Live Election blog

Wow, it has been one HELL of a ride! Tonight we are reaching the end of this very long and sometimes frustrating campaign. I have laughed, cried, shouted and worried for the past 8 weeks.

Tonight I am among friends as I watch from London with anticipation on who will become the 44th President of the United States of America. Hopefully, it will be one Barack Obama.

Words can't express how I will feel should this come to pass. As an African-American, this means more to me than almost anything I have ever experienced.

We're having a great time and now we are getting our first returns soon.

23:00 GMT- The polls are closing in Kentucky and Indiana. Both of these are red states and I don't hold out a lot of hope for Kentucky.

Zero tolerance on size zero?

So London Fashion Week is over-- boo-hoo! However, Milan fashion week has begun, hooray! As a serious lover of fashion, (that I cannot and will not EVER be able to afford) I saw some drop dead clothes of course, including one of my most favourite designers, Matthew Williamson. Marc Jacobs did some lovely stuff with denim; he is opening a flagship store in London. Unless I hit six numbers on tomorrow's Lotto, there is a good chance that I won't be swapping Primark for Marc Jacobs anytime soon. I do own the cologne!

The big deal about Fashion Week this year was the banning of size zero models from the catwalk or, models with less than an 18 BMI. Madrid did it, Milan did it, Paris said it wasn't an issue and skinny gals weren't banned in London. BMIs are load of shit anyway. (According to my doctor, I need to lose 3 stone or 42 pounds for my height. Now, with my build, ass and tits, I would look like something out of Belsen.)

Of course, there was a lot of breast beating about it. The Sun, the newspaper that features naked teenage and early twenty-something women jumped on the campaign with their"zero-tolerance" crusade. See, I can really take a paper that totally sexualizes women seriously, especially a paper that had a feature on the naked breasts of Academy Awards best actress nominees.

The tabloids, news tabloid magazine shows and breakfast news have been expressing their concern about the impact of size zero models on impressionable teenage girls. They are claiming that models are causing girls to become anorexic and develop eating disorders.

Bullshit. I am so sick of this false claim. Anorexia is a serious mental health disorder and it is being over-simplified by tabloids and their ilk. You don't "catch" anorexia anymore than you catch schizophrenia, and if Lorraine Kelly and others like her had ever spent time on a ward with anorexics, they would know this. I had a nervous breakdown (commonly known as exhaustion, if you happen to be a celebrity), following a nasty breakup when I was 22. I was on a ward with anorexics and let me tell you, looking like Kate Moss was not their motivation. This is an quote from a 12 year old anorexic. Read the rest of the story here:

"[The media's] story is people get anorexia because they want to be thin and they see other people in magazines and on the catwalk and they think 'I want to be like that'," she says.
"That's a really good story and why would they change it - it's a perfect story. But it's not the truth. Maybe for some people it is, but I know that for me it's not. I haven't got anorexia because I've been inspired to look like other people. It's the image in my head. There's no one that's my idol.

I am not about to give a detailed insight into anorexia because I am not and have never been anorexic. But, I was at one time, on the verge of developing a "food issue" after my ex said I was getting fat. My parents and friends were worried, and it was with their support that I was fine.

If we are honest with ourselves ladies, we really don't want to see models over a US four (UK eight) on the catwalk. Would you buy makeup advertised by an ugly person.? I certainly don't want to see "real women" (what the fuck is that anyway) and I am a US 10, (UK 14) and quite happy with my size. Of course, there are some areas that I would like to firm up, but I am not bothered about losing weight. I exercise and try not to overeat because I need energy to run after my son! I would not want to buy clothes modelled by someone who looks like me, because when I pick up a magazine, I am buying into the fantasy; that by purchasing this makeup or that dress modelled by an extraordinary creature, I am getting a bit of glamour trickled on to me. I feel like that when I spray myself with Marc Jacobs. I can't afford the clothes, but I have a little something designer.

One thing that gets me, in this whole size zero debate is the "real women have curves." Really? My mother, who is currently a US 4 (UK 8) is a real woman. I don't think the woman has ever seen a double digit in a US size other than pregnancy, and I can't be too sure about that. My mother eats as much butter, cream and full-fat milk you can cram down her little body, being a pastry chef and all. She is 55, 5'6 and sinewy. She is just naturally thin, and my older sister is the same. I work with two naturally thin and petite women. One has had three children, and is absolutely teeny. She has tiny features, but she is slim and healthy. She eats well and runs marathons; something I am sure a malnourished person can't do. The other woman is also very small boned, but fit and healthy. I find it very insulting to these women and my mother when people say real women have curves. It sounds like fat girls trying to get their own back because some of these "curvy," "voluptuous" women that are railing against the skinnies are in fact, fat.

It is also insulting to teenage girls that people think they see models in magazines and starve themselves or start sticking their fingers down their throats. If teenage girls are starving themselves en masse (and with obesity on the rise, I doubt it,) they are more likely doing it because their friends are doing it. If anything, they are copying assholes like Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, the Olsen twins and Nicole Richie. When I smoked, it wasn't because of Kate Moss, Kurt Cobain or Mary J Blige (they were my idols as a teen,) it was because my sorority sisters and other friends smoked. I was 22 at the time and far from an impressionable kid.

Banning size zero models is absurd and ludicrous. Should there be a movement to include short people on the runway? A model is paid to sashay down a runway and let people see how great the designer is. Folks at fashion shows want to see the lines, structure, how the fabric drapes and how it moves. Men and women that model are not representative of real people. They are taller than average, have gangly bodies and sometimes look plain weird. Like pro-athletes have unbelievable endurance and strength, models have bodies that are created for that purpose.

I am not so stupid to believe that no models have eating disorders. But, instead of focusing on what a model is or isn't eating, can we get to grips with some real issues? Isn't there a war on or something?

Welcome

I am 5 months away from turning 30, and like most people my age, I am so self-absorbed that all I can seem to do is obsess about this "milestone." So, I have decided to write a blog. It really isn't about turning 30; I mean, it happens.

This blog is about stuff I like-- fashion, makeup, some news stuff and music. So enjoy.