The N.B.A. Draft Needs a Men’s Wear Makeover

When did we decide that elite male athletes were exempt from the normal rules of dress? That, in fact, the more ridiculous and outré they look, the better?
And why do we assume that “personality,” when it comes to sports, needs to be expressed in bad clothes? That the way to a lucrative sports brand ambassadorship or a clothing line of one’s own comes from wearing garish color combinations, prints and silly accessories?
These are not desultory questions. They are, I would argue, rather natural reactions to what has become one of the more bizarre style rituals of summer: the men’s wear show that is the N.B.A. draft.
What else to make of Karl-Anthony Towns’s herringbone jacket and black shirt and pants? D’Angelo Russell’s red jacket, checked shirt and bow tie? Rondae Hollis-Jefferson’s tux, black bow tie and tartan trousers? The mountain of maroon on Kristaps Porzingis, Kelly Oubre Jr., Bobby Portis and Jahlil Okafor?
These men are being crowned as the next generation of sports royalty, yet at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Thursday, they were dressed like refugees from a Broadway show (“Jersey Boys” anyone?). Except, of course, for Cameron Payne, who, with his navy double-breasted jacket, white trousers and gardenia boutonniere, looked like he had dropped in from the yacht club. Given that the Tony Awards have had a well-documented makeover, you have to wonder what they were thinking.
N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver with Cameron Payne, who, with his navy double-breasted jacket, white trousers and gardenia boutonnier, looked as if he had dropped in from the yacht club. Credit Kathy Willens/Associated Press
Admittedly, Justise Winslow, who was outfitted by GQ in a well-cut blue suit, looked smooth, but he was the exception, rather than the rule.
So what is this all about?
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I would guess two things: social media and branding.
On Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and other visual media, the crazier you look and the brighter the shades, the more memorable the moment. And given the number of fans spread across the country and experiencing the draft remotely, it’s probably in the interest of most ascending athletes to stand out. For good or ill, taste becomes of secondary importance.
Justise Winslow, who was outfitted by GQ, and D’Angelo Russell in a red jacket, checked shirt and bow tie. Credit Kathy Willens/Associated Press
It’s the sport equivalent of the naked look, as practiced by celebrities such as Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna.
At the same time, fashion has become a default second-career flirtation for many basketball players, whether Carmelo Anthony (who has his own watch blog), Russell Westbrook (who is about to start an eyewear line) or Amar’e Stoudemire (who is in Paris this week, covering the men’s wear shows on Instagram for Esquire). And presumably, the sooner you establish your interest, the better. Attention-grabbing looks are a way of laying the groundwork; strategic suggestion that a player is thinking about more than just the court.
Yet all this dress-up seems to me to distract from the purpose of the moment, and the real skill being celebrated (and signed). That belongs to the men in the costumes, and it is both subtle and elegant: an ability to understand space and geometry and manipulate a ball in ways that are as complex and exact as the seams in a perfectly made suit.
So shouldn’t they wear the clothes to match? The best suits are the ones that act as a background to the persona inside, and which frame the, well, frame to its ultimate advantage.
I can’t imagine designers wouldn’t be eager to dress the top N.B.A. prospects in such style. Just because things have developed in a certain way does not mean we should simply shrug and assume they always have to be that way. Or should be that way. Think of what last night might have looked like if Tom Ford, Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani had been involved.
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How To Get Ordained To Perform A Wedding Legally — Because This Is One Thing You Don't Want To Mess Up

OK, first thing’s first: there are a lot of different terms that fly around when it comes towho can officiate weddings, and how to get ordained yourself. Let’s get the basics out of the way about who can do the marriage deed. A clergy person (minister, priest, rabbi, etc.) is someone who is ordained by a religious organization to marry two people. A judge, notary public, justice of the peace, and certain other public servants often solemnize marriages as part of their job responsibilities. A temporary officiant is someone who is given the legal thumbs up for a day by a state to marry two people.
If you’re looking into how to marry a friend or relative, you’re probably most interested in either 1) becoming ordained, or 2) being a temporary officiant. As in all things of legal importance when it comes to marriage (like getting your marriage license), the regulations for performing a legal marriage ceremony vary from state to state. I won’t attempt to summarize the ins and outs of all the variations of the 50 states here, as the differences are mind-boggling crazy (more on this to come), but here are the basics to get you started, and confidently headed in the right direction.
Know the state requirements
As always when it comes to marriage, check out the requirements in the state and county where you are going to be performing the marriage ceremony. In some states, the laws are much clearer and stricter, while in other states things can be a little loosey goosey. Either way, you want to know what the requirements are wherever you’re performing the ceremony.
