Effective Birth Control

I like to read magazine while riding the exercise bike at the gym.  I especially like to read other people's magazines; the ones they leave behind when they're done.  I never know if the issues are current and it always amazes me how I'll be reading along and realize it's a March issue  from last year. Do people really hold onto magazines that long?

I just had to share an article I read in a (recent?) issue of Bazaar.  I laughed so hard that I almost fell off the bike.  It was written by Leandra Medine, the author of a wildly popular blog, Man Repeller.  Since the article appeared in a fashion magazine, you know that fashion is what she is referring to. Her blog chronicles the fashions women love and men hate.  Or to quote her very words, when she's wearing one of her fashionable get-ups, "essentially, I'm wearing the sartorial equivalent of birth control."

She goes on to describe some really funny exchanges with men regarding her outfits.  And I quote again, "Put simply, our clothing choices - cue the harem pants and jumpsuits - are influenced by a school of high-fashion genius that our Y-chromosome counterparts don't understand."  Some of the outfits she describes wearing I don't even understand, but I get where she's coming from.  Am I dressing for myself or others ~ and if for others do I want women to purr in agreement or men to find me attractive (one man in particular ~ my husband!)  

Unless we're on a man hunt, most women agree that we dress for other women.  For Ms. Medine, dressing for herself and other fashion divas takes front row and center over appealing to a prospective man.  She says, "I started to date a man who told me that if Gumby, MC Hammer and the Balenciaga collection had a baby, it would be me.  I was so impressed by his fashion reference, it only just dawned on me that I haven't heard from him in three weeks....You're still single.  But who should win, boy or outfit?..There's no need to compromise style when you explore a man repeller's antonym:  the man getter....(Just wear your) share of brilliantly provocative halter tops and saucily slit skirts... But the prospect of snatching yourself a man aside, it's important to remember that in the look book of our lives, the bolder the better.  So, man repellers, go forth with pride....The men will just have to wait."

Ms Medine was obviously referring to fashionistas who take their look seriously.  She neglected to mention that the other perfect man repeller is the fashion slob.  Nothing like a pair of grungy sweats with a baggy butt to cause a man to look the other way.  Ha! Ha!

(Blogmeister's note:  article quoted from page 130 Bazaar but the page doesn't mention which issue.  It does suggest that you go to bazaar.com/bazaar-blog for more fashion blogging.  Enjoy!)