Why I've stopped posting here.

It's because I've stopped shopping.

I stopped shopping a while ago, except for Christmas presents.

I was tired to death of the lack of organization in my house. I had clothes double-hung in my closet. I had shoe boxes stacked up behind a chair in a corner of my bedroom. I had scarf boxes stored in one of those hanging shelf doohickeys made of canvas in my second closet, shelves full of purses in their keeper bags, and jewelry bursting out of my jewelry box. The only way I could get my clothes into my drawers was to spend a Japanese-tea-ceremony amount of time folding and stacking my clothes.

I couldn't find anything.

I couldn't remember whether I'd bought something. I'd find things I didn't remember having bought.

I was going nuts.

Then I read a story on Yahoo! news about The Compact: a group of people in San Francisco who swore off buying anything new for a year. I decided to sign up. So on January 7th, I did. And so did my husband.

So I managed to go all non-consumer just in the nick of time. I'm still a trend setter, and not a trend-follower. Because since I signed on with the Compact, I've read the article about how affluenza is going to destroy the world. And how the environmental cost of stores like H&M is far too high.

Join me as I reform my ways. Or not ... it's OK. But I promise I won't turn all whole-wheat and joyless. I mean, I can still write about stuff; it's just that I can now write about all that stuff that I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. Like, say ...


a white fringed Versace bag on sale for $3,462



or a tiger-striped cocktail dress for $1,573



Guiseppe Zanotti sandals for $450



Look at the money I've saved already! Not to mention the favor I'm doing everyone by not buying this Godawful crap and parading around in it.

Washington Post publishes articles on scary-skinny models

Is the fashion industry going to start policing itself? Apparently so. Yet according to the Washington Post, it's a needlessly bureaucratic move:

The industry also needs to stop hand-wringing, caucusing and shifting responsibility. If a young woman walks into a casting call who is 5-10 and a size 0, if she looks gaunt and emaciated, if her kneecaps are wider that her thighs, she shouldn't be hired. Designers regularly tell models they are too short, fat, exotic, ethnic, all-American. Surely they can manage to tell a few models they're simply too thin.

Thank you, Washington Post. The big kneecaps have been freaking me out for a while now. For the rest of the story click here (you might have to register.) Oh, and some exhibitors have been telling models they're too thin; it has happened at least once before.