Get the necessary documents in place
If you need to get the government’s OK to perform the ceremony by becoming a temporary officiant or getting a one-day marriage designation, then that’s the most important thing to do. Any marriage ceremonies performed without the appropriate paperwork in a state that requires that it approves temporary officiants may be considered… well… null and void. So make sure to do your due diligence to see if it is necessary to be approved by the state to marry two people and, if so, what that process is.
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In some states, you don’t need government documents to marry people — you can be ordained by a religious organization instead. Though this sounds rather complicated, it can actually be the least complicated of all the ways to go about marrying a friend or relative in some states. Organizations like the Universal Life Church Monastery and the American Marriage Ministries will ordain people who want to perform a marriage ceremony with a few clicks of the mouse. With that said, some states require that an ordained minister actually have a ministry or congregation to legally marry people — so again, know what your state does and doesn’t require.
If the people you are marrying are interested in having a spiritual or religious component to their ceremony but live in a state where you need to have a state-approved, one-day marriage designation, then you could likely do both — become a temporary officiant and an ordained minster. Though it sounds rather complicated to tackle both, the states I have worked in make it pretty simple to get a one-day marriage designation, and the Universal Life Church Monastery and American Marriage Ministries make it insanely simple to become ordained as a minister.
To recap, check in with the state you are performing the ceremony in to see if you need to be approved as a temporary officiant (or something similar), and/or if you should take the route of becoming ordained as a minister. And to re-emphasize just how important it is to know your state regulations, just consider this: according to this list of recognized marriage officiants by state, commissioners of the Salvation Army are approved to perform marriage ceremonies in Alaska (seems a bit random, eh?), while in Wisconsin you and your future spouse can officiate your own ceremony (and I’m still not totally clear on how that one works).
So make your next online research stop the state’s official website of where you are going to marry the couple, and then move on to the fun stuff like what to talk about during the marriage ceremony… and what not to talk about during the marriage ceremony. Most importantly, keep calm and marry on!
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Preparing for Your Wedding Day

Diet & Exercise:
They say that it is the most important day in your life and it takes a year and long to plan it well. And that the patience runs thin, but there is always an excitement in the air. While there is huge hue and cry about the day itself with a lot of advice from everyone around, very little is circulated about pre and post wedding period. While the whole process of wedding can’t be less overwhelming but one should be best prepared to deal with it and it starts right away with the diet and exercise.
Well, there are very few women who are entirely happy with their looks. Most of us can identify at least one spot in our body that we feel needs some modification.
Being unfit and out of shape is always a hard blow to self-esteem which causes unhappiness, irritability and negativity around you and your loved ones. We should respect our bodies and learn to be healthy and enhance what is best in us.
One should give at least three weeks to target your problem areas. Be totally realistic with your goal. Dieting combined with exercise is bound to give you good results. But don’t go for crash dieting. It can ruin your skin and hair. You need to glow on your wedding day, not look like you have come out of concentration camp.
Eat good and sensibly. It is said breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. Eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. Drink at least 2-3 liters of water per day and start your day by drinking a glass of water. This flushes toxins from your body and hydrates your skin. Eat less fatty food. Cut down on salt, sugar and cold drink consumption. Drink a glass of skimmed milk every day. Eat in moderation and avoid second helping just because you liked the dish. Do not use skimming pills or laxatives because they upset body’s natural equilibrium.
While controlling your diet, always do brisk walking for at least 15-20 minutes a day anytime either morning or evening or even before going to bed; timing is not important, and don’t stop just because you cheated once. When you lose weight, it comes off from all along. This is where exercise comes in handy. Go for abs exercise, crunches and yoga at this point. You will feel healthy and toned up and will have a good stamina.
You should work out not just to lose weight but to stay healthy, which is important not only for you but also for your loved ones.
Hair care:
Some lucky brides-to-be are blessed with thick and beautiful tresses and some are not. No matter what sort of hair you have, the common goal is the health and preservation of your precious hair. However, the stress and pollution results in damage of hair. Since during the events of wedding, a lot of stress is put on hair because of various fancy hair styles, it takes its toll on your hair. So if you still have some time in your hand, start pampering your hair for the assault it will be facing in the near future. For proper hair care, you should take the following steps:
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1. The health of your hair is the refection of your diet. You diet should contain an adequate supply of proteins in the form of fish, lean meat, eggs, milk, pulses etc. Whole grain foods and those with natural oils are good for the formation of hair keratin.
2. Exercise and Head massage improves blood circulation, encouraging a healthy blood supply to all the cells nourishing, regenerating and repairing them. Weekly hot oil massages with strengthening packs made of amla, yogurt, eggs and lemon are like food for the hair.
3. Protein hair treatments help to retain natural moisture balance of hair and should be done once in a month.
4. Hair Serums, which are available in spray or gel form, should be applied before ironing or blow drying. They protect hair from excessive heat.
