A few weeks ago, we told you about "Booty Pop Panties," the padded underwear that makes your ass look bigger. Well, Kelly Ripa went nuts over them on Live With Regis and Kelly the other day so, not to be out-assed, Regis found a version of the undergarment for men called "Bottoms Up" and bandied them about on air today. Unlike the Booty Pop Panties, these appear to come with a padded back and a padded front. Here's a product description:

• A defining centre back seam separates our butt pads creating an anatomically correct bottom for a more natural look.
• Our contoured front pouch, allows for comfort, style and support from the double layer of fabric…
• For first time optimum effect we suggest you put your jeans or pants on BEFORE you look in the mirror.
• The weight and fit of your pants compresses the pads — the most natural look is achieved with you pants on.

You can even purchase extra pads in "Quarterback," "Halfback," and "Fullback" sizes. Is this supposed to appeal to women? Because we think a nice cologne is a better route than sub-pant bulges.

Bottoms Up [Bottoms Up via Jezebel]
Earlier: Give Your Butt the Extra Padding It Probably Doesn't Need

Let's talk about naked men and penises. That first sentence made you feel uncomfortable, didn't it? The image above these words you're reading is probably making you uneasy, too. But Tom Ford doesn't want you to feel that way. In fact, he devoted an essay to the subject of male nudity in the spring/summer issue of Britain's GQ Style. He explores why looking at and talking about naked men makes us so uneasy. Why, he asks, is it "gay" for another man to comment on another man's figure, when women can freely tell other women their boobs look great? Like women, men notice how members of their sex look, Ford explains. But "it's so uncomfortable for us to fit 'masculine' and 'beauty' together. So we tend to avoid the issue entirely," he writes. Fascinating. He provides many more Fordulous answers to equally pressing queries. Enjoy our exercise in pretending we got to interview him.

But, Tom, why do you objectify women more than men in your ads?

"As much as I've tried, it has been consistently harder to get images of nude men onto magazine pages and billboards than it has nude women. In a society where images of brutal violence are consumed during breakfast, the male nude is one of our last taboos. There's a double standard at play here: magazines that are happy to fund ads featuring an artfully lit female nude will balk at an image of her male counterpart."

On Tuesday in Paris, a French bill that would imprison for up to three years and fine for up to $70,000 anyone who "incited excessive thinness" was passed by the National Assembly; the bill now just needs approval from the French senate to become law. It aims to tear down pro-anorexia Websites and blogs, but the bill's author, Valerie Boyer, wants the fashion industry to be subject to its regulations as well. However, it's unclear how the law would apply to ads, magazine spreads, and runway shows, nor has it been defined what "excessive thinness" means — which is why the fashion industry thinks none of this will really apply to them no matter what. Then again, it's not like they were planning on changing anyway. Here's what the industry folk had to say:

French Fashion Federation president Didier Grumbauch:
"We all agree there should be condemnation of any site encouraging anorexia, but…I think the parliament has better things to do."

Director of France's advertising authorities Joseph Besnainou:
"[The law] is a weapon for those targeting pro-anorexia blogs, but otherwise it's a bit of a useless law, as it's so difficult to apply.…I know of no advertising campaign that promotes anorexia."

Booking director for the Viva Paris agency Saif Mahdhi:
"I can have lunch with Natalia Vodianova, and she'll eat three times as much as I do, and then get up on the catwalk. She can have a baby and be walking shows a few weeks later and be perfectly healthy.…People are pointing the finger at the fashion industry, but I see anorexia as more of an issue for society in general."

Fashion designer Rick Owens:
"I'm all for them cracking down on pro-anorexia Websites, but I'll always have very slender people in my show.…I'm pretty thin myself, and I don't really have a problem with that. I don't think any model who is unhealthy can be successful."

What do you think? Is it okay for the fashion industry to hire models who really are just genetic marvels? Should the government force it to promote more realistic body images? Or do they really have better things to do? Do pontificate in the comments boxes.

French See Little Impact From 'Skinny' Bill [WWD]
Earlier: Breaking: France Is This Close to Banning Skinny Models

It looks like skinny models in France are on a one-way train to being banned. Seriously. The Wall Street Journal reports:

The French parliament's lower house adopted a groundbreaking bill Tuesday that would make it illegal for anyone — including fashion magazines, advertisers and Web sites — to publicly incite extreme thinness.

The National Assembly approved the bill in a series of votes Tuesday, after the legislation won unanimous support from the ruling conservative UMP party. It goes to the Senate in the coming weeks

Yeah, it's like whoa. If passed this would be the strongest legislation against skinny models ever in the whole world — but it's vague. When Spain banned rail-thin models from the catwalk in 2006, they used BMI as an indicator. In this case, however, there doesn't seem to be an official benchmark for the girls; a judge would decide if the medium "incited" thinness (as Websites, etc., are the main targets). Conservative lawmaker Valerie Boyer wrote the law:

It would give judges the power to imprison and fine offenders up to $47,000 if found guilty of "inciting others to deprive themselves of food" to an "excessive" degree, Ms. Boyer said in a telephone interview before the parliamentary session.

Judges could also sanction those responsible for a magazine photo of a model whose "excessive thinness ... altered her health," she said.

Naturally the French fashion industry is having fits over this. "Never will we accept in our profession that a judge decides if a young girl is skinny or not skinny," said Didier Grumbach, president of the French Federation of Couture. "That doesn't exist in the world, and it will certainly not exist in France." Well, he'll at least have a few weeks to start adjusting to the idea.

