Bindi there, done that
Bindi there, done that? Get ready for the next wave of decorative body art. The latest trend is adorning bodies with ready-to-use and easy-to-apply skin jewelry–temporary tattoos, glittery designs and tiny gems.
Category: Lifestyles
A magazine mecca
SuperStand wants to be to magazines what Blockbuster is to videos. To that end, the Texas-based chain of “America’s Magazine Superstore”–which has five stores in Houston and four in Dallas–has expanded to launch its first out-of-state stores right here in the Chicago area.
Are you in the mood for a little romance?
You think romance and you think of New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day, right? Fuggedaboudit. They’re long gone. But summertime’s here and that’s even better. Think about it. There’s no one pressure-cooker day on which to pin all your romantic hopes and dreams, and you don’t have to stroll arm-in-arm swaddled in down-stuffed outerwear. There are plenty of ways to spend an enchanted, summer evening in the Chicago area, whether it’s dining at a top-notch restaurant, gazing at the stars from the city’s most awesome vantage point or slow dancing with your sweetheart.
Fall footwear gets soft touch
Feminine fashion has returned. This fall, pack away your clunky boots and platform heels. The ultra-casual look is being replaced by prettier, more delicate designs.
Trouble afoot?
After building an empire as a celebrity shoe designer, Steve Madden finds himself in a precarious situation, teetering like someone in the platform shoes that earned him fame and $163 million in sales for his company in 1999.
Once again, Oprah graces cover of O
You know that old adage, “Don’t fix it if it ain’t broken?” Well, O, The Oprah Magazine and Real Simple aren’t listening. Just a few months after their splashy debuts, the well-received, very high-profile lifestyle magazines are replacing their top editors.
Whitney Houston drug intervention reportedly fails
Whitney Houston ignored the pleas of her mother, friends and drug specialists who hoped that an intervention last summer would persuade the singer to seek professional treatment, US Weekly reports in an issue hitting newsstands Friday.
Leather the look at MTV awards
How fetching was Janet Jackson in her floor-length black leather dress? After she presented Keanu Reeves with his MTV Movie Award for best male performance Saturday, the actor paused in the middle of his acceptance speech to stare at her in awe and utter, “God . . . beautiful.”
Spray-on bras. Say what?
My mission, should I choose to accept, was to test a new product being touted as a spray-on “bra.” I went to grad school for this? The “bra” in question is in quotation marks because Yves Saint Laurent’s Haute Tenue doesn’t really squirt a brassiere out of its glossy, silver can. Nor does the nice-smelling lotion (retailing for $69 per 3.5 ounce aerosal can) alleviate women from wearing the actual undergarment.
Picking the Hottest Stars Under 25
Like, ohmigod. The June/July issue of Teen People is too rad for words … if you’re a teenager in love with ‘N Sync’s Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears’ wannabe Mandy Moore or, heck, Spears herself. The magazine’s cover story boasts “the 25 hottest stars under 25,” which excludes the geriatric set, such as 26-year-old Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees (whose teenage girlfriend Jessica Simpson made the cut).
Fuji remakes mall sushi
Nestled in the cavernous Woodfield Mall, Fuji Grill is a treat for shoppers jonesing for something other than fast food, smoothies and pretzels the size of their heads.
Right to bare arms
Sleeveless outfits are a cool choice for women battling warm weather. But whether it’s a flattering fashion right for all women to bare arms is another story.
Capri reprise
Capri pants. Fashion statement, or expensive floods? Judging by their popularity, the trendy pants are definitely a fashion statement that are as popular with women (and some men) this year as they were last season.
A sizzling night for local fashion
Never mind the peekaboo gowns that displayed ample cleavage of both kinds, and the kicky patchwork outfits were so ugly they were cute. The stylish crowd of 700-plus that attended “Red Hot Chicago” Wednesday night at the House of Blues got quite an eyeful both on and off the runway.
Single life `isn’t an affliction’
Go ahead. Feel sorry for single people. View them as less than, as the smug marrieds do in Bridget Jones’s Diary. But guess what? There’s a growing contingent of folks out there who are single by choice, and loving it. “There’s no question that the pendulum is swinging in a different direction,” says Xavier Amador, co-author of Being Single in a Couples’ World (Fireside, $12). “Singles are happy being single. It’s a different world we live in these days.
Spinster…Really?!
I never knew I was a spinster until my bank told me so. It’s true I am an unmarried woman. I like to think of myself as an independent, financially secure woman who is capable of buying a home by myself. But I suppose that takes up too much space on the line next to my name. My married friends didn’t have to deal with this humiliation when they signed up for their mortgages. And my single guy friends were described as “bachelor.”
Couple danced into romance
James Casamassa fell in love with the woman who would become his wife before she even said “Hello” to him.
Ready for work
Angelique Thomas is shopping for more than a new jacket at Sears. She is in search of a streamlined look that will help her land a new job. Thomas, 30, was one of five local women participating in Sears’ Fashion Takes Action program, which kicked off Tuesday in Chicago. The program pairs women making a transition into the workplace with fashion experts. Sears provides each participant with two business-appropriate outfits, as well as cosmetics.
Look out, Martha
When Katie Brown turned 11, her parents didn’t take her to a toy store to pick out a present. They gave her a wallpaper book and some swatches of carpeting and let her redecorate her room. Small wonder, then, that she grew up to be Gen X’s answer to Martha Stewart, the hostess of the Lifetime Channel’s No. 1 show, “Next Door With Katie Brown.”
Teacher sacrifices for his kids
Once you get through reading about Elian Gonzalez, the Columbine anniversary and the effects of testosterone–available by prescription this summer as an easy-to-apply ointment–in this week’s Time, don’t forget to read the uplifting story about a Los Angeles schoolteacher who makes a difference.