5. Lastly, during this whole period, keep your hair clean by shampooing your hair regularly and use a good quality hair conditioner after each wash.
Skin Care:
It is an important aspect of wedding day preparation. A bride should have a glowing and clear skin. The preparation should start one month before wedding and the process should start with deep cleansing of your skin.
1. Deep Cleansing: It is essential for the health of your skin. It is important to ensure that your skin is clear of dead skin, dirt and make up to give it a natural glow. A cotton wool damped in a creamy cleanser followed by a gentle face wash should do the trick. If the face still feels oily, wipe with a toner poured on a cotton wool ball.
2. Protection: Protection of skin from sun is very important. Besides giving a tan, it is responsible for freckles, pigmentation and premature wrinkles due to constant exposure. No matter which month you are getting married in, start protecting your skin now. Sunscreen should be used all year round and every day.
3. Deep moisturizing: After learning about your skin type, a good moisturizer should be used on face, hands, arms, legs and feet. Face masks should be used twice every week to add boost to your skin. Those with dry skin can use non-drying hydrated masks or add some olive oil to regular masks. Those with oily skin can stick to clay based masks, aloe, neem and mint products.
4. Boost circulation: The use of exfoliators or scrubs twice every week increases circulation to the top most layer of skin which gives a flow to the skin and encourages cell renewal. Pamper your skin with regular facials. They are like food for the skin. There are a range of facials available to suite a particular skin type and also address any skin ailment. Facials should be done or regular basis well in advance since it is not possible to obtain a desired effect in a few days time. Although most of the attention is given to face and neck, whole body should not be ignored. Body massages alter the quality of your skin by removing dead cells and revealing newer, smoother skin and also relieves you of any stress.
Grooming: You should not ignore grooming before the big day arrives.
Waxing: Go for waxing for arms and legs for most efficient and long lasting results. It will also decrease your hair growth with time.
Threading: The shape of your eyebrows is very important. They frame the shape of your eyes and give sharpness to your features.
Before application of henna, manicure and pedicure are important.
At last, don’t stress and take it easy. Have a great wedding and a beautiful life ahead.
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Australian wins 2015 Tropic Beauty Model Search at Light

There she is … the 2015 Miss Tropic Beauty Model Search world finals winner.
After three days of competition on the Las Vegas Strip, a victor was crowned in the 2015 Tropic Beauty Model Search world finals at Light in Mandalay Bay on Saturday night.
In the fifth-annual pageant that included more than 100 contestants from across the globe, voluptuous blonde bombshell Elise Duncan of Perth, Australia, was declared the winner.
The competition also included a preliminary contest at nearby daylife hotspot Daylight. Luisa de Freitas of Caracas, Venezuela, finished second, and Debbie O’Toole of Liverpool, England, was third. Three bikini-clad ladies from Las Vegas made the Top 10.
2014 Miss Tropic Beauty Elizabeth Smith of Jacksonville, Fla., presented the crown onstage at Light to Duncan, who was overcome with emotion.
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Also present and accounted for at the nightclub: 2013 Miss Tropic Beauty Linda Zimany of Budapest, Hungary, and 2012 Miss Tropic Beauty Ligia Hernandez of Margarita (we love the name of this city), Venezuela.
Our coverage of the Tropic Beauty parade of costumes at Eye Candy Lounge in Mandalay Bay was posted Friday in our weekly Weekend Celebrity Preview.
Our thanks to Tom Donoghue of Donoghue Photography for his Tropic Beauty Model Search photo galleries and Richard Corey for his video posted on YouTube.
Don Chareunsy is the Las Vegas Sun’s entertainment and luxury senior editor and has been a journalist for nearly two decades.
Robin Leach of “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous fame” has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past 15 years giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.
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Brides-to-be, classic car enthusiasts flock downtown

Beverly Morris tried on a wedding dress with help from her friend, Lindsay Hinson.
“We came down here to see what’s going on and to get ideas for her wedding,” said Hinson at Satin & Lace. “We saw a flier for the Downtown Bridal Fair.”
The Bridal Fair, held Saturday, was the latest First Saturday event sponsored by the Albemarle Downtown Business Association. The June focus was on weddings and included a cruise-in of classic cars.
Also known as “I Do Local,” the event encouraged downtown shops to showcase wedding gowns and accessories, allow brides to set up gift registrations and offer discounts and gift certificates.
“The goal is to have an event each first Saturday of the month to bring people downtown,” said Victoria Sites, communications manager for Albemarle Downtown Development Corporation.
Besides keeping stores open longer on Saturday afternoon, First Saturday provides activities, such as the cruise-in and music at the square.
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“It’s a way to bring night life to town,” Sites said of the First Saturday events.
