Clothing Shoes Accessories

Dunkin’ Donuts, the biggest world coffee chain with bakery and pastry, has pulled an ad where the TV chef Rachael Ray wore a scarf similar to the Palestinian scarf. This caused protests from some conservative people.

Ray had been hired in March as face and spokesman for a Dunkin’ Donuts ad. Dunkin’ Donuts is a company that operates many stores in United States and other countries. They offer breakfasts, foods and breads.

In a recent ad distributed by Internet, Ray appears with the “keffiyeh”, the traditional Palestinian scarf (also used by other Middle East citizens), on her shoulders while she holds an iced coffee cup in her hand.

Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin wrote on her website: “The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad”.

Michelle Malkin’s column

Shopping directory: Scarves, Wraps

Nowadays, a chic person who wants to enjoy the life and have fun is not a person who belongs to the jet set or who has a bank account with a lot of money in Switzerland.

You can be chic without spending all your money in a store. The concept is very easy. Memorize it: you can be chic & cheap.

Learn how to live well. You can save a lot of money by traveling on low cost airlines, dressing as the more glamorous people by shopping at Zara stores, eating delicious and balanced food in home, shopping in consignment stores. All this will make you feel a very affordable and glamorous existence.

Stores like H&M, Topshop, Gap, Zara or Mango, are devoted to the emulation of big fashion companies around the world. They are good enough to start being chic & cheap.

Related article

Shopping directory: Replicas

Definitively, they are a trend. We already saw them last year, but designers maintain the patchwork to give life to summer handbags.

They complement the Prada and Fendi handbags (among other brands), but the low-cost companies also follow this trend, so you can stay up to date without spending all your paycheck.

The combination of colors is important in order to convert a patchwork handbag into the perfect complement. These handbags or purses give a color touch to summer nights. If you want an informal look, then you can choose large purses.

Anyway, the patches will be available for all accessories, not only purses. Are you ready to wear patches this summer?

Shopping directory: Purses

Every time there are more women with some extra pounds that refuse to be discriminated against due to their weight or eat less food because they want to have skeletal bodies, which are promoted by the fashion world. Obesity is not beauty synonymous, but every time we can see more beautiful curvy women, who are proud of their body and resolved to show it to the world.

Some people think the obesity is beauty, and there is a movie about that: “Real Women Have Curves”, which is a movie directed by Patricia Cardoso (Colombian director). Curvy Latin women are becoming popular in the media, and even some top fashion designers make designs that are exclusively for plus sizes.

Judging women by their appearance instead of their inner values is a so common conduct we could think its origins go back to the time when the humanity lived in caverns. In that time, the feminine ideal of beauty was obesity in order to support a lot of descendants. Also, they needed physical strength to tolerate the hard life of our ancestors.

The obesity is an illness, similar to the current beauty standards that present women in a body with no curvy shapes, sunken cheeks and paleness. Millions of girls (teenagers and youths) around the world try to come closer to these standards that are presented in the western world by associating them with success, fame, elegance, power and happiness.

Related Article

Shopping directory: Plus Sizes

Finding a suit that fits is getting easier for people of short height.

The big chains continue without offering too many options. However, some stores are becoming popular in United States: stores for shorter people.

Josh Rogers, a New Yorker who measures 5 feet and 5 inches (1,62 meters), had his first visit to Jimmy Au’s, a store for shorter people. That visit was memorable for him.

“It was a fairly typical clothing store, except everything was a possibility. It wasn’t like I was going to have to settle for that one weird thing that fit”, Rogers said.

Jimmy Au’s website

Shopping directory: Petite

As its name indicates, these pants were originally made in Thailand (coast regions).

They owe their shape to local fishermen, who used them on traditional boats, which were guided by a long pole. This way of navigating is the reason why the fishermen wear very comfortable and flexible clothes that don’t hinder the necessary movements in their work. In turn, the clothes had to be very fresh to tolerate the heat caused by high temperatures and arduous work in a better way.

The fishing is also the origin of the bright colors in Thai pants, very useful for searching for a fisherman in the sea, in case this person fell from his boat.

The original Thai pants are 100% cotton, so they can dry off and perspire easily. They are very light, but at the same time very resistant.

Related site

Shopping directory: Pants

He was the first designer to expose women’s breasts in public on a catwalk. He also created the first tuxedo for women, posed nude in front of a camera and was known as the “Greatest fashion designer of the 20th Century” by the French press: Designer Yves Saint-Laurent died on June 1 at the age of 71. His legacy lives on and it will be really difficult to surpass it.

He began to design collections at the House of Dior. Although he really wanted to make costumes for theater, his undeniable talent made him an excellent fashion designer.

After quitting his job due to disagreements with new owners of the House of Dior (he sued them), he founded his own fashion house and created his first collection in 1962.

His designs were modern, sexy and artistic. They were used by stars like Catherine Deneuve, Barbra Streisand and Shirley MacLaine, besides the socialites and top models of the last decades.

Related article

Shopping directory: Outwear, Coats

Royal Philips Electronics, a company that develops electronic devices, is working in a new technology to create “smart clothing” in United States. This clothing will be able to gather information on the health condition of who wears it. Some of the products they are working include: an underwear, bed clothes and a T-shirt.

The underwear has four sensors placed around the waist that will gather information to be able to calculate the speed of blood flow in arteries. The healthy blood vessels have elastic properties and the blood runs relatively slow while it presses the arterial walls.

On the other hand, the bed clothes include: sheets, quilts and pillows. They will record the levels of blood chemistry, heart rhythm and perspiration while the person is sleeping.

The pillow and the sheet will measure the heart frequency (neck, ears and feet). Also, there is a device that will measure the breathing rate in the middle of the bed.

Related Article

Shopping directory: Outfits

Now with Fring you can connect with multiple IM services to have voice and text chats, from your PDA and from only one program.

More concretely, by using Fring, you access to Skype, MSN Messenger, ICQ, Google Tallk, SIP and Twitter. That is to say, Fring supports the most popular IM programs and VoIP networks.

The program is very easy to use. You define the IM services that you want to use (for instance MSN Messenger), then you must enter the login info and that’s all! Automatically Fring will show you your contacts’ status in the screen and provide the necessary options to send and receive text messages or start phone calls via WiFi or 3G.

Definitively Fring is a complete communication tool that can be used to take advantage of the wireless capabilities of your PDA.

Download Fring

Shopping directory: Organizers, Planners

1. There are good wines for everyone. Men prefer them. Most fathers like to taste new varieties and fine rare wines. Also, they like to have a small (or big) cellar and store the different accessories that accompany wine tasters.

2. Another option to keep in mind is the underwear. The men’s market expands a lot. T-shirts, night wears, sportswear, boxers and more: they are specially designed for men with soft and comfortable cloths. Fathers want to look good, too.

3. Technology options: cell phones with camera, digital cameras, tiny music players. New audio, image and communications gadgets are the best options for technology lovers.

4. And a traditional choice: fragrances (or perfumes). Fathers like to use them, and women like to enjoy them. A men’s fragrance will be always a great present.

Shopping directory: Men’s Clothing and Apparel