In a bizarre twist, the size zero ex-Spice girl, who has been nicknamed 'Skeletal Spice' because of her twig-like frame, has declared she does not want women like herself, to model her denim range.

According to The Mirror, Posh has hired a voluptuous Brazilian beauty Daniella Sarahyba to represent her brand. Daniella's website describes the 21-year-old as having 'a perfectly sculpted body with the curves and meat in all the right places'. Unlike Posh, who is famous for wearing jeans that could fit a seven-year old. Victoria recently said: "I know quite a few models and they actually eat, they're just naturally thin girls."

A source said: "Victoria wants to give out a positive image that you don't have to be ultra skinny to look good. "Many of the models on the catwalk make young girls feel insecure about their own bodies. "Victoria doesn't want to be accused of giving young girls a complex about their image and putting pressure on them to be as skinny as her."

eBay spokesman Hani Durzy told CNET News.com Monday that that exemption stems from the auction giant's interpretation of what Second Life is.

"If someone participates in Second Life and wants to sell something they own, we are not at this point proactively pulling those listings off the site," said Durzy. "We think there is an open question about whether Second Life should be regarded as a game."

That statement should make Second Life publisher Linden Lab very happy, as it has tried for years to hammer home the point that its virtual world is not a game. But to have that position supported by as august an institution as eBay should definitely bolster Linden Lab's argument, regardless of what other observers think.

"Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez and Patricia Arquette are all shining examples of classy, stylish, smart and sophisticated women," said Diamond Information Center Director Sally Morrison. "They represent not only the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, but they are superior role models, especially because of their humanity and compassion for those in need, caring for the world we live in and helping to raise money for valuable projects in Africa through the 'Raise Your Right Hand Ring for Africa' program."

Beyonce, who wore a spectacular 25-carat grey, yellow and white Diamond Right Hand Ring by diamond jeweler, Lorraine Schwartz is contributing $10,000 to Link-A-Child (linkachild.org), a project Beyonce personally visited. Link-A-Child is a not-for-profit organization that serves to care for the more than 7 million child orphans and motherless babies in Africa who are abandoned. The organization connects children to people who take care of them, and to potential corporate and individual donors who provide aid to orphanages in all 26 states in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. Link-A-Child's belief is that, through generating proper public awareness, everyone will share in the moral vision to help rehabilitate these children by showing their support and ensuring they receive basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, healthcare and education to give these children a proper chance for a prosperous life and future.

Jennifer Lopez, who also wore a 30-carat yellow Diamond Right Hand Ring by Lorraine Schwartz, has not yet disclosed which project her $10,000 will support. Details will be available shortly.

Patricia Arquette wore a Platinum, Onyx and Diamond Right Hand Ring by diamond jeweler to the stars, Neil Lane. Patricia is donating the $10,000 generated to CARE International (care.org), a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. The organization places special focus working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty. Women are at the heart of CARE's community-based efforts to improve basic education, prevent the spread of HIV, increase access to clean water and sanitation, expand economic opportunity and protect natural resources. CARE also delivers emergency aid to survivors of war and natural disasters, and helps people rebuild their lives.

"It's a beautiful feeling to wear a magnificent Diamond Right Hand Ring and at the same time support these extremely important African causes," said Lorraine Schwartz, diamond jeweler based in New York. "I love being involved in the glitter and glamour of Hollywood during award season," said Neil Lane, owner of Neil Lane Jewelry in Los Angeles. "Being able to participate in a program that gives back makes what I do with diamonds all the more rewarding."

Over the course of the last four years, the Diamond Right Hand Ring has come to represent a woman's independence and prosperity and a symbol of a woman's brilliant accomplishments, personal success, freedom and power in the U.S. Raise Your Right Hand Ring for Africa is part of the diamond industry's ongoing efforts to raise star-powered support for important projects and causes that are vital to the continued prosperity of key diamond-producing nations around the world, particularly southern Africa.

