Vintage fashion: Styles from ’40s to ’60s highlighted in Madison County benefit show.

Dode Page remembers the first box of vintage hats she bought at an auction.

“They reminded me of my grandmother,” said Page, who went on to open Black Cat Antiques & Gifts at 14 E. Main St. in downtown Earlville in 2004 with a vintage clothing closet filled with fashions, accessories and footwear from the 1940s to the 1980s.
A former florist, Page said she scours thrift stores, auctions and estate sales across Central New York to find items that are “clean and wearable” as well as “fun and funky.” She likes to pair her vintage pieces with more modern fashions, a look she calls “mix and match.”
“You can make a one-of-a-kind outfit that no one else will have,” she said.
Next week, the clothing will headline a fashion show to benefit the Madison County Historical Society. Titled “Antebellum, War and Peace,” the show will juxtapose pieces from the 1840s to 1860s with Page’s collection from the 1940s to 1960s.

The midcentury fashions vary by decade, Page said.
Women in the 1940s favored slim, straight skirts that fell below the knee. The lengths were much shorter by the 1960s with the introduction of the miniskirt.

Color:Page said subtle blacks, browns and dark blues in the 1940s were traded for bold, bright and vivid colors by the 1960s.
Accessories: Women favored simple strands of pearls in the 1950s, along with glam costume jewelry. The 1960s brought geometric shapes and funky colors. Hats were en mode throughout. During fittings for the upcoming fashion show, volunteer models remarked on the differences among the clothing. Older pieces were fitted close to the body and often required corsets; by the 1960s, patterns were cut more loosely.

“The clothing fits a lot differently than today’s fashions,” Page said.
Page said her vintage closet is her favorite part of her second career.
“It’s a piece of history that you can wear,” she said.

Fine fashion for the over-45 crowd; Sid Cratzbarg organizes fashion shows that cater to older women.

In our youth-obsessed culture, mature women often get shortchanged by a fashion industry that prefers its models to be reed thin, hipless, tall and young.

One of the most challenging fashion aspects for women over 45 is how to dress for the changes that are occurring to their body (hello, menopause). There’s nothing tackier than seeing a gorgeous older woman dressed in ill-fitting clothing that is not age appropriate.

Ottawa fashion and fragrance specialist Sid Cratzbarg is doing his part to change that by organizing fashion shows geared to showing women how to dress with ageless style.

“Give me the 50-, 60- to 70-year-olds. I offer inspiring tips and show them how to get a million-dollar look for $100,” says Cratzbarg, who is known for his trademark oversized glasses, large-faced wristwatches and classic suits.

“I enjoy making women look and feel good. I teach them that they don’t have to throw out their whole wardrobe. A smart jacket, the right accessories and a proper purse is all it takes.”

During his shows, Cratzbarg uses four models who are over 50 and showcases 15 different looks. He sources and purchases all the clothing from Canadian and U.S. wholesalers. People can buy the clothing right on the spot. He has been holding shows several times a year for the past five years.

“The problem with fashion in this town is that we often have young women wearing grown-up clothes, which looks ridiculous. People want to see real women — not a size 0 or size 4.”

Cratzbarg, former teacher and motivational speaker, has numerous plus-sized clients who wear size 14 to size 16 and are very fashionably dressed.

“I enjoy helping stay-at-home moms who are re-entering the workforce and retired ladies who are watching their pennies, but want to look good.”

“We have a thing in Italy about women and cars,” Miuccia Prada said backstage after the showing of her current collection.

It features ultra-feminine shapes – think circle skirts, pencil skirts, halter-necks and blouses – as well as more than a nod to the latter Italianate obsession: cartoonish engines bursting here and there into flames, which playfully undercut an otherwise decidedly womanly appeal. “Sweetness is a taboo in fashion and I wanted to combine sweetness, which is possibly the greatest feminine quality, with cars,” the designer said.

It is true that of all the things we might expect from fashion – and of the formidable first lady of fashion, for that matter – sweetness is, on the face of it, the least likely. But Prada has spoken and, call it unfathomable designer intuition or just the obvious antidote to winter’s more dark and androgynous looks, but everyone from Louis Vuitton in Paris to Christopher Kane in London appears to be in line with her way of thinking. Despite such elevated company, Prada pulls it off with a lighter touch than most.

The secret of her ongoing fascination with a stereotypical mid-20th century bourgeois silhouette is, invariably, to tweak and edit it and, of course, treat it with the hefty dose of irony it is due. That is by now as much one of her signatures as a nylon rucksack or fine leather bowling bag. From the designer’s so-called “sincere chic” spring/summer 2000 collection forward, an exploration of the clichés of the woman’s wardrobe – lip prints and roses, leather and lace – have both surprised and, at times, confused not least because wearing them in a less-than-knowing manner might bring out the frump in even the most dapper dresser. It’s no coincidence that Prada herself, who has wit, intelligence and elegance in spades, is the finest poster girl for her own designs

In particular, this designer is in love with the skirt. She has said in the past that although trousers might reduce her apparent weight by a good kilo or more she prefers the more ladylike staple. Making fashion simply to flatter is, by her reckoning, banal. Prada loves skirts so much – be they dirndl, straight, car-wash pleat, long or so short they barely qualify – that, in 2006, she devoted an entire exhibition to them. Entitled “Waist Down”, it showcased everything from Prada skirts finished with crushed bottle tops (she called this “trash couture”) to more printed with designs inspired by vintage-Formica worktops, and from tufted alpaca skirts – which the designer herself described merrily as “fattening” – to “porno chic” designs, skin-tight, split-to-the-thigh garments that whispered of the work of Allen Jones.

Is Prada obsessed by skirts – which feature in almost every look of her current offering – because she is a woman? Certainly, a consciousness that she is a considered and clever female working at the heart of an industry that is often viewed as anything but is a tension that is central to her output. “You know, I had to have a lot of courage to do fashion,” she said when we first met more than a decade ago. “In theory it is the least feminist work possible and at that time, in the late Seventies, that was very complicated for me.”

As a young woman, Prada, who has a degree in political science and then studied mime with the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, was a signed-up member of the Communist Party and a reluctant inheritor of her grandfather’s leather goods and glass company. She finally took the helm there in 1978.

“Italian society was becoming obsessed with consumerism, but my big dreams were of justice, equality and moral regeneration,” she said. “I was a Communist but being left wing was fashionable then. I was no different from thousands of middle-class kids.”