Tim Harris of Music on Main brought some of his students to the bandstand to perform. Among them were singer Reagan Crump and guitarist Emery Culp, who made music with Harris in front of folks sitting on benches under the shade trees.
At the cruise-in, where vehicles were parked in the lot behind the square, people came to see antique models, muscle cars and at least one hybrid.
Darrell Story of Millingport parked his extra-long truck on the street since he was afraid he could not get it turned back out of the parking lot. He said his vehicle has a 1949 Chevrolet front end and ‘53 parts, all on a 1996 Cadillac limousine chassis.
“It gets a lot of funny looks,” said Story, causing some drivers to forget where they are going.
Bob Morrison of Albemarle had his 1959 baby blue Rambler American on display. He said he has owned it for more than 20 years, having taken an auto body course at Stanly Community College to be able to fix it up.
“I just drive it to shows and to cruise-ins now,” he said.
Other cars catching people’s eyes included a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle, a bright blue 1948 Chevy Fleetmaster, a 1981 Corvette and a 1964 Chevy Nova.
David Summerlin of Badin said his Beetle was the first VW model with a 12-volt electrical system. Under the hood was a scale model of the ‘67.
Stone Russell of Albemarle owns the Fleetmaster, Boyd Furr of Millingport brought the Corvette and Jake McDaniel, also of Millingport, drove the Nova to the cruise-in.
Meanwhile, down the street at Satin & Lace, proprietor Linda Dennis was assisting Morris, who will marry Hank Dry next April. Dennis carries a full line of wedding and bridesmaid gowns, party dresses and accessories. She also rents tuxedoes.
“We’ve been through a busy period from February to May, mostly proms,” she said.
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American Ballet Theatre’s New ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Pays Homage to Ballet’s History

The plot of Sleeping Beauty isn’t hard to follow, even when it’s performed as a ballet, without any words: A princess is born, and an evil fairy soon puts a curse on her—Aurora will prick her finger with a spindle and die. A kind fairy softens the curse, declaring that the princess will simply fall into a century-long slumber along with her entire kingdom. On her 16th birthday, Aurora dances with four royal suitors seeking her hand in marriage before she finds the destined spindle and falls asleep. A hundred years later, the kind Lilac Fairy shows a restless prince a vision of Aurora in the forest. He falls in love and bestows upon Aurora the kiss that awakens the kingdom. The fairy tale ends with the couple’s festive wedding.
After the ballet's premiere in St. Petersburg in 1890, one critic complained thus about the bare story line: “They dance, they fall asleep, they dance again.”
Nevertheless, it has been staged and restaged a seemingly endless number of times all over the world, sometimes even multiple times by the same company. And though the fairy tale is simple, producing the ballet is not. Some versions have been docked or dismissed by critics for falling short of the original collaboration between ballet master Marius Petipa, the renowned composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Imperial Theatres director Ivan Vsevolozhsky. Others have been praised for capturing the spirit of the iconic work, which looms large in ballet history.
American Ballet Theatre alone has had four productions since the company was founded in 1940, according to its program notes. Its third full version premiered at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City on June 1, 2007, and it was staged after Petipa by ABT’s artistic director Kevin McKenzie along with Gelsey Kirkland and Michael Chernov.
“How does a ballerina solve a problem like Aurora?” wrote Gia Kourlas in The New York Times in her review dated June 12, 2007. “It’s no easy task, especially when she is held captive by a production as muddled as American Ballet Theater’s busy, dramaturge-heavy version of The Sleeping Beauty.”
Alastair Macaulay, who had stepped into the post of chief dance critic at theTimes earlier that year, called it “Disneyesque,” “scarcely a production for purists,” and one that “isn’t hidebound by custom.” He described the pastiche of a Sleeping Beauty “as seen through the lens of various movies,” from Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter to The Court Jester and The Wizard of Oz. He faulted the production for the way it treated Tchaikovsky’s score and for relying on Petipa’s choreography in bits and pieces without understanding the overall architecture that ties it all together.
A fourth version recently replaced that “misbegotten 2007–2013 production,” as Macaulay dubbed it, and this one did all it could to pay homage to the ballet’s roots. Alexei Ratmansky’s new production—which premiered in Costa Mesa, California, in March and began its New York run on May 28—is vastly different from the transformation he bestowed upon The Nutcracker in 2010. His Nutcracker was reimagined, but his Beauty is “reawakened.”
Ratmansky and designer Richard Hudson focused on two important productions in the quest to peel back the trappings of later versions and return to the essence of Beauty. The choreographer learned to read Stepanov notation—used to record ballets like a musical score—and studied records of Petipa’s choreography. Nikolai Sergeev brought these notations from Russia to the West after the revolution, where they eventually became part of the Harvard Theatre Collection.
