My thoughts on the whole Proana thing...

Normally I wouldn't use my fashion update blog to do anything but inform about updates and releases, but it has recently it has come to our attention (those who read the fashion feed and other SL players) that there is a flickr group dedicated to the idea that eating disorders are OK and that emaciated thinness is beautiful.

I personally have nothing against being thin; however, like many of you I was frustrated to learn that there was an SL group advocating eating disorders. I almost said I was "shocked" to learn of this, but sadly I am not shocked at all. In today's society where we are constantly force fed propaganda about what a body ideal is (or should be), I can't say it shocks me that people are falling into the various traps that exist surrounding this issue.

I am not angered at the individuals who run these sites, in fact I just feel very sorry for them. Many people struggle with illnesses like anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and body dysmorphic disorder and I do not think of someone with a disorder or a disease as being a horrible person based solely on behaviors triggered by their disorder or disease. Rather, I think in situations like this there needs to be an intervention of some nature involving people who post sites that advocate unhealthy ideals. Perhaps rather then chastise those individuals that run these self harm groups we should encourage them to seek the proper medical attention and help that they require for their illness.

Public awareness is important regarding these matters. It is important that the message of self love and body acceptance be nurtured and encouraged. For any of you who know me personally, have met me in world, or have seen my pictures here on my blog (just look through the history), you will know that my avatar is not skinny; in fact, she is on the very plump side. Some people live out fantasy via their virtual existence but that is not what I do. When I created my avatar she was an extension of my RL self and in being so she is fat. Heck people, my store name is PUDGE and there is a reason for that. I have always been an advocate for sending the message that beauty exists across a very broad spectrum and that although thin can be beautiful, fat can be too.

I decided to post here something I wrote on another blog about 2 years ago regarding the "fat" issue. I hope you can appreciate and enjoy it.

On being a fat girl
There are a few things that are apparent through the viewing of American television. A:) We love trash talking people and or watching people make fools of themselves for the sake of our own amusement/and or to make ourselves feel better. B:) We love all that is artificial, prepackaged, pre-determined, and thought out for us. And C:) You must not be fat, and if you are; you are a gross von grosserton and there is no reason you can not pop a bucket full of TRIM-SPA baby and make it all go away.

I like being fat. I am not saying it for the purpose of trying to make anyone else more body comfortable. I am not saying it for the purpose of trying to make people like/feel sorry for me. I am not saying it for the purpose of starting a new fat-positive trend, no, I really, truly and honestly like being who I am.

Granted, I am not just a fat girl. I am an artist, a student, a mother, a wife, a friend, a writer, and a person who really enjoys simplicity with moments of pure unfiltered chaos. But of course what you are aesthetically is the first impression people get of you (unless you have the luxury of being a shut in with only indirect means of communication). I am a lot of things. But in the white-bread-pop-culture-American eye I am a fat little ethnic girl.

Why would someone dare not want to be tall, blonde, and slender? How is it that with all the media corruption and constant propaganda that people like myself would choose to be fat? I have one very simple answer, because I think I'm hot and I like to eat. Yes, that is it. I have the biggest ego on almost any fat girl you will meet, at times to the point of being slightly narcissistic. Everyone has their preferences for what they find is their "body ideal" but to be frank, I think fat chicks are hot, hot shit. When I draw a woman's body, I draw one with substance, with girth, with beautiful rolling curves as that is what I find attractive; truly, from the deepest depths of my person.

I am proud of my body. It has carried children and given birth. It has tried to sabotage me through a medley of malfunction. It is soft and jiggly and sensual and round. It is funny and awkward at times. And it is the only one I will have the chance to be in (despite spiritual beliefs) at the moment.

When in public and I make a statement that pertains to my weight such as "Whoa, forget going for that long walk, I would not be a chubby girl if I were walking that far!" I do not expect those in my company to say something such as "Oh, why Crystal, how delusional you must be for you are nothing but a svelte little buttercup and of course by no means overweight!" I am not asking for someone to reply in such a way. In fact, I think it is rather sad that someone feels as though they have to.

Why is it so hard to fathom someone being completely and utterly comfortable in his or her own flesh? Granted, there is the media and those wonderful negative influences that haunt us: i.e., childhood taunting, parental influence, etc. It took me a great many years to come to terms with the fact that I will forever be a: short, chubby, black haired, Italian girl. Rather than having the chance to ever be a tall, statuesque, blond, American ideal of perfection.

