FASHION
D5 SUNDAY, JULY 25, 2010
JACKSON CITIZEN PATRIOT
SECTION EDITOR: BRIAN WHEELER 768-4928 BWHEELER@CITPAT.COM
STILETTOS
WHAT WORKS FOR WORK? — IT DEPENDS ON EMPLOYERS
Study finds cause of pain By Jeannine Stein MCT News Service
Habitual high-heel wearers, your attention, please. You know that feeling you get when you first slip off those impossibly high stilettos (the feeling after relief)? That tightness in your Achilles’ tendons as feet assume a natural position, with heels on the floor? Researchers think they may know the reason for that. A new study in the Journal of Experimental Biology tried to determine why women feel that tautness in the backs of their ankles after wearing high heels for long periods of time. Researchers focused on 11 women who were regular high-heel wearers, and a control group of nine women whose footwear consisted of flats. The women’s calf muscle size was measured via MRI, but no differences were noted, although researchers thought that might be the culprit. “We were expecting slightly smaller muscle volumes in the highheel wearers because we thought that if the muscle is in a shortened position then you are loading it less and the muscle volume should be smaller,” one of the study’s authors, Marco Narici of Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom, said in a news release. Instead, ultrasound tests found that the muscle fiber length in the highheel wearers was 13 percent shorter than in the control group. MRI scans also revealed that the Achilles’ tendons in the high-heel-wearing women were thicker and stiffer than in the flats wearers. That may have compensated for the shortened muscle fibers while allowing calf muscles to function at their best while walking. Yet this thickening also caused some pain when the women changed from high heels to walking on flat feet. Narici says he doesn’t think women need to give up their sky-high heels, but he does recommend some stretching exercises to avoid those aches.
MCT NEWS SERVICE PHOTOS
Shorts are part of the professional dress code at Roepke Public Relations in Minneapolis. Pictured here, from left, Ben Heinemann, Karen Fullerton, Katherine Roepke, Natalie Howell, Melissa Bohlig and Shelby Allen.
In
SHORT
order
Fashionable shorts find way to some workplaces By Sara Glassman
H
MCT News Service
ow can you look stylish when it’s 88 degrees and humid and you’re heading for the office? For Melissa Bohlig, a press specialist at Roepke Public Relations in Minneapolis, the answer is short and sweet: shorts. Bohlig wears Bermudas or looser shorts that hit her at midthigh at least a couple times a week. On a recent Friday, nearly her entire office donned them. Bohlig said the look is de rigueur for her job, which requires her to meet with editors at fashion magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar. While shorts first hit runways a few years ago, every length from hot pants to Bermudas was part of spring and summer collections from Michael Kors, Charlotte Ronson, Derek Lam, Stella McCartney and Carolina Herrera. Stylish shorts have proven very popular among working women in New York City, where stores have been stocking up. According to Women’s Wear Daily, “Retailers report they’re experiencing double-digit increases in the shorts category.” Phillip Lim is showing shorts as part of his fall collections, layered over hosiery. “Shorts are iconic of a trend of taking something casual and dressing it up,” said Gregg Andrews, the Chicago-based fashion director of Nordstrom. He
Jena Hoffman, left, who works at Saks Fifth Avenue in Minneapolis, says her shorts “are not part of the dress code, but I think they look like a skirt.” Whitney Murphy, who works at a Minneapolis restaurant, is spotted in shorts during her lunch break. favors a tailored look for the What about the boss? office, paired with a tailored blouse, jacket and flats, wedges But while they’re finding faor kitten heels. vor on the East Coast, shorts are
not embraced by the corporate world. According to representatives of Minnesota-based Target, Carlson Companies and HealthPartners, shorts are not considered acceptable attire. Target, for example, requires business formal or red and khaki Monday through Thursday and business casual on Friday. “Shorts aren’t allowed anytime in headquarters,” said Erika Svingen, a company spokeswoman. The policy is similar at HealthPartners in Minneapolis. “As much as I would love to wear shorts in the office, they are not part of the dress code at HealthPartners,” said spokeswoman Amy von Walter, via e-mail. “Given that our organization includes patient-care areas, our policy tends to be fairly conservative.” Smaller companies in creative fields seem less restrained. Shorts are allowed at Roepke, but they must have at least a 9inch inseam and be worn with flat shoes or a wedge heel, said owner Katherine Roepke. And Bohlig said she wears shorts on days when she’s primarily in the office. She has worn them to a client meeting once, with the design firm Duffy & Partners. “The client is casual, very creative — and they wear shorts,” she said. Kara Kurth is a designer at Redstamp.com, a stationery etailer, where even “pajamas or workout clothes” are acceptable, said founder Erin Newkirk. And Kurth said she thinks being allowed to wear shorts gives her an edge. “I really like it, because if I’m inspired, my work will be, too,” she said.
DROP THE MAN ACT
Real men don’t need made-up words for style By Adam Tschorn MCT News Service
Recently I received an e-mail that read, in part: “(W)hether you have a brother, a buddy, or a boyfriend, don’t let your man friend leave home without his man tank, this summer’s essential ... THE MANK.”
Let’s set aside the debate over whether the tank can be considered any more essential to the man of 2010 than the man of 1810. I take issue with the stank of “mank.” I get the idea behind it. The world of fashion and style has a long history of employing such portmanteau words (a term describing these mashed-up words
first employed by a master of the art, author Lewis Carroll), and in many cases it does the job perfectly. We can easily deduce that a “skort” is a hybrid between a skirt and a pair of shorts, and the word “tankini” efficiently conjures up the image of bikini bathing suit with a tank top. But it’s linguistically lazy to
simply “manglicize” (oops, see?) a word to show it’s a male version or man-appropriate, and it can lead to confusion. One of the all-time offenders (of which I’ve been guilty) is “murse.” Depending on the situation, it can mean either “man purse” or “male nurse” — not a misunderstanding you want in an emergency.
So can we all agree to beat our prefixes into plowshares, drop the “man-” act (which may sound like, but is totally different from the Mann Act) and step away from the lexicographical slippery slope? Otherwise it’s going to start making me angry. And trust me, you won’t like me when I’m “mangry.”