Source: WENN

Did you know that even the big named Victoria’s Secret models have to audition for a spot in the annual VS Fashion Show each year? Neither did we, but that’s what popular lingerie model Selita Ebanks revealed to New York Magazine’s The Cut before announcing her unofficial retirement. She shared some not so pleasant aspects of the job with the fashion blog during the UNICEF Snowflake Ball, saying:

“You have to show up in your panties, and you have to walk and be pleasant and say hi to everyone and hope that you’ve still got it.

“I didn’t make it. Go figure,” she expressed laughing and noting that she didn’t intend on trying out again next year. “I’ve done, what, five, six shows? I’ve experienced my V.S. days.”

She has a point, she has done her share of shows, and moving on is not always a bad thing. Honestly, having to audition for the same show year after year  does seem pretty draining.

The Victoria’s Secret Angel title is generally an annual gig where the models chosen strut in the annual fashion show, pose in the catalog, and attend V.S. promotional events throughout the year. While Selita’s retirement doesn’t look like it was a voluntary one, she does appear to be in good spirits and taking it really well unlike some divas who would throw public tantrums and talk about all they’ve done for XYZ company or even lie about being cut. The 29-year-old beauty seems to be  thankful for having had the opportunity and graciously moving on, which is a lesson many in the fashion and entertainment industry have yet to master.

We’re excited to see what Selita will be working on next as we’re pretty sure the swimsuit designer won’t be sitting around on the couch twiddling her thumbs or spending all day hanging out poolside with her boyfriend Terrence J now that she’s turned in her angel wings. We shall see.

What do you think of Selita’s departure? Do you think it’s for good?

Jazmine Denise is a writer living in New York. Follow her on Twitter @jazminedenise

Image: Chron.com

Tropical storm Isaac is making its way across the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to hit from the far western part of the Florida Panhandle to New Orleans, which is remembering the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Katrina tomorrow. By the time it reaches land, Isaac is expected to be a category one hurricane. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida are all preparing, with states of emergency declared. Oil production has been trimmed by 25 percent in the Gulf and natural gas production by eight percent. Oil prices have increased as a result.

Tropical storm Isaac has already wreaked havoc on the Republican National Convention, which has postponed all but today’s banging of the gavel to open the event. RNC chairman Reince Priebus (who got his you-know-what handed to him this morning by Chris Matthews on Morning Joe over Mitt Romney’s awful birther joke on Friday) says he believes the storm is an important story to follow, but stands by the Republican message and its ability to get out to a distracted public. Separately, Romney spoke with Politico about how he would govern, saying BET’s CEO Debra Lee is a model, but couldn’t remember her name. Yikes.

The Expendables took the top spot over the weak box-office weekend. The lull is “typical” for this time of year, says Bloomberg, but the low returns were exacerbated by the lack of a surprise blockbuster. The one surprise the weekend offered was the success of an anti-Obama documentary, 2016: Obama’s America, which has been out for a couple of months but just went into wide release. It beat the new horror flick, The Apparition, and nearly beat out the new Joseph Gordon-Levitt bike messenger movie Premium Rush.

Victoria’s Secret is being sued for $15 million by hosiery maker Zephyr’s for featuring photos of the company’s product on Victoria’s Secret packaging, but selling cheap knock-offs.

The first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, died over the weekend at the age of 82. He succumbed to complications following heart bypass surgery. He walked on the moon on July 20, 1969.

Source: Phillyitgirls.com

I’m feeling like this is the year of Bey, not that every other year before this hasn’t pretty much been hers too, but she just picked up three more titles on top of People’s “Most Beautiful Woman in the World,” that definitely prove why she has a right to that “Ego” she told us about.

Forbes has placed Beyonce as one of the 20 Most Powerful Mom’s in the World—yes world. She comes in behind mothers like Hilary Clinton but she’s still in a pretty good place at number 14.  On top of being recognized by Forbes, Working Mother magazine also named Bey one of its 10 most powerful moms of 2012, joining the ranks of Angelina Jolie and some political nobles from the Forbes list as well.

And as if power wasn’t enough, everyone, including Victoria’s Secret, is still reveling in the post-baby body that Bey has been showcasing lately because the lingerie company just added her to their “What Is S[w]exy list,” meaning Beyonce definitely is. Who knew becoming a mother could do all that for you?

I have a feeling Bey is going to be riding pretty high for her (don’t call it a) comeback concert memorial day weekend. Motherhood is making her even bigger than she was before.

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Source: blackisblack.ca

When I was younger, I once told my friends I wouldn’t change the way I dressed. I exclaimed, “I’m gonna rock Pepe all the time.” Thank goodness I grew up. Part of fashion is growth and exploring different styles, but what happens when we reverse the cycle? We have moms who hide in the clearance section in Forever 21 and at Pink in Victoria’s Secret, and fifteen year olds who shop at Cato. The reversal is both ways and here are a few ways to help you step your style up and still look age appropriate.