The DIC has invited Hollywood's leading female nominees and presenters to proudly wear a Diamond Right Hand Ring on this year's red carpet for any of the 2007 awards shows: Golden Globes, 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards or Academy Awards. A $10,000 donation will be granted in their name to a special project or cause of their choice benefiting Africa. The diamond industry hopes Hollywood's leading ladies will help generate up to $100,000 in donations for important social projects or causes in Africa during the 2007 award season.

Spanish shop window dummies have been ordered to fatten up after the government and big fashion chains agreed that female dummies should wear size 10 clothes or above. The agreement between Spanish retail chains such as Zara and Mango and the country's health ministry came as the fashion trade agreed to a series of measures designed to combat anorexia.

Stick-thin mannequins will be withdrawn from store windows over the next few years as those capable of wearing clothes bearing labels marked European size 38, equivalent to the British size 10, take their place. Spanish shop window dummies have been ordered to fatten up after the government and big fashion chains agreed that female dummies should wear size 10 clothes or above.

The agreement between Spanish retail chains such as Zara and Mango and the country's health ministry came as the fashion trade agreed to a series of measures designed to combat anorexia. Stick-thin mannequins will be withdrawn from store windows over the next few years as those capable of wearing clothes bearing labels marked European size 38, equivalent to the British size 10, take their place.

Mobile phone users are downloading data at increasing rates with Verizon Wireless attracting the highest level of interest, according to a report released Tuesday by IDC.

In all, the 230 million wireless subscribers in the United States bought a total of $4.1 billion in data services in the third quarter of 2006.

"Our research found that at $7.27 spent per-customer on data services in 3Q06, Verizon Wireless became the new market leader among the national operators, eclipsing Sprint Nextel, the long-time leader in this metric at $7.15," said IDC's Julien Blin. The two leading firms employ CDMA technology.

Blin, who is research analyst for IDC's Wireless and Mobile Communications program, said Verizon leads in total wireless data revenue, data percentage of average revenue per user (ARPU), and data spending. However, Sprint and other national carriers pace the market in some selected service offerings.

Well, finally we've got some real Ugg weather — temperatures topping out in the 30s some mornings, swimming pools turned into slushies, the whole Currier & Ives scene in Malibu. But what's a weather variation really but a fashion opportunity? Cruising around Beverly Hills on a recent 40-plus-degree morning, it wasn't just the Arctic breeze that hit me, but SoCal's unique take on winter dressing.

"They're $1.99 children's gloves from Rite Aid, and I cut the fingers off," hairstylist Giuseppe Franco said, brandishing his fingerless gloves at his North Canon Drive salon. "So I can use my fingers and keep my palms warm." Dean Leduc tied a jaunty Prada geometric print scarf over his suit jacket when he set out for work on Rodeo Drive. "It's hard when the temperature changes because you forget to dress for it," he said.

One particularly fashionable pedestrian layered short shorts over opaque tights and red legwarmers. But not even those relics of the Jane Fonda era could save her when the sky opened up on Wednesday morning. She broke out into a sprint in spiky stilettos, taking her black bowler hat and faux leopard chubby into an alley for cover. Barbra Sanonian took refuge inside the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, warming her hands on a latte and keeping her coat on while catching up with a friend. And why not? The turquoise full-length shearling, hand painted with images of fashion girls on Vespas, was fabulous — a sartorial souvenir picked up in Spain.

"It's kind of evolved with the Internet," says Larry Abrahamson, district attorney in Colorado's Larimer County. "Basically, if a victim (in the past) wanted to find something that was stolen, they'd go and search the local pawnshops. Now all you've got to do is sit down at your computer. It's made it easier for victims."

Abrahamson's office is pursing a case in which security officers at a Fort Collins high school found 32 stolen computers for sale on eBay. The computers were taken in a break-in during the school's winter recess. Police were able to use the online listing to find and arrest two 17-year-old students, he says.

"It literally took a minute, a minute and a half to find them," says Norm Bastian, security manager of the Poudre School District in Fort Collins.

Tammy Schroden spent the better part of a day tracking down her son's possessions on eBay after they were stolen from a Northwestern University fraternity house in Evanston, Ill., in June. She located his Nintendo game system and tipped off campus police, who bid on it but lost out to another bidder at the last minute, school spokesman Charles Loebbaka says.

