“Sex sells.” Does that make it right though? It’s an ideal that is as old as time. And as women, it’s one we have to contemplate all the time.

What is sexy? What does it mean to be too sexy? Am I slut? Who is a slut? Is this outfit too sexy?

We are bombarded by these questions from the time we are preteens to well into our golden years. They are brought to our attention by the media, our boyfriends, husbands, and girlfriends until they seem planted in our minds organically. How do we deal with it? Well, I am still learning to. However I am someone who believes in the power of film. And the movie that deals with all these questions and then some, is Spike Lee’s 1996 film “Girl 6.”

Every lady needs a vanity mirror.

Girl 6, written by the playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, tells the story about a young woman who is on the tough road of becoming an actress. She juggles many different jobs and (literally) wears many different hats as she struggles to deal with crazy ex-lovers while trying to pursue her own dream.

What it means to be a bombshell blonde.

During her many identity crises, she is offered the opportunity to be a phone sex operator – a job that pays well, is supposedly “classier” than being a stripper and gives her a chance to experiment with her sexuality as she assumes the personas of many different people anonymously on the phone.

During her journey, she experiments with different voices, make up and clothes, pulling inspiration from famous women like Carmen Jones, Marilyn Monroe, and Foxy Brown, women who were all known for being “bombshells” or sex icons in the popular culture of their times.

Brown. Foxy Brown.

Spike Lee, who can sometimes be questionable when dealing with women’s issues, has created a movie that I think is a piece of art. He brings us right into Girl 6’s world. We feel her highs and are dragged down her deepest lows. We too get lost in all the glamour and glitter of being someone else. We take part in her fantasies and play dress up along with her. Although the fashion in the film is very 90s, with long elegant silhouettes and high-waisted jeans, the other costumes bleed into all decades.

You can never take a day off to look this good.

To be the girl next door.

The character Girl 6 not only takes on the heavy topic of female sexuality, she’s also taking on the struggle of race, trying to figure out what it means to be a woman of color, as she realizes that her job as a phone sex operator not only hides her true identity but also her race. She and the women she works with all vary in age, shape and size even though the telephone makes them all one-dimensional. But just like the different fantasies the callers have, the women who act them out are also unique.

What I get from watching Girl 6 is that I am the only person who can truly determine my personal definition of what it means to be sexy. And in the long run, who am I to judge? One man’s fantasy can be another man’s nightmare. One woman’s sexy can be another woman’s girl next door.

"Blow sugar. Helps them dry faster."

Working Girl has a whole another meaning...

OK. I am about to get real honest: I am a hopeless (a.k.a. helpless) romantic. There! I said it. I can’t deny it any longer because now it’s posted. I blame my love of movies. I am a busy girl. I am a writer, poet, editor, unicorn tamer, etc. So my ideal relationship would be with someone who is just as busy as I am. But, somehow we would find time for each other. My blueprint for that relationship is the 1988 film, Working Girl.

This story follows the young and headstrong Tess McGill (played by Melanie Griffith) who starts out being timid and shy but soon learns that if you really want something, you’ve got to get it yourself!

Tess and her best friend Cyn are two Staten Island girls who work in the city. And, being from Staten Island, they have their own “unique” style. Tess sports a more toned down version of the typical Staten Island look, but Cyn is Crayola piece of work. She has Big Hair and shoulder pads that could poke your eye out.

It always starts with the hair.

All the best villains wear fur.

The longer she works in the city, the more Tess realizes she needs to change her style to be taken more seriously as a serious working girl. So she trades her loud clunky jewelry for louder and more outspoken opinions. She swaps her frizzy locks for a straightforward bossy bob and tones down her make up. Tess is a smart girl who knows how to takes what she has and make it better, which eventually gives her an advantage over her evil boss Katharine Parker, who dresses just like all the other Wall Street clones.

From down & out to Up town girl.

But Tess upgrades more than just her wardrobe; she upgrades her man! She leaves the over-greased, over-the-top, and over-rated Staten Island stud (Alec Baldwin) for Jack Trainer, the Manhattan maverick played by Harrison Ford.

Long way from 30 Rock Mr Baldwin.

Trainer is a smart, hardworking and ambitious guy, who knows how to charm the pants off any Fortune 500 company at the click of briefcase latch. He’s all business suits and suave class, the kind of man who can take a phone call and change his shirt at the same time. Talk about multitasking.