• Don’t look for size, look for fit: When you normally go shopping, you’re probably looking for something your size. Take into consideration that different brands run either smaller, true to size or larger. It all depends on the demographic that they’re catering to. For instance, H&M blouses run small along with PacSun clothes (every time I’m in those stores I always see older women shopping).  Also, many brands are going for the “bigger is better” look right now, selling blouses and tunics that are meant to be worn loosely, so it really doesn’t matter what size you get because they’re all going to be big! Before you assume something is too big or too small for you, it doesn’t hurt to make a date with the dressing room first to get a dose of reality.

• Realize that you’re getting older: This isn’t a slap in the face, just a little reminder that you aren’t 17 anymore. The things you wore in your heyday won’t explain the life you live today. Once you see that, you will start to explore different types of clothes and styles.  Remember, just because those Real Housewives of Whatever wear those skin-tight party dresses, that doesn’t mean you should. In fact, they have editors, producers, and really good makeup artists to hide what they’re really looking like, so don’t make a fool of yourself.

• Buy for quality, not for quantity: We all love a good bargain, but sometimes we have to spend a little more to get longevity in our clothes. Also, most of the clothes seen on the clearance racks are either out of season or just extra stuff that just didn’t sell. There is always a reason it’s there. So just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean that it’s something you have to add to your collection of clothing. Sales in department stores happen almost every other weekend, so sign up for email alerts and get apps like Mobo, Weekly Ads and Sales, or your favorite retailer’s applications so that you can get things that are made better and look better for less.

• Ignore Fashion Trends: The best thing you can do to avoid being that mom at parent-teacher conferences in sequins and skinny jeans is to ignore fashion trends. I know this sounds cliché, but it’s the truth! We wear what we want to express ourselves and that’s just spiffy, but when you follow a trend you’re not expressing how you feel, but how everyone feels. Plus, spending money on what’s cute right now but might go out of style a few months from now is not really a good look for your style, or your wallet, is it?

All in all, you can do whatever you want. Just because you get older doesn’t mean you have to put on turtlenecks and start searching for orthopedic shoes, but dressing like a teenager in a Justin Bieber video or overdressing to look older isn’t all that good of an idea. Don’t be afraid to grow up and step up your style.

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Every time Easter comes around I begin to search for accessories and apparel that mimic the colors of bright Easter eggs and beautiful Spring flowers. One of my favorite hues is lilac or what some may call purple/lavender. Plus, since pastel colors are once again in this season it makes adding them to your wardrobe that much easier.

Since Easter is just around the corner, I decided to share some of my pretty purple picks….

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It’s not every day that a girl get’s the chance to become a Victoria Secret model, but Kylie Bisutti, a model in one of the lingerie brands most coveted positions—an angel—recently walked away from it all to honor her husband and her commitment to God.

Kylie won Victoria Secret’s model search in 2009 at the age of 19, and although she enjoyed the perks that came along with the job, she said she started to feel torn spiritually.

“Victoria’s Secret was my absolutely biggest goal in life, and it was all I ever wanted career-wise,” she told FOX411’s Pop Tarts. I actually loved it while I was there, it was so much fun and I had a blast. But the more I was modeling lingerie, and lingerie isn’t clothing, I just started becoming more uncomfortable with it because of my faith…

“I’m Christian, and reading the Bible more, I was becoming more convicted about it.”

Kylie’s marriage was also a big part of her decision to leave the brand. She got married right before winning the model search nearly three years ago, and said didn’t feel comfortable posing for men’s magazines and baring her body for other people.

“My body should only be for my husband and it’s just a sacred thing,” she said. “I didn’t really want to be that kind of role model for younger girls because I had a lot of younger Christian girls that were looking up to me and then thinking that it was okay for them to walk around and show their bodies in lingerie to guys.

“It was pretty crazy because I finally achieved my biggest dream, the dream that I always wanted, but when I finally got it, it wasn’t all that I thought it would be. Especially being married I just wanted to keep my marriage sacred because divorce rates now in America are pretty high, and I just want to do everything I can to keep my marriage special.”

“It is a very hard industry to be in without falling into things you don’t want to do,” she said. “I’ve fallen into many things that I wouldn’t have wanted to do, it’s a very tempting industry.”

Victoria’s Secret has long stood as the brand for Hot, alluring and must-have lingerie. Its parent company, Limited Brands, was named “The Most Admired Specialty-Apparel Retailer” by Fortune Magazine last year. In addition, Limited Brands reported a 27 percent increase in earnings last quarter, thanks to the lingerie brand. With 90,000 employees, thousands of stores nationwide, the Columbus-based brand has managed to stay on top and avoid a potentially damaging scandal. But how? CNNMoney gives the details.

