Category: Fashion

  • Papaya Clothing Website Is Live!

    After more than a year of waiting, the Papaya Clothing Store website has finally launched! No more complaining or visiting CultureFeast to post 200+ comments about how much you want to shop at Papaya Online.

    Go there today at PapayaClothing.com and take advantage of their Really Big Sale where you can get up to 30% off Papaya clothes online. The wait is over! Shop ’til you drop!

    And feel free to keep visiting me here at CultureFeast. You don’t have to forget me, just because Papaya’s around.

    ***UPDATE***


    As of Friday evening, the Papaya website is apparently down again. I don’t consider this to be a false site launch because I’m not seeing the placeholder that was there before. The server simply cannot be found, which may mean that the company’s server was overloaded with traffic upon opening. All types of technical problems are possible. I wouldn’t worry about it. Either they launched the site and changed their minds (which makes no sense) or they’re servers can’t handle the traffic and they’ll need to upgrade.

    Check back here and I’ll update this page as I hear news.

    *** UPDATE 2***

    I just checked the Papaya site (July 31, 2007 11am CST) and it’s back up and running. Go check it out.


  • Missed My Calling: I Should Be a Papaya Clothing Marketer

    I should write about women’s fashion more often. This Papaya Clothing store project is blowing up! On average, CultureFeast gets 60 visitors per day who are looking for information about Papaya clothing stores. There’s a seriously untapped market here. I should start a blog about the most popular women’s clothing stores: Papaya, Forever 21, and Charlotte Russe. Of course, I know absolutely nothing about women’s clothing, so I’d have to find some good writers to cover the details.

    Being the domain name junkie that I am, I’ve already searched for good domain names should I seriously consider undertaking such an enterprise. unfortunately, there’s no time in the day. I’m gonna be a daddy, I have a full-time job, three blogs which don’t see enough action already, and a company blog which also needs more of my attention.

    So here’s a free tip: if you’re reading this and you love women’s fashion (hopefully you’re a woman, but whatever), find yourself a domain and do some serious research. Find all the Papaya Clothing store locations you can find and post a list of them on your website. Become a resource for desperate shoppers all across the country.

    Or you can just visit my website and keep your fingers crossed that my efforts will make a difference in getting their website finished.


  • Papaya Clothing Store Website Still Under Construction

    UPDATE: The Papaya Clothing Website is Now Live!!!


    To all the women who have left the 300 or so comments on this blog about Papaya Clothing, your action made a difference! The site is now live and you can shop online from anywhere! Finally!

    The people truly do have a voice. I have received several comments from people claiming to be Papaya Clothing employees, proving that the company took notice of your comments here.

    If you would like to receive a weekly email update of new CultureFeast blog posts, please leave a comment on this post with your first and last name, email address, and the statement, "Add me to your weekly email!"

    We want to keep you all posted on what's happening around here, but we ONLY want to send updates to those who want to be emailed.

    Post your comment today, and we'll add you to the list!

    Thanks,

    Daniel
    Editor | CultureFeast.com

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    I want to hear from the people. For all of you who have been visiting my website, hoping to find more information about Papaya Clothing stores in your area, let me first apologize. I don't know much more than that they have a Papaya Clothing Store in Grapevine Mills Mall and apparently at Stonebriar in Frisco. But let's get to the point.

    I wrote a blog about Papaya Clothing stores and their affordable prices at the beginning of November 2006. That was five months ago. I just checked, and their website is still "under construction." No sign of progress and no contact information is provided on the URL. That's not going to cut it.

    I literally receive as many as 300 visits to CultureFeast.com a day from Google and Yahoo searches for "Papaya Clothing Store" or "Papaya Clothing store locations" or some variation. My one little blog post about the cheap and stylish clothes at Papaya five months ago drives up to 11,000 visitors in a month to my site. That means that someone needs to get on the ball and finish their site.

    So here's the deal. We all know that I own WebSwank, a Dallas social media and search engine marketing company. I'm going to approach Papaya Clothing and show them my site visitor stats and see if WebSwank can't help them launch their website. Papaya is just too hugely popular to not launch and optimize the website as soon as possible.

    That's where you the reader come in. I want to hear from you. If you are looking for information on Papaya clothing online and you come across this blog post, I want you to leave a comment here, telling me what kind of information you want from them. Do you want to shop and buy online? Do you want to know where the nearest store is located? Do you want to know if they're hiring? Do you want to know if they offer franchising options? Or do you just want to know what everybody is talking about?

    Post a comment here. Your voice will count in getting this website launched.