French Lawmakers Target Promotion of Extreme Thinness [AP/WSJ]

Juice fasts are one of the fashion industry's favorite ways to slim down. Except unlike your average diet pill or Slim Fast shake, juice fasts promise to healthfully rid the body of toxins in addition to promoting rapid weight loss. We personally can't imagine lunch without chewing a turkey sandwich and we've always felt a little freaked out by the superiority complex that some juice fasters seem to adopt on their "cleanse." One Elle writer who tried out a five-day juice fast confirms we are not just imagining this:

Within 36 foodless hours, I had developed a sense of otherness and—okay, maybe I was bit delirious—a vague sort of superiority. I was a juice supremacist, an ascetic robot capable of survival, food or no food. Every whiff of emotion, every physical sensation could be correlated to the cleanse: Is this stuff making my hands cold? Is it making me tired? Sad? Irritable? Me! Me! Me! (See where I'm going with this?)

France is not ignoring the skinny-model problem, pas de tout. In fact, members of the French Fashion Federation, the National Union of Modeling Agencies, and the French Advertising Standards Authority got together in Paris yesterday to draw up guidelines to promote "body diversity." Basically, they intend to do something about the images of young girls who look extremely thin — as long as it doesn't involve passing any more laws. WWD reports:

According to Didier Grumbach, president of the French Fashion Federation, the charter is intended to educate the public about body image rather than impose regulations. "We will attack anything that encourages excessive weight loss, but the idea is not to create more rules," he said, adding that regarding the fashion industry, France's laws for monitoring health are already extremely protective. "Generally speaking [the charter] is a decision to be extremely careful and fight [negative body image] in any way we can, but no more legislation," he said.

Women face enough pressure to look their best and not let their faces wrinkle on a daily basis. So the pressures on their wedding day may as well be as strong as the heat of a thousand suns. Now we're as single as they come over here at the Cut, and though we've wanted to get hitched, we long ago stopped fantasizing about that big white petit four–saturated affair Disney flicks (and our moms) told us we wanted. Planning an event like that is equivalent to checking your sanity at Heathrow's Terminal 5: You just don't know when — or even if — you'll ever see it again. As the Guardian notes, the details become so overwhelming that brides start fretting over whether their nails match the flowers (um, people are dying in Iraq, but glad you have priorities). Thankfully these crazy ladies have shows like Bridezillas, to egg them on. Just how crazy are they? Consider these stats:

Ladies, have you ever looked in the mirror and thought, My ass doesn't look fat enough in these jeans! I wish there were something I could do to make it look bigger! ?Then this post is for you (all one of you).

Paula Abdul's stylist, Jennifer Rosenblatt, is endorsing a new brand of padded panties called Booty Pop. "I do not usually give my tricks of the trade to the public but Booty Pop is too good to keep to myself," she says of "The Panties That Make Your Booty Pop." (Because the slogan "The Panties That Cup Paula Abdul's Ass While She Mumbles Incoherently" just doesn't have the same je ne sais quoi.)

The unmentionables are rated: Sweet (S), Sweeter (M) and Sweetest (L). If only all sizing was as kind! Of course, you'll have to get past the name, which brings to mind the "doody bubbles" that Whitney Houston made famous on Being Bobby Brown. Not to spoil your lunch or anything. But if you can stomach that, the panties come in such "bootylicious colors" as black licorice, white vanilla marshmallow, and pink cotton candy.

Although you could always just eat licorice, marshmallows, and cotton candy and the problem will take care of itself. —Noelle Hancock

Booty Pop Panties [TeamSugar]
Booty Pop Panties [Official site]

We all know skinny does not equal beautiful. So when Chloe Marshall was named the first size 16 finalist in the Miss England competition, we were convinced the Brits understood the size issue better than Americans, especially since Marshall beat out seven skinny girls for her Miss Surrey title. But we're not so sure anymore. We took a look at the Miss England Website today to scope out the skinny girls Marshall's up against, and guess who wasn't pictured alongside them? Chloe Marshall. Has the pageant gone curve-phobic?

To be fair, the page states that only "some" finalists are pictured. But pageant organizers should be proud to have a girl with real curves competing for the first time and put her darn photo up! After all, Marshall has brought the pageant way more publicity than it would have gotten otherwise. We hope this isn't a sign of curve prejudice. But if it is, at least we know regardless of the pageant's outcome, Marshall will be more famous than the winner.

First size 16 model reaches Miss England final [Telegraph]
Miss England 2008

Judging from the clavicle action on the runways this past Fashion Week, the British Fashion Council's Model Health Inquiry hasn't had a major effect on catwalks, but the council is pushing for change in editorial departments. The BFC wants magazines to state which images have been "airbrushed" since such images perpetuate an "unachievable aesthetic." Obviously, this could be huge. WWD reports:

The U.K.'s Periodical Publishers Association said Tuesday it will set up a working group with the BFC and London magazine editors to discuss the use of digital enhancements in fashion photography. "…In December, the BFC said it wrote to the PPA, the British Society of Magazine Editors and the Advertising Association in the U.K. to suggest what the BFC calls "a voluntary code covering the use of digital manipulation [in photography]." A BFC spokeswoman said Tuesday that no guidelines had been drawn up governing the magazines' use of airbrushing. She suggested that rather than limiting magazines' use of digital manipulation, publications could instead be asked to declare if an image had been altered.

If magazines follow this voluntary code, every picture would bear an "airbrushed" stamp because every picture is digitally enhanced in magazines. Should this catch on, more power to them. But it's been, what, five years since Kate Winslet spoke out about having her image altered on the cover of GQ? Otherwise, the official stance is radio silence (save for those nasty leaks to confirm what we already know). So without celebrity blessings, there'll be no real rush to "declare" all those altered images — at least not until Eva Longoria tells the Photoshop monkey in the art department that it's cool to speak out about her armpit flab.

Memo Pad: Picture Imperfect [WWD]