ICONIC BRIDES OF THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

The wedding dress embodies all dreams of perfect love; it is a symbol of romance and happiness. It is the most expensive piece of clothing most women will ever buy and nevertheless the most memorable one.

Out of millions of wedding dresses worn throughout the years by women all around the globe; some manage to stand out and be recognized throughout history. The key reason for those dresses not to be forgotten is because of the importance of its wearer. Each century has its famous brides that are inspirations for the present and the future. The 20^thcentury is a proud owner of a collection of iconic brides that are still being admired today…

Grace Kelly

She was an actress turned princess. Grace Kelly was the then Julia Roberts of Hollywood. She married prince Rainier III of Monaco to become her serene highness and the princess of Monaco in 1956. Her dress, along with her doll-like features is one of the most beautiful wedding looks of all time. She chose the legendary MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer) wardrobe designer, Helen Rose to come up with a dress to give her fitting exit from the cinematic world and a grand entrance to the Royalty of Monaco. The Dress has inspired brides worldwide, including Kate Middleton, who chose a similar silhouette for her big day in 2011.

Grace Kelly’s wedding gown was truly fit for a princess. It featured a voluminous skirt of ivory peau de soie and a high collar with a fitted bodice made of Brussels lace and embroidered with seed pearls.The Designer worked on the dress for six weeks with three dozen seamstresses.

The bodice was made of reassembled rose point lace over silk net, which had been re-embroidered by two seamstresses who worked on it for a month. Thousands of seed pearls were added to accentuate the patterns in the lace.

Grace’s veil was adorned with lace lovebirds and she decided against the customary tiara and opted for a Juliet cap instead. The cap was decorated with lace and orange blossoms and held a veil that was reportedly 90 yards long. The circular Veil was edged with lace lovebirds and the majority of it was left sheer so the princess’s lovely face would be visible through it.

 The dress was guarded in the two months of its making that lead up to the wedding. It never left the fitting room and the dress was locked away every night and the gown of Grace Kelly remains one of the most celebrated in history. The Dress is now the property of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and they displayed it on the 50^th anniversary of the wedding in May 2006.

Jacqueline Kennedy

Not many wedding dresses will be recognized at a glance but the dress Jacqueline Bouvier wore to marry John F. Kennedy in 1956 is still known to be as one of the most iconic dresses ever made in the history of mankind.  Jacqueline was one of the most stylish first ladies of the United States of America and is still known to be a fashion icon. She chose the couturier Ann Lowe to design her wedding dress. It was made out of Ivory Silk taffeta, and was in the shape of a ball gown. The neckline was a sweetheart shape (also known as the portrait type). She wore a lace veil that belonged to her grandmother with a lace a Tiara decorated with orange blossoms.

The unknown fact about this lovely dress was that; Ann Lowe was a colored woman which was scandalous during the time and the original dress she created after two months of labor was destroyed along with nine other dresses in a flooding that occurred in Ann Lowes workroom which occurred 10 days prior to the wedding.  But she took the challenge; she and her staff worked day and night completed the wedding dress in eight days and delivered the dress on sue date. Even though she didn’t make a profit out of it her efforts are still being admired and her creation is known to the world as the dress that made Jacqueline the fashion icon of the 20^th century. It is now on display at the Kennedy Library in Boston.

Princess Margaret 

Princess Margaret was the younger sibling of Queen Elizabeth 1 and was a sensational young royal during her time. She was beautiful, fashionable and was prepped with a social life that made her a tabloid princess. She was married to photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones on May 6^th 1960.

This was also the first royal wedding ever televised, and was watched by over 20 million viewers worldwide, so her effect on ushering in the sleek styles of the 1960s could very well have stretched far beyond the royal family. Her wedding gown is still the subject of awe decades later and was designed by Norman Hartnell, the same designer that designed the Queen’s Wedding gown and the Queen’s coronation gown.