But in the 21st century it is fortuitous that Prada’s exploration of sweetness is among the standout collections of the season. Next month an exhibition of her work opens at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The output of this vibrant fashion entity – Prada is among the great success stories of the past 25 years and its eponymous designer is influential to a degree that is unprecedented – will be displayed alongside that of the couturier, Elsa Schiaparelli, famed for her collaborations with the Surrealist art movement and with Salvador Dali in particular.

Like Prada herself, Schiaparelli was an inveterate risk taker and also born in Italy. The show, “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations” (the name comes from the Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias’ column, “Impossible Interviews”, in Vanity Fair in the 1930s) aims to explore “the striking affinities between these two Italian designers from different eras”.

“Given the role Surrealism and other art movements play in the designs of both Schiaparelli and Prada, it seems only fitting that their inventive creations be explored at the Met,” Thomas P Campbell, that museum’s director, says. “Schiaparelli’s collaborations with Dali and Cocteau as well as Prada’s Fondazione Prada push art and fashion ever closer, in a direct, synergistic and culturally redefining relationship.”

In fact, while Schiaparelli actually created garments with fine artists – the 1937 white evening gown painted with a lobster by Dali is the most famous example – Prada tends to keep her position as patron and collector separate. She is taken seriously enough in that role to have introduced last year’s Turner Prize, but actually employing an artist’s work in the creation of a dress, say, is not on her agenda. More significantly, Prada’s work, like Schiaparelli’s – or Schiap, as she was always known – is far from mainstream or people- pleasing.

So different is the output of both creators from that of their contemporaries that it has in its time been branded “ugly” (as in belle laide); Schiaparelli’s “hard chic”, no-frills tailoring meanwhile could arguably be seen as a precursor to Prada’s obsession with uniform, from her runway debut in 1988 and throughout the early 1990s. She was married to Prada CEO Patrizio Bertelli in 1987, wearing a less-than-conventionally pretty military-grey cotton dress and a man’s overcoat.

In the end, Schiaparelli and Prada share a desire to break rules and question our notions of beauty. And that is the hallmark of visionary designers, male and female.

Fashion director takes it to heart.

The closing event for the inaugural Perth Fashion Week is one that is close to the heart of director Sylvia Giacci.

The black-tie Fashion Hearts Gala Benefit, to take place tonight at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, will raise funds for the Heart Foundation’s Go Red for Women campaign.

Giacci chose the charity after her younger sister, Fiona Gardiner, underwent heart surgery last year to correct a cardiac abnormality known as left bundle branch block.

“She was undiagnosed for a very, very long time and constantly going back and forth to doctors,” Giacci said.

“Her blockage was genetic and she also has excessive heart palpitations and is at high risk for heart disease.”

The former model and stylist said she hoped to raise $100,000 for the charity.

A number of fashionable items will be auctioned, including the plunging red Tarvydas dress that established Rebecca Judd as Australia’s number one WAG.

Designer Ruth Tarvydas donated the backless, jewel-embellished gown she designed for Judd to wear at the 2004 Brownlow Medal presentation night.

About 350 people are expected to descend on the fashion theatre tonight. It will be decked out in red.

Former Destiny’s Child star Kelly Rowland will perform three songs at the event.

A number of fashion runway parades showcasing looks from PFW designers Ruth Tarvydas, Zhivago, Kitty Grace, Peridot London and Furne One will also take place.

Model Nick Bracks, a former Dancing with the Stars contestant and son of former Victorian premier Steve Bracks, flew in today to show some of the designs from his cheeky self-titled underwear line, underBRACKS.

Analysis – U.S. retailers play catch-up in fashion speed race.

After years of losing customers to Europe-based retailers that give young shoppers fresh fashions more quickly, U.S. clothes retailers are fighting back.

To pick up speed, companies like Gap Inc (GPS.N), American Eagle Outfitters (AEO.N) and Macy’s Inc (M.N) are placing smaller orders in more factories, and waiting until the last minute to say what colours and cuts the fabric should take. They are also slashing the time clothes spend in warehouses, industry experts said.

“The millenials, with their constant fickleness in product selection, speed, newness and freshness are very important and so there is a heightened need for traditional American brands to increase speed,” said Matt Katz, a partner at the Boston Consulting Group, which advises retailers. Over the past few years, U.S. clothiers have shrunk their typical concept-to-store times down to about six to nine months, from a previously glacial 12 months. That seems like a big improvement until you know what some competitors are capable of. “The emergence of H&M and Zara and the ability of these companies to follow fashion trends and produce products in six weeks or less has added to the pressure,” Katz said. Robert Hanson, American Eagle’s new chief executive, is looking for ways to cut down on delivery times and respond faster to styles and trends. Macy’s is trying to speed its decisions on what clothes to put on its shelves for young women. How much further U.S. fashion retailers can go, or should go, in the quest for speed is a question that involves everything from margins to corporate culture and a reliance on cheap but distant Asian manufacturers. “Traditional brands have a lot of layers of decision making,” said Jennifer Pritchard, a former executive with clothes retailer Chico’s (CHS.N) and now with the Alvarez & Marsal business consultancy in Atlanta. Companies like Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing Co (9983.T), H&M owner Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMb.ST), Forever21, and Zara owner Inditex (ITX.MC), are popularly called “fast-fashion” retailers because of the speed with which they change their collections. While still a small presence in America, H&M and Zara have doubled their footprint to 1 percent of the fragmented U.S. marketplace, according to Euromonitor International. The gains have come at the expense of U.S. brands like Gap and American Eagle, which have also struggled with tight margins and consumer resistance to high prices. Both Zara and H&M have overtaken Gap as the biggest clothes retailers in the world.

FAST TACTICS

Insiders say the European companies will often place their designers to work with the manufacturers and make their clothes in countries that are relatively close by, like Morocco, Turkey and Romania.

Such tactics can create completely new “looks” for clothes in weeks.

Even Asian sources of clothes can be part of the fast fashion trend if a clothing line becomes a top seller.

“In Zara’s case, they operate chartered cargo flights once a week… from Bangladesh,” said Munir Mashooqullah, founder and president of Synergies Worldwide which acts as a middle man between retailers and manufacturers and counts Zara as a client.

U.S. retailers have several plans for fighting back.

American Eagle is planning to cut down on the piles of t-shirts, dresses and jeans that stores have stocked up in the past. Hanson, the CEO, says he would rather have fewer items in stores, but sell everything.

In a conference call last month, Hanson said the company was “buying fashion to sell out”, echoing many of his peers.

Macy’s said it was planning to speed up decision making on buying and stocking clothes it offers to shoppers between the ages of 13 and 30, an effort clearly aimed at winning young shoppers back from fast fashion chains.

