Professional Bureau: 2014

VOCABULARY

1. flagship: (adj):
topline, premium, prime, leading, champion, best, top.

2. Young Turk (n):
a. Young progressive or insurgent member of an institution, movement, or political party.
b. Young person who rebels against authority or societal expectations.

3. latch (n):
fastening, catch, fastener, clasp, lock. (v) fasten, secure, make fast, lock.

4. break down (v):
analyze,categorize, classify, sort out, itemize, organize; dissect.

5. sleazy (adj):
corrupt, immoral, unsavory, disreputable; informal shady, sleazoid.

6. wretched (adj):
miserable, unhappy, sad, heartbroken, grief-stricken, sorrowful, sorry for oneself, distressed, desolate, devastated, despairing, disconsolate, downcast, dejected, crestfallen, cheerless, depressed, melancholy, morose, gloomy, mournful, doleful, dismal, forlorn, woebegone; informal blue; literary dolorous.

7. knuckle dragger (n):
reminiscent of the hunched over cave man, with his arms to the ground. An insult used against those of extremely low intelligence, or general stupidity.

CONTEXT
VIDEO:

'SKINNY' MODEL FILIPPA HAMILTON - "I WAS FIRED FOR BEING TOO FAT".

TYT Network is a Multi-Channel Network of online video talk shows, consisting mostly of TYT owned-and-operated shows and a select group of outside partners.

The network generates over 68 million views per month. The flagship program in the network is The Young Turks, hosted by Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, with 1.3 billion views and 38 million views per month by itself.

The Young Turks is the largest online news show in the world, covering politics, economics, pop culture, social trends and lifestyle.

The TYT Network includes the Townsquare channel, which is funded by YouTube as part of the original programming initiative. The feature show on Townsquare is The Point, a successful, long-form issues discussion show.

The YouTube channel Pop Cultured features Pop Trigger, billed as “a smart show about dumb stuff”, such as celebrity gossip and pop culture stories and controversies.

AWARDS:

2013 Peoples’ Voice Webby Award Best News and Information Show
2012 Podcast Awards Best Video Podcast
The 2011 People’s Voice Webby Award for Best News and Politics Series
2011 News/Politics Shorty Award
Best Political Podcast 2009 at the Podcast Awards
Best Political News Site 2009 at the Mashable Awards

"The summer travel issue of T, the Times's luxury magazine that was included in this Sunday's paper, drew some reader criticism, public editor Margaret Sullivan noted today in a blog post."

New York Times readers are angry about a rail-thin model gracing the cover of the paper's "T Magazine." Is it strange that people would latch onto this model, of all the very-thin models in the fashion industry? Did the editor respond poorly? Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian break it down.

VIDEO:

NEW YORK TIMES READERS ANGRY OVER TOO THIN MODEL.

Last week, we did a story on The New York Times' choice to put a thin model on the cover of its "T Magazine" and the response it received from the Times' readership.

To which the cover model Julia Nobis' father, Eddy Nobis, responded with an open letter. What does Cenk have to say in response?

He discusses the story with co-host, Ana Kasparian.

WRITING PRACTICE:

What is your opinion on Fashion Industry? Are they a kind of threat to society? Is there anything we, as society, could do? Do you see anything different happening in the next few years?

State your opinion in at least three paragraphs, containing: Introduction (with Thesis Statement) and a Body (with Main Reason, Supporting Ideas and Conclusion).

BONUS VIDEO MATERIAL

Let’s read the vocabulary before reading the article.

VOCABULARY

1. heads-up informal noun:

an advance warning of something: the heads-up came just in time to stop the tanks from launching the final assault."

2. squelch:

informal forcefully silence or suppress: property developers tried to squelch public protest.

3. ignite | verb:

catch fire or cause to catch fire: [ no obj. ] : furniture can give off lethal fumes when it ignites | [with obj.] : sparks flew out and ignited the dry scrub.

4. frenzy | noun (pl. frenzies) [ usu. in sing. ]:

a state or period of uncontrolled excitement or wild behavior: Doreen worked herself into a frenzy of rage.