It makes me very sad when I hear women say they are unhappy in their own skin. When I hear the girls at school say "God, if I could only drop 10 lbs I would be wearing a size 8!!" I laugh guttural laughs in response to these comments. All of these beautiful and intelligent women who put so much weight (no pun intended) on the importance of 10 lbs. why? Will it make a huge physical change in their appearance? Most likely not. Then why? It’s because of that number. Whatever beautiful number they wish to attain, be it 8, or 10, or 2. I feel sorry for the woman (or man I mean not to be sexist here as I imagine men go through body image difficulty as well, but seeing as I am a woman I can only relate to one side of the issue) who puts all her happiness eggs in the size 8 basket.

There is an understanding on my behalf though, that everyone is different. Not everyone can be thin, or fat (for my liking). And to me, the most important thing is that someone is doing what he or she is doing for himself or herself, not for anyone else. Be that the choice to loose weight, dye their hair, or get a breast augmentation. I really don't care. I understand the desire to do things to enhance ones appearance. I am guilty of that as well (tattooing for example is very much vanity on my part) but its the concept of being so unhappy with one-self unless they have one very specific thing. I think its a beautiful thing when someone can say "I look great now, but I have a size 8 pair of pants I adore and would love to fit, but if I never fit them, that is ok as I can stare at them and all their glory as they hang in my closet collecting dust until the day I can".

In closing I say, love who you are ladies and gents, because in all honesty things could be much worse...I am just going to throw out the term Leprosy here as a good example. Just remember when you want to put on that pair of jeans that just wont zip up right, be thankful that you don't have terrible skin lesions or massive tumors (or if you do, see a physician immediately).

Skin tight dresses for the masses.

I was sitting down the other day watching ludicrous amounts of 80's teen shows/movies and I thought about how much I wanted one of those skin tight, ruched, 80's prom dresses. I decided the only way to remedy this desire was to create this dream dress in our virtual world of course!

While designing these dresses I couldn't decide if I wanted the fabulous poofy skirted dress with the cliche' lace under layer or if I wanted the more Pretty-Woman-esque mini dress version. I decided I'd do BOTH. So these dresses come with a poofy and mini skirt option. Hot hot hot!

These dresses are called the, "I'm Not a Prostitute" dresses. 6 colors to choose from and with the 2 skirts and multiple layering options to choose from per dress you will have plenty of versitality at your fingertips.

Come on by and pick them up right now at the Starlust Motel Pudge (gigantic hamburger). These will also be available this weekend at: Fashion Victim, Caribe, and Moosh.

Shazam!

It's been a fairly bizarre week. In RL things have been kinda lame...my daughter got sick with strep throat, I have bronchitis, and Flavor of Love 3 finally came to a close (lets hope New York does another season or I'm completely out of horrible reality t.v. that I secretly love). In the virtual world; however, things have been on the upswing! The Starlust Motel has been doing faaaaabulously! Moosh is going to have a fashion show tomorrow (May 24th) and I've got some new releases just in time for extended weekend shopping (hooray for having Monday off, am i right?!)

The first new release I've got for all you lovelies is more basic shirts. I know that I personally can never have enough basic shirts in my wardrobe and therefore I'm offering you; the beautiful people, the same luxury. The shirts are called "Simple Scoops" and come in 2 color packs for your shirt-wearing enjoyment.

My second new release is a hairstyle that was inspired by a pair of glasses that Marcelle DeCuir created. The glasses are both awkward and adorable and I wanted the hair to basically convey the same feeling. I named the hair "Awkward in Jr.High" and I think once you try a demo you'll understand why:)

Come on down to PUDGE at the Starlust Motel (The gigantic hamburger) and get yourself some new goodies. I will ad this stuff to my other locations soon as well (once I'm feeling a little less ill). Ciao for now!

Pin up girls are the bee's knees.

My lovely friend Melatonin Hax was telling me how there just aren't enough pin up-esque poses in our virtual world. I decided to remedy that situation by putting out a pack of pin up poses sure to please (say that 5 times fast).

This pose pack is located ONLY at the Starlust Motel PUDGE location as of yet (we'll see If I plop it in other locations later). Thing is, I've been slightly lazy because i've got bronchitis/a head cold and it's sort of making me feel like I'm constantly in some bizarre hippy daze.
I have some shirts I need to make ads for, so look forward to that release sometime later this week when I'm not feeling like total hell in a handbasket. Until then, I plan on keeping this short and sweet, ta-ta for now boys and girls.

The day is finally upon us!

The new Starlust Motel is finally open. It's been a long wait folks; however, it's SO been worth it. I suggest you drop whatever it is you're doing and get your sweet buns down there fast as can be. "Where should I visit at the Starlust first?" you may be asking yourself. Well, a good place to start is the lobby of the hotel itself to pick up some crappy freebies (at the Starlust we pride ourselves in the crappy-ness of our freebies). Heck, even I have a couple of freebies in the lobby, including this cute "I (heart) PUDGE" shirt!

