss was about. And you know what? It was amazing. The more hype there is about something, the more I seem to feel it should be avoided, but if you’ve done something amazing, and trust me Avatar is amazing, isn’t it OK to shout about it?

Avatar is a 3D film which features a fantastic world where rocks float in the sky (and yet gravity keeps the inhabitants firmly on the ground) the nighttime forest looks like the inside of a trendy nightclub, and the little green men with ray guns are actually big blue aliens who like trees and successfully repel futuristic armoured vehicles with bows and arrows.  No, I am not oversimplifying.

The truth is that Avatar’s story doesnt hold up to scrutiny and some of the inconsistencies are annoying, even while you are watching. The special effects, while mind-blowingingly clever are SO mind-blowingly clever that they cross the invisible wall. For the first time in a long time of watching hollywood science fiction I found myself thinking ‘These effects are really good’ That’s bad. I much prefer the occasions when I simply don’t think of the special effects at all, either because they are very real, or because the story is moving along at such a pace I don’t have time to think about them.

So, if you haven’t, go and see Avatar. It is a very pretty film and the 3D  and other visual effects are very very clever, but don’t expect a great or absorbing story, because there isn’t one.

Most especially don’t confuse clever with good, and don’t confuse appearance with substance. This morning I read a blog from a woman praising the pledge her son took when going to pre-school. He made a commitment to excellence in everything he did. Sounds good. Sounds very good, but how many pre-school children know what commitment or excellence mean? And how many parents want them to?  Isn’t it enough for our toddlers just to have fun? Full marks for appearance, zero for substance.

Which brings me back to nightgowns. Do you want to know how clever we are when we design them? Do you want to know all the steps we take in creating a new design, testing the fabric, wearing the garment, before we add it to our web site? Of course not. That’s just us shouting that we’re really clever  at what we do. You want to know what the garments will do for you, that it will feel fabulous against your skin, that the color will faltter your eyes and your hair, that the style will fit well and comfortably flattering you best features, and most of all that it will make you feel absolutely fabulous in a way that only garments that have been made especially for you can.

So go and see Avatar, and try not to get too upset about how good it could have been if it worried a little more about substance and a little less about appearances.

Related articles

• Videos: Avatar Earns 9 Oscar Noms – See How Cameron Created His Sci-Fi Epic (wired.com)
• Experience, Not Effects (derrickkwa.com)
• Avatar; A Must See Film, Is A Sequel Far Behind? (middletownmike.blogspot.com)
• Should Avatar win the Best Picture Oscar? (dvice.com)
• Is Avatar really a political movie? (blogs.suntimes.com)
• Is the World Ready for “Serious” 3D? (cinematical.com)
• ‘Avatar’ blues: $500 million settlement wipes out Navis (money.cnn.com)

wondered, was she making an excuse to be polite, or was she really putting off something she wanted to do, something she could do, for a silly reason?

Ive done lots of silly things in life. things that werent really sensible, things that involved risk, things that were expensive, but somehow I suspect that when I am about to die, if I get time to think it through, it will the things I haven‘t done I regret.

This is not about nightgowns. This is about life. How many things do we put off  ‘until we lose weight’ ‘until we get a bigger house’, ‘until we get a better job’. My mother has been waiting, as she puts it, for her ‘ship to come in’ for at least 30 years. I hate to tell her that I think it came in years ago, unloaded, picked up new cargo and set sail once again, only she didn’t notice.

If we assume that many of the people who tell us that us that we are fat and lazy, and undermine our self image are doing it for the best, and not merely to keep the diet industry earning, then they are still guilty. They are asking  us to put life on hold, to waste precious days.  Why should we? It’s not yet a crime to be fat. If people don’t find you pleasing to they eye, it is their loss. Every person should celebrate themselves every day. We have to fight those people who want us to be less than we are, because we have a great deal to give, and we don’t need to wait until we lose weight to do it.

Don’t put things off. If you really want to do something, make a plan, set a goal. Whether it’s buying a nightgown or climbing Everest, go for it.

If not now, when?

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Tomorrow I’m going to do something I should really enjoy, and that’s give a talk. I like talking, primarily as a result of ebing overly fond, as my grandmother said, of the sound of my own voice. Fortunately most people seem to find me easy and informative to listen to, so usually it’s a win win situation. But not tomorrow.

Usually when I’m talking it’s an aspect of business, and particularly business on the internet that I’m discussing, but tomorrow I’m talking about fashion, and in particular about wardrobe building and fit. Why is this a problem I hear you ask? Well because somewhere in the audience, and I’ve done this several time so I must ask you to believe me, there will be a lovely lady wearing something that neither suits nor fits, and I will be spending the whole time trying hard NOT to look at her.

For some reason my audiences for these things seem to include a lot of plus size ladies. That could be because plus size is really stupidly defined, or it could be that some people think made to measure is something only plus size people need (really? Yes, some people are that daft) and as we know, there is nothing worse than plus size clothing when it comes to fit and design. Yes, there are some great designers, but the majority? Who on earth decided that horizontal patterns, like border prints, were good for plus size women? No, in case you’re wondering I’m not talking about the size 12′s which have been so recently ‘discovered’ by the media (oh my, they may be fat but some of them are almost human) I’m talking about real women with some meat on their bones.