5. ire noun:

anger, rage, fury, wrath, outrage, temper, crossness, spleen; annoyance, exasperation, irritation, displeasure, indignation, vexation, chagrin, pique; literary choler.

6. 5ft 11in (5 feet 11 inches) = 1,80 cm / US size 10 = UK size 14 = Brazil 44.5 cm / 75 pounds = 34 kgs / 110 pounds = 50 kgs "

7. co-opt | verb [ with obj. ]:

appoint to membership of a committee or other body by invitation of the existing members.
• divert to or use in a role different from the usual or original one: social scientists were co-opted to work with the development agencies."• adopt (an idea or policy) for one's own use: the green parties have had most of their ideas co-opted by bigger parties.

8. mainstream | noun:

the ideas, attitudes, or activities that are regarded as normal or conventional; the dominant trend in opinion, fashion, or the arts: companies that are bringing computers to the mainstream of American life.

9. burgeon verb:

flourish, thrive, prosper, improve, develop; expand, escalate, swell, grow, boom, mushroom, snowball, rocket.

10. gimmick noun:

the trivia contest was a gimmick to sell more newspapers: publicity stunt, contrivance, scheme, stratagem, ploy; informal shtick.

11. ploy noun: ruse, tactic, move, device, stratagem, scheme, trick, gambit, plan, maneuver, dodge, subterfuge, wile.

12. outreach noun:

the extent or length of reaching out, an organization's involvement with or activity in the community, esp. in the context of social welfare: her goal is to increase educational outreach | [ as modifier ]

13. thinspiration (thin + inspiration)

a) a person’s thinspiration is usually an image or photograph, but can be oner things like: lyrics, quotes, sayings, etc" b) an inspiration to be thin

14. ubiquitous | adjective:

present, appearing, or found everywhere: his ubiquitous influence was felt by all the family | cowboy hats are ubiquitous among the male singers.

15. full-fledged | adjective:

completely developed or established; of full status: cold-like symptoms that never quite develop into full-fledged colds.

16. No pun intended:

The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play that suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect.

MEET FORD MODEL AND PERFORMANCE ARTIST MYLA DALBESIO: IS SHE THE NEXT CRYSTAL RENN?

"I feel like I should be asking you about yourself!" 24-year- old model Myla Dalbesio says to me mid-interview over sugar snap peas at The Smile on Bond St. Dalbesio is a rising star on Ford's illustrious plus board (that's the same board that reps Crystal Renn, Candice Huffine and Marquita Pring). When she walked into Ford, Gary Dakin, who heads up the plus board there, proclaimed her the next Crystal Renn. But as you can gather from her guilt over the necessary one- sidedness of an interview, the industry she's worked in for the past four years hasn't squelched her earnest midwestern niceness. But don't think that this gorgeous model, who you'll be seeing in a Dazed and Confused spread soon, is all sugary sweetness. Or that she's just a model.

http://fashionista.com/

Calvin Klein ads featuring 'plus size' model Myla Dalbesio ignite online debate.

When Myla Dalbesio heard she had been booked for Calvin Klein’s new underwear campaign, she cried. “It was such a surreal moment,” the 27-year-old model said of the campaign, which also features Jourdan Dunn and Lara Stone. It is by far Dalbesio’s most high-profile gig to date."
But Dalbesio’s appearance in the campaign – under the tagline Perfectly Fit – sparked a frenzy on social media. The cause? Dalbesio is, technically speaking, a plus-size model. “Genuine WTF moment,” wrote one Twitter user. “Plus-size??? I must be extra plus plus,” wrote another. Some directed their ire at Calvin Klein, despite the American brand never alluding to the model’s size, and simply placing her alongside the “straight size” models – as they’re described in the fashion industry – without comment."