    Thanks,

    Daniel Dessinger


  • My Day with the Silk Boxers from Hell

    It’s a sure sign I haven’t done laundry. The silk boxers go at the bottom of the drawer, so I don’t have to wear them unless their the last ones. After today, they won’t make it back into the drawer. They’re gone… Banished… Forever.

    I’m extremely sensitive to heat. Sit in a leather / suede chair long enough, and I’ve got to stand up and walk around for awhile. Give me a 70 degree room or cooler, plus a ceiling fan, and I’ll be a happy camper. Not today. Oh no. Not with silk. Bastard silk. I officially hate silk.

    If you’ve ever tried to wear boxers under jeans, you know that they have to be made out of a sturdy enough material that they won’t bunch up as you put your pants on. Seriously. As a matter of fact, they’re not worth buying if they’re not sturdy enough to stay in place. The only thing more frustrating than a shifting pair of boxers is a hot, itchy, shifting pair of boxers. Okay, the boxers themselves aren’t itchy. It was the stupid tag, but it’s placed in such a way as to provide constant irritation throughout the day.

    Yes, I’m talking about the comfort level of my knickers. Get over it.

    Why the hell did I every buy silk boxers in the first place? I know why. It was mostly curiosity which I have since left for dead. Sleeping in them may be okay, but the rest of life does not favor silk. Not for me. You do whatever you want. My silk days are done.


  • Papaya Clothing Store

    I’m not a woman, but if I was I would surely visit Papaya clothing stores on a regular basis. My wife loves it. Their clothes are trendy and affordable. No, really affordable. My wife has been building a collection of basic colors and shirt styles, and she buys some of her shirts for three dollars!!!!!!! Yes, I said $3. For less than a value meal, she can choose from an array of seasonal colors. She just came home from a Grapevine Mills Outlet Mall excursion where she bought one pair of jeans, one pair of khaki pants, one long sleeve shirt, and two short sleeve shirts all for less than $80. You can’t beat that without shopping at Wal-Mart or Target (or Goodwill – which I must confess we have). Seriously, one pair of my jeans from The Buckle costs $80!

    Even if I didn’t get the other pair of pants, I’d be seriously stoked if I could get a pair of jeans and three shirts for eighty bucks. Life just isn’t fair. They charge the heck out of us because they know we don’t mix and match as much. That means we don’t buy as much, which means they’ve gotta milk us for all we’ve got. Back to the subject… Look for the launching of the Papaya website, which is currently under construction. The deals are so good that even if you shop at three or four other favorite stores, you can save some serious cash getting at least some of your basics for way less than the competition. If you are in the Dallas / Fort Worth area, you can visit Papaya at Grapevine Mills in Grapevine or at Galleria Mall in north Dallas.


  • Public School Says NO to Leggings

    A local Texas school district has ruled that public school girls cannot wear leggings to school under short skirts. Apparently, girls were getting the idea that they could buy shorter skirts and get away with them at school as long as they wore leggings. Interesting concept. Some leggings conceal more than others. Some are obviously meant to be sexy and draw attention. Some appear to be no more than extra warmth. It seems ironic to me that public school officials should have such a problem with dress code after all the compromises they’ve made over the past fifty years.

    Some of you are too young or too uninformed to know that crime rate increased and SAT scores dropped within 5 years of removing prayer from schools. From one step to the next, from sex education to evolution, public schools have removed godliness and propriety from schools and replaced them with lawlessness and no respectable authority to emulate. Yet now we’re worried about leggings? Seriously? You’re going to give your child the right to learn about sex from someone else, have access to free condoms whenever they want, and give them the right to be tested for pregnancy without your knowledge, and you’re worried about whether they wear leggings? Priorities are more than a little screwed up.

    From the news reports on 20/20, you hear about how a growing number of students refuse to show respect to their teachers. They are allowed to be openly rebellious and rude. There is no standard. That is what happens when you remove the moral code from any part of a society. Tell you what – allow teachers to be a source of faith and hope in school classrooms and let the girls wear leggings. Within 5 years, you’ll see whether dress code was the problem.


  • Dressing for Church

    It occurred to me the other day that I wear different styles of clothing to church based upon my expectation of the service. When I first accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior ten years ago, I began attending church in a t-shirt and jeans because they were all that I owned. I found that I could engage more completely in worship because I had no expectations of being viewed by other people as cool or attractive. I was able to leave my self image at home and participate with total focus.

    As I should have expected, that reality did not last very long. I inevitably gained more clothing through birthday gifts and sheer necessity, and Sunday morning church became an opportunity to attract the opposite sex. Honestly, if one is to look for a partner, there is no better place to look than one’s own church or university (as applicable). But the simple truth is that the moment I dressed in nice clothes for church, I knew I would get more attention from people. I expected more attention. I could no longer worship at the front of the sanctuary because I was sure that I was being watched and I worried too much how I looked – if my hair was in place, my shirt tucked nicely and unwrinkled, etc. Even after marriage, self image wasn’t automatically thrown out the window.

