When I flick through a magazine I generally anticipate that that full-page advertisements taking up the initial third of it will be inspirational rather than practical. By which I mean that I’ll obtain a massive dose of the designer, stylist, and photographer’s "concept" for the season but very little idea of how the clothes will sit on a regular human being.

All well and good; but now that the same "terribly fatigued woman slouching on a sofa/chair/bed" and "well dressed contortionist" syndromes have started to infiltrate websites that are actually attempting to sell me things I’m starting to get a little worried. Because, as much as this may label me a fuddy duddy, I do actually like to have a vague idea of...say....the length of a skirt, before I hand over my hard earned cash for it. A photograph of a model...either sitting, reclining, or doing aesthetically pleasing calisthenics...just isn't much use to me (the number of times that I worry about how a skirt will look while seated or doing yoga being severely limited)...

Yet, disturbingly, I've been coming across it more and more. Perhaps online retailers need to come to terms with the fact that they are trying to push merchandise (in a frustrated economy) and leave the artsy, but essentially useless, marketing shots for more lackadaisical times.