This week’s links bound across time as we go from the first incarnations of the handbag, to both the glamour and reality of the mid-20th Century and the modern phenomenon of online shopping. And when, in all this, will women be happy with their bodies? Debenhams may now be using unretouched images alongside the photoshopped, but the Daily Mail and the UK’s new equalities minister have decreed a new, and for a lot of us unattainable, body shape for us to aim for.

• Amanda Lee: How to Do More With the Clothes You Have [Instead of Buying More]
• An Early-Life Crisis from Academia to Art: My 26th design project on my quest to teach myself to sew and reach 52 in a year! Also includes my own sleeve sewing tutorial and this week’s project stats :
• Beyond Fabric: A thought on online shopping – is it worth building your wardrobe online?
• Blah Blah Becky: LOVING iconic British brand Whistles’ AW10/FW10 lookbook
• Brooklyn Posh: starting to love thyself : the health/weight debate
• Beautifully Invisible: 10 curvy women – past and present – who are the epitome of sexy.
• Dramatis Personae: Ch-Cha-Chain- Coveting & Craving Chain Jewelry
• Fashion Limbo: 90s nostalgia after a party on a boat. I go through some memorable teenage-hood highlights
• Independent Fashion Bloggers: Fair Compensation Manifesto
• Intrinsically Florrie: Looking to the French pâtisserie Ladurée for design inspiration.
• Make the World a Prettier Place: Are women tired of distressed jeans and messy buns? It is time to leave this trend behind and dress up – even for everyday life!
• Malvestida: The Headress day… a day that’s all about sharing creativity!
• Mariel’s Castle: Experimenting with the newest nail trend
• Oranges and Apple: On glamorising vintage life
• Retro Chick: Friday Frock Love: Poppy Valentine
• Scene On the Street: NYC: Mod Scientist – Scene On the Street
• The Coveted: American Living $250 Gift Card Giveaway
• The Demoiselles: UK department store shuns retouching…why can’t we live in the UK?
• The Embellished Life: Do you have a hankering for handbags? Enlighten yourself with the heroic History of Handbags on The Embellished Life!
• The Fashion Police: Why size should never be a fashion statement
• What 2 Wear Where: Mad Men Mania: effortlessly polished Betty Draper

PLEASE READ IF YOU’D LIKE TO PARTICIPATE:

If you would like to submit your link for next week’s Links à la Mode, please register first, then post your links HERE. The HTML code for this week will be found in the Links a la Mode group will be published later today. ~Jennine