Rad abs!

Although Working Girl does make the point that if you want to play in the big leagues you got to look the part. But it also shows that innate smarts and a sparkly personality are the best natural fashion accessories you can own.

Now I just have to find a guy who looks the part and has the same effortless charm as Jack Trainer. (Does anyone know if Harrison Ford has a son?)

Giving "Working Girl" a whole another meaning.

Layout by the always beautiful Phaymiss!

And so it begins...

“Normal” is such an overrated state of mind. It’s unbelievably hard to find one person, one family, or one thing that’s “normal” these days. From the guy at your bus stop to all those people who want to be President, we’re all slightly strange, odd, and even a little crazy. With that said, I’ll admit that one of my favorite films happens to be the craziest of them all: Girl, Interrupted.

The elegance of stripes and a cigarette.

Girl, Interrupted tells the true story of Susanna Kaysen’s (portrayed by Winona Ryder) year-long stay in a woman’s mental hospital during the late 1960s. The 60’s was a decade of change, revolution, war, women’s rights, and some pretty epic fashion statements. Susanna who suffers from “borderline personality disorder” finds herself incarcerated in a mental hospital. But in many ways she’s more comfortable there than she was in the “normal” world.

Her Rosemary's baby hair and button ups.

Susanna is a somewhat typical portrait of a woman of the 60’s but the world was not as tolerant back then as we like to think it was. She didn’t go to go to college, for one thing. She wanted to be a writer and not a homemaker. In the era of “free love” she was called promiscuous, and most of all she had a very androgynous sense of style.

The films darker moments deal with many different topics. It shines light on race, gender, mental health, and the journey to self-discovery and identity. But I think most viewers and critics overlook the use of style in this film.

Winona Ryder’s character has a Mia Farrow “Rosemary’s Baby” pixie hair cut that shows off and highlights Ryder’s natural beautiful sharp bone structure, giving her an opportunity to express a wider range of emotions. She is never seen in a dress; she’s always in paler khakis or corduroys paired with vertical-striped, French-inspired shirts, which emphasize how small and fragile she is.

The fashion also hints at the diagnoses of the other characters. Georgina Tuskin (Clea DuVall), a pathological liar who lives in a world of OZ, wears bright colors and Dorothy-inspired bibbed shirts. Polly “Torch” Clark (Elisabeth Moss), a burn victim who is so desperate to remain a child, wears girly fringed baby-doll dress and painfully sweet sweaters. Daisy Randone (Brittany Murphy), a lost girl who wants nothing more to be the ideal weight, is a prim and proper young lady with perfectly curled hair and modest necklines.

The statement a t-shirt, sunglasses, jeans, and a belt buckle can make.

Then there’s the wild card: Lisa Rowe, (played by Angelina Jolie) a sociopath who measures her worth in sex appeal. She is a hard rocker in low-rise jeans, a t-shirt, and stringy, bleached blonde hair.

The movie itself is a gallery of under loved mistakes, filled with shots that turn nature into these strange and twisted works of art. Girl, Interrupted is a coming of age tale and an authentic to show how difficult it can be to reclaim your own life.

*Photo layout by the very brilliant Phaymiss.

A few weeks ago we posted about the upcoming H&M Dragon Tattoo Collection by costume designer Trish Summerville. The more I see of this collection, the more I want it. In the video Trish Summerville explains the inspiration and she makes me feel much better for coveting the collection by saying it’s for everyone – anyone can find a piece in the collection to add to their existing wardrobe. I personally could use some leather in my life!

In a case of fashion imitating art, H&M has produced a collection inspired by Stieg Larsson’s books and David Fincher’s film, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and the movie’s main character, Lisbeth Salander. Designed by Trish Summerville, the woman behind the costumes for the film, the collection will definitely have an air of authenticity. The 30ppiece collection has a dark edgy feel to it that complements the films anti-heroine, Lisbeth Salander, and included leather jackets and pants, torn jeans and slouchy hoodies all in industrial shades of black, gray, worn white or dark red.

The collection will have an early release at Colette on November 28th and then will be available worldwide in H&M Divided departments in over 175 stores worldwide.

I’m loving what I see and I can’t wait for this collection to hit the racks. I’m feeling like I need more leather in my life!