“We today are quicker to respond to trends in brands such as INC and Bar III so that our merchandise is current and fresh for the customer” said Macy’s spokesman Jim Sluzewski. Both these brands sell edgy and more fashion-oriented dresses and accessories to young women.

Retail experts say companies like Ralph Lauren Corp (RL.N), Ann Inc (ANN.N), PVH Corp’s (PVH.N) Tommy Hilfiger, VF Corp (VFC.N) and Limited Brands (LTD.N) have made progress as they build relationships with their manufacturers and experiment with newer ways of getting products to their stores.

“Of apparel companies that use their supply chain as a weapon, I put VF right at the top of the list. They understand how to operate multiple brands and take advantage of their size and scale,” said Brian Kinsella, senior director of product management for Manhattan Associates, which sells software to help retailers optimize distribution. VF Corp owns brands like The North Face, Timberland, and 7 For All Mankind.

TYRANNY OF DISTANCE

The sheer distance of China and other Asian manufacturing hubs is a big hurdle that American brands have to overcome.”Traditional retailers… buy from China because it is cheap to source from there. That means when they have an inventory problem, it takes them nine to 12 months to fix it,” said Rahul Sharma, managing director of investment management firm Neev Capital.But low margins on many items make it hard to consider more expensive sources closer to home.

“Our market place tends to be more promotional,” said Rick Paterno, group president of global footwear wholesale at The Jones Group (JNY.N).

Amit Miglani of Nahar Industrial Enterprises, a leading manufacturer for American brands as well as companies like Topshop, Zara, Esprit (0330.HK) and H&M, said U.S. retailers now ask manufacturers to keep stock of more unfinished fabric, and wait for the shopper to tell them which styles and colours the cloth should take, a practice made popular by fast fashion.U.S. companies are also spreading out their orders, so each factory can turn in their smaller allotment more quickly.Mostafiz Rahman, who owns a factory in Bangladesh, makes hooded sweatshirts for Gap. “Two years ago they would place orders for about 50,000 hoodies and now that has come down to 15,000-20,000,” Rahman said.Jones Group’s Paterno said relationships with manufacturers only go so far in terms of trying to get quicker turnaround.”It is a problem for some American brands because, frankly, we don’t pay as much as European brands,” he said.

A CHANGE OF HABIT

But beyond the economics, speeding up is also about corporate culture.Pritchard, the consultant, said speeding up the fashion cycle requires many changes, from making sure the manufacturers have more accountability to giving the company buyers more responsibility.”A lot of the traditional brands are going to have a tough time implementing it and getting their hands around it because they have to have a commitment from the very top of the organization,” she said.Mashooqullah, the apparel sourcing agent, made similar observations, saying the old American retailers are too structured to make last-minute changes.

“Traditional brands need to have a much shorter communication line between the seller and the buyer. They need to allow at least some buyers to make decisions outside of the structure. That is the key,” he said.

Readers’ Choice: Best Place for Women’s Clothes?

This one may be very easy or very difficult depending on how much you like to shop and how lucky you are when it comes to shopping!

OK, ladies, we need to know: Where do you head when you need a new outfit?

If you like more than one store in town, this is going to be a tough one but make a choice and help guide us to a place that should get our business. Where would you tell your new co-worker to go if she was looking for advice on where to pick up a new top or pair of slacks?

Below are your choices. There are three ways to vote: 1) Click on the store you like best and give it a star rating (this is the way to give them the best plug because it says on their directory listing); 2) go to the bottom of this story and fill in the comment box; or 3) cast your vote via our Facebook page.

Crafting her name in the fashion industry by pioneering the Indonesian edition of foreign magazine Cosmopolitan back in 1997, media businesswoman Dian Muljadi proves that she is a strong woman with the courage and passion to try new things.She calls 1997 as the year of the downturn and the high-point in her career.At that time, her retail business featuring 15 high-end brands collapsed due to the financial turmoil that hit the country.But, the skyrocketing paper-price and the extreme exchange rate between the rupiah and the US dollar overshadowed the launch of the magazine.

“It was my down time. Thank God, I could get through it. You have to be strong to brave such a crisis,” she says.Dian admits the idea to enter the media business came out of her own need to get the latest updates on local and international lifestyle news after her return from the US.Her eyes landed on Cosmopolitan, for its sound international brand reputation.Preparations for the magazine were made in 1996 with limited staffing, little knowledge on publishing and a challenge with the unpredictable market response.

“Cosmopolitan was a groundbreaking process in my career in the media. I had zero knowledge in publishing. The American principal was demanding too, because it was the first franchised magazine in Indonesia,” Dian says.But her venture did not stop there.

Dian was the managing director of PT Mugi Rekso Abadi (MRA) Media Group — an umbrella company for dozens of radio stations and magazines — from 2006 to 2009.

And two years ago, she launched another creation — a new online fashion and lifestyle portal — taking the role as the company’s publishing director.

She spends most of her time working on the portal, involved both in content and advertising. Her vast business networks in the print media enables the online media to bring in advertisements from international brands.

Dian says her shift of focus to online media was made after observing the rising number of people who turn to the Internet to search for information.

The mother of three recalled how her daughters were reluctant to read one of her magazines, simply because they have already read similar things on the Internet.

“As modern people, we cannot turn a blind eye to our surroundings. We should see other people’s behaviors when doing business. My housekeeper even ‘Googles’ the names of people who visit my house to check their identity. Isn’t that cool?”

At the moment, she’s ready for her upcoming online venture.

Fimela.com, she said, will soon have an e-commerce business line called Fimela Shop, which offers branded items at sale prices.

Learning from her experience in retail, she finds online shopping cost-efficient and able to reach more people, including those outside Jakarta, with a delivery-service system.

With her three daughters — all were sent to boarding schools abroad at the age of 14 to make them independent — all grown up, Dian says it is okay for her to spend so much time working.

When asked the one thing that she would do differently if she could go back to the early years of her career, she does not hesitate.

“If I have a chance to go back, I would definitely take a career in the media again because I like it and I could serve people by sharing information. But, I would not go back to the retail business.”

Shrimp researcher Sidrotun Naim was offended when a print media referred to her mother as “just a housewife”, insisting that the roles of a housewife and a career woman are equally important.

“My mother is a housewife, full stop. There is no ‘just’,” says the 32-year-old, who talks at a rapid-fire speed.

Naim, as the mother of one is known among friends, is one of the country’s leading researchers and has received international recognition.