Princess Margaret didn’t prefer the usual heavily embellished traditional creations of the designer, instead she requested him to create a simple dress that will compliment her petite figure; and every aspect of the dress was designed to make her look more flattering and elongate. The dress was made out of silk organza with a ‘V’ neck and the full skirt, which was the trendiest silhouette of the time after Christian dior’s ‘New look’. The dress’s simplicity allowed for some statement accessories: a diamond necklace from her grandmother Queen Mary and the Famous Poltimore Tiara; that was acquired especially for Margaret. The Tiara and the necklace were subsequently sold at auction after her death. The Dress is now on display at Kensington Palace in London and is the property of the British Royal Collection.

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR WARDROBE

A woman has only two problems

1. Nothing to wear

2. No place for all the clothes

Clothes are one of those fundamentals that can become a real problem if they go neglected. They say that a girl can never have enough shoes and in return most of us find it hard to manage all our purchases that are crowding our rooms. All these wardrobe statements prove that even though a girl can never have enough things she should also be an expert in managing her outfits as well as her closet.

However doing so is not quite easy. We all tend to grab the first thing that comes to our hand in the morning and never really plan our outfits for the day ahead. This makes us less fashionable and we do not take maximum advantage of our clothes that are already hidden way beneath our cupboards.

There are a few simple guidelines we girls could follow. The Internet is filled with ideas as to how to arrange your closet and how to manage it effectively, but we should know what rules that are suited for one self and what are practical.

The six month – one year rule.

People advice us to get rid of clothes that we have not worn for the past six months or one year. Which is in a way very true, but there are clothes that are close to our hearts and have special memories that come with them. Some clothes belong to beautiful events in our past and to be parted ways with them is like losing a friend.

The best way to stack these special clothes is to fold them, place them in clear bags and stack them in a safe place where the clothes wont get tainted. This leaves us with more space in our cupboards for our everyday clothing needs.

And the rest of the clothes that you haven’t worn they should be questioned. What’s more important is not how long it’s been since you’ve worn it, but why you haven’t worn it.

So if something has remained on the hanger for too long, start questioning it: is it the right color for my skin? Is it too long or short? Does it make you look plump? Or simply do you have too many clothes?

Justify yourself why you should get rid of that outfit and feel free to give it away. You will not be regretting later and you will be feeling better knowing that someone else is happy wearing it and your life is de-cluttered!

Clothing Swap

Although it is not so popular as it is for the westerners, one of the best ways to get rid of some of your much-loved clothes is to organize a clothing swap day.  Talk to your friends and arrange a date where you all can go through piles of clothes that you’ll hardly wear. Exchanging your clothes and shoes is easier than getting rid of them straight away. You will feel great to see your friend looking good in the clothes that you once used to own. This is a great way to own and disown wardrobe staples in a fun and practical way.

DIY – Do It Yourself

There is another way that we can give a fresh start to some of our old clothes. The new social network ‘Pinterest’ gives us plenty of ideas as to how to recycle your clothing. Adding a few embellishments, cutting off a pair of long sleeves, stripping a t-shirt to make a funky shawl or cutting your jeans to make a bag.

We don’t have to be expert seamstresses or designers to give life to some of our clothes that are hardly worn and forgotten. It’s about being fearless to cut and chop and to let go of your creativity. You will be amazed at your own self and will be proud to carry off your new look.

Sketch/write your outfit

No matter how many clothes a woman has she will never have enough. This is the reality. Most women are busy with juggling everything from home, family and work. This has resulted in less time for herself and is affecting her sense of style.

Make an arrangement to have one or two hours each week to go through your closet and mix match clothes and accessories that can be worn for the week ahead. This way you get to know your clothes well and how you can create distinct looks that makes you stand out amongst the crowd.

Give yourself time to sketch (if you’re good at drawing) or to write down a list of outfits for the week, iron them and arrange them in a way that is easy for you in the morning. Ironing is one of the tasks that women dread, but a wrinkled shirt can degrade your personality in a second. So it is our duty to ourselves to look perfect at any given time. That’s one of the best things about being a woman. The process of getting ready for the day can be hectic but an adventure as well.

Starting to plan your outfits will be chaotic and will look impossible in the beginning but with time you wouldn’t need to be fanatical about being impeccable, for you know your clothes and there will be less wardrobe malfunctions which will save you from a lot of embarrassments.

Ultimately, wardrobe management is not a one-time deal, but rather an ongoing process that you will need to repeat whenever you get new clothes or accessories. It may seem like a lot of work, but th time you put in will pay off in a big way. With a little extra planning, you can look put-together and fashionable everyday, no matter how late you oversleep.

