Venus: The Girl’s Got Style
Posted by Michelle Moquin on March 7th, 2013
Good morning!
From the Huff Po:
Venus Williams Clothing Line EleVen Showcased During NYC Preview
NEW YORK — You know the whole thing about a woman’s prerogative to change her mind? Venus Williams can’t do it – at least not when it comes to her tennis wardrobe.
She already knows that come August at the U.S. Open, she’ll be wearing a black floral tennis dress, and for tournaments earlier in the summer, it’ll be pink python prints. Williams wears almost exclusively her own line called EleVen, which she has helmed since 2007. Both looks are part of the fall collection, which Williams offered a preview of on Monday at a Manhattan photo studio. The spring collection that goes into stores later this month has some tie-dye prints, nautical stripes and a more painterly watercolor floral.
“When we are designing, I am narrowing down which ones I’m wearing. I have got to plan ahead. … The retailers want to know right away which ones I’ll be wearing,” she says. This decisiveness works for her and her busy life, she adds. “I have to be effective with my time.”
Last week, she was in South America playing in the Brazil Cup. Williams maintains a full schedule of tennis tournaments and appearances, although she did announce that she was diagnosed in 2011 with an autoimmune disease that slows her down.
Eventually, she’d like to take all of her tennis outfits – including the “grandma floral” skirt her mother made her for her first pro match when she was only 13 years old – and join them with the on-court wardrobe of her sister Serena for some sort of museum exhibit.
Williams, 32, says she absorbs trend reports and keeps her eye on the runways for ideas, but some things just don’t translate to athletic clothes: the Victorian boudoir trend, for example. “Yeah, that one, with all the lace, didn’t work for sport, and I’m not sure about menswear, either.”
Designing EleVen has also made her more aware of what’s in her closet, including a lot of white, black, green and floral prints. She steers pretty clear of purple and magenta, and it took her a while to warm up to red, orange and turquoise, but, Williams says, her collection can’t be only her favorite colors and styles. “I’m loosening up.”
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Readers: Click over on the title to watch the video. it’s fantastic.
Peace out. Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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March 7th, 2013 at 12:53 pm
Great song, ZL. Thanks for sharing.
/SB
March 7th, 2013 at 4:10 pm
You’re welcome, /SB
Great line, ill take the watercolor wash skirt w pink top, its a,winner, like most of the line actually. She’s quite beautiful, I’m happy for her success, she’s worked hard for it.
Luv, Zen Lill
March 7th, 2013 at 8:14 pm
Love her clothes Michelle.
March 8th, 2013 at 6:11 am
Thanks for the info Michelle. I just bought two tennis skirts from Venuses Eleven line and they are fab!!
March 8th, 2013 at 6:11 am
Congratulations Venus. I wish you much success with your clothing line.
March 8th, 2013 at 6:13 am
Michelle, some friends told me you posted an article about Venus. I attended her show. How refreshing it was to have a fashion show with space between the models and audience and with happy looking people wearing the clothes!! Nice.
March 8th, 2013 at 6:14 am
Michelle, She’s talented. Did you know she designed the set for Tavis Smiley’s show?
March 8th, 2013 at 6:42 am
How to Drive Safely As Speed Limits Soar (Texas just hit 85 mph)
A 41-mile stretch of Texas State Highway 130, a toll road connecting Austin and San Antonio, now has a speed limit of 85 miles per hour (mph), the highest in the country.
Highway speed limits are creeping up nationwide, with 80-mph limits appearing elsewhere in Texas and in Utah…75-mph limits proliferating in the western half of the US…and 70-mph limits becoming common across much of the country.
And many drivers routinely travel five to 10 mph or more above the posted limits.
Maintaining a conservative speed on a fast highway won’t necessarily keep you safe—risks increase for all drivers when there are large differences between the speeds of vehicles on the road.
Here’s what responsible drivers can do to stay safe on highways when vehicles are moving very fast…
IF YOU’RE A FASTER DRIVER
Traveling at high speeds requires taking some precautions.