Your second stop on your fabulous trip to the new Starlust Motel should be to PUDGE of course! You will be absolutely floored by how amazing this new shop is. I can't show pictures here; no no, you'll just have to go see. OK, I'll throw out these two words, "Gigantic Hamburger". Yeah, seriously...amazing. Make sure to keep your eyes peeled and search all of PUDGE for more freebie stuff, some of it has been cleverly hidden around my property (wink wink). Oh, and don't forget to go through the drive thru!

In honor of the majesty of the new PUDGE store I've released something I've never released before: glasses! I have 3 fat packs of retro/vintage style glasses available at the new Starlust Motel location only.

The new Starlust land is gigantic, so make sure to have some time on your hands so as to cruise every shop because we've got SO many amazing designers there.

Search for "Starlust" or "PUDGE" in the search tab.

The Starlust officially opens at 2:00 PM second life time

Ciao for now beautiful people!

And the Lord sayeth, "Let there be new releases!"

I have finally seemed to climb out of the ditch of lack of creativity into the land of inspiration (I know, worst analogy ever), and because of this I've got a few new releases to offer!


Very recently I sold off some Linden and got myself a Wacom tablet. This has been a fabulous addition to my life. In fact, I love this tablet so deeply I've considered giving it the unofficial title of "third child" because I'm growing to have a deep and motherly love for this tablet. I want to protect and nurture the tablet via the creations we are bound to make together. At first our interactions (the tablet's and I) were a little awkward and unfamiliar; however, we are now at the point where we're like old chums sitting back and sharing a merry laugh over a nice dark beer. Perhaps the title of unofficial child is inaccurate; more likely the tablet is like a drinking buddy, someone who will sit back and let you be a complete ass without judgement...beautiful.


Anyhoooo, I've got new hair as well as some fun basic shirts to offer and I'm sure you'll like them (well, I can't be completely sure, but I figure it's fairly likely...I don't want to sound like a narcissist though). The hair is called "Carmen Takes a Lover" and was inspired by a mix between 1920's hairstyles and saucy Spanish senoritas.

The shirts are called "Tawdry Basics" and they come in packs of two. 10 colors all together means there is sure to be something that suits your taste/mood.

You can find all of these new releases at the following PUDGE locations: The Starlust Motel, Caribe, and Moosh.

Oh, and for those of you who didn't get the chance to check out Toast Bard's and my fashion blog update you can check that out here: http://psychicsasquach.blogspot.com/

New Psychic Sasquatch Blog

Spring is here and Toast Bard and I went on a ghetto fabulous adventure that you can't afford to miss. What are all the hot fashionistas wearing this season? Here is just a sneak peek of the magnificence in store for our legions of adoring blog followers. Click this link for more: http://psychicsasquach.blogspot.com/

Oh, on a side note (far less important then the psychic sasquatch blog) I have put out some new tops today at my Starlust Motel location (other locations soon to come when I'm less doped up on Benadryl). These tops are called the "I slept with Toast Bard fashion tops" and they come in 8 vibrant colors just in time for all this nifty summer weather we're having (or at least I'm having fairly nifty weather; although, I suppose I shouldn't speak for any of you out there).

And for those of you who want to know if there is any truth to the title of these new shirts my lips are sealed. All I can say is, haven't we all slept with Toast Bard? In our hearts at the very least. They don't call her "The Snuggler" for nothing you know.

Ah, SL dramazzz. LOLZ.

So, as many of you have heard both Cherry Buttons and Cotton Candy are no longer under the same management and are in the midst of chaos all around. I shall not use this blog as an opportunity to say anything negative about that situation; although I am sad to announce that both the Cherry Buttons and Cotton Candy PUDGE locations will no longer be in existence.

I assure you, my fine people that PUDGE will continue to flourish elsewhere. I still have locations at: The Starlust Motel, Moosh, Fashion Victim, and Caribe. And if you haven't already heard, the Starlust is in the process of expanding and I can absolutely 100% guarantee that you are going to squeal with glee when you see all of the things we have in store for you.

I plan on having a new main store at the Starlust once the expansion is complete. It will be PUDGE's most glorious moment. I really, really wish I could tell you all about it; however, I can't for 2 reasons: 1st reason is it's super top secrety secret, and the 2nd reason is I'm very lazy and want to sit on my back porch and drink a beer here in about 5 minzzzz.

Anyhoo, lets get to the main purpose I posted this blog. SALESSS people, yes. I have decided to extend my Starlust hair sale for this weekend in effort to raise some funds for myself to help open a new main store (since the Cherry Buttons main store is kaput). My pocket book needs your help, and you need hair, and hair is even more awesome when it's on sale. You see how that works? Faaaabulous.

Come on down to PUDGE @ The Starlust Motel between May 2-5 for 50% off all hair!