WHERE DID ALL THE HOBBIES GO?

“What is your hobby?” One of the most fundamental questions that we all have answered growing up. It is in fact one of the initial queries another person asks u to get to know you better. And personally I have always loved to answer that question.

A hobby distinguishes an individual from the rest of the crown. It is a skill or an interest that has improved with age and something that you have mastered during your leisure time.

But sadly this isn’t the story anymore. I hardly hear anyone asking about a hobby not to mention ever discussing about one. Improved technology and social media networks have taken most of our leisure times, which in result has ruined the potential for improved skills in creativity. Children are watching more TV than creating, adults are busy being immersed in hours of networking on social media, and artistry is not encouraged.

A hobby is something that a person can do: not only as a fruitful past time but it is also a source of pleasure and relaxation. It helps to nurture one’s love for a particular activity that helps polish a person’s natural talents.

Not so long ago, wood working, photography, painting, reading, cooking, gardening, collecting autographs, stamps, cards or figurines were very popular, but with changing times, newer hobbies like blogging, chatting, gaming and surfing the net have replaced the classic list. The real question is, do these new and modern hobbies helps personal development? It can be argued both ways. The real challenge here is to choose a past time that reflects your personality and something that relaxes your soul while improving a skill that others may envy.

In this era of improved technology and communication, we tend to spend most of our working time as well as our leisure time staring at a computer, either surfing on the net or chatting the night away. Has this chore improved our abilities? I do not believe so.

As a former Facebook addict, I have experienced myself drowning in a world of materialistic possessions and an unavoidable urge to be present in the social platform at all times. I lost a lot of my precious time to chatting, surfing and basically looking at other people’s lives through their pictures. I have nothing against Facebook and to date I am an active user. But I have learnt to use it for its purpose. To stay connected. It is not a hobby. It does not enhance any of your skills. It’s simply a form of communication.

A hobby on the other hand, gives you much pleasure and satisfaction through Mind-Hand-Eye coordination.  Hobbies will free your mind from stress. They create a recreational world where you find solace after a hard day of work.

“Anything we do must add value to our lives at the end of the day”

The definition of a hobby interlinks with the above quote, for a hobby is an activity, which is enjoyable and adds value to ones life. Hobbies have been around since the ancient times, yet very few people use them as an effective tool to beat stress.

Hobbies offer you many benefits: they are fun and a great way to pass the time, they can raise your self esteem, they can teach you new skills that help you grow and prosper and they gives you an outlet to explore your creativity.

A hobby can take you out of your life for a while. It can be invigorating, relaxing, educational, fun, or maybe, if you are lucky, a little of everything. Hobbies are more than just ways to creatively pass the time. They are also good for your health. Hobbies and other leisure activities can have many health benefits. We all have different ideas of what hobbies are. They don’t have to be the classic list of things that we have heard since we were kids, but it certainly must add value to your life and improve your skills and helps you build a deeper and more fulfilling life. A successful hobby usually embraces some of the following characteristics.

A hobby should interest you. 

Your hobby should be an activity that you enjoy. Starting a hobby, which someone else is already interested in, may bore you. So be original! Pick something you like.

Passion is the key

The hobby you choose must make you excited. Don’t be discouraged if you try several different hobbies before you find the right one. You'll know you've found the right hobby when you look forward to doing it, makes you happy, relaxed, and satisfied.

Affordable

It's better to do something that doesn't tie up a lot of your money. Some hobbies can get very expensive and you will become frustrated because you can't reach it financially. A hobby doesn't have to be expensive to be fulfilling.

Communicate

In this age of technology, arts and crafts are given a backseat. By actively promoting the use of hobbies in our stressful lives-how it benefits a person and how some hobbies can be utilized to make money, we could change the stigma of hobbies being treated as a dying movement.

Some hobbies have no limits. And we cannot master them right away; it’s an ongoing process of developing ones skills throughout the years. Soon you'll experience a great sense of personal satisfaction as you become more and more accomplished in the hobby field you have chosen.

