So many things wrong with the world are expressed in this Wall Street Journal article, on so many levels, that Francesca hardly knows where to start:

I’ve spent months asking people in the fashion industry why large sizes are so rare. Designer Elie Tahari explained last year that it’s expensive to offer bigger sizes, which require more fabric, as well as special patterns and a separate “fit” model, a model whose standard proportions are used to fit the clothes.

Mr. Tadashi, however, says large women are willing to pay extra for designer duds. His queen-size dresses retail for roughly $350 to $800, about 10% to 15% more than his standard sizes.

Perhaps more important, fashion-industry people are often fixated on their own ideals of beauty. Many designers just don’t want to see their clothes on big people — and many stores are complicit, displaying tiny sizes and keeping larger ones in back. Paige Adams-Geller, a former fit model for many high-end jeans manufacturers, told me in March that she urged designers to consider how their clothes would look on a woman who wore, for instance, a size 10.

“And the designer would say, ‘Well, I don’t want someone who is that size,’ ” she said, “ ’They shouldn’t be wearing my brand.’ ” Ms. Adams-Geller turned that into a profitable business, Paige Premium Denim, selling jeans for up to size 28 — or “4X.” “I’m like, there’s a lot of people out there that size with money to spend,” she said.

Let’s see. We have the fact that designers don’t want women like us wearing their clothes. But we knew that. It is bigoted and disgusting, but we knew about it.

We have the fact that large women often pay extra for their clothes, even though the proportions of the fit model, etc are often arbitrary; who decided that one body shape is normal and another is not? But we knew that.

We have the fact (later in the article) that “shoes and handbags” are the only items easy to fit to larger women. But boy, did we know that!

There is the implication (later in the article) that plus-size models actually do things like eat and smile during photo shoot breaks, making Francesca worry even more about the emotional and physical state of “normal” models.

There is the good news that some designers are seeing the $$$$ opportunities and making clothes for NORMAL PEOPLE LIKE US.

Francesca is grateful that the reporter, Christina Binkley, did not show any overt anti-fat sentiment in her writing. In general the article is respectful of the needs of women, and recognizes that MOST women are not being served by the fashion industry.

But it will be a much better world when even generally respectful people do not report that “gathers called ruching, darts and shutter pleats coyly masking all manner of flaws.”

Francesca knows it is a utopic dream, but would it not be wonderful if belly rolls, lumps, etc were considered simply “body shapes” and not “flaws”?

::sigh.::

(Hat tip: Thanks to our friend Nancy for sending us the link.)

 We have a winner of the very first Battle of the Monday Moon Boots! There was some powerful lobbying from the Zanotti camp, BUT the rabbit fur Taryn Rose came out on top.

Delightful reader Rabrab explains:

I think that the Taryn Rose boots are worse; at least GZ committed wholeheartedly to the absurdity that are fur moonboots. To successfully wear absurd clothing or shoes requires one attribute above all: commitment. If you’re going to do yeti-feet, then by ghod do yeti-feet, don’t do a timid approach to yeti-feet.

Taryn’s look like she really was trying to make a nice pair of winter boots (and didn’t realize how odd they came out.) GZ’s are just over-the-top, don’t-even-pretend-you’re-wearing-these-seriously bizarre. The GZ’s make me laugh; the Taryn’s make me cringe.

Congratuations Taryn! You are now the first winner of the um, Ferby Gallini Uggo Shooz Award!   We look forward to seeing you in future events.

It’s Monday and even though it’s not raining, it feels like it should be. I spent yesterday nobly stopping myself from stabbing in the face each and every of the multitude of mouth breathers who said “hey! Whaddya think of this cool weather?”

It’s not cool.

It’s 90 degrees and I think I want to drown you in an 80 gallon drum of red-eye gravy.

Granted, 90 degrees is cooler than 100 degrees, but it is not actually cool. It will never be cool again, and I’m just going to have to line my spare bedroom with tarp and pour 50 kilos of baby powder on the floor so I can roll around in it like pig, resigned to a life of thigh chafing and make-up melting misery.

Bah. What we need is a good old-fashioned Battle of the Monday Moon Boots. Granted, these aren’t technically moon boots, but they’re big and ugly and they’re guaranteed to make your feet smell like that guy at the falafel cart whose shirt sticks out a good inch and a half off his body, nestled on a thick pillow of back hair.

First I give you Guiseppe Zanotti’s offering. G.Zot makes some of the world’s most spectacularly bad and expensive footwear. These are pretty darn great. You’ve got your 1970′s Gucci belt up top, your grandma’s Haband e-z comfort winter slippers at the bottom and in between it is nothing but sweet, sweet virgin yeti.

BUT are they better than these uggos by Taryn Rose, who also makes almost profoundly fug footwear?