Schroden's own bid — $35 for two of her son's video games — was a winner, though. When the games arrived in the mail, they had "Schroden" written on the back, she says. Eventually, Loebbaka says, campus police identified a 17-year-old from Evanston as the seller, and persuaded the boy's father to give back a stolen laptop and printer and to pay $2,600 restitution. "If I didn't pursue this," Schroden says, "I know it wouldn't have gotten as far as it did."

Hoping to keep itself relevant as more consumers seek video on demand via the Internet, Free How-To Guide for Small Business Web Strategies - from domain name selection to site promotion. Netflix launched a Web initiative Tuesday that gives subscribers the option of downloading and instantly watching movies online.

The company will roll out the service to subscribers over the next six months. Users will be given access to a certain amount of download time each month based on their Netflix subscription plan.

Netflix pioneered the DVD rent-by-mail business and has become a serious rival to Blockbuster, which last year debuted its own mail-based rental service.

E!'s resident red carpet man-about-town Ryan Seacrest is not pleased with Angelina Jolie giving him the brush-off when he tried to interview her at the Golden Globe Awards Monday night. Seacrest, who was covering the event as part of E!'s pre-show, went off on Jolie on his KIIS-FM radio show in L.A. on Wednesday morning.

"I asked her four questions and she didn't even answer me," he complained. "I literally stood there and tried to ask a couple of questions. At one point I just kind of let the E! microphone sit in front of her for a second to see if she was going to acknowledge it, and she clearly wanted nothing to do with me or my question or my answer or any of it.”

Seacrest was more forgiving of Jolie's other half, Brad Pitt, who was standing next to her during the interview and did most of the talking. "Brad was fantastic." The host went on to praise the actress for her charity work, but complained about her dour expression on the red carpet: "I think doing good is fantastic. A lot of people are benefiting around the world from their doing of all of these noble things. But smile."

Cohost Ellen K then came to Angie’s defense saying, "Well, she has said that she finds all these award shows a waste of time and money." "Well then don't go," Seacrest shot back. "Don't go. Don't go support your man. Don't go."

It was a big moment for Kelly Gray when Angelina Jolie stepped onto the red carpet at the Golden Globes this week in a charcoal grey St. John gown. That's because Gray, the former face of St. John, a role that Jolie now holds, was part of the team that designed the dress for the Oscar-winning actress. "It was one of my career highlights to see her in the dress on the red carpet," Gray said by phone on Thursday.

She added that Jolie "was a pleasure to work with and has an incredible sense of style." Gray, a former executive at Irvine-based St. John and daughter of the founders, remains a consultant to the company. She left day-to-day duties at St. John in 2005.

Instead, the CFDA guidelines emphasize education — about the warning signs for eating disorders, and about healthy dietary and lifestyle issues. The guidelines discourage models from working the runways if they're under 16. In addition, all models should work limited hours, take rest breaks and be supplied with nutritious snacks and nonalcoholic beverages behind the scenes. They encourage models who do have eating disorders to seek treatment and also recommend that smoking and drinking be banned from backstage areas. The group, which will host New York Fashion Week starting Feb. 2, says their position is "about awareness and education, not policing." They add in a statement: "Other groups have set strict rules about how much (or little) models are allowed to weigh. However, the CFDA is not recommending that models get a doctor's physical examination to assess their health or body mass index to be permitted to work … Eating disorders are emotional disorders that have psychological, behavioral, social, and physical manifestations, of which body weight is only one."

*****

Whether the models will be able to adjust their behavior is another matter. Every day they are barraged by images of chic women who are ultrathin and Web sites that promote anorexia. The allure of the catwalk is sending dangerously underweight models straight into hospital beds. On these Web sites model wannabes are taught how to stave off hunger pangs by punching their stomachs or drinking vinegar. The Eating Disorders Association warns that there are more than 500 pro-anorexia Web sites that promote the disease as a form of control over one's body. Steve Bloomfield, press officer for the association, explains that these Web sites have a strong impact on sick people as they finally find someone who perfectly understands how they feel and supports them. "Only 1 percent of anorexics feel able to talk to their parents or teachers," says Bloomfield.