She will be the country’s first shrimp pathologist after completing her studies in the US and she recently won the 2012 UNESCO-L’Oreal for Women in Science International Fellowship, along with 14 other female researchers, outshining high profile competitors from other Asia-Pacific countries like Japan and China in the process.

The fellowship saw her become the fourth Indonesian woman to win the US$40,000 award. “Shrimp is just one issue. I hope to see more research on the field that are influential to human beings,” she says.

Getting the fellowship was a dream-come-true for Naim, who was inspired to apply for the fellowship after learning that her lecturer, Fenny Martha Dwivany, won the same international award in 2007. Her confidence grew stronger after colleague Made Tri Aria Penia Kresnowati grabbed the fellowship in 2008.

“I became optimistic after learning that the 2008 winner was my friend. At that time, I even had not taken my Masters or PhD. I strongly believed that I, too, can [win the award],” she says.

Naim, who received her bachelor’s degree at the Bandung Technology Institute, got first her Masters degree in marine studies at Australia’s Queensland University under the Australian Development Scholarship.

She has been in different jobs, including teaching elementary and senior high school students in Bandung, West Java.

Her penchant to study shrimp disease emerged after working for the WWF Indonesia-Aceh program as a marine-program consultant.

Besides working on her PhD at University of Arizona under a Fulbright scholarship, she is also working to get two other master’s degrees from the same university. One is in the study of the culture of tilapia in Indonesia and the second degree on the study of a new shrimp virus — the infectious Myonecrosis Virus (IMNV). The virus has affected the harvests of shrimp farmers in Brazil and Indonesia.

The UNESCO-L’oreal fellowship fund will see her undertake postdoctoral research as a visiting scholar at Harvard Medical School and the university’s Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in Harvard University in Massachusetts.

She said she would use the funds to study rotavirus, which causes diarrhea and has killed 600,000 children worldwide.

If she can create a vaccine for IMNV, which is hoped to happen in around two years’ time, Naim will be able to develop a vaccine for rotavirus since the two viruses have the same anatomy.

As a researcher, she is fully aware of the importance of intellectual rights.

“I will not make the vaccine in America because if I do so, the intellectual rights will go to them. I will study everything there but make the vaccine in Indonesia.”

With her high hopes on the completion of the IMNV vaccine in two years, she wishes the Indonesian government will care enough to invest in the laboratories to boost research development.

“What is the use of having 5,000 graduates returning abroad to the same laboratories that were here five years ago?” she said.

Despite poor facilities for researchers, Naim is a proud Indonesian woman.

Confidently, she talks in English with a thick Javanese accent, saying that people should respect accents from non-English speaking countries the way they accept various English accents.

She also contributed her achievements, and passion in conducting research, to the support of her husband, Dedi Priadi, who is doing his Masters degree in psychology in the University of Arizona.

“My husband feels he is the smartest husband in the world because he found a bright woman, who can take him abroad, and help him find his true passion.”

Businesswoman Carmelita Hartoto felt butterflies in her stomach when she had to leave her comfortable life in London to take over her family shipping business in Jakarta after her father, Hartoto Hardikusumo, passed away back in 1994.

Today, she is not only her company’s boss but also the chairwoman of the Indonesian National Shipowners’ Association (INSA) and the head of the permanent committee on sea transportation in the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).

As the eldest of three siblings, she felt she should be responsible to continue the family business and ensure her mother is taken care of. Established in 1973, the company, PT Andhika Lines, offers shipping and marine-logistic services that focus on coal shipments.

“Coming back to Jakarta, at that time, had been a new thing. I had no idea about working in the country at all. I was quite scared, actually,” she says during an interview inside her spacious office in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

The things that scared her most were not the fact that she would have to jump into the male-dominated world, but on different ways of doing business in her home country.

Unlike in Europe, she found that doing business in Indonesia takes more effort in approaching the people.

Professionalism is not the only thing that matters, while the longer bureaucratic processes pose another challenge, she says.

“Coming from a Javanese father and an Acehnese mother is actually a good thing for me. I learned to be firm and a people-person at the same time. The two different cultures help me to get along with people,” says the woman fondly known as Meme.

Back in the family business, she learned everything about the shipping industry from the scratch, with the help of her seniors.

She sticks to her father’s legacy in leadership, trusting professionals and building teamwork. She brings an energetic energy and friendly demeanor, while keeping up with the latest fashions.

For some, it may be hard to picture the stylish woman making a field visit in scorching heat to the Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta, but you can often find her there.

Working in a male-dominated world does not make her hunger for fashion and shoes disappear. Carmelita confesses that she still finds time to attend fashion shows and order attire from her favorite designers, such as Ari Seputra, Eddy Betty and Priyo Oktaviano.

Her entry to the shipping association began through a small role that developed with her membership. Starting out as a head of foreign affairs in 2002, she became the association’s treasurer in 2008.

She says that when she became the treasurer, the organization started to have more financial power to organize events, thanks to the active collection of membership fees.

“I made calls and actively approached members. I think being persistent is one of the benefits of being a woman. Besides, they might feel shy to refuse a woman,” she says.

Being the association’s chairwoman from 2011 to 2015 makes her the first-ever woman to lead the organization, which was set up in 1967.

“At first, I felt happy just to be a part of the organization, but when all of my friends among the ship owners asked me to take the lead, I took up the challenge.”

She cannot hide her enthusiasm when talking about the organization and the problems that overshadow the shipping industry, effortlessly touching on crucial issues faced by businesses, from taxation and sea inspections to port infrastructure.

The industry may have become the center of her life but she reveals that it’s not something that is easy to be involved with.

There are many challenges since there are so many rules, laws, regulations and stakeholders.

Her obsession, she says, is to take the country’s shipping business back to its glorious time, before the 1980s.

“It is about time you see many Indonesian vessels, showing the country’s flag, in every port around the world.”

Fashion reboot: an eco-friendly wardrobe makeover.

Personal stylist Meg Gallagher of the Madison to Melrose blog helps Susan Carpenter fashion a new wardrobe with recycled and upcycled clothing items.

A lot has been made of organic cotton and other eco-friendly fabrics made from Tencel, hemp and bamboo as fashion rides the mega-trend of environmentalism. But recycled clothes purchased at thrift and consignment stores, as well as upcycled items reworked from out-of-date castoffs, may be an even greener choice. Almost half of the climate impact of clothing occurs before it reaches consumers.

It was this idea I embraced when I hired a wardrobe consultant for a desperately needed eco fashion makeover.

