On Saturday, 2nd December, 2006 at 7pm, Michelle’s of New York Plus Size boutique will be presenting a fabulous fashion show presentation featuring plus size fashions from the unique designer line IGIGI.

Make up artist icons Jamie Austin and Stephanie Johnson will be turning the models into glamorous beauty queens for the evening as they lend their talent for this event… all to help the Islip Breast Cancer Coalition. The Islip Breast Cancer Coalition is a grassroots volunteer organization, founded in 1996 by a group of women committed to helping people in their community diagnosed with Breast Cancer.

100% of auction proceeds will go directly to the Islip Breast Cancer Coalition. What a great event indeed! Find out for information here and do mark this date down in your diaries, try and make it to the show if you are in the area.

November’s Store of the Month, nominated by Pasazz.net, is definitely a familiar name with many of you out there: Avenue. We thought Avenue deserved to be names this month’s most prestigious plus size clothing store due to the excellent options and shopping experience they provide to plus size women. Providing a wide variety of styles in sizes 14 to 32, Avenue is truly a winner. Find out more about the reasons behind Avenue being named November’s Store of the Month.

Yesterday Lane Bryant Catalog announced that it will change it’s name to “Woman Within“. The company is stressing that only the name is changing, everything else stays the same, “Woman Within” should be a familiar name, as it has been a successful plus size women’s clothing and intimates catalog for the past 15 years. To be quite honest though, this name is very new to my ears!

I quite like this new name, as the press release says: “The name Woman Within feminizes our offer, symbolizing inner awareness, the ‘woman inside.”

For more information please visit http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/news.html?d=107545.

It’s a breath of fresh air to see a company working for a truly positive cause. And when that cause is to help women and girl worldwide to build up their self-esteen and recognise their tru beauty, definitely puts a smile to my face. I’m sure most of your have seen those Dove commercials were real women are shown being comfortable with their own bodies. Dove seems to be investing a lot into these initiative launching the Campaign for Real Beauty and more recently, the Dove Self Esteem Fund.

I urge you to visit these links, learn more about Dove’s initiatives and check out the abundance of information and resources available at these sites. Moreover, share these links with your friends, family, colleagues and everyone you can about as this truly gets you thining.

One item which you definitely should not miss checking out the video which is currently highlighted on the main page of http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.ca/. This 1 minute short film reveals the illusions behing the “beauty” we see everyday in the media. It’s a little reminder that even supermodels do not looks like supermodels.

Finally a company making some sense!

Having recently lost a dear aunt to breast cancer, it is truly great to see all the awareness campaigns running this month around websites, shops, street and even online stores. I truly hope more and more women become more aware of this deadly disease, and become better equipped with knowledge as to what they can do to prevent this disease and catch is early.

Bare Necessities this month has partnered with Wacoal in supporting breast cancer awareness and research. For every Wacoal bra bought at Bare Necessities through October 16, Bare Necessities will donate $2. The donations will benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research. For more information visit Bare Necessities and check out the details.