Because anorexics refuse to think they are ill, they never associate their health problems with starving themselves. Therefore, they refuse treatment, and as Bloomfield notes, "One in five people who don't get treatment die prematurely." The Great Ana Competition is a Web site that awards a diploma to the girl who eats the fewest calories in a two-week period. The competition has even codified a scoring system: Eat less than 150 calories per day and you are awarded nine points, accomplish a 24-hour fast and you'll be awarded the grand prix.

Women cite a variety of reasons. Some, like Ms. Azizian, hope to head off an argument with a penny-pinching husband or boyfriend. Others feel guilty spending lavishly on themselves, and so they prefer to pay with cash, which is more easily forgotten than a monthly reckoning. A handful say they simply feel a sense of freedom from pulling the wool over their husbands' eyes.

While hard data is difficult to come by, the number of women paying in cash for designer goods has increased in the last several years, according to retail analysts and interviews with 10 upscale boutique owners nationwide and employees for chains like Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom. "Women buying luxury goods in cash is a fast-growing phenomenon," said Marshal Cohen, an analyst for NPD Group, a market research firm that conducts 45,000 online interviews about consumer habits each week. Mr. Cohen, who interviews as many as 100 shoppers weekly, said women reported paying with cash to disguise purchases as low as $150 and as much as $10,000. "Their answer to why they're doing this is always the same," he said. "Their husbands or boyfriends don't identify with the need to own such pricey items, and cash shopping affords them independence."

Howard Davidowitz, who has studied consumer habits firsthand for decades, said that in the last three years he has seen more cash purchases at luxury boutiques like Louis Vuitton and semiluxury chains like Coach. Mr. Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a retail consulting firm, suspects now that $2,000 handbags and $700 shoes are commonplace, more women pay in fresh bills from the A.T.M. to cover their tracks.

*****

"Women have this fear about their spouse's reaction to their shopping bills," said Amy DiFrisco, who was a witness to cash buying as a personal shopper at Bergdorf Goodman for nearly a decade. "Cash lets them avoid that confrontation." As the owner of a clothing boutique, Two Blondes, on the Upper East Side, she continues to see the cash habit. "It was surprising at first, but now it's no big deal," she said.

*****

Men certainly aren't above treating themselves. But the difference, psychologists say, is that men are more likely to be open about buying an iPod or a $2,500 case of 2003 Château Pavie for their wine cellar, even if it leads to an argument. "In my experience, when men make money, they assume it is theirs," Dr. Potash said. "Women, even if they earn their own money, sometimes feel compelled to ask permission to buy things."

You can now own The Box! This is the actual Box used in the video that has now been seen over 5 million times, is being played on radio stations across the country and was recently featured on MSNBC!

Read all about The Box... www.myboxinabox.com

The Box is signed by Bunny and comes with the brand new CD Single limited edition: "My Box in a Box" which includes the original song, plus the Hip-Hop Club Re-Mix.

Any questions, do not hesitate to email.

Shipping is $5.95 flat rate in the United States and $11.95 flat rate worldwide. Item will be shipped within 24 hours of payment. For payment, I accept PayPal, Cashier's Checks, Money Orders and Personal Checks.

The first step? A body-enhancing airbrush tan, says spray-tanner-to-the-stars Jimmy Coco, who expects to wield his tanning wand at least 100 times before the Academy Awards. These tans do more than lend a healthy glow. They can add muscle definition where none exists, says Coco, who has worked with Eva Longoria, Jennifer Garner, Jenny McCarthy and Lara Flynn Boyle. "If they haven't quite been to the gym, I can make it look as though they have," he says. "I give them an even glow and lightly etch in where the muscle is."

Next come body-shaping undergarments. Stylists swear by Spanx, a brand of bodyshapers that promise to "rescue women from love handles, waistline spillage and cellulite," according to the company's Web site. "They go from under your bustline to the top of your knee," says celebrity stylist Inge Fonteyne, who has worked with models Gisele Bundchen and Adriana Lima. "It compacts all your blemishes you want to smooth out. The key is to be seamless and bumpless."

