Return to goddess fashion?

A young fashion commentator in Milan tells me the next fashion "trend" will be "A Blast from the Past." And she wonders if women consumers have had anything to do with the return to the "full figured" woman.  

It's an  important issue:  the power of women as consumers in an industry that ‘owns’ them, so to speak. 

Women wear fashion. It’s unavoidable. Every choice they make is fashion conscious. At the same time their choices are image driven, more specifically, body image driven. 

“Does my bum look big in this?” became the catch cry for the way women make a choice within the limits of what is made available to them by the fashion gods.

 So when the gods switch from heroin chic, to granny comfortable, or fifties retro etc, it begs the question: Are the gods influenced by the consumers, who have been struggling to fit into skinny legged jeans,  g-strings, pointed boots and strapless bras etc or is the switch just another whim.

Certainly the return to the more curvaceous, goddess-like women, such as Marilyn Monroe, Esther Williams, Rita Hayworth etc will be welcomed by the majority of women because the majority of women have hips, breasts and thighs. That’s what makes them women.   But will the designers allow curvaceous women to model for them? Will cat walk models ever be less leggy and more fleshy.

As a psychologist working with girls and women with eating disorders, I can vouch for the effect fashion has. While fashion may not create eating disorders per say, it does have a negative impact on ‘recovery.’ Many girls are asked if they are models. Receiving positive praise for thinness discourages them from gaining weight. And for obese patients, their depression is exacerbated by fashion which extols thinness as a virtue.

So while I would like to think that the retro fashion has resulted from consumer pressure, I am also aware that a lot has to change in the fashion psyche before women can be celebrated for what they are: diverse. A one size fits all approach does not serve them, especially when that one size suits only the smallest fraction of the minority.

Women, take your power...

While  women buy the youth card, they deny girls and younger women the guidance they need. While they chase the promises of cosmetic youth, they deny themselves the wisdom they deserve.
And at the same time, they fail to model womanhood for the young. 
Come on women, don't be afraid to take your power...Younger women depend on you.

"The Crone has been missing from our culture for so long that many women, particularly young girls, know nothing of her tutelage. 
Young girls in our society are not initiated by older women into womanhood with its accompanying dignity and power. 
With no inner wisdom figure to guide them, and no outward model to help them set boundaries and be their own person, young women often fall victim to false and superficial ideals, such as pleasing others. 
Ironically, they achieve their greatest success at the cost of their own emerging sense of self. "
-Marion Woodman & Elinor Dickson from Dancing in the Flames

Girls pouting and posing for a selfie. For whom?

Actor Miley Cyrus poses for a selfie.

In my practice as a psychologist, I see girls with eating disorders, body dysmorphia and other body image issues.

Sometimes they show me pics of their friends or other girls they think are PERFECT. 

Most, if not all of the pics I've seen are of girls  posing like this. Many of them post their pics on facebook. Their female friends respond with LIKES and comments such as 'you look hot.'

My question is: who is all this posing and pouting for?

The availability of so much visual media is making the body image trap more insidious for young women.

And men are being affected too, having procedures so they can look good on facebook or on their phones.

I am deeply saddened by these destructive trends. I hope they will pass, like the whirlwinds they are.   But how much damage will they leave in their wake?

What do you think?

Angelina Jolie undergoes double mastectomy

Is this the latest form of public female mutilation? 

Do you think that if the genetic odds were the same for other forms of cancer: liver, brain etc, those organs would be amputated?

Could this public mutilation of the symbols of womanhood be a further act of the masculinisation of women by popular American media and by Western science. 

What was she thinking...really? (and yes I do know her aunt died of breast cancer shortly after.)

May 16, 2013 -- Updated 1209 GMT (2009 HKT)

Roses and desert women

And so they met, the women who will be attending my Mother/daughter Desert Retreat at Uluru in May.

Chatting easily as women do, sharing dainty sweet treats and the joy of roses: pink blossoms for the child within, full blooms for the blossoming women.

First pic: Meringues filled with fresh cream and adorned by baby pink roses.

Second pic: French pastry filled with custard accompanied by an urn of earth coloured roses in full bloom.

Women are their own worse critics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XpaOjMXyJGk#!

The video above is a great example of how women perceive themselves compared to the way others see them.
In my consultations, husbands and partners of women always describe the women in a much more positive light than the women do themselves.
Women are in fact their own worse critics.
That's why I am a persistent campaigner against body image damage.
Why don't you join me at my image free website www.denisegreenaway.com  

Beauty is destroyed by anorexia

Beauty destroyed by anorexia.



http://www.minds.com/blog/view/48335/the-most-anorexic-woman-in-the-world-or-skinniest-woman-in-the-world




In my book FINDING ARTEMISIA,  the young woman suffering with anorexia shares her world through her diary (The Oracle) and provides deep insights into anorexia. The book also provides her psychologist's point of view and her experience of working with the disease.

FINDING ARTEMISIA is currently DISCOUNTED at this site
http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Finding-Artemisia-Denise-Greenaway/9781452503844