Science With a Side of Politics
If you’ve eaten lunch in Lobdell or the Kendall Food Court in the past few weeks, the following pattern of conversation may seem familiar to you: as you’re catching up with a friend, you overhear the next table loudly debating the latest Sarah Palin scandal. Amused, your friend pulls up a video montage of Barack Obama’s most recent slip-ups and the two of you start laughing over the mudslinging going on in the press. Soon, you realize the next table has been sucked in, and by the end of lunch the whole room is going.
Dressing Your Body Figuring Out Fashion
Some of you have asked how come after following our column and using our hints, you haven’t come out of the deal looking any better. We were originally quite perplexed by this dilemma, but we finally realized the problem in our work so far: none of it really matters if you aren’t finding clothes that fit your body. We all have flaws and areas that we are self conscious about. Stylish clothes that accentuate those parts and make you feel uncomfortable will be no improvement on your current wardrobe. To figure out how to dress different body types, we took to the mall with a diverse crew to find some remedies …
Figuring Out Fashion
A couple days after last week’s column came out, we overheard a group of unsuspecting critics reading the article on Tech Shuttle and comparing thoughts. We were confronted with overheard questions like, “why would they include drinking a glass of water?” and “what the **** does exfoliating mean?” So, we duly apologize for not explaining ourselves thoroughly and hope to do so this week.
Summer Style
Summer is fast approaching, and with warm weather and no classes comes a new focus on fashion. Indeed, this is the perfect time to experiment with your own fashion sense, and get a better understanding of what trends, fits, and colors suit you. Although we’re excited to get started with this time of year, we wanted to warn you all to avoid some of the pitfalls that can keep you from feeling the full warmth of summer.
Happy Feet
There is one piece of attire that is so indispensable to our lives that we felt it was necessary to dedicate an entire week’s column to it: our shoes. Certainly, we aren’t encouraging everyone to buy the 400 pairs of shoes that would rival Carrie Bradshaw’s collection. However, after extensive investigation (meaning delirious hours spent in all sorts of shoe stores), we are sure that shoes contribute the most to style, posture, and unique self expression.
Figuring Out Fashion
With all the shopping we’ve done for Figuring Out Fashion, we found ourselves with a new trouble — waking up in the morning, staggering in a daze to get dressed, and finding so many choices, colors, and styles that we would just throw on the first thing we could see. We quickly realized we needed to simplify our morning routine by building a base of, well, basics. Comfortable clothes that always look put together without much effort. Here’s the list we came up with:
Couture 101 Figuring Out Fashion
When most people think of fashion, they don’t picture this column or the average trip to the mall. Instead, they think of the glamorous world of couture, replete with catwalks and coat hanger-thin models, wearing outrageously impractical creations and strutting among crowds of high-brow socialites. Though this world exists, it has not been the focus of this column, as it is a world none of us will likely ever inhabit. What goes on there, however, does have a direct impact on the clothes we wear. So we decided to take a peek into that world to see why people care at all about designers, fashion shows, and the trends they bring.
Figuring Out Fashion
We here at Figuring Out Fashion know how hard mornings can be. Mornings are a time for the ring of a monotonous alarm clock, grumbling showers, and the unpleasant jolt of cold air in our faces upon leaving our dorms. Dragging ourselves to class is far from an easy task, and when combined with brushing teeth and eating breakfast, the challenges of the typical morning seem insurmountable. Most mornings, the last thing on our minds is fashion. Yet, we found it was no coincidence that the mornings we dressed well and felt good about ourselves led to our best days. In the interests of our own future happiness and that of our audience, we’ve collected a set of morning tips from our most stylish friends and acquaintances. The plan? Doing just one of these every day to make our lives more positive and fashionable.
Figuring out Fashion
As spring semester kicks off, long hours in freezing classrooms and psets galore are bringing us back to earth after the good times of IAP. We all would love to show off the fruits of our holiday bargain shopping, but the cold is forcing us to cover up with the usual MIT sweatshirts and baggy sweatpants. Isn’t it frustrating that cute, affordable clothes in the winter seem to come only in short sleeves?
Figuring Out Fashion
It’s Valentine’s Day! People are in love, chocolate boxes line the streets, and all you see is pink and red (not that we’re complaining). Yet, it isn’t all fun and games. For many of us not so caught up in the rush, this is a dreaded time filled with forced reflection on both single-hood and the dreary rut of longtime couple-dom. So how can we here at Figuring out Fashion be of any help? Well, there’s really only one way to cure the V-day blues — a makeover! After doing some exploring, we came up with an affordable plan to reinvent your look and spirit this weekend.
Students Learn to Be ‘Charming’
MIT’s Charm School is a sight to behold. Students sit around tables set with plates and wine glasses, laying napkins in their laps, and clusters of young men (and some women) cram around a small mirror, untying and retying bow ties. Charm School students have a variety of classes to choose from and have the option of graduating with a BCh (bachelors in charm), MCh (masters in charm), or even a ChD (doctorate in charm); all graduates will be well-equipped to deal with most common social situations.