Dia De Los Muertos

The real Frida didn't smile this much :-)

That was me, last night, dressed up for the West Hollywood Halloween Carnavale. What a madhouse! I was worried that no-one would know who I "was", and man was I surprised! I guess I know a little bit of what it's like to be a celebrity, with all the people wanting to take pics with me & shouting out "Frida!"
It was really fun...I love to do elaborate costumes for Halloween, but I've never gotten such a response before. As an artist & former art teacher, it warms my heart to know that so many people love Frida Kahlo. I guess there is hope for the human race, after all...

It seems that every Halloween has a big trend or two, and last night's seemed to be the "Dia De Los Muertos" costume with flowery skeleton makeup...I saw a ton of gorgeous examples last night, and would you believe that I took ZERO pictures of them? I completely forgot! Derp, lerp....

 Anyway, the traditional Mexican festival of Dia De Los Muertos is becoming a really big thing here in So Cal...
 I love the idea of having a special day to honor your loved ones that have passed away, and I think it caps off the Halloween season in a nice way.
I've been a fan of the sugar skull motif for a long time.

Don't know if you all have seen these, but along with my vintage clothing store I also sell my hand-painted bags (sometimes shoes & other things, too) in my Etsy shop MoMosMadness

Here are a few recent creations:

Love the two-tone...these bags are hard to find!

a petite one

my fave so far...

in-progress

The last one there should've been finished weeks ago and up in my shop for sale, but...life happens. And by "life" I mean looking at Pinterest and watching The Walking Dead.

Oh well...Feliz Dia De Los Muertos!!

Corsets: Retro-Cool or Completely Insane?

 I just stumbled upon an ABC news clip about the growing trend of women wearing corsets, not just for dress-up, but every day...full-on waist training. I'm aghast!

x-ray of corseted waist and rib deformation

Here's a link to the abc news clip

I do think corsets can be beautiful, and who wouldn't love a tiny waist? But every day? Aren't we taking a major step backward here ladies? What's next, Chinese foot binding?
Here's what wearing a corset does to your anatomy, when you do it to the extreme level that these ladies are doing it:

drawing showing displaced internal organs

 ((not the most up-to-date illustration, but it gets the point across)))


 I did a bit of quick poking around on the old interwebs and found that opinions abound on this subject...I found lots of corset-enthusiasts who swear up & down that there is no medical reason that extreme corset training is bad for you...many of them say that "it's the same thing that happens to your internal organs during pregnancy"...um, it's not?

In my opinion, wearing a corset for a special event, like a costume ball, or for stage performances and things like that seems OK. It really does create a dramatic look, but at what cost? I recently came upon a quote by Mahatma Gandhi, who said, "be the change you want to see in the world". Is this really the change we want to see? A giant step backward into pre- women's rights times? A world where looks matter more than health? Where freedom of breath and movement is less important that image? No thanks!

I think one of the real reasons this bothers me so much is that it hits me on a personal level. You see, I have a weird little medical condition called Idiopathic Gastroparesis. What that means, in a nutshell, is that my stomach empties more slowly than the average person's. I have to eat small meals, and I have to avoid certain foods like carbonated beverages and hard-to-digest things, or I get really, really sick. No-one knows what causes it, and there is no cure. It's not the end of the world, and I'm leaning to live with it, but why someone would do this to themselves intentionally is beyond me. Because, in effect, that's one of the "side effects" of corset training: a person wearing a super-tight corset is basically giving themselves this condition. The "corset expert" in the video even says (a wearer) is going to get really bad heartburn. Lovely! What do these people think heartburn is? It's the acidic contents of your stomach burning away at the sensitive lining of your esophagus. Yeah, that's healthy!!

OK, enough ranting for now...
what do you wonderful readers think? Is this a trend that needs to go away, fast, or something you like?
Id love to hear your opinions :-)