For years, I spent most mornings dreading getting dressed. My closet was stuffed, yet I found myself pulling the same five outfits every week, most of which looked exactly as I felt: dumpy. I’m not one of these women who intrinsically understands how to put together an outfit. In fact, since becoming a mother, one of the biggest factors in my wardrobe selection has involved the answer to this question: Is it clean?

I was so far down the rabbit hole of middle-aged frump that I needed a fashion overhaul, so, with Earth Day on my mind, I called Meg Gallagher, a personal stylist who, in 2009, started a bicoastal fashion business consulting Fashion reboot: an eco-friendly wardrobe makeover
Personal stylist Meg Gallagher of the Madison to Melrose blog helps Susan Carpenter fashion a new wardrobe with recycled and upcycled clothing items. and runs a blog called Madison to Melrose.

I heard about Gallagher from a friend of a friend who’d dropped $1,000 and had a transformative experience. I was hoping for similar results at about the same price point. I just wanted to do it in a way that was less wasteful than buying clothes new since manufacturing is so resource-intensive.

Gallagher, 40, is a fashion industry veteran who worked as a design director for a New York knitwear company for several years before moving to the L.A. area. Part of a growing legion of personal stylists, Gallagher does not specialize in eco fashion, though she does have some clients who prefer vintage. She thought my idea was “a super fun challenge,” she said, and took it on because, at 5 feet 8 and 135 pounds, I’m an “easy fit.”

A few days after an email exchange and a phone call, she was standing in my living room in a fetching peplum jacket, white skinny jeans and strappy black stilettos — a notepad in one hand and an empty clothing rack in the other — ready to take notes about my coloring, body type, color preferences, personality and lifestyle before tackling my closet for a thorough edit.

“For most people, the biggest frustration is that their closet doesn’t represent their lifestyle,” said Gallagher, who noted an abundance of jackets and an absence of pants, skirts, dresses and feminine shoes in a wardrobe that was a mishmash of motorcycling and mothering. For two hours I tried everything on while she assessed the condition and workability of each piece, created a pile of giveaways and came up with a shopping list.

The shopping list is critical, Gallagher said. Most people buy clothes impulsively: “They keep buying and buying and they wind up with all these clothes they don’t know how to put together.”

Part of my makeover goal was to dress with more femininity while maintaining some edge. Gallagher suggested several types of shoes to complement my half-dozen pairs of motorcycle boots and a few skirts that could sub in for the denim I wear almost daily.

My appearance already shouted it loud and clear — I’ve been thrifting most of my clothes for a couple of years now, my usual go-tos being Crossroads Trading Co. and my local Goodwill. But Gallagher had some additional ideas that incorporated the many fashion-forward thrift and consignment shops that have opened in L.A. recently, including Ampersand on Larchmont and Buttons and Bows downtown, along with the better-known, curated-thrift venues Wasteland and Crossroads, both with branches on Melrose Avenue.

Thrift often takes longer to shop than first-run because everything is one of a kind, so for our first shopping excursion, Gallagher went to Wasteland 90 minutes ahead of me to pull items. The next two hours included the usual series of dressing room hits and misses. In the end I walked out with nine items totaling $411, including a pair of black Marc Jacobs skinny jeans, a lace-trimmed Ella Moss sweater, a pair of fringe-y flats and two feminine leather jackets — all of them in excellent condition. We picked up a pair of Camilla Skovgaard slip-on heels across the street for $71 more.

Still, I was missing certain things, according to the shopping list Gallagher had created, including some neutral sandals and a taupe handbag. Because I don’t trust my eye and was so pleased with what Gallagher was able to find, I hired her for a second round of shopping, which she bills at $75 per hour. (The cost for my first four hours was $300.) We hit up Reformation on Melrose, which deconstructs and reworks used clothes and over-runs of textiles into chic pieces such as leather shorts and slouchy sweaters. I purchased two drapey tank tops made from fabric overruns for $75 apiece from the shop I consider my new favorite.

Finally, we were off to Ampersand, where I made my biggest splurges, including two pairs of heels, a Chloé handbag and an Alexander Wang leather vest that represented, to me at least, a shift in my thinking toward quality and longevity rather than easy and cheap.

I ended up giving 57 clothing items, or about two-thirds of what was in my closet (most of which I didn’t wear anyway) to my local Goodwill. I spent $710 purchasing six tops, four pairs of shoes, three leather jackets, two fabric jackets, two sweaters, one skirt and one dress, which are now in heavy rotation. I spent an additional $1,240 on two of the most expensive clothing items I’ve ever purchased in my life — the designer handbag and leather vest — and $40 more on a pair of white skinny jeans from Zara since I couldn’t find them used.

In total, Gallagher’s services cost me $875, including the last hour she spent with me at my house, assembling 30 outfits from the items she’d found for me, so I’d understand how to put them together, and taking pictures of them so I could use them for future reference. Gallagher warned that I might be tempted to go back to my old ways of doing things and counseled me to resist that temptation and “own” my new look.

I spent far more than I anticipated, but I justify it as “pent-up demand.” I’m feeling a lot more attractive and confident than I have in years. And it’s enormously satisfying to accomplish so much in a way that didn’t compromise my environmental values. As a whole, that’s priceless.

Traditional Sana’ani dress still in fashion.

Although fashion trends come and go, many Yemeni women continue to wear the Sana’ani curtain-style dress. Women who wear this popular style customarily adorn the dress by wrapping a piece of brightly colored cloth, called the Al-Masoon around their bodies. It was the lead up to the appearance of “curtain” in the Yemeni home, a piece of square-shaped, cotton cloth with white lines, and decorated with a black and red geometric designs. The cloth is also marked with a unique decoration that occurs in the middle of the curtain.

The dress described above is typical of the original style known as the Radi Curtain, and is currently worn most often by women in regions like Radaa. Due to Sana’a and its surrounding regions sensitivity to international development, fashion there often reflects current trends. However, you can easily spot many Sana’a women in the curtain dress, especially in the old city and in neighborhoods like: Bani-Hashish, Sanhan, Hbabh and Khawlan.

The unique relationship between Yemeni women and the Sana’ani curtain is associated with a cloth that covers the head. The Al-Momq, a face cover made of silk or cotton, is dominated by black and inscriptions colored white and red, the colors ranging from the outside to the inside, forming a black circular center point. Most women wear the Al-Momq, but those who are married and older women also wear an additional head piece called the Amomq, a piece of cloth embroidered with silver or coral colors.

Um sayed, a women from Old Sana’a, said, “We found our mothers and grandmothers wearing it and so on it goes from generation to generation till our day, although it’s not used today as it was in the past due to changes in society. But we cannot deny the Sana’ani curtain remains a treasure and heritage that represents Yemeni women.”