Breasts have their own set of needs. Busty beauties who want to wear backless gowns often turn to self-sticking bras like Frederick's of Hollywood’s new Flex Body Bra, made of adhesive-backed silicone cups that fit separately over each breast. Contoured silicone pads called "cutlets" can also be slipped into a bra to give smaller busts a boost.

*****

Tape is still a critical part of a stylist's toolbox. Surgical (or even electrical) tape can be wrapped beneath the breasts, squashing them together to create cleavage. But double-stick tape is even more popular. Stylists use it to hold spaghetti straps in place, keep loose dresses close to the skin and prevent plunging necklines from becoming pornographic. Before companies made special two-sided tape for fashion use, stylists relied on a brand of toupee tape called Topstick.

Natural fabrics are easily marred by sweat, so stars plan ahead to keep palms and armpits from perspiring. "With a silk dress, anything you touch will make a stain," Fonteyne says. "One drop spreads like it's the ocean under your arm." One solution is botox, which paralyzes overactive glands to temporarily stop sweating. Another is Drysol, a prescription treatment Fonteyne swears by that "dries up" sweat glands.

Then there's the hair. Stars weren't born with the lush manes you see on the red carpet. It's all about extensions, says Hollywood hairdresser Michael Shaun Corby, creative director for Alterna haircare. "Celebrities get extensions like crazy for Oscar season because they want their hair to be thicker," he says.

Women attending the couple's wedding, including Victoria Beckham, have been told they will be expected to wear a pink traditional sari for part of the celebrations. At other times, their outfits should range from " glamorous casual" to "glamorous and fabulous".

Male guests, including David Beckham and Sir Elton John, will have to wear turbans and long tunics known as kurtas in orange. The instructions are contained in a detailed "orientation pack" sent out with the invitations for the nuptials, which will take place in March in both Gloucestershire and India. Hurley and Nayar also advise guests on the practical necessities for their visit to India such as mosquito repellent and a travel iron.

The 41-year-old actress and model and the textiles heir stipulate detailed dress codes for the Indian ceremony, which will take place after the English nuptials at Sudeley Castle in the Cotswolds on 3 March. They have written to friends to say they are opening their own private wedding "shop" at the Hilton Towers Hotel in Mumbai, which will be stocked with saris, turbans, kurtas and bindis, traditional markings worn on the forehead by women.

Guests will be able to buy appropriate attire for the six-day celebrations taking place in Mumbai and the desert in Rajasthan. The couple's letter says: "Please don't panic ... all Indian clothes can be bought when you arrive in India, where they will be much nicer." Hurley's friends say she has been busy looking for saris to buy to stock the shop, where tailors will be on hand to alter garments. The bride herself will reportedly be wearing a £4,000 pink sari. The Hindu celebrations will begin with two nights of parties in Mumbai. The dress code for the first night is "glamorous casual" and for the second it is "very glamorous/black tie". There will be more parties in Rajasthan, including a Mendhi ceremony, when Hurley and her female friends will have their hands and feet painted with henna.

Providing customers with the best possible shopping experience is very important for the company and it is always looking for new and exciting ways to present products and services, says Sears Holdings' senior vice president for direct commerce, Paul Miller.

'The Sears Virtual Home combines the best of virtual worlds and 3D environments so customers can experience Sears' products in a way that is closer to real life,' he said. 'Sears.com already provides innovative design functionality and this work with IBM in a virtual world is a logical extension of those initiatives.'

Eventually, the customers entering the store using a virtual in-game avatar will be able to see mock-ups of rooms, allowing them to experiment with furniture colours, sizes and layouts.

"I don't think they need a better brand strategy. I think they need better merchandise," said retail consultant George Whalin. "It's pretty simple. Customers don't like it." Some analysts question whether Gap now knows its audience in the same way it used to. Gap's skinny black pants -- promoted as a new trend -- have ended up on the discount rack for $9.99, and some see mixed messages in marketing campaigns featuring rappers on one hand and deceased style icon Audrey Hepburn on the other.

Gap's Thursday announcement came as the San Francisco-based company, whose casual clothing has been a staple of American fashion for more than 30 years, posted an 8 percent decline in December same-store sales, a key measure of financial health.

