Category: Uncategorized

Rainbow Brite 2.0

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Rainbow Brite was a childhood fixture for most girls who grew up in the 80s in North America. She was cheerful and colourful, had a pony, a sprite friend called Twink, her own animated television show and best of all, there were fabulous Rainbow Brite toys. She was the Punky Brewster of cartoons and I thought she was very cool.

Though I am always excited to see old toys come back into fashion, the makeover that often accompanies them is usually baffling, as toy companies scramble to remix old icons with what they imagine today’s kids want. In the case of Rainbow Brite, who recently turned 25, maker of syrupy sweet movies-of-the-week and greeting cards Hallmark is the culprit (they were also her original creator). About the makeover:

Still magical, but with a modern flair, [Rainbow Brite] has a look that fits with today’s tween market. Playmates Toys has been given the master toy license and a whole series of toys; including fashion dolls, plushies and horses that will hit shelves this fall! (source)

The results of their re-visioning are innocuous and bland (here to see). They have turned Rainbow Brite into an acid-trippy, less sexy version of Bratz dolls. I am imagining a group of middle-age executives huddled in a beige board room somewhere trying to answer the question of ‘what does the all important tween market want?’

I think they have failed, but then again, I was a child of the 80s. I am also probably just as out of touch.

What do you think?

Raibow Brite image by Sterin

The Shrinking Woman in Fashion

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skeleton

Recently, fashion company Ralph Lauren took a lot of heat because of some overzealous Photoshopping they did that resulted in an already thin model looking like a bobble head. I would show you the image but, apparently Ralph Lauren and Co. have taken issue with other websites posting the image (next to critiques) and have sent the likes of Boing Boing and Photoshop Disasters letters warning them to either take down the offending image or face legal action. Photoshop Disasters has complied, but Boing Boing is calling their bluff. You can see the offending image here.

While attacking the above mentioned websites, Ralph Lauren simultaneously issued an ‘apology’ for it’s overzealous retouching:

For over 42 years, we have built a brand based on quality and integrity. After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman’s body.

We have addressed the problem and going forward will take every precaution to ensure that the calibre of our artwork represents our brand appropriately.

Lauren is basically saying that this incident amounts to a technical glitch and is in no way representative of how the fashion industry in general (or Ralph Lauren in particular) understands or considers the female form. There is a long, documented history of tension between the ‘ideal’ woman regularly featured in the fashion and entertainment world and reality, where not everyone is a porcelain skinned size zero.

Although  tools like Photoshop have made it easier for the fashion industry to create unrealistic and unattainable images of the human physique, contrary to what Lauren claims, it isn’t the poor use of a tool that resulted in this image but rather evolving perceptions about what constitutes beauty:

[Findings] show that from the turn of the century throughout the 1970s, the standard of physical attractiveness for women presented in the mass media became much thinner and less curvaceous … During the period from 1979 to 1988, Miss America contestants continued to decrease in body size and Playboy models maintained their already low body sizes … [This] has serious implications for women’s well-being. During the period from 1979 to 1988, 69% of Playboy models and 60% of Miss America contestants weighed 15% or more below the expected weight for their age and height category. The researchers note that according to the DSM III-R, maintaining body weight of 15% below one’s expected weight is a criterion for anorexia nervosa. Other researchers have also noted the prevalence of disordered eating among fashion models (e.g., Brenner & Cunningham, 1992) and the severe health risks associated with achieving a very thin body type. Women whose body fat falls below 22% are much more susceptible to infertility, amenorrhea, ovarian and endometrial cancer, and osteoporosis (Seid, 1989). (source)

Skeleton image by Perpetualplum.

Gardens for Small Spaces – Reinventing the Terrarium

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terrarium-etsy

Although it is arguable whether they were ever really ‘in’, the terrarium is making a resurgence. Not only does it seem to have situated itself in the same quasi-hipster cool category as knitting (think stich ‘n bitch) and dissenting cross stich patterns, it can also be ever so practical for people living in big cities with limited outdoor space. Also important, people are starting to make really cool and beautiful terrariums.

A terrarium is traditionally a glass container that is completely enclosed (like an old preserve jar), which is built to act like a mini-greenhouse. A drainage system is installed at the bottom of the jar in the form of gravel or rocks, that is covered in some rich soil where small succulents are planted, along with other more decorative elements like moss or little figurines (such as the one above, which is from Doodlebirdie’s Etsy shop). Basically, the terrarium creates a perfectly climatised little home for small plants – all you need to do is add water once in awhile.