Meanwhile, Hudson looked to Léon Bakst for inspiration. Bakst designed costumes and sets for the production by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, which premiered at London’s Alhambra Theatre in 1921. Social and dance historian Caroline Hamilton was hired to do research for Ratmansky and Hudson, tracking down the original designs and costumes from the 1921Beauty, which planted the ballet in the foundation of British tradition and which in turn helped make the ballet a favorite across the pond.
So the ballet was originally choreographed by a French expatriate ballet master living in St. Petersburg to music by a renowned Russian composer at the end of the 19th century. Three decades later, a Russian impresario, having left his home country after the revolution, put up an iconic version of the same ballet in London. Now, more than a hundred years after it first appeared onstage, its latest iteration is staged by a Russian choreographer working as artist in residence for a company that boasts “American” in its title.
If The Sleeping Beauty’s creation and evolution sound layered, that’s because they are, and intrinsically so. The ballet represents the shifting center of the art form from France to Russia and the arrival of the classical era after the romantic. In the 20th century, it was part of the birth of ballet traditions in England and the U.S. that simultaneously embraced a classical history and invented a new contemporary. And just as importantly, it marks a leap in the quality of music used for ballet. This one work, in other words, is a window into much of ballet’s history.
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“It is doubtful that any other art work, ever, has influenced its own field so heavily,” wrote Joan Acocella this month in The New Yorker.
The ballet has often been evaluated, then, by its relationship to earlier productions, especially that of 1890. ABT’s first full-length staging, which featured Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov as Aurora and the prince, premiered on June 15, 1976. Then-Times critic Clive Barnes wrote:
Most recently, Macaulay called Ratmansky’s Beauty “a fascinating, important staging— often revelatory.… Its dances are an amazingly conscientious demonstration of Petipa’s original intentions.”
Choreographers, too, have set their sights on recreating that original opus. In staging ABT’s second version—which premiered on February 11, 1987 in Chicago—Sir Kenneth MacMillian said, “I want to pass on my knowledge of Sergeyev's production of Petipa, for I think it was truly magical.”
Ratmansky also reveled in Petipa’s work. “It’s constant amazement,” he told the Times as he was preparing for the Costa Mesa premiere. “I’ve learned more about Petipa in these last three months than I learned in my whole life—his phenomenal mastery of the craft, finding the threads he follows from the beginning to the end.”
But Sleeping Beauty is not only rich in history. It’s also an easy entry point for those less familiar and mildly intimidated by ballet. People are “drawn to story ballets as a first time to go,” says Hamilton. And like the other late 19th century works that have survived and become household names—The Nutcracker and Swan Lake—it’s also set to music by Tchaikovsky that is familiar far beyond devoted dance circles.
“The key to the ballet’s enduring appeal,” writes Jennifer Homans in her 2010 book Apollo’s Angels: A History of Ballet, “was Tchaikovsky. It is a point worth emphasizing: Tchaikovsky was the first composer of real stature to see ballet as a substantial art, and his music lifted dance onto a new plane.” Previously, composers like Adolphe Adam (Giselle) and Ludwig Minkus (Don Quixote), produced “lovely and serviceable ballet scores,” Homans writes, but “these composers tended to follow rather than lead, and their music enhanced and illustrated but rarely challenged.” Sleeping Beauty’s score, however, has “a powerful symphonic score that stood on its own merits.”
At a recent Saturday matinee, hours after the first performance transpired on the Metropolitan Opera House stage, the prologue and three acts unfolded once again. Seated in the velvet seats of the Met were some of the most important voices in dance: veteran critics and dance writers. But the 2 p.m. show also brought little girls in frilly dresses whispering to the adults seated beside them and twirling in the aisles between acts.
“Children delight in its story, general audiences know its reputation for grandeur as a special theatrical evening and balletomanes cherish the pure classicism Petipa developed out of ballet's academic idiom. As a ballet score, its music is widely regarded as unsurpassed,” wrote Anna Kisselgoff, former chief dance critic for The New York Times, when ABT performed its second version of the ballet in 1987. “The Sleeping Beauty has remained one of the great touchstones of classical ballet.”
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Corset training, a celebrity weight loss trend, largely busted

Corsets are more than just eye-catching garments for women embracing their seductive side or a fashion statement for "Game of Thrones" fans. They are being touted as a strategy to shed pounds and teach your torso to develop a more hourglass shape.
Kim Kardashian declared she was "obsessed" with "waist training." Jessica Alba reported wearing a double corset 24-7 for several months to lose her baby weight. But is there any reason to think contorting your torso into Victorian (or Barbie doll) proportions could somehow speed weight loss and permanently alter your silhouette?
The short answer is no. "Corset training in and of itself does not remove fat cells," said Dr. Andrew Miller, a plastic surgeon of Associates in Plastic Surgery in New York and New Jersey.