“It’s kind of confusing because I’m a bigger girl,” Dalbesio told E ll e about her work with Calvin Klein. “I’m not the biggest girl on the market but I’m definitely bigger than all the girls [Calvin Klein] has ever worked with, so that is really intimidating.”
“It’s not like [Calvin Klein] released this campaign and were like, ‘Whoa, look, there’s this plus-size girl in our campaign,” she continued. “They released me in this campaign with everyone else; there’s no distinction. It’s not a separate section for plus-size girls.”

At 5ft 11in and a US size 10 (approximately a UK size 14), Dalbesio is indeed a plus-size model – agencies specialising in plus-size models begin at a UK size 12 for women. Dalbesio describes herself as “in between”, in terms of size."
Plus-size as a concept has been co-opted – albeit sporadically – by the mainstream fashion industry in recent years. The fits and starts that the fashion industry has made towards diversity have included Vogue Paris ran a plus-size edition (edited by Penelope Cruz) in 2010, and models such as Crystal Renn, Kate Dillon and Robyn Lawley have all featured in either mainstream campaigns, cover shoots or catwalks. "
Plus-size clothing is itself a burgeoning market; sales of size 14- plus clothes exceeded $16bn in the US in 2013, according to Forbes."
But the key difference with Dalbesio’s appearance in the Calvin Klein adverts is that the only attention called to her size has come from the public. For years women and men have been asking why models who represent “normal” sizing can’t be used in high profile campaigns without it being a gimmick or a marketing ploy. In Dalbesio’s latest work, their voices have been heard."

Crystal Renn (born June 18, 1986 in Miami, Florida) is an American fashion model and author.

Renn started her modeling career in high fashion at the age of 14 after being spotted by a professional scout in her hometown in Clinton, Mississippi.

Renn was told she would need to lose almost a third of her total body weight if she wanted to become a model. Later, after years of anorexia nervosa, Renn reassessed her diet and exercise habits.
After gaining 70 pounds (32 kg) and re-emerging as a U.S. size 12, she was re-marketed by her agents as a plus-size model.
Renn has authored a book, Hungry: A Young Model's Story of Appetite, Ambition and the Ultimate Embrace of Curves, about her experiences in the fashion industry in relation to her several body type transformations.
On June 30, 2007, Renn married her longtime boyfriend Gregory Vrecenak at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in Manhattan, New York.

Read this, than write about it!!

As Diane [Von Furstenburg, CFDA president] wrote in an outreach letter to the industry ...
'F ashion W eek has become a powerful voice, which reaches millions of people across the globe and we should not underestimate the consequences of the messages that we send,’ Kolb said in an email to HuffPost. "
According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, nearly 70 percent of girls in grades five through 12 said magazine images influence their ideals of a perfect body. In so-called "pro-anorexia" forums, posters write about watching fashion shows and combing magazines for “thinspiration"."
"Yet little hard data exists about whether or not the ubiquity of ultra-thin models causes people outside the industry to develop disordered eating or full- blown eating disorders”."
Do you agree with the information above? Is Brazilian teenagers, and women in general, included? It might look that No, but..."
The NY Times published in Dec 2006:"
"The problem is a new one here, and it clearly puzzles and shocks Brazilians. In this country, eliminating hunger among the millions of the poor has traditionally been an important political cause, so the notion that people would voluntarily starve themselves is hard for most Brazilians to comprehend. about it."

In the latest incident, Beatriz Cristina Ferraz Bastos, a 23-year-old student and office worker, died on Christmas Eve, weighing just 75 pounds. On her home page at Orkut, a popular Web site for young Brazilians, she described herself as “thin” after having been “110 pounds overweight” as a teenager, and included before and after photographs to prove her point."
The first death, in mid-November, was that of Ana Carolina Reston, a 21-year-old model, and it was initially regarded as an aberration. At the time of her death, Ms. Reston stood 5 feet 8 inches tall but weighed just over 80 pounds and was undergoing medical treatment after having collapsed at a fashion shoot in Japan."
A few days later, though, a 21-year-old fashion student also died of anorexia. At the beginning of this month, her death was followed by that of a 23- year-old manicurist, and a full-fledged media frenzy was on, with articles and television programs speculating that Brazil’s obsession with physical beauty was getting out of hand."