fashion for women
March 11, 2008 
Has Fashion Created a Middle-Aged Monster?
The Real Housewives of New York City on Bravo crystallizes the right clothes/plastic surgery/fake tan equals youth mindset. While all of the women look good for their age, no one is going to mistake them for 20-somethings.
The “sexy mom” (her words, not mine) poster girl is Ramona Singer. From watching Ramona rifle through her miniskirt-filled closet to listening to her brag about her MILF status (eww), I felt as mortified for her as her pre-teen daughter did. Maybe one of the other social climbers will shove Ramona into a pair of mom jeans and white sneakers to calm her down.
The question is not whether or not The Real Housewives of New York City is watchable TV; I’ll probably watch it again (but than again I got hooked on Gone Country on CMT, so take my reality TV critique for what it’s worth.)
The question is whether the fashion industry has gone overboard in urging women of all ages to wear just about everything including skimpy halter tops, miniskirts, tight jeans.
Christian’s Project Runway Win
I might have loved Christian Siriano’s collection so much more if a) it didn’t reek of guest judge Victoria Beckham: all drama, shoulders, tiny waists and skinny pants and b) Christian himself wasn’t such an annoying character (can you seriously imagine him running a design company and having people work for him?) But in the end, Project Runway’s youngest little diva (he’s just 21) walked away the winner against some pretty stiff competition (I thought Jillian’s collection — minus the gold stuff — was sweet; Rami had some lovely evening wear but I concur with Michael Kors and Nina Garcia that he’s color challenged.)
Although I love edgy black clothes and dramatic sleeves, I keep wondering who Christian’s customer will be (other than said Victoria Beckham, who may even find her petite frame overwhelmed by his outsized ruffles, feathers and neckpieces). See Christian’s winning runway collection and judge for yoursel