First, Victoria’s Secret owes its success to its annual over-the-top event, Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. The televised fashion show costs $12 million to put on and attracts worldwide attention. Last year in November, the show drew over 10 million viewers to CBS boosting the channel’s ratings and featured celebrities Kanye West and Jay Z.

Secondly, Victoria’s Secret has mastered the art of re-invention. Customers can’t seem to get enough of its “Miraculous Bra,” the best seller that adds two sizes to its wearer. The company has been able to capitalize on its success by using the same colors and patterns of the best-selling bra for its non-push up bra styles, adding a boost to their sale as well.

Thirdly, what sticks out about the brand is its resiliency to controversy. When Bloomberg News put out a report claiming Victoria’s cotton came from a farm in Burkina Faso that used child labor, Limited Brands disputed the claim and has so far been able to avoid the negative press.

Lastly, Victoria Secret has been smart about international expansion. Keeping the pitfalls of overexpansion carefully in mind, the company opened several stores in London Heathrow Airport in 2004 and has monitored them for eight years before deciding on its current plans to establish one hundred more in the global market. This year, two Victoria’s Secret stores will launch in Britain, one in Kuwait and two in United Arab Emirates.

Victoria Secret’s fancy panties may be pretty and pink hanging in the store, but the process involved in making the product is ugly—starting at the root with child laborers in West Africa who are picking cotton to be made into nighties and other types of lingerie.

Bloomberg Markets recently conducted an in-depth investigation in west Africa to see how child laborers were being exploited under Fair Trade agreements.

What they found was that Victoria’s Secret made a deal to buy fair-trade and organic cotton from Burkina Faso in 2007 that would benefit the lives of the female farmers. The products from this agreement were rolled out just in time for Valentine’s Day 2009, and the special lingerie line was marketed as “pesticide-free, 100 percent rain-fed cotton. An accompanying booklet on the items read, “Good for women. Good for the children who depend on them.”

But Bloomberg’s report suggests anything but, describing the lives of child laborers like 13-year-old Clarisse Kambire whose work conditions of being physically abused and denied food cause her to have nightmares. All of Burkina Faso’s organic crop from last season was bought by Victoria’s Secret , and according to Georges Guebre, leader of the country’s organic and fair- trade program, the company is expected to get most of this season’s organic harvest as well.

Victoria’s Secret denies any knowledge of these conditions saying the report “describes behavior contrary to our company’s values and the code of labor and sourcing standards we require all of our suppliers to meet.” The company promises to investigate the claims and Fairtrade International, which certified the Burkina Faso cotton farms in the first place, says it will also revisit its certifications.

Do you shop at Victoria Secret? Will this knowledge keep you from buying products from there?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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By Brittany Hutson

Not very many men have a great deal of knowledge about a woman’s bra, but Richard A. Dent III admits that he knows more than any man probably needs to know. He knows all about cup sizes. He knows all of the different parts that go into the making of a bra. He knows what happens when lace is added to a bra. He knows when it’s appropriate for a woman to wear a strapless bra, push-up bra, demi bra or halter bra.

Mulling over details about women’s lingerie is nothing unusual for Dent. It is a fundamental element of his everyday conversation as the chief operating officer of Victoria’s Secret PINK, the billion-dollar loungewear brand that is under the umbrella of the $10 billion conglomerate, Limited Brands. Limited Brands is the parent company of some of retail’s popular brands in lingerie, beauty and personal care, including Victoria’s Secret and Bath and Body Works.

Today, Victoria’s Secret PINK stands as a top lifestyle brand targeting college girls, but seven years ago, PINK was the little cousin of Victoria’s Secret—a new sub-brand that was being tested in one store in Columbus, OH. For a young man who originally had plans to be a top executive in the automobile industry, being assigned the task of building a women’s brand was unexpected at first but it was the sort of opportunity that was befitting for the zealous professional.

The West Philadelphia native originally had other plans for his career. Growing up, he had aspirations of becoming a shooting guard for the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team. Though he spent a lot of time working on his skills, eventually, Dent acknowledged that a career in basketball wasn’t meant for him. “At some point I realized that I didn’t have the height nor the athletic ability to make that a reality,” he said.

It wasn’t until the summer of junior year in high school that Dent discovered that his passion was in business, not sports. For four weeks, he was a participant of the University of Michigan’s School of Business program called LEAD. The program selects African American, Hispanic and Native American high school students to participate in summer business institutes at graduate business schools, such as the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Tuck School at Dartmouth College. The schools immerse the participants in finance, marketing and entrepreneurship.

“What I liked about business was the notion of taking an idea, turning it into something and creating a demand for it,” he said. “Business in corporate America was intriguing to me. It’s different from say Wall Street where at the end of the day you haven’t really made anything but money.”

These are the pieces that we’re loving for the fall. You’ll find basics and a few trendy items, all under $100 each. How’s that for essential fashion?

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