The appearance of the curtain dress changed slightly after the 1970’s, when fabric factories in Yemen stopped production and traders began bringing materials from India. This new material added green, yellow and blue colors, as well as some plant decorations.

The beginning of the Sana’ani dress

The history of the “curtain” in Sana’a and in Yemen is a bit unclear, but people say it began when Imam Yahiya bin Al-Hussein Al-Rasi came from Sa’ada to Sana’a, and ordered women to wrap their bodies with a cloth found in their homes. This marked the beginning of the curtain dress, but its popularity began to waver with the introduction of the black abaya.

The Yemeni novelist and poet Ali Al-Muqri said, “The Sana’ani curtain was styled originally by the Yemeni people themselves, there’s no specific historical date. It started with the appearance of colored dress painting at that time and it was related to the decoration and ornamentation of the old Yemeni houses.”

“What proves to us that the curtain dress is originally from Yemen is that there’s no place in the world with such a dress with its beauty, until our days,” added Al-Muqri.

The sharshaf, a wide black body cover brought over by the Turks, was worn briefly, only to be replaced by the modern abaya (coat). Despite the spread of the abaya, married, single and widowed women of all different ages continued to wear the curtain dress. It is also popular amongst sellers at the market in the old city.

Wafaa Mohamed, 38, originally from Aden but who has lived in old Sana’a for 13 years with her husband said, “I’ve worn the Sana’ani curtain since I came here and it became the comfortable dress that I wear wherever I go to places close by. Still the curtain is the most used in old Sana’a for short visits, but when it comes to long visits, we wear the abaya or the sharshaf.”

Um Tariq, a 20-year-old woman who was wearing the Sana’ani curtain on her way to a nearby grocery said, “I wear the Sana’ani curtain only for short neighborhood visits.” She added that, “My mother, my sisters and I wear the Sana’ani curtain only in the neighborhood, as do most of the women here.”

Despite the curtain dress’ deep-rooted tradition, Amani Al-Soof, a 21-year-old woman from old Sana’a is not hopeful about the future of the curtain. “I didn’t wear the Sana’ani curtain before, but I always keep thinking if we could wear it in a modern way instead of the abaya. Unfortunately, it cannot be useful in the current community. Most of the young girls wear it on some occasions as a tradition, or just to have a photo as a sample of traditional Yemeni dress.”

Singapore Press Hld : Female and Nuyou Catwalk presents RED Valentino Spring/Summer 2012, the first event to be held at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.
Singapore, 23 April 2012 – SPH Magazines Pte Ltd’s (SPH Magazines) two leading women’s fashion magazines Female and Nuyou once again present their signature event – Female and Nuyou Catwalk – on April 25, 2012. This year’s fashion show will feature Italian label REDValentino, and will be held at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station – the first event to be held there since the station was closed.

The annual runway show has always been one of the highlights of the local fashion scene, and is known for being held at unique locations not usually associated with catwalk shows.

From having a 163m catwalk in Orchard Road (the longest ever in Singapore) to venues such as the Formula One Pit Building and Changi Airport’s T3 when it was newly opened, Female and Nuyou Catwalk events have always pushed the boundaries. This year is no different, with a hip new venue at Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.

The brand on show this year: RED Valentino, the diffusion label of Italian house Valentino. Introduced in 2004, RED (which stands for Romantic Eccentric Dress) shares the same feminine aesthetic as the main brand, but with a more contemporary, casual spin. The event will showcase forty looks from its Spring/Summer 2012 collection, from romantic gowns to ladylike jackets in the brand’s signature colourful floral prints and fine embroidered details.

Jeanette Ejlersen, Female’s creative editor, said: “Female and Nuyou Catwalk is turning the spotlight on a single news-making brand. This year, we’re working with RED Valentino, the baby in the Valentino stable, as it expands into Asia.”

Nuyou’s editor, Grace Lee, said: “Designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli have revamped RED Valentino and given it a new energy. They understand what women want now – creative flair and good workmanship at good price point, which mirrors the DNA of Nuyou in believing that everyone can be stylish.”

SPH Magazines general manager, Diana Lee, said: “Our annual catwalk show is a signature fashion event that reinforces Female and Nuyou’s positions as the leading fashion-forward magazines in Singapore. The partnership with leading brands provides advertisers with an effective and exclusive showcase for their products and services.”

More than 400 invited VIP guests are expected at the fashion party of the season. The event is sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, CIMB bank, Canon, Toshiba Notebook, Salon Hair Philosophy, L’Oreal Professionnel and Kiehl’s.

Women Club Continues Fashion Show Tradition.

The Oakton Women’s Club hosted nearly 150 women at the annual fashion show and luncheon at the Country Club of Fairfax on April 18, continuing a tradition that dates back decades.
The event is the club’s only fundraising event of the year. The group will decide which local charities will benefit from the proceeds at their May meeting.
The guest list boasts local women involved in local organizations, such as Shepherd’s Center of Oakton-Vienna, Vale Club, Fairfax 4 Horses and dozens more.
The club also recognized an involved member of the Oakton community for her dedication to preserving historic areas. Trish Strat earned the club’s first “Rising Star” award after securing three historic landmarks in the Oakton-Vienna area, including the one at Vale Schoolhouse that will be unveiled Tuesday morning in a ceremony.
Back by popular demand, Details of Occoquan dressed the models for the fashion show.
For the first time in the show’s history, the president of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs attended the Oakton chapter’s event.
“It’s my privilege to thank each of you who belong to a volunteer organization, who give of your time, your talent, to make life better for your neighbors,” Carlene Garner, GFWC president, said to the attendees.
In lieu of favors, the Oakton Women’s Club gave money to the GFWC’s Signature Project, which promotes awareness and prevention of domestic violence.

Kat Ding’s storied collegiate career was a minute and a half from being complete and she ended it in championship fashion times two.

She defended her bars championship and as a bonus won the floor competition, too – both with career-highs – at the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championships at Gwinnett Center.

Ding was dynamite all day. She even led the vault momentarily until she dropped into third behind eventual winner, Florida’s Kytra Hunter, and Alabama’s Diandra Milliner. That would not dampen an otherwise standout day.

She was near perfect on the bars earning a 10 from four of the six judges to get a 9.9875 to wrap up that title for a second year in a row. But it was the floor title that had everyone talking.

Before this season, she hadn’t done floor since she was a sophomore.

Once.

Some of that is attributed to injury. She ruptured a foot at regionals her sophomore year, and last year had stress reaction in her femur. Both injuries effectively shelved her from doing anything as it relates to floor, vault and beam. Bars was all she could do, but even there were restrictions there as she was not allowed to train dismounts or mounts.

