Fat Bags and Skinny Models

Being in the quality fashion accessory biz, Three Stone Steps tries keeps up with the latest trends. It’s sort of kind of required to have a general sense of what’s going on out there in the non-fair trade, non-eco-chic, more mainstream world of style and color. You know, the world where no one bothers their pretty little heads worrying about how workers are treated or the impact on the environment. I guess, unfortunately, it means the fashion world to many, many people out there.

This was a good weekend for following fashion, of the mainstream sort. The big even last night, of course, were the Academy Awards. I didn’t watch them, not even the stars trotting down the red carpet. I didn’t really read anything about them either, but did see a photo on the front page (below the fold) of pretty starlets dressed in red. To match the carpet, perhaps?

The same paper, the New York Times, actually, also had its large Spring 2008 fashion supplement in the big Sunday paper. I couldn’t wait to learn what the paper of record thought would be the must-haves for the next few months.

Big, actually mammoth handbag and shoulder bags are in. Still. And, they are being carried by by women who must end up weighing even less than the bags do when they are full. Still. While stick figure models are the norm, they still shocked me a bit in a I-thought-we-were-
moving-beyond-this kind of way.

And, as if to rub it all in, this fashion supplement had an article called Weight Watchers. As you may have guessed, this doesn’t have a whole lot to do with having skinny models lose even more weight, but rather the cost of a designer dress by the pound. So, that little evening dress that weighs a mere 4.15 ounces costs $3,150. If you don’t want to do the math, that comes to $10,610 per pound. Another example is an even smaller dress at 3.24 ounces for $4.175. Get our your calculator and it comes to $20,554 per pound.

Sort of makes you wonder about the phrase: worth one’s weight in gold. In which case, it would help to wear wool and other heavy clothes, load up that huge handbag, and not worry about those extra pounds.

I like that.