However, even though donning the medieval-style clothing is not going to change your body shape, Miller said it could indirectly help you slim down. Being cinched into a corset could prevent your stomach from expanding when you eat so you feel full faster and limit your portion size. After a couple of weeks on a corset diet, you could actually lose weight.
Yet the same effect could be achieved through other means, such as exercising self-restraint at mealtime, Miller said.
Dr. Caroline Apovian, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and a spokesperson for the Obesity Society (a professional society of obesity researchers) agreed there is "no reason" to think the silhouette you have in a corset would last after you took the corset off.
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"If people like the way it looks, that is fine temporarily," although it would be better to just wear Spanx, Apovian said.
In terms of achieving weight loss, there have not been any studies showing corsets help. One study tried to assess whether wearing a corset for 12 to 16 hours a day over several months could help people maintain the weight loss they achieved through a low-calorie diet. But participants in the study reported, not surprisingly, that the corsets were uncomfortable, and too many of them stopped wearing them for the researchers to detect any possible effects.
In addition to its dubious effectiveness, waist training could have some undesirable side effects. "If you keep it on and you eat too much, you're going to throw up," Apovian said. A blogger for Yahoo Shine tested a corset for a week and said she felt like she was "going to barf" shortly after eating her Thai noodle lunch.
Apovian said she worries that this effect could potentially encourage people to develop bulimia, although she does not know of patients who developed eating disorders after waist training.
Lacing yourself into a corset could also put you at greater risk of heartburn. "Extreme compression of the abdomen can result in elevation of the diaphragm and pressure on the lower esophageal sphincter, creating an environment conducive to reflux," said Dr. Amy Elizabeth Rothberg, assistant professor of internal medicine at University of Michigan. People with fat in their midsection already have more heartburn because of the pressure on their abdomen, she added.
Despite these concerns, Miller said there is no harm to wearing a corset in moderation. "Don't just buy one in a store and tighten it as tight as you can," he said, adding that it should be properly fitted, such as by a salesperson who has experience measuring women for undergarments.
Miller also recommended taking your corset off if you start to feel too uncomfortable or cannot move. It is supposed to be firm, but not unbearable. Also lose the corset if you cannot take deep breaths; prolonged shallow breathing can put you at risk for pneumonia and other lung infections, Miller said.
As unpleasant as it would seem to sport a corset, it may be easier than in the medieval days. "I imagine the material was probably rougher back then and cut into you; they are probably better fitted now," Miller said. "There wasn't a lot of the medical field giving our two cents about how to do things safely," he added.
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Stuff's wedding of the week

Catching a bus to the wedding with morning commuters, the groom sitting in chewing gum, and twin beds . . . this wasn't your typical wedding, but it was certainly one of the most refreshingly relaxed ones we've read about in some time. Plus it featured one very special guest star - the life and colours of Auckland city.
But we'll let Alicia fill you in on all the romantic details . . .
How did you meet? One evening after work I went with friends to an event at an Auckland bar, enticed by a free glass of champagne. I approached one of the waiters to ask if there was a free table outside. "Of course," he replied, and seated us at one of his tables. He was Italian, gorgeous, working towards his PhD in Mathematics, and over the evening proceeded to charm my socks off.
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During our dinner I wrote my number on my business card and slipped it in my pocket waiting for the right moment to give it to him. The time came for us to leave and before I could pull out the business card and utter, "Here's something I prepared earlier", he fished out an napkin and pen from his apron and asked for my number. The rest of the story from that first meeting involved a mainly long-distance relationship, multiple countries, and finally deciding that being in the same place together is where we wanted to be.
Tell us about the proposal: My husband, Edoardo, is from Rome, Italy. In May, two years after we first met, we travelled to Italy for a month to meet his family and explore his beautiful homeland. Towards the end of our trip, while we were in Sicily, he proposed with his Nonna's ring while walking along the waterfront back to our hotel. Sigh!
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Location of wedding: The beautiful city of Auckland where we first met. We had a small non-traditional wedding at the registry office.
Describe your wedding day: Nine guests, including Edoardo's mum who made the long trip from Italy, joined us on the day. The ceremony took place in a New Zealand-themed room with the NZ flag and a picture of Queen Elizabeth II along with a fantastic view of the city. The reception was an intimate lunch at Orbit 360 restaurant, 190 metres above the ground at the top of the Auckland Sky Tower, surrounded by breathtaking 360-degree views of Auckland, the Waitemata harbour, and Rangitoto island.
The dress: The amount of information for brides preparing for a registry office wedding is, to say the least, limited, especially when deciding what to wear. As the ceremony was during the middle of the day, in the middle of the city, I did not want to draw too much attention. There was very little online when searching "registry office wedding dress". Eventually, the perfect dress was found from Blessed are the Meek, and it fit the mood and style of the day perfectly.