All total she had trained all-around this year five times and her performance at nationals was just her 11th time. She made it count.

With a decidedly Georgia crowd behind her, the six-time All-American senior performed as if she had done her routine all her life and came away with a 9.950 to clinch that title.

“I like to play with the crowd when I do my floor routine,” Ding said. “But tonight really wasn’t about my floor routine, it was not about me. It was about enjoying every single moment. I have no more moments. So it’s just living it up for the last minute and a half that it was and enjoying it.”

“That floor routine was the best routine I’d seen her do,” Jay Clark, Georgia’s coach, said. “There were a couple of execution things she’d struggle with maintaining all year in terms of direction and legs being a little loose in places. And we were on her about it all the time, and drill it, and drill it, and drill it, and today she was able to put it all together.”

It was a long time coming for Ding to do that and become an all-around performer. When Georgia signed her they looked at her as an athlete that excelled on bars, but who could also vault. They tried to put her on beam several times both her sophomore and junior year with uneven results.

“It was a disaster,” Clark said. “She would do the job in the gym, but just mentally couldn’t do it. Those two events [floor and beam] are not natural for her. She has to really work at everything she does on those two events.

“We kept telling her, ‘Kat, you’re an all-arounder. You’ve got to believe that.’ Eventually, a lot of it was maturity and getting her to a place where she believed she could compete on all four. When it finally came together, she finally hit that first floor routine in competition, it was like off and running then. She was good.”

Ding said it took from the summer of her junior year to her senior year to finally get it. Once she did there was a whole new side of her and her mentality toward becoming an all-around performer.

“I got to relax, take a step back and know that if I didn’t accomplish this this year, then I had nothing better to do,” Ding said. “There was no time for me to take a step backwards. I could only take a step forwards. So I was really looking forward to finally putting it together on beam, and having enough stamina and being in the right shape, the right health to finish a floor routine.”

Ding has no idea what she will do now that her Georgia career is behind her. She has one class left in the fall and beyond that her plans are wide open. If anyone has deserved a rest is it Ding. She came in a member of the last of Georgia’s five consecutive national championship teams and ends her career with two individual national titles. Not a bad way to go out.

“I think it’s a pretty good legacy to leave behind,” Ding said. “I think I’ve done as much as I can for the program. I’m proud of it. I’m proud of my school and what I’ve become. I’m excited to the next step whatever that step is.”

The University of Delaware women’s lacrosse squad finished the regular season in dominating fashion as the Blue Hens cruised by Colonial Athletic Association foe George Mason 13-8.

Seven players scored at least one goal for Delaware (5-12, 3-4). Caitlin McCartney and Chelsea Fay each scored a career-high-tying four goals.

Men’s lacrosse: UD out of playoff race

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The University of Delaware men’s lacrosse squad saw its three game win streak — and its postseason tournament hopes — vanish Saturday night as host and No. 16 ranked Penn State pulled away over the final eight minutes to post a 13-9 Colonial Athletic Association victory at Jeffrey Field.

Delaware (6-8, 1-4, CAA) needed a win to stay in contention for a berth in the CAA Tournament.

Baseball: Wesley falls in CAC tourney

SALISBURY, Md. — The Wesley College baseball team lost 11-4 to No. 3 Salisbury in the third round of the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament on Saturday afternoon.

Wesley (26-12) will take on Stevenson on Saturday at 11 a.m. in an elimination game at Salisbury. The winner will take on Salisbury in the championship game later that day.

Wesley College’s golf team won the Capital Athletic Conference championship on Saturday afternoon at the par 72 Wild Quail Golf & Country Club.

The Wolverines shot a 615 as a team to defeat runner-up and defending champion Stevenson by eight strokes. Wesley’s Robert Ehrhardt shot a second-round 74 after an opening round 71 to take the individual title by seven shots (145).

As the individual winner, Ehrhardt was named the CAC Player of the Year.

Wesley’s Cody Pestun (153-74/79) tied for third. He also was named CAC Co-Rookie of the Year along with Stevenson’s Sean Cavanaugh. Wesley’s Rick McCall and York’s Jeff Gamber shared Co-Coach of the Year honors.

SOUTHPORT, N.C.– Blue Hen freshmen Andrea Slane and Amanda Terzian each finished in a tie for 16th place in the individual standings while the University of Delaware women’s golf team placed seventh out of 10 teams as UD closed out its inaugural season this weekend at the Colonial Athletic Association Championships.

NEWARK — University of Delaware freshman Niño Rosal was named the Colonial Athletic Association Men’s Golfer of the Week following his outstanding performance at the Manor Intercollegiate over the weekend.

Rosal tied for third place in the individual standings at the tournament, carding a 1-over par 72-69-76-217. Rosal’s second round of 69 was the lowest of his career and the third lowest by a Blue Hen during the season.

Track and field: Wesley’s Bundy excels

CHESTER, Pa. — Wesley College sophomore Matt Bundy won both the 100-meter hurdles and 200 dash at the Widener Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

Competing against several Division I and II programs, Bundy broke his own school-record in the 100 hurdles in 14.82 and bested the competition with a 21.90 in the 200.

In women’s competition, Wesley’s Tristin Burris broke the school-record in the 1,500 m by nearly 20 seconds. Burris crossed the finish in 5:22.53, breaking the three-year-old record of 5:43.57 held by Joleen Schilling.

Basketball: UD hands out awards

NEWARK — The University of Delaware women’s basketball team held its annual awards banquet Wednesday evening at the Executive Banquet and Conference Center.

Junior All-American Elena Delle Donne was named the Most Valuable Player for the third consecutive year while sophomore Kelsey Buchanan earned the Most Improved Player award. Junior guard Lauren Carra was honored as the Most Outstanding Defensive Player and junior forward Danielle Parker earned the Unsung Hero Award.

For the second straight year, senior Meghan McLean was presented the Joyce Perry Coaches Award, named in memory of longtime Delaware head coach Joyce Perry.

The four seniors on the squad — McLean, Jocelyn Bailey, Vanessa Kabongo and Sarah Acker — were also honored.

Community minded models sought for Victoria fashion fundraiser.

Organizers of the fourth annual Fashion with Passion are looking for two individuals to strut their stuff down the runway in support of the charity fundraiser.

Last year, Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin and Olympic rower Silken Laumann were invited to channel their inner models for the event, which raises money for Women In Need programs.

