When Less is a Mess

Maybe I'm showing my age.  But Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit Edition 2012 just came out.  And I have to tell you.  I think it has lost touch with what the Swimsuit Issue has always been about . . .  SEXY girls next door.

The issue looks like the cover of a raunchy men's magazine.  And I don't mean Playboy.  I'm thinking more like Hustler.

Even Victoria's Secret said they will not be using the model that graces the coveted cover, Kate Upton, in their runway shows.  A spokesperson for the underwear dynasty basically said she looked too tawdry. Until now, Kate Upton has actually been a refreshing change in the world of modeling.

Kate has curves.  She actually looks like she finishes a meal and keeps it down. And she has always had a girl-next-door sexy-but-not-trashy vibe.

. . . until now.

Sorry for sounding like a middle-aged Dad.  But Sports Illustrated has officially made it clear with this issue, they have lost the ability to distinguish between sexy and sexual.

Homework!

Back in the day,  the school library carried all these magazines.  I really wanted to peruse through "Vogue" and "Bazaar".  

That was just like categorically unacceptable for boys.  

So I was reduced to pretending to be totally absorbed in an issue of "Car and Driver" or "Sports Illustrated"!

YUCK!

Well that was grade school/junior high.  Things changed rapidly.  Fashion became very, Very, VERY important.  

By high school, MTV wasn't just a music video showcase, it was a living and breathing fashion magazine.  

Elsa Klensch was my hero as a fashion journalist that covered fashion designers and fashion shows across the country.  She taught me who the pioneers and designers were like Chanel, Donna Karen, Ralph Lauren, and Calvin Klein.  

I learned terms like 'haute couture', 'basic black', 'classic style', 'cut on the bias', 'hounds tooth', and 'paisley'.   

By college, I knew who all the supermodels were, what was happening in fashion and the  powerful influence of Madonna and Michael Jackson on what us ordinary people wore.  

Today, I am just short of clueless on what is considered the latest and greatest fashions.  I THINK skinny jeans, jeggings and burnout t's are the style of the day.  

I'd look silly in some of today's styles. But since I learned at an early age what 'classic style' is, I just wear the basic classics so I don't get laughed out of social situations.

I did my homework.  ;-)