Friends, we aren’t just looking at ugly and expensive almost-moon boots. We’re looking at ugly and expensive RABBIT FUR moon boots. That’s right, rabbit fur. When I was in 4th grade Alana Eidelmann had this GIANT rabbit fur bomber jacket and I just thought it was the most fabulous thing EVER and I complained and complained about how UNFAIR it was that I didn’t have one until my grandmother took time out of her busy schedule of chain smoking to tell me that little girls who wore rabbit fur grew up with round heels. I thought that meant she got rollerskates, too.

You’ll be gratified to know that both of these monstrosities retailed for WELL over a thousand dollars each, but you can get them on significant sale at Zappos.com. Imagine that.

I’m having so much fun reading about everyone’s favorite version of the PB&J that I’ve decided to ask you all about another burning culinary question. Opinion is often just as divided and just as firm on this one: the chocolate chip cookie.

Homemade or commercial? Crisp or chewy? Nuts or no? Do you like a touch of mocha? Or is any flavoring beyond the chips and a touch of vanilla too much? Served with milk? Coffee? Something stronger? Sans liquid?

For my part, I like my chocolate chip cookies chewy and as fresh from the oven as possible. I’m sure it will be no surprise to any of you that I make them for myself. I’m a big fan of nuts – hazel, if I can get them, but walnuts and pecans are also favorites – and I love to play with spices. A touch of coffee or a dash of cinnamon is always welcome to me. Ginger and cloves are also favorites of mine. It’s a matter of mood and what I’ve got on hand in the spice rack when I get inspired to start baking. Depending on what I’ve tossed into the dough this time, what the weather’s like, and my mood at the moment, I’ve been known to down: coffee, tea, juice, or ginger beer with my cookies.

So what about the rest of you? What’s your perfect chocolate chip cookie?

As a side note to this week’s Big Question, several of us have weighed in on what constitutes the best peanut butter. Some will touch only Jif. Others want nothing but ground peanuts. One commented on the correct form of peanut butter with homemade jelly in making that culinary delight known as the PB&J, or peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

In recent weeks, I have rediscovered this childhood staple. A couple weeks ago I was contemplating what to have for lunch when a little voice in my head reminded me I had all the makings of a PB&J on hand. For no particular reason I can think of, I hadn’t had one in several years and it suddenly sounded so good I nearly ran to the kitchen to create one.

Since that day, I’ve had at least half a dozen PB&J sandwiches. I do that, sometimes. I get really into one food and eat it quite a bit for several weeks. Then it drops off my radar and I don’t eat it at all for a while.

Anyway, I have found that for me this is what constitutes the perfect PB&J:

- I want chewy bread with flavor of its own. Whole wheat or something involving nuts is a plus. Sourdough will definitely do in a pinch. Rye, however, is not good for the purpose no matter how much I like it in a meat-based sandwich.

- Crusts are good.

- Peanut butter is ground peanuts with a little salt. That is all.

- I prefer jam or preserves over jelly because I like the texture better. If I have apricot preserves on hand, that’s best. Strawberry or raspberry is also good. I have no truck with grape jelly.

- PB&J tastes better when cut into triangles.

Of course, I know that several of you are by now utterly horrified at my creation. So I’m curious, what is your perfect PB&J? I’d love to hear how it differs from mine.

“Daelyn” by Taryn Rose – 38% off

“Allaglow” by Stuart Weitzman – 35% off

“Dudley” by Bruno Magli – 36% off

“Alleyway” by Stuart Weitzman – 28% off

Happy weekend!

xoxo,

Francesca

Our internet friend CJ wrote:

I have read your FABULOUS post from last August aiding the law student looking for a conservative suit.  I’m in the same spot, but now Talbots has no navy suits for me!  I’d love a navy suit, in size 18/ 16W (or so), preferably with a skirt and pants option.  I do not want pinstripes!  The skirt must be long enough and the jacket short enough to be traditional.  I’d even be willing to have a peplum on the jacket or a flounce on the skirt.  However, it must not stand out.

I’m in the northwest, so I might have more options than someone looking in New York.  However, there are less stores.  In fact, I have been incredibly disappointed with Nordstrom and Macy’s- the first places I went looking.  And Lane Bryant has a jacket, but no bottoms in Navy (Why? so close!).

In response to CJ’s cry for help, Francesca looked high and low for an appropriate interview suit and discovered that CJ is not crazy, as CJ had feared, but rather she is corrrect: Finding a Navy, summer/fall interview suit in size 16/18 is not easy right now.

There are wool suits available, which Francesca may discuss in September or October, but CJ must needs to find a job now, in the August weather, and wool would Not Be Good.

Dear readers! Especially those in the superfantastic Northwest! Do you have any secret sources of interview clothing which might help CJ?

Francesca is truly good and stumped. Perhaps collectively we can help our Big Sister get a great job!