    Image consciousness morphs a little to make sense (hence the soccer mom image in the nice SUV). We no longer try to send out the message to the opposite sex that we are both available and desirable, but there is still something within us that wants our peers to know we are living a good life. We want their respect for our lifestyle choices and even their admiration for our tastes in fashion, architecture, art, decor, and music. The question remains: What is your primary purpose for attending services? Is it to mingle? Is it to walk the runway? Is it to worship?

    There will always be exceptions to every rule. While this is true, most people will always be self conscious in public if they spend too much time and attention preparing their clothes, hair, makeup, etc. No one wants to spend a lot of time getting ready only to have their hair flop over or stick up, or to have their shirt bunch up at the sides. We want what we took the time to make right to stay right. Unfortunately, that means we often are too distracted to participate in corporate worship. How can we really focus on the majesty of God when Guy X or Girl Z two rows back may be wondering why we chose this outfit? I’ve found that for me personally, it’s best to go au naturale… No, not without clothes. I just go to church wearing the same normal clothes I wear each day.

    It may be a little boring, but I don’t dress on Sunday to entertain. I need that corporate time in worship. I don’t have time to waste on what other people think of me, and the best way to avoid that problem is dress in such a way as to guarantee I won’t draw attention.


  • The Metrosexual: My Most Popular Post

    Though the compulsion to write flows strongly through these veins, I cannot escape an addiction to math and statistics. I like to crunch numbers for potential scenarios. I like to know how the numbers break down – which blog posts are viewed the most, which search terms lead people to my website the most, etc.

    The overwhelmingly most popular blog post was The Metrosexual, written over a month ago. It is seriously leaving most other posts in the dust. Of course, you have to keep in mind that the older a post, the more time it has had to be viewed. So that always plays a factor. The second or third most popular post was about Texas Bowfishing. Apparently, people have an obscene fetish for gar.

    The picture on the right is of Carson Daly. He is one of the premier American metrosexuals in the celebrity spotlight. As mentioned in the previous Metrosexual post, the epitome of the Metrosexual is British soccer phenom David Beckham. Now there’s a man who can’t go anywhere without a thousand women trying to do something unspeakable. Daly is nothing in comparison to Beckham’s star power and marketability. But he’ll do for the moment.

    I’ve asked women before what’s the big deal with metrosexuals. I partly understand it, and I also fundamentally cannot. Let’s look at it this way: I think it is safe to say that the majority of women either dream or have dreamed of a tall, muscular, strong man sweeping them of their feet and romancing them in a magical world of something or other. Okay, with that said, where does the scrawny metrosexual fit in?

    Granted, the big muscular guys are frequently jocks, which means they spend most of their childhood and adolescence surrounded by morons. No offense. It’s a simple fact that people who specialize or focus on one thing do so to the detriment of other aspects of their lives. You can’t be experienced and talented at everything.

    David Beckham represents a metrosexual hybrid whose appeal is more understandable because he is so athletic. I mean, he kicks ass as a soccer player. And I do know a few other guys who fit the bill of soccer metrosexual. Maybe someone should coin a new term for that kind of guy… maybe a header-o-sexual.

    But I think it’s safe to say that the majority of metrosexuals are not so athletic. They’re usually scrawny little guys who dress well, stare into the mirror too much for their own good, and act like they’re God’s gift to women and fashion. Quite a few of them have one thing or another going for them – some are musicians, some are successful businessmen, and some are artists with above average art. That I understand. After all, I reeled in my wife by singing and writing. I understand appealing to a woman’s heart and her sense of beauty. Then again, don’t we all use the weapons in our arsenal to compensate for whatever we’re lacking? Guys join bands all the time because they want the fame and the easy access to women who, under different circumstances, wouldn’t give them the time of day.

    But why are these guys being elevated to the status of gods when many of them couldn’t defend themselves in a barfight? Not that I’m advocating barfights, mind you. But my point is that somewhere along the way, a lot of women have changed what they want, and I want to know why. There’s got to be some semblance of masculinity in a guy, doesn’t there? I mean, you want him to defend you if necessary, not vice versa, right?!?!

    Until I learn otherwise, I’ll chalk it up to Hollywood. Seems like they decide for the masses what is going to be cool, desirable, and worth striving for. If you watch enough television and movies, you constantly see the same thing presented in a certain light, the concept has more of a chance to work its way into your mind and affect the way you think.

    Whatever. It’s just a bunch of guys wearing women’s jeans and eye liner, right?