Maintain a safe following distance—even though that distance will feel unnaturally long. The faster a vehicle is traveling, the longer it requires to stop in an emergency. Many drivers fail to take this into account on high-speed highways and instead follow at the same distance that they do when the speed limit is just 55 mph.
In good weather, you should be three to four seconds behind the car ahead, which will seem like a very long way at 75 mph or 85 mph.
In poor weather conditions, you should be five to six seconds back. Measure this distance by silently counting off the seconds from when the vehicle ahead passes a road sign until you do, and repeat this process occasionally until this distance becomes second nature.
Resist any urge to tailgate slow drivers who won’t get out of your way. Tailgating is always dangerous, but at high speeds, it can be deadly.
It’s best not to flash your headlights at the car ahead to request that the driver move over, either. Some drivers consider headlight flashing overly aggressive and react poorly to it, intentionally blocking the passing lane.
If a slower vehicle does not get out of the far left lane to let you pass, the driver may not realize that you’re behind him or may not understand that it is his duty to get out of your way.
One thing to try:
Turn on your left-turn signal—the blinking light might catch his eye in his rearview mirror and alert him to your presence without the aggressiveness of headlight flashing.
Avoid passing on the right if at all possible. The slower driver might pick that moment to move to the right to get out of your way.
Don’t get greedy on high-speed-limit roads. A speed limit of 75 mph should not be taken as an invitation to drive 80 mph or 85 mph. Driving 75 mph is plenty fast.
Example:
In Virginia, drivers can be ticketed for reckless driving if they are traveling 20 mph or more above the speed limit—or if they’re driving above 80 mph regardless of the speed limit.
That means driving just 11 mph above the speed limit on a 70-mph highway can trigger this charge. Penalties can include fines climbing into the thousands, extra points on your driving record and even jail time.
IF YOU’RE A SLOWER DRIVER
If you’re not comfortable with high speeds…
Stay in the right lane(s) as much as possible.
Fast drivers tend to prefer the left lane(s) on multilane highways. Staying to the right increases the distance between you and them, substantially reducing the odds that speed differences will cause accidents.
Exception:
Move out of the right-most lane—if you safely can do so—as you approach entrance ramps where vehicles are attempting to merge onto the highway.
Not only is it good manners to give these drivers room to merge, there’s a chance that one or more of those drivers could be aggressive and might cut you off if you stay in the far-right lane.
Turn on your right blinker even if you can’t immediately get out of a faster driver’s way. If you’re in the passing lane when a fast driver approaches from behind but other cars block you from safely merging to the right, still turn on your right blinker.
The blinker lets the fast driver know that you understand that he wishes to pass and that you will move over as soon as possible. That often placates aggressive drivers enough to dissuade them from tailgating or attempting dangerous passes.
Also, take a moment to turn on your right blinker even if you can immediately move to the right. Your natural inclination might be to skip the blinker and just get out of the way as quickly as possible, but if you do that, the fast driver might not realize that you intend to move over and might try to pass you on your right, causing a dangerous situation as both of you move into the lane.
Drive with your headlights on even during the day. Turning on your headlights activates your taillights, which makes your car more visible to those coming up quickly from behind.
Source: William Van Tassel, PhD, manager of driver training operations at the AAA national office in Heathrow, Florida. He holds a doctorate in safety education. http://www.AAA.com
March 8th, 2013 at 6:56 am
I took your advice and went to a strip club. Being an alien with a bit of experience with sex with human females, I have never been more bored.
Over-priced, watered-down drinks, food only a fool would dare put in their mouth, the worst music I’ve ever heard, a bunch of women who looked as bored as I was taking off their clothes. Woopee.
I know we are tasked with learning as much about these humans as possible. I have already seen women take off their clothes before, and at least I got to have some fun with them once they had.
You say we must learn the economics of this planet. Then stop advising your charges to visit a strip club. A strip club is nothing but a VERY expensive session of flipping through a Playboy magazine. You pay a lot more, but you get the same amount of action.
