Confidence is widely considered an excellent quality. It’s associated with communication skills, social suavity, and success. Studies even show that people possessing strong self-confidence earn more money than their less confident counterparts. Is it any surprise, therefore, that capitalist Western culture in particular places such emphasis on self-esteem? Self-help culture has grown from the notion…
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‘What is Her Name?’ is a series of short essays that explore the reality of what it means to be a woman living in a patriarchal world. Each essay takes the name of a woman whose place in history or in culture serves as a platform for examining different female experiences. The accumulative aim of…
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For most of my childhood I remained blissfully oblivious to any notion of beauty standards. In primary school, I was always the ‘tomboy’ – someone who shunned the school dress for pants and a long sleeved polo and who spent lunchtimes playing rugby and soccer. Yet this wasn’t just a phase that characterised my pre-adolescent…
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Some people think fashion is superficial, and something akin to an unnecessary, pointless and expensive hobby. But wait, I know what you’re thinking. How very dare they. Take my parents, for a spiffy example. To them, appearance is a matter of buying clothes to put on your body so that, simply put, you are not naked. End…
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A few months ago I decided to go sans makeup for a month in order to write an article about the experience. I had the entire piece written in my head, even before that first day of heading to work with my au naturel face on display for the world to see. In this article,…
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Earlier this year, we found out that on average woman spends 55 minutes in the morning getting ready. But did you know that in the time it takes you to get ready in the morning, you’ve already ingested up to 168 chemicals? And by purchasing some of the beauty brands on the market, you could…
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Name: Maria Ramsden and Leanne Dempsey Label: The Darling Sisters Web address and/or FB address: www.thedarlingsisters.com Where are you based? Gold Creek, Nicholls, ACT How did you get into fashion and what do you love about it compared to other types of design? We are not designers but heritage professionals with a…
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*Trigger alert: Discussion of eating disorders and self-harm* The idea of being an online celebrity has surely crossed the minds of many social media users during those lonely afternoons when a selfie with your dog only attracted one like – from your sister. Although it may seem glamorous to be followed by thousands upon thousands…
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Well, well, well, it looks like Snickers has some competition. It seems that another “empowering” advertisement, this time from the cosmetics brand Dove, has missed its mark and voyaged way off centre with its new video: Dove Patches. The new marketing campaign sees five physically and emotionally insecure women wear the ‘revolutionary’ RB-X Beauty Patch,…
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American clothing and accessories retailer American Eagle’s sister lingerie store, Aerie has recently launched its newest advertising campaign for Spring 2014 entitled ‘Aerie Real’. This campaign features all un-airbrushed, un-retouched models. In a statement released on Friday, Aerie announced that the ads are supposedly ‘challenging supermodel standards by featuring un-retouched models in their latest collection…
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There is a woman applying hot wax to my arsehole. I’m on a massage table, lying on my side facing a stark white wall. And there is a woman applying hot wax to my arsehole. She’s asked me to bring my knees to my chest and ‘pull up’ with a hand on my right buttocks….
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When I was doing my HSC, I had a major art crush on Frida Kahlo. I loved her artwork and the story of her life so dearly that I dressed up as her for a class presentation on her creative process. Yes, yes, I was sporting a moustache and mono brow drawn on with kohl….
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A beauty salon in South Kensington, Britain, has been charging larger women extra for their leg waxes. While the salon doesn’t promote this, it is a policy that they implement behind closed doors. A British newspaper sent a plus size model into the salon, called MM Bubbles, who was charged an extra £5…
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2013 is the year of the 1920s love-in. Since the release of Luhrmann’s film adaptation of The Great Gatsby, elements of the Jazz Age have infiltrated themes of countless parties, fashion, television and art. The opening of Edward Steichen & Art Deco Fashion at the National Gallery of Victoria either capitalises on this trend or…
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