The flowers: Rather than have flowers and decorations we made the most of the stunning cityscape for our backdrop.
Highlight of the wedding: How relaxed and stress-free it was. The night prior to the wedding we booked into some accommodation in the city where we got the last room available, which hilariously only had two single beds. The following morning I did my own hair and makeup, with Edoardo acting as chief bridesmaid, helping to zip up my dress. The 'wedding car' into the city was the green Link bus filled with morning commuters.
Was there any drama? No drama but definitely lots of funny moments that having your wedding photos taken in a public place brings. Edo must have sat in gum sometime during the morning, and while walking up Queen St during our photoshoot, a stranger whispered in his ear that he had something on the bottom of his pants. We had a funny time trying to remove it with no luck, and so he had to sneak off to the bathroom of the registry office pre-ceremony, best man in tow, to remove the stubborn mark.
The honeymoon: I was whisked away on a surprise mini-moon to beautiful Paihia and then a few weeks later to Paris.
Your photographer and favourite photo? The fun and fantastic photographer, Brooke Baker, did a great job capturing the life and colours of Auckland and the simple yet romantic mood of the day. It's hard to pick a favourite photo - all of the city photographs are favourites because Auckland was the place where we met and fell in love, but our absolute favourite is the one taken during our reception lunch up the Sky Tower together with our family having a great time celebrating.
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Royal National Park landmark fenced off following increase in dangerous photos

Named Wedding Cake Rock because it looks like a huge piece of wedding cake, the cliff is situated near Bundeena in southern Sydney and marks the start of the park's coastal walk.
Regional manager with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), Gary Dunnett, told 702 ABC Sydney's Breakfast host Robbie Buck the risky behaviour is a recent thing.
"In the last three months we've had more than a three-fold increase in the number of people who are going out there," Mr Dunnett said.
He said groups of more than a dozen people have been standing on the edge of Wedding Cake Rock.
"There's always some people who push it a little bit further with more extreme behaviour like handstands."
Mr Dunnett said online photos taken at Wedding Cake Rock used to be of the cliff itself, but that has changed.
"If you look at the images that are on Instagram, 90 per cent of them are actually exactly the same image — the person sitting on the edge, legs dangling over of what's the equivalent of a 16-storey building.
"Clearly there's a whole bunch of common sense that needs to be exercised anytime you're around a vertical drop," he said.
In 2014, 24-year-old French university student Fabien Ardoin plunged from the cliff to his death while climbing at the site.
Image:http://www.sheinbridaldress.co.uk/wedding-dresses-2014-2015
The NPWS is also concerned about the stability of the rock shelf.
"The problem we have is with the numbers of people we have going out to Wedding Cake Rock," Mr Dunnett said.
"We're actually not confident about the stability of the structure with that sort of weight on it."
"We've got a geotechnical assessment in train at the moment to determine whether there's a risk of the whole structure collapsing, which would be an appalling tragedy if that was to happen."
Wedding Cake Rock is currently fenced off but Mr Dunnett said he hopes common sense will prevail in terms of risky behaviour at the site.
"If people get the message that the structure's not safe they'll actually be able to enjoy it from a few metres back and get that same experience of the fantastic scenic qualities without that need to endanger themselves."
He said he is hoping that the fencing at the cliff will just be a temporary measure.
Helen from Bundeena, who lives close to Wedding Cake Rock, told the 702 ABC Sydney Breakfast program she believes there is "more than a three-fold increase" in visitors to the area.
"We have trouble parking our cars and generally where we live we've never had a problem. There are probably thousands each weekend." Helen said.
She said rubbish and walking track erosion also comes with the crowds of people coming to Wedding Cake Rock.
Read more at:bridesmaids dresses under 100

Big knickers are back: Thongs ain't what they used to be

You might not remember Sisqó, but his 1999 hit "Thong Song" should ring a few bells. "Girl I know you wanna show da na da na/ That thong th-thong thong thong" went the enlightened ditty, while the music video showed a great quantity of tanned and pert bottoms enjoying spring break in Miami, each displaying a thong.
In the UK the sales of thongs, or G-strings, rose through the Nineties to meet the demand for hipster jeans, cut too low to accommodate big knickers and with too tight a fit for the visible panty line of a bikini brief.
Well, Sisqó, if you're listening, the sun is setting on your thong-thronged beaches, as confirmed by our official national arbiter of undergarments, M&S, which sells 60 million pairs of knickers every year. "Today less than one in 10 of the knickers we sell is a thong," confirms a spokesman.
"This shape is decreasing in popularity as women are falling in love with shapes like the Brazilian [NB: no hair removal is involved with the wearing of this knicker] as a no-VPL alternative, or choosing styles like the leg-lengthening high leg, or fuller shapes such as the midi."