Total waste of time and money.
Barry//3
March 8th, 2013 at 8:49 am
Drivers should move over for the tailgaters? I think not. First of all,drivers shouldn’t be tailgating.They can pass me in the left hand lane if they are in such a hurry.
I slow down for such idiots so they DO pass me.I am not going to drive at the speed some idiot in back wants to go.THEY’RE the ones who should not be speeding!
March 8th, 2013 at 8:54 am
Matthew Dowd, a chief strategist for George W. Bush’s reelection, slammed CPAC (scheduled to kick off in mid-March) for inviting the one-time vice presidential candidate to the popular conference, while passing over New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R).
“CPAC, to me, has totally diminished its credibility as an organization,” Dowd said. “And you invite Sarah Palin, who wasn’t competent enough to keep a Fox News contract? But she’s invited to a CPAC meeting?”
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I truly believe you cannot overstate the danger to this country that McCain inflicted on this nation by choosing Palin as his vice-presidential nominee.
And, yet, McCain to this day, refuses to acknowledge the absurdity of that decision. For this, McCain has forfeited all credibilty for everything since…
March 8th, 2013 at 9:00 am
Obviously it takes republicans about 5 years to catch on, millions of us knew in 2008 that Sarah Palin was completely incompetent ..
March 8th, 2013 at 9:02 am
Sue;
That’s not safe thinking. Regardless who’s “right” or “wrong”, if they tailgate you, and you have to suddenly slow down or stop, you and they will be the ones in the accident.
As my father-in-law says, if you’re in an accident, it’s because you didn’t do something to prevent it. So let them be wrong by speeding or tailgating, and you be right by being safe!
March 8th, 2013 at 9:04 am
Ham, You elected an incompetent that does not even have enough knowledge to put a budget together——-but he is great at flying around the country our money…
March 8th, 2013 at 9:06 am
Um, I was once rear ended by a vehicle because I stopped for a flashing police car coming out of the barracks driveway onto the main road and he didn’t.
Fortunately for me the police officer who witnessed the accident didn’t subscribe to your logic, but I’d love to know your opinion as to how I was supposed to prevent that accident.
Note that the other driver was not following closely at all, but that I was stopped for at least 10-15 seconds before he plowed into me.
March 8th, 2013 at 9:07 am
Mr Bill,I disagree with you. Not all accidents can be prevented,that’s why they are called accidents.
I was hit by a deer, it was not a known deer crossing, nor where there any deer crossing signs posted.
I was on a highway traveling in the far left hand lane on a four lane Highway.(two lanes each way, with a grassy divider)
It was at night,it was Not raining,nor was it foggy out,it was a clear night out.
I was going 50 mph.( I only go 50 mph, to conserve fuel )
The deer bounded out from the the right side of the road.Landing on the hood of the car, smashing through my windshield.
So you tell me how was I supposed to prevent it.The insurance adjuster said that I run into the deer, if I run into the deer, the front end/grille of my car would have been
March 8th, 2013 at 9:08 am
Dianne, you republicans never quit. Obama has put together several but the house which is supposed to be resopnsible for those things has refused to even put them up for a vote.
Maybe you should try to join the real world instead of the conservative fantasy land and you would not sound so stupid that way.
March 8th, 2013 at 9:10 am
You Republican bozos thought she was competent enough to be VP. LOL
March 8th, 2013 at 9:14 am
Every time I hear some idiot tell me how much better Fox News is than any other News outlet, I remind them that Fox news fired Sarah Palin because she wasn’t competent enough for Fox news,” …but the same news organization thought she was competent enough to be vice-president!
“just a heartbeat away from the Presidency!”
March 8th, 2013 at 9:15 am
Gob smacking isn’t it!
March 8th, 2013 at 9:16 am
What’s even more telling is that save electorate that supported that McIdiot/Palin ticket is the one that has given us the House majority that is screwing up the country now.