#elvi

More from the racquetball area!

Lastly,

Back in the days when Stephen Pinker wrote books about language, he had a nice section about Latin and Greek plurals in English. Alumnus becomes alumni, cactus becomes cacti, and so on.

But it doesn't always work. Sometimes we gave up pretending English is Latin (circus, museum). Sometimes it was never a Latin word to begin with (octopus).

or..Elvis. Pinker dug up this newspaper story:

“In Las Vegas, The Flying Elvi sued The Flying Elvises for trademark theft. Both organizations leap from airplanes in Elvis Presley (late period) costumes and dance and pretend to sing upon landing.”

They did indeed. The Flying Elvi lost on grammar but won in court, and their website testily asserts that they are "are the only officially licensed skydive team by Elvis Presley Enterprises®"

As for The Flying Elvises, I found some reminscences on a skydiving forum

So summer was suddenly over and now – Surpriiiise! Just kidding! – it’s back again. Though probably not for long.

As fellow Brits might surmise, I took these pics when the weather was chilly and overcast last week. If I’d tried wearing a suedette frock and 60 denier tights in 25ºC I wouldn’t be looking quite so cool in any sense of the word. I bought the dress online from the TKMaxx website, having first tried it on in a size 20 and deciding it was just a gnat’s too clingy. Elvi describe it as a mini, which I find rather baffling as it hits me bang on the knee and, while I’m short, I can’t imagine it would qualify as a bona fide mini on anyone under 5′ 8″. 

While Elvi have done a bang up job of reinventing themselves as a contemporary and slightly edgy brand, I’m not often drawn to the clothes online so it was good to have the opportunity to see a few pieces in the flesh, albeit a couple of seasons later. In addition to the frock I also purchased an amazeballs textured PU skirt for fifteen quid, while the dress came in at twenty five, both substantial reductions from their original price – especially the skirt which started out at seventy. If you hurry you might still luck out. I bought both with my imminent return to work in mind. It’s going to feel very strange after having so much time off to recuperate. I probably won’t know what’s hit me but I’m also looking forward to being back in the saddle after losing the best part of a year of my life.

I don’t want to sound bitter but it’s kind of annoying me that Elvi have chosen to extend their range into straight sizes. Of course, it they can prove that their designs look equally good on a wider than average range of body sizes that might encourage more mainstream manufacturers to extend into plus sizing. So it could be a massive win, providing they stock them in store. (If they don’t, like Next, Mango, Yumi, River Island, Dorothy Perkins, Boden and Seasalt, they can suck it I’m afraid. But back to the matter in hand). it’s quite possible Elvi have made this decision to ensure they stay in business period. Or maybe they’ve looked at Universal Standard’s business model and decided why the hell not go for world domination? But something about it just whispers to me of biting the hand that feeds. 

Let’s be real, while it’s a noble ambition, there are certain items that won’t look equally good on a size 8 and a size 28. When push comes to shove, the rebooted Elvi isn’t Universal Standard;  it’s still very much finding its feet. And the straight size demographic can literally shop anywhere they want. Plus many wouldn’t be seen dead in any item they know a fat woman might be wearing, lest they be tainted by association. So why even concern yourselves with them, when you could, (okay, should, in my opinion), be giving your original target demographic –  who are in genuine and desperate need for more choice – your full attention. What say you, tumblr? Enquiring minds and all that.