Annie says, “You’re Gonna Die!”
This time of year is when all the women’s mags start transmitting mixes messages about tanning, pairing the time-honored message of “FOR CHRISSAKES STOP TANNING ALREADY” with pages and pages of advertisements, articles and free makeup samples designed to render you as coppery as a freshly minted penny. But they tell us every year, “You’re gonna die!”
More embarrassing still is each article’s dutiful regurgitation of the suntan’s rise to aesthetic prominence, reminding readers that before 1923 pale was pretty, and had it not been for Coco Chanel and her yachting trip, we might now be happily bleaching our skin like large numbers of women outside the U.S. What these writers fail to mention, time and again, is the role played by magazines in which these histories appear: promoting, distributing and dare I say fetishizing images of the tan body.
The magazines obviously had no more idea of the damage tanning can do than Miz Chanel; a tan, for the better part of this century, was considered beautiful precisely because it suggested health (and then wealth). Being bronze symbolized carefree youth. Then of course a definitive link between sun exposure and skin cancer was discovered and the headlines flipped, yada yada yada. What’s creepy is that even though the methods may have changed (bronzing powder, mystic tanning, those pills the guy in Soul Man ate) the tan remains desirable, a testament to its currency as a social marker and a flip-off to the melanin deprived everywhere.
It’s the same way they have articles about surviving eating disorders next to models with eating disorders. Despite the campaigns of the dear Cancer Society, I doubt that women’s magazines are going to change the mixed message or are very interested in doing so; they and their advertisers have everything to lose the moment anything but an unachievable standard of beauty is mentioned. I know, duh.
It seems appropriate, then, during Philadelphia’s Year of Evolution, to adopt a Darwinian approach to the problem of brainwashed sunbathers: let ‘em die. As Nina Jablonski, Professor of Anthropology at Penn State, discusses in her book Skin: A Natural History, global differences in skin color evolved over thousands of years in accordance with a people’s proximity to the Equator.
Judging by the veins clearly visible in my forehead, therefore, I have obviously descended from the Polar Bear People of the North. I do not belong in Philadelphia. I am far, far too delicate, in dermatological terms at least.
Style Pro Phile: Lara Long
Lara Long of Plaid Pony Vintage:
“I had always been thinking about starting my own business, and I always thought it would be an actual bricks-and-mortar store, but doing it as a website made a lot of sense. I spent a year shopping and learning about how to do the pictures and the Web, and then I put it up. I have everything from kitchen glassware and wall decor to clothing, jewelry, shoes and handbags. I wanted it be a whole store in one spot. I gravitate toward stuff that makes me laugh or smile, or stuff that’s really well-designed. It’s been growing steadily since I started, and it’s been a lot better than I expected. I just rented some space in Orphelin, which is a new vintage boutique on Fifth Street. It’s been hard working at home, and I almost never take a day off anymore, but I really love working for myself and being in control of my destiny.”
Jaime says: DRAGON WINGS!
In my realityTV obsessed imagination I’m total Facebook besties with Pennsylvania mega-family The Gosselins. Today in my fantasy world I get to to be Aaden Gosselin’s hero. Aaden is a gem of a child, and 1/6th of a medical miracle that rocked local headlines about four years ago. His fantasy world doesn’t include Facebook, but instead, dragons. (Boys!) Well Aaden, get ready to post some thanks on my Super Wall because, here she is, Rebecca Dixon: designer of DRAGON WINGS FOR BOYS!
A super-awesome boy rocking wings
StylePhile talked with Dixon about faeries, conventions for faeries, and faerie fashions…oh, and Dragon Wings for Aaden and his ilk.
What is FaerieCon and OMG are you going?
FaerieCon is the East Coast version of Faerieworlds, a huge magical gathering for fae and fantasy creatures that happens in Oregon every year. FaerieCon is held at the Philadelphia Convention Center in October. They have an impressive line up of fantasy artists and authors to meet, great
musical performances, an amazing fashion show and rows and rows of vendors with magical goodies to tempt your fancy. I will be there again in my faerie finery, of course!
Who or what prompted you to go into the dragon wing business?
A few years ago, after presenting my faerie wears as a vendor at the Maryland Fairy Festival, I had so many parents ask me where they could find wings for their boys to wear that I created a line of dragon wings. They were a huge hit, so I designed a second version that had a tail. You can’t imagine how incredibly cute they are: I gave a pair to my little cousin and he ran around the house, curling his fingers into claws and yelling, “Grrrrr!”
This year I have designed two new baby dragons and two adult-sized versions (sans tail!), which are available in my Etsy shop.
How important are trends in your work?
The fantasy world is very different from the fashion industry. There’s less a sense of trends as here is knowing what vision or ideas about magic and the fantasy genre are popular. Keeping tabs on popular artists and authors is just as important as responding to your customers’ design requests.
Good Faeries or Bad Faeries?
I suppose that depends on your definition of good and bad! I make wings for all sorts of fairies, the angelically good, the terribly evil and the mischievous alike. I like to leave it up to the wearer to decide which court they belong to.
Where do you go to watch people?
The fairy festivals and Renaissance Fairs are a blast for people watching: the costumes are amazing and you get to see facets of personality and imagination that are not usually so apparent.
Which mythical character would you most like to work with?
The Phoenix, which is the mascot and namesake of my company, Up from the Ashes.
What is your favorite movie for inspiration?
I couldn’t possibly pick a favorite! There are several movies that I love as background noise while I work: Mirrormask is a new favorite, Labyrinth and the Dark Crystal are oldies but goldies, The Fifth Element, Appleseed, any of the comic movies like Spider-Man and Batman, and Slayers or Rurouni Kenshen series.