*****

For Priya Raghubir, an associate professor at the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley, Gap's problems stem from "flirting with fickle teenagers" at the expense of its core strength: quality, fashionable basics. "A lot of the confusion comes from Gap trying to be too much to too many people," Raghubir said.

*****

Morningstar analyst Joseph Beaulieu told Reuters he would be surprised if there wasn't a management shake-up in the near term at Gap, either at the brand level or in the executive suite.

Among the most gawked-at attractions was the Cruisers Yacht 520 Express, a $1.1 million yacht with a cherry wood interior, a cockpit bar and grill, and therapeutic foam mattresses in each stateroom.

Unlike car shows, boat shows are designed to move inventory as well as display the industry's latest models.

The show, which began on December 30 and runs through January 7, represents a chance for dealers to earn a large chunk of their profits for the year, with companies earning nearly 30 percent of their annual income from the New York show alone, show manager Michael Duffy said.

"We're encouraged by the economy," said Bob Moseley, a salesman manning the Cruisers Yachts booth.

As if Colorado residents don't have enough snow to dig out from, one resident is offering more for a price on eBay. Starting bids were holding steady Friday at 99 cents for snow from "Blizzard I and Blizzard II" being offered by Mary Walker. She and husband, Jim, got the idea for selling snow after shoveling mounds from two storms a week apart that together dumped more than 4 feet along the Front Range.

"I figured eBay has ghosts and all sorts of weird stuff, so why not snow?" said Walker, who teaches business workshops on employee communications.

How much snow 99 cents or whatever the winning bid gets depends. Walker's auction notice suggests avoiding shipping and handling charges by stopping by their home and picking it up -- in a dump truck.

Only 10 offerings of snow are available and the proceeds are earmarked for a used snowblower for Jim or a pair of shovels.

But contrarian voices can be heard in the wilderness. An anti-anticlutter movement is afoot, one that says yes to mess and urges you to embrace your disorder. Studies are piling up that show that messy desks are the vivid signatures of people with creative, limber minds (who reap higher salaries than those with neat "office landscapes") and that messy closet owners are probably better parents and nicer and cooler than their tidier counterparts. It's a movement that confirms what you have known, deep down, all along: really neat people are not avatars of the good life; they are humorless and inflexible prigs, and have way too much time on their hands.

"It's chasing an illusion to think that any organization — be it a family unit or a corporation — can be completely rid of disorder on any consistent basis," said Jerrold Pollak, a neuropsychologist at Seacoast Mental Health Center in Portsmouth, N.H., whose work involves helping people tolerate the inherent disorder in their lives. "And if it could, should it be? Total organization is a futile attempt to deny and control the unpredictability of life. I live in a world of total clutter, advising on cases where you'd think from all the paper it's the F.B.I. files on the Unabomber," when, in fact, he said, it's only "a person with a stiff neck." "My wife has threatened divorce over all the piles," continued Dr. Pollack, who has an office at home, too. "If we had kids the health department would have to be alerted. But what can I do?"

Stop feeling bad, say the mess apologists. There are more urgent things to worry about. Irwin Kula is a rabbi based in Manhattan and author of Yearnings: Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life, which was published by Hyperion in September. "Order can be profane and life-diminishing," he said the other day. "It"s a flippant remark, but if you’ve never had a messy kitchen, you've probably never had a home-cooked meal. Real life is very messy, but we need to have models about how that messiness works."

*****

To a professional organizer brandishing colored files and stackable trays, cluttered horizontal surfaces are a horror; to cognitive psychologists like Jay Brand, who works in the Ideation Group of Haworth Inc., the huge office furniture company, their peaks and valleys glow with intellectual intent and showcase a mind whirring away: sorting, linking, producing. (By extension, a clean desk can be seen as a dormant area, an indication that no thought or work is being undertaken.) His studies and others, like a survey conducted last year by Ajilon Professional Staffing, in Saddle Brook, N.J., which linked messy desks to higher salaries (and neat ones to salaries under $35,000), answer Einstein's oft-quoted remark, "If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk?"