As you grow in your hobby, you'll feel more contented as a person and less vulnerable to the stress of your job. A hobby that captures your attention is a positive, healthy way to escape the stress of everyday life, if only for an hour at a time.

A wonderful thing about a hobby, whether it is exercising, collecting something, or reading it doesn't require any previous experience or equipment; you just have to supply the interest and time and you'll reap the benefits. As the saying goes…

“A hobby a day keeps the doldrums away”

SNOW WHITE SYNDROME

Scene 1: A girl sits on a chair crying for being rejected for a job that she hoped for,

Scene 2: Her aunt comes and gives her a cream to apply,

Scene 3: She applies the cream and in four weeks her brown skin gets lighter,

Scene 4: she goes for the same job interview confidently and gets selected…

This is the same obscure story that is being portrayed through the various fairness cream advertisements that is being aired on TV throughout the day. These ads rake up some fundamental questions in my mind;

•  Why is ‘fair’ better than ‘dark’?
•  What is fair and what is dark?
• How can confidence and success be attributed to skin color?

Although it may sound a shock to westerners, the phenomenal growth in fairness creams indicate that the adoration for fair skin and disdain for dark or brown skin is very common in this part of the world making people obsessed with getting a fairer complexion in order to be considered pretty or attractive. Thus the demand to lighten the color of the skin is high and manufacturers of beauty and cosmetic products are merrily disseminating the myth of white skin and further exploiting this trend.

Discrimination

Fair or light skin color is being promoted as virtuous and desirable. How often do we come across advertisements that promote fair skin as being superior, and one that fetches you your dream job that makes you attractive? Sadly, these ads are getting more frequent and bolder in their message and continue to corrupt and stray young minds.

Skin color discrimination is a feeling that is deeply entrenched in the society that fair people are preferred by the entertainment and other allied industries and in comparison a darker complexion is a disadvantage in the matrimonial market, which is the root cause for these mindless ads. We live In a society where most people are genetically brown-skinned yet the growing antipathy for dark skin, have started an inferiority complex, which is now termed by cosmetologists as the “snow white syndrome”.

In a society where bulk of the people are predominantly either dark or brown skinned, there is an unhealthy obsession for fair skin and the question is how to dispel this obsession.

How fairness creams work:     

It is an undeniable fact that most advertisements for fairness creams are not truthful. Most advertisements claim that the continued use of their fairness creams will change the skin color of the user with seven days or so. The naïve public falls a prey to these misleading facts; not knowing such magic cannot and will not happen. The lightness or darkness of the skin is caused by a pigment called “Melanin”, which has great positive effects on health such as its ability to block cancer causing rays of the sun. The more melanin the darker the skin gets.

What the fairness creams do is they block the Secretion of the melanin in the skin thus making it less colored. 
It also stops sunrays to tan your skin so the skin looks fairer. It has been estimated that you can look up to 20% fairer then you are. But the natural color of the skin will not change. One cannot change their genetics and thus the natural color of your skin would remain the same. Fairness creams can only help you a little but that help comes with its own costs.

What can be done?

It is rather discouraging to know that when remarkable social transformation is taking place high profile celebrities are endorsing fairness creams thoroughly to the public leaving some of them questioning about their professionalism and influencing the vast majority by giving them the wrong impression about beauty.  It is shocking to see the ads portraying the girls landing in good jobs, succeeding in acting careers and securing the love of handsome men– because of using their fairness creams. It is the duty of advertisement regulatory bodies of the society to scan and take necessary action about offensive advertisements and only encourage morally acceptable messages to be publicized.

In the glamour industry, fair skinned is considered a big asset and it isn’t unusual to find fair skinned actors and models in the overwhelming majority. People who wish to be modes or interested in an acting career have this misconception that they will be rejected if their complexion is not fair. It should be the responsibility of leading fashion magazines to educate these aspirants that having a fair skin is not crucial for becoming an actor or a model. It is also the responsibility of advertisement professionals, models recruiting agencies, beauticians and people involved in similar professions to educate the masses and bring about a transformation in the social outlook.

Dark skinned people should also introspect and become confident enough to accept their skin color and learn to cherish what nature has given. We mustn't forget that caliber and capability of an individual is measured not by appearance or the skin color instead confidence and hard work are the only antidotes for continuous success personally and professionally.