Certain Celebrity Style or My Problem With Blogging

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I worked in the financial services field for a division of an uber bank.  What was instilled into me at that firm through its rigorous training programs was to know what you are talking about, to have an opinion and to be able to back it up. As all of you know by now, I have an opinion. In fact I have lots of opinions and that's one of the reasons that I started this blog with a pseudonym.

But now, three years later I realize how careful I have to be about what I write here.  Conflicts of interests are always present.  There is what I need to do for business and what I really think.

Take for example my love hate relationships with fashion/style magazines.  There are some magazines that I enjoy reading, such as ELLE and others that are so syrupy in their celebrity sycophancy that they make me cringe. Yet cringing or not, I still want to see my product displayed in their glossy pages.
Like I said, conflict of interest.

Sometimes I seriously consider starting another blog, with an even more obscure pseudonym where I could voice my opinions more honestly.  If I had that blog I would probably write about the September issue of a highly popular fashion/style magazine which included an article about "celebrity designers".  The "celebrity designers" in this article were a middle aged pop star, who recently celebrated her 52nd birthday, and her 13 year old daughter with the name a Saint and the nickname of a demimonde.  According to the article her gal pal Stella McCartney solicits fashion feedback from her 13 year old child. Really Stella, is this the best that you can do?

Can anyone out there tell me what any 13 year old, precocious, entitled, spoiled, celebrity daughter or not, really has to say about fashion. In the back of my mind I'm thinking STFU about style, get out of your closet and go read a book or twenty.

But in our material world, because we are all material girls,
celebrities now make up our new Pantheon of Gods.
Everything we need to know we can learn from celebrity magazines...our new Oracle of Delphi
Isn't it enough already that we slather over them....and solicit their opinions on everything from environmental policy to international relations to economic strategy to fashion.
Do we have to bow down to their teenage daughters as well?

(Please note that in no way do I blame the child.  It's the mother pushing he child into the media spotlight that I find disturbing.)

Business and The Beauty Premium

Is the beauty premium more important for men?
From Dr Helen, the brilliant and beautiful blogger and wife of Glenn Reynolds
a link to
Drink, Go Blonde, and 5 other ways to make more money

“Attractive men and women are often seen as more talented, kind, and intelligent and that can lead to promotions and raises,” says Gordon Patzer, author of Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined Unattractive men, meanwhile, earned 15 percent less than their attractive coworkers in a London Guildhall University survey of 33-year-olds. Unattractive women earned 11 percent less.

In a recent story, Newsweek offered more evidence that the “beauty premium” really does exist, finding that 13 percent of women and 10 percent of men would consider plastic surgery if it could boost their success at work. Those breast implants seem to have backfired for Lorenzana (above). But Patzer says a haircut and a wardrobe update can work wonders.

Obviously, whether male or female the beauty premium matters in terms of compensation and career success. So let's see...I've gone blond, I drink, I wear high heels, now what else is on the agenda...