The 2011 fundraiser generated $10,000 and helped 20 local women by offsetting the cost of bus passes, food certificates, items for home-based businesses and post-secondary education expenses.

The 2012 Fashion with Passion fundraiser happens May 4 at 6 p.m. at the Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort Hotel and Spa, 45 Songhees Rd.

It will feature a dinner, silent and live auctions and musical entertainment. During the fashion show, female models will show off clothing from WIN’s three second-hand stores in Victoria, while male models will display Outlooks for Men fashions.

What are the reasons hot women marry, knowing that the marriage is unlikely to be happy? It is in this question is an American sociologist Jennifer Gauveyn starting fifteen years ago a scientific study.

The results of her work and a survey published on the site yanikadate .com, simply staggering: thousands of women from nearly one-third before marriage to know that do not love their future husbands! Moreover, they were convinced that family life is unlikely to be successful, while still agree to a marriage proposal. None of the hot women surveyed did not consider divorce to blame for her former husband, however, does not recognize the fact that the decision may have been hasty. Regardless of the reasons why they decided to marry a man is not “their dream”, the hot women believe the choice they had.

If girls are often married “on demand”, a lady of middle age by force attributed the knot due to ridiculous conventions. This most often happens when the majority of women the same age already have families or married more than once. In this case, public opinion “at that age it’s time to have a family” stands for a woman to desire to find his true “half.” As a result, another unhappy marriage in which one partner is definitely not like the other.

Another reason for such unions – this is a naive dream, that the desire to “love” the chosen partner in life still comes real love. Assuring themselves that the future husband – a wonderful person, understanding, patient, a woman artificially tries to awaken his love. But correctly say that “love is not for something,” and sometimes against all odds.

In the case when the chosen one at least like a woman says to himself: “I hardly have such a good meeting, it is – better than anyone I knew before that” – here’s another reason.

In addition, there is a category of hot women who believe: ‘Why not try it if I was asked to get married? “. For them, the important is the status of a married lady, but who exactly will be the spouse, does not matter.

According to scientists, we should not rush into marriage for hot women who want to marry, guided only by these factors, because every divorce, even a peaceful and dignified, a woman violates the peace of mind.

A week before the resumption of the New York hearing on the case of former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the prosecution has secured new evidence. The lawyer said the maid New York hotel Nafissatu Diallo, who accuses the French policy of sexual abuse, two women expressed willingness to testify against Mr. Strauss-Kahn.

“One of them claims that also were abused by Mr. Strauss-Kahn in a hotel. The other is a native of Africa – that’s all I can say yet,” – said lawyer Kenneth Thompson, the French press. However, he hinted that he would not rely on the testimony of former compatriot IMF head – 32-year-old journalist Tristan Banawn that has launched against Strauss-Kahn’s similar charges of attempted rape, but in France.

“I’m sure she telling the truth – said Thompson. – However, the evidence that managed to secure us, will review the case with the other side.”

An important element of the upcoming August 23 hearing will be the results of medical examination, which took place immediately after the incident Diallo in a hotel May 14 this year. The protocol states that the woman was taken to hospital by ambulance, accompanied by a police officer. A detailed description of the scenes of violence, written with the words of the most affected are listed on the complaint of pain, including in his left shoulder and genitals. The document concluded: “The diagnosis: an attack. Cause of injury: rape.”

In turn, the lawyers, Dominique Strauss-Kahn would insist that the results of medical examination did not directly confirm the version of the maid, and say that these “injuries” could be the result of sexual intercourse and by mutual consent.

Whatever it was, but from the criminal case the prosecution has already moved to the civil suit in which the maid will seek monetary compensation to the defendant. Such a turn, according to observers, may indicate a lack of evidence. “I had no choice – said Thompson in his own defense. – If a criminal charge is lifted, the Strauss-Kahn will return to France, and in this case, start a civil case will be impossible.”

History of the sad and banal, that makes it no less painful for me. With her husband are living together for almost seven years, of which 5.5. in marriage. Love each other madly at first sight, just lost his head. Both left the former partners were inseparable. “The Living Daylights” lasted about a year, after which I began to notice there are some problems – the love of alcohol, partying, flirting, some childishness and irresponsibility on life. Nevertheless, we loved each other very much, he made a stunning offer, and I agreed. Brain knew that it was difficult to be with him, but my heart sang and longed for their life together. Two years later the child was born beautiful, we lived together, happily, though not without problems (see above). Somewhere six months ago, I began to notice changes in it – became a grim, full of themselves, often went “to his friends.” Eighteen months ago, after much discussion, he finally admitted that he feels for another woman (9 years younger than me). I asked him to leave and decide that he is more important in life. For the past month and a half living separately (he rents a room and friends). During this vremyani husband comes home from time to time, said that lost, that he was good with this girl, but all the while thinking about me, the child of our lives. It is recognized that we had a good life, and can not renounce it. Once, in front of NY, called and said that he decided to break with it, go home. I felt the hesitation in his voice, said she was not ready. I can not decide what to do. On the one hand, I still love him, to the surprise itself. I even feel the strength to forgive him for his betrayal. On the other hand, if he comes today and will beg for forgiveness, I’m not ready to take it back. And because of the betrayal, and because of the problems that led to it. This struggle between the mind and heart will not let me rest. I do not think I could love someone More as much. And should it? Perhaps the best marriages – that of friendship and respect, rather than the “fireworks”? What do you think? (About me: I am 31, a successful businesswoman, financially independent, attractive, sociable. I love the child – he is now resting at my parents’ place in the resort).

Russian brides from Russia are very popular worldwide. It has caused an increase in the Russian dating scams aiming at men from the west. How do the scams work?

Not each Russian woman is a scammer. The vast variety of girls are of sincere and honest intentions. Many are looking for a happy relationship and marriage with the best partner.

The usual scam Russian brides story begins with the victim getting a response to the personal ad. Often the victim initiates contact by answering to the super-model-like photos. But usually the primary contact is made by scammers: it gives scammers more control over the situation and the target.

In a typical most scam Russian bride story, a Russian girl will be younger than a man. The man will get excited by the idea of a beautiful young woman concerned in him, thus out the window comes their thinking process.

After several emails the girl claims to be in love with this man. She can ask him to visit him in his native country. But there is a problem, as she does not own money for making visa or buying an air ticket. She asked him to send her some money by irreversible way like wire transfer.
What the naive gentleman does not really know is that he could not communicate with a girl. This could be a man, typically a member of some scam ring. Thus, he ends up wasting money, with the bruised ego.
Other means of getting money include improvising a family “tragedy”, for internet connection, for English lessons and this list goes on.