Although some sites date the terrarium back to ancient Greece, most agree that it was a UK-based invention:

In 1831, when British surgeon Nathaniel Ward picked a fern, stuck it in a bottle and forgot about it. Several months later, the fern was thriving and grass had sprouted in the enclosed container – without any cultivation or watering from Ward. Twenty years later, Ward’s enclosed biosphere was put on display at the 1851 World’s Fair in London, and so-called Wardian cases became a fad. The inspiration for the Victorians may still be what draws us to terrariums today. (source)

There are lots of online tutorials for making your own terrarium if you are so inclined. In the meantime, here are some beautiful examples for inspiration:

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Above Image and Terrarium by Litill.

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Above terrariums by Matteo Cibic.

Header Image: Gnome Wash Day Moss Terrarium Globe by Doodlebirdie.

Fine Cell Work in the 'Forgotten Community'

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quilt

Throughout time, people have incorporated storytelling and art making into the creation of everyday practical objects. For example, we can see immense artistry in the bead work done by Aboriginal peoples of North America in everything from the needlework done on shoes to the beading on bassinets and other items. Although these objects were created for practical purposes, the desire to make them beautiful was still a significant motivator.

Quilting is one such art form, practical yet beautiful, which is estimated to date back to ancient Egypt.

The earliest surviving quilt is from approximately the first century BC to the second century AD…. Piecing fabric together is also very old. It was more often used for clothing but also occasionally for decorative objects. (Source)

The August 2009 issue of Intelligent Life has a great article about a quilting project the Victoria & Albert Museum is doing with inmates at Wandsworth prison in London, the results of which will be displayed at the Museum in an exhibition which opens in the spring of 2010. According to the V&A the history of ‘Fine Cell Work’ dates back to the early 1800s when a Quaker named Elizabeth Fry was inspired to start the British Ladies Society for the Reformation of Female Prisoners after visiting Newgate Prison. As for why prisoners today are interested, according to the V&A,

Many of the Fine Cell Work stitchers acknowledge not only the reassuring rhythmic repetition of the act of sewing, but also the cultural meaning attached to the objects that they produce. There is often a great poignancy for participants in offering up their own time and designs for public consumption, and the realisation that something important to them is appreciated by the rest of society. A prisoner’s comment that ‘we’re like a forgotten community’ acknowledges the shared experiences of those within the prison walls, but also the strong sense of alienation that comes into being when entering or leaving the prison gates. (Source)

In addition to viewing the work done at Wandsworth, visitors to the V&A exhibition will get to see the Rajah Quilt, a stunning 2815 piece quilt created by female convicts in 1841 during a boat journey from England to Tanzania.

Quilts image by Asalam.

Too Big to Fail? The Story of a Civilisation

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Ta Phrom Ruins, Cambodia

That an entire civilisation the size of modern day Liechtenstein or Guam (between 0.0005% and 0.003% of the world population) could collapse entirely in the space of a few years is almost inconceivable—but is it beyond belief?

In the late tenth century (circa AD 980, to be more specific) Norse explorers discovered a seemingly uninhabited Greenland and began to colonise the island. For centuries the new inhabitants prospered in the virgin land, farming and trading with the world.

The population of the Greenland Norse soared to between 2,000 and 10,000 people (quite a range, admittedly) before, in the early fifteenth century (between 1410 and 1435), the civilisation completely collapsed (some say ‘vanished’). It wasn’t a slow collapse, either: it fell with the speed of the Soviet Union, and the reasons for the collapse were, until recently, a mystery.

In Jared Diamond’s excellent Collapse, he proposes that the Greenland Norse society collapsed because of “climate change, environmental damage, loss of trading partners, irrational reluctance to eat fish [the country’s easily accessible and plentiful food source], hostile neighbors and most unwillingness to adapt in the face of social collapse”.

In Collapse Diamond also lists what he calls the “twelve problems of non-sustainability”; the eight that have contributed to almost every past societal collapse, these being:

  1. Deforestation and habitat destruction
  2. Soil problems (erosion, salinization, and soil fertility losses)
  3. Water management problems
  4. Overhunting
  5. Overfishing
  6. Effects of introduced species on native species
  7. Overpopulation
  8. Increased per-capita impact of people

and these four new factors that are putting our current and future societies at risk:

  1. Human-caused climate change
  2. Buildup of toxins in the environment
  3. Energy shortages
  4. Full human utilisation of the Earth’s photosynthetic capacity

We now know that believing an organisation is too big to fail is to practice arrogance, but we still fail to consider wider collapses—of societies, for example, that are not only currently experiencing many of the non-sustainable problems noted above, but have also prospered for less time than the Greenland Norse (and especially that of the Maya).

Ta Phrom Ruins, Cambodia photograph by Taylor Miles.