So tomorrow, I apologise in advance to the poor lady who is going to feel victimized by what I’m saying. If only I could make the people who sold her those ill-fitting clothes, feel as bad as they should, the it would ‘all be worth while’.

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I went to order a gift for a friend the other day and was really surprised at the cost. The reason? His birthday is the 14th of February, and I had forgotten about Valentines day. Apparently the world is so short of certain items around the middle of February that the prices just HAVE to go up. Really? I had the pleasure of working with a lovely lady who owned a Florists in Cookham, one of those picture book villages dotted around Berkshire in England. She worked very hard at Valentines, often having to go through the night to be sure all her orders were ready for the next day, so perhaps she was justified in charging a little more, but when I try to order red silk for nightgowns and am told that red is ‘more expensive at this time of year’ I begin to feel that the price has gone up not because it must, but because it can. Valentines has  got to a point where surely the necessity of giving removes most of the romance.

So this year, I’m concentrating on the rest of the year. Everyone needs more romance in their lives, but not just in February.

What we are doing this year:

Prices for nightgowns will be the same for Valentines as they are the rest of the year.

All profits from the sale of our valentines nightgowns in January will be donated to Doctors Without Borders in honor of the victims of the Haiti Earthquake.

What we are doing from now on: Profits from all red and pink nightgowns sold in January every year will be donated to Charity.

Every 10th of the month we will have a special offer to help you celebrate an ‘unvalentines’ day at any time of the year.

We will introduce our own range of romance cards – designed to say ‘I love you’ to her or to him, at any time of year.

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Evening Rose - Chiffon and lace nightgown - but is it lingerie?

What’s in a name? Was Shakespeare right? Does it matter? YES! What we call things is extremely important. Yes, it’s important from the viewpoint of search engine optimisation and all that jazz, but get down to basics. There’s nothing more important than the elevator pitch and something I discovered the other day.

Question: what do you do? Answer: luxury nightgowns Result. A polite smile, but no real interest.

Question: what do you do? Answer: luxurious lingerie. Result. Oh really? Do you have a shop?

When is a nightgown a nightgown and when is it a piece of lingerie? The dictionary doesn’t provide any clues but when I asked around the answer I got was that lingerie is what you buy for your wife or your girlfriend, a nightgown is something you would buy for your Mother. What do we make at Certain Style? Well it seems we make lingerie. And nightgowns. Here’s a picture. You decide.

When was the last time you bought something that was beautiful, unusual and affordable? We all strive to achieve that rare combination of elements. The same combination applies to cars, houses, jewelry, watches. Well I finally found something that fits. From the beach to board room, sea shell bags are the answer. This bag I found recently is perfect for the job. Unusual mother of pearl bag and affordable too. I of course have seen it close up and the colors are quite stunning. I could see it working for an evening bag too. Even the celebrities are catching on at Hollywood parties. The best thing about these bags is that they are also practical, with bags of room and they fit nicely over the shoulder, even mine.

In this picture grabbed by the local paparazzi, a celebrity is caught unawares as she enters her mansion. See the bag? Yup, it’s one of ours. I can’t tell you how much I had to pay for this picture, but I’m not passing on the cost. If she ever finds out I’m using this picture, she’ll make me pay for it twice over.

Next time I’ll try and catch some more celebs and see where the trends are going

It’s not that I disagree with the advice – well OK, yes I did disagree with some of the advice – but what struck me most was the title – ‘How to dress a plus size body type’.  Have I been missing something? Is there only one shape that is ‘plus size’?

One thing you learn very quickly when making plus size lingerie (as we do at Certain Style) is that women come in all shapes and sizes from tiny and fragile  to statuesque. Those who fall into the plus – size bracket – and the definition of that changes regularly – are not simply one part of the market. There is no such thing as the ‘plus size body type’  – there are many many body types many of which are plus size.  I myself am a petite plus. No, that isn’t a contradiction in terms. I’m plus, but short. It happens, despite the ridiculous belief amongst clothing manufacturers that  all plus size women are amazons! There again there are many astoundingly beautiful women, among them many plus size models, who are five feet eleven and over. You cannot say that what looks good on a woman who is five foot eleven looks as good on a woman who is five feet tall, yet both can be plus size.  You can’t say ‘emphasise your neckline’ to woman with a very large bust and expect things to look the same on her as they do on someone who may be technically the same size, but carries her weight primarily around her hips.

In short plus size is just a label and it is not a particularly helpful or descriptive one.  And the fact that  our measurements are large doesn’t mean we don’t want to be noticed. ‘Wear dark colors’, we are told, because they are flattering. Rubbish. What you mean is wear dark colors because they are slimming, because your edges blur and are not distinct against the background. Wear dark colors and blend in so you won’t be noticed.

I’m as keen on tasteful dressing as the next woman, but anyone who thinks that you can dress 64 inch hips like mine in a dark color and have them go unnoticed is living in a dream world. Personally, I like to wear red.  It’s a fabulous color and since you’re going to notice my size anyway I’d like you to notice that I’m not just large I’m also cheeful! All plus size women are not the same. Please don’t generalize.

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