Ladies - is your full closet plus your empty wallet bringing you down? Get rid of the old, bring in the new with the 142nd Diva Eve Clothing Swap.

The event is $20 if you pre-register, and for that amount, you can exchange your old but yet still cool and clean clothes for someone else’s. You also get yummy snacks and spa treatments, and a night of mingling with other fashioable but frugel women. All clothes not taken go to La Casa De Las Madres, an anti-domestic violence group in San Francisco.

Guys, you can go for the first bit - the cocktail/spa portion from 7pm on - but the clothing swap is women only, in a separate room.

So, in addition to getting a sack of new-to-you clothes and a belly full of delicious treats, you get a tax write off and the feeling of doing good for your community. Fashion Conscious Ladies, what else do you need?

I think I am going to go - though honestly, I am kind of embarassed by the clothes I have right now, even for a swap. But maybe I’m just looking at them with weary eyes.

I found an article on the Associated Press that I wanted to share with you all, on the subject of changing the average size of clothing for women.

Quoting from this article,

The project is Spain’s latest effort to fight the perception that thin equals beautiful — a belief widely blamed for encouraging eating disorders.

Spain, a long time fashion leader, is seeking to make clothes for Real Women. Supported by the Fashion Ministry of Spain, the movement is intended to promote healthy body images for women, by targeting one of the strongest roots of the problem. Clothing chains have agreed to participate in the size standardizing, stores have agreed to stop using mannequins below size 8 US (size 38 EU), and the government sponsored a high tech study on over 10,000 women. The study used lasers tocreate 3D maps the participants’ bodies. This allows a designer to get an idea of the real tendencies of women’s bodies.

I congratulate Spain for taking the lead on this issue. From ultra thin models who clearly are experiencing eating difficulties to women like me who have NO difficulty eating, but difficulty finding clothes to fit, this is a move that will help to make clothes and people FIT! I feel like I am somewhat of an average sized woman but trying on some of these clothes, you’d think I was the sister of Andre the Giant.

I look forward to seeing clothes from Spain that will ahve 3 measurements - bust, waist, hips, and for those measurements to extend as far as the measurements I have.

At Mark’s annual Post-Holiday Blues party last Saturday, I got to play dress up a little - Harkening back to the “Which Overpass is this Party Supposed to Be Under?” days, I found some pants that fit at the waist but then just….kept….getting…wider…and…wider until the cuffs were about 50 inches per leg:

Also note the glowstick.

My brother lives in San Diego, and he is a LOT cooler than me. It didn’t start out that way, but as it sometimes goes, the younger sibling takes the good traits of the older one, and expands.

My brother has expanded to San Diego, where he is in touch with all the galleries, community events and new boutiques. He keyed me in to one, Kate Ross, a boutique for men and women carrying brands such as Hobo, Brown Sound, Dita, and Friend or Foe. He says this about Kate Ross:

This is a store in my neighborhood. She just opened another - a shoe store and home store with my friend who is an artist - Amy Paul - beautiful stuff. They had their grand opening last night - very cool. DJ, bar, lots of people.

I had been helping all week to get the store ready. We put in this awesome stair case

Did I mention my brother can build things like staircases?

Anyway, if you like clothes and you live in San Diego, Kate Ross is a boutique worth looking into. It isn’t too late to be the first of your friends to go there!

ShanaLogic, the popular online indie gift store, is a favorite of mine. I’ve been a fan since it was only the shop on pixelgirlpresents - in fact, you can find a testimonial from me on that site if you look a little. PixelGirlPresents is site to find icons, desktop wallpaper if you are into mega-cute. ShanaLogic, also presented by Shana Victor (double bonus for sharing my name and triple bonus for spelling it the same), is a shop selling cutie cutie cutie jewelry, accessories, original art, toys, etc. Below are some pictures of sample items from their selection. Some items shown *may* be sold out.

Metro•Pop is a fashion magazine that I have really come to like. Not as industrialized as Vogue or Lucky, not as crappy as the millions of crappy zines out there, Metro•Pop strikes just the right balance, showing me the street style fashions that are really out there, on models that COULD be people I know. I don’t know them, but it isn’t totally out of the realm of possibility.

They give a lot of emphasis to fashion photography, and graphic design. They have many pages devoted to several photographers, in the same way that Vogue will do, but the photography is much younger, much more based on street style. The cover of the magazine is always stunning and intriguing, sometimes, like their recent shoe issue, they opt for abstract design rather than a hot woman. Sometimes the hot woman, too.

My only complaint: They don’t publish a date on their issues so you have no idea when the issue is from if you happen to pick it up somewhere.

Stylastic.com, a social media site about seeing street style and looking at trends, has been reviewed on KillerStartups.com. Check out Stylastic here and then vote for them here. As of this post, they are in 4th place and need about 40 votes to get to the top!

Are you at this point asking yourself, is “Looking Fly” affiliated in any way with Stylastic? The answer is Yes. I am one of the owners of Stylastic. But even if I am a little biased doesn’t mean Stylastic isn’t awesome. Check it out for yourself and the vote!