The trend for thongs seems to have bottomed-out in the US, too. With handbags, cars and property firmly out of their price range, Millennials and the Generation Y crowd (over 35? This isn't you.) are putting their pennies where their pants are, pursuing a trend for big knickers over barely there G-strings.
According to figures from a US research company NPD Group, sales of thongs are down seven per cent, while sales of more generous bottom coverings have gone up by 17 per cent in the past year.
That 17 per cent includes a number of types of knickers, such as the high-waisted, broad-bottomed granny pants, popularised by Bridget Jones; boy shorts, a skater-style full-bum option; and high-waisted briefs which are cut higher on the hip and behind than a granny pant, but stretch up over your tum.
"Thongs have had their moment," confirmed Bernadette Kissane to The New York Times, which has reported on the phenomenon of wearing granny panties as a feminist act: young women are choosing plain, big, even baggy pants to make a political statement against the overtly suggestive itsy-bitsy teenie-weenie undies.
What's more, thanks to Chloe Sevigny and her high-waisted Mom jeans, there's plenty of space for granny knickers.
M&S is clear that in the UK at least the growing appeal of bigger pants is not accompanied by a move towards plainer materials. "In terms of style, there is no place for Bridget Jones boring knickers in our ranges!" says head of design Soozie Jenkinson. "Our customers are loving anything lacy at the moment including bigger knicker shapes."
"There has been a surge in the sale of 'bigger knickers' over the past six months for us," says creative director Sarah Shotton. "Although thongs are still popular. Larger-style briefs have been selling out across our stores."
While women's taste in pants is diversifying, The Independent's fashion editor Alexander Fury has noticed some impressive rises in men's underwear over the past few decades, notably when Tom Ford first sent a Gucci thong and then a sheer brief down his men's catwalks in 1997 and 2001 respectively.
Picture:aubergine bridesmaid dresses
Then there's the work of labels including DSquared and Versace in developing a larger market for men's underwear. (Fury interviewed Donatella Versace last year after she had shown a collection of lace lingerie for men.)
No longer a gay thing, outré men's pants are for exceedingly preened heterosexuals too. After all, Cristiano Ronaldo has his own line, CR7.
Much of our desire for bigger knickers suggests a tongue-in-cheek reference to today's fashionably bigger bottom. Over on Instagram, the craze for belfies – selfies of bottoms – intersects with the showing off of big knicker-wearing behinds. So much for showing a little more modesty and a little less social media-exposed sexiness. µ
According to figures from a US research company NPD Group, sales of thongs are down seven per cent, while sales of more generous bottom coverings have gone up by 17 per cent in the past year.
That 17 per cent includes a number of types of knickers, such as the high-waisted, broad-bottomed granny pants, popularised, though not in a good way, by Bridget Jones; boy shorts, a skater-style full bum option; and high-waisted briefs which are cut higher on the hip and behind than a granny pant, but stretch up over your tum.
"Thongs have had their moment," confirmed Bernadette Kissane to the New York Times, which has reported on the phenomenon of wearing granny panties as a feminist act: young women are choosing plain, big, even baggy pants to make a political statement against the overtly suggestive itsy bitsy teeny weeny thongs.
What's more, thanks to Chloe Sevigny and her high-waisted Mom jeans, there's plenty of space for granny knickers.
M&S is clear that in the UK at least the growing appeal of bigger pants is not accompanied by a move towards plainer materials. "In terms of style, there is no place for Bridget Jones boring knickers in our ranges!" says Head of Design Soozie Jenkinson. "Our customers are loving anything lacy at the moment including bigger knicker shapes."
"There has been a surge in the sale of 'bigger knickers' over the past six months for us, although thongs are still popular. Larger styles such as the Stone and Elly briefs have been selling out across our stores."
Creative director Sarah Shotton says she took note of an increased demand for silk and lace styles when designing the upcoming AW15 collection.
While women's taste in pants is diversifying, The Independent's fashion editor Alexander Fury has noticed some impressive rises in men's underwear over the past few decades, notably when Tom Ford first sent a Gucci thong and then a sheer brief down his men's catwalks in 1997 and 2001 respectively.
Then there's the work of labels including DSquared and Versace in developing a larger market for men's underwear - he interviewed Donatella Versace last year after she had shown a collection of lace lingerie for men.
No longer a gay thing, outré men's pants are for exceedingly preened heterosexuals too. After all, Cristiano Ronaldo has his own line, CR7.
Much of our desire for bigger knickers suggests a tongue-in-cheek reference to today's fashionably bigger bottom. Over on Instagram, the craze for belfies - selfies of bottoms - intersects with the showing off of big knicker-wearing behinds. Wasn't the point to introduce a little more modesty, a little less social media-exposed sexiness?
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