Royal Wedding Hysteria

This friday is a date that will go down in history. According to most, it is the wedding of the century. This Friday, April 29th, Kate Middleton and Prince William of Wales will marry at Westminster Abbey. The media taking advantage of the rich money-making opportunity the wedding provides by plastering a constant stream of details concerning the events on the entertainment shows and tabloid covers.

There are hundreds of questions flying about the public such as,

'What is the menu?'

'Who is invited?'

'Is the wedding going to be 3D?'

However, the most commonly asked question is obviously, 'What is Kate's dress going to look like?'

Well, not much is known about the dress as it has been called "the most closely guarded secret in all of Britain." (No sarcasm!) However, Kate is said to have designed the dress herself with either designer Sophie Cranston or Sarah Burton, creative director of Alexander McQueen. Bruce Oldfield, formerly the frontrunner of the designers thought to be designing the dress, has said, "I'm sure the dress is going to be modest in terms of coverage, you can't walk down Westminster Abbey in a strapless dress--it just won't happen." After all, the church has been one of the most prominent symbols of Britain for over a thousand years.

As of April 25th, palace sources have said, "There will be no more fittings. The next time the dress goes on is Friday morning." Also, like Princess Diana, Catherine, as she was officially dubbed in UK since the wedding announcement, is though to have two dresses. One of the dresses would be the main one while the other would be a backup in case details of the main dress were leaked to the press.

The Golden Epidemic

In America, there is a standard of beauty. The "typical" American beauty consists of the following physical characteristics: tall, blonde, thin, and tan. Girls bleach their hair, diet, and go tanning to achieve that ideal. The problem, however, is that to achieve that ideal figure many girls do harmful things to their body. One of the most harmful is tanning.

In a perfect world, it would be eighty degrees and sunny three hundred and fifty days a year. However, fall and winter inevitably come and as the green of the leaves and grass go away so do summer tans. Or at least, they are supposed to. With tanning beds and spray tans, anyone can look golden brown, or rather, orange, even in the grey and snowy winter. Celebrities like Snooki, Georgio Armani, and Paris Hilton wear "the orange look" all year long.

So what exactly are the dangers of tanning beds that many girls use to get that summer glow before Homecoming and Prom? In terms of its effect on our skin, a fake tan (from a tanning bed) is equivalent to a  sunburn. Tanning beds exceed the safe limits of UV rays. Teens, who are the people who tend to use tanning beds the most are especially at risk because their bodies are growing at accelerated rates so their cells are more vulnerable to the penetration of UV rays. By tanning their skin on a routine basis, teens put themselves at a significantly higher rate of contracting skin cancer. The risk of skin cancer jumps up 75% in people who start regularly tanning before the age of thirty.

In fact, in February the American Academy of Pediatrics announced that laws should ban minors from going to tanning salons period. Just going outside in the sunshine is much healthier than going to a tanning salon, how the dangers of UV rays are still there so sunscreen should always be worn! However, sunless tanning is now a perfectly good alternative to tanning beds and tanning outside. Spray tans are low risk and inexpensive, as are tanning lotions and moisturizers that are available at any convenience store.

Prom is coming up, so teenage girls are prone to wanting that "healthy" summer glow. Just remember the dangers, and go sunless!

Is Fashion Racist?

Many fashion executives and insiders try to deny it, but whether or not they speak of it, racism is present in the fashion world. In an email to Iman, the prominent African-American model, Bethann Hardison, a model agent, questioned, "Did you realize that over the last decade, black models have been reduced to a category?"

The catwalks at high fashion runway shows today are filled with the white, Eastern European models that are popular right now with designers. And while there is no question that the models are beautiful, many people are asking, "Wheres the diversity?"

While in most of the United States, diversity has increased since the seventies and eighties. However, in the world of high fashion models and designers, diversity has actually decreased. Whereas there used to be a plentiful amount of black models walking the runways, now designers only have one or two in a show. Model booker Neil Hamil was quoting as saying when asked about casting black models, "Well, we already have our black girl."

Co-founder of Premier Model Management, Carole White, was quoted as saying, "According to magazines, black models don't sell." White continued, "People don't tend to talk about it, but black models have to be so beautiful and perfect because we can't have a lot of diversity with black models; it's harder work for the agency because there's not so much on offer. White models can have more diversity."

However, just because there is a lack of diversity on runways does not mean there are no ethnic models. There is Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell, Selita Ebanks, and Chanel Iman. But the fact is that diversity is so far and few between, that unless you already have a name for yourself, it is nearly impossible to earn a living as an African American model.