Friday, August 19, 2011

Fashion at the speed of light

-What what? So Zara's not hand-stitched by well-compensated Spanish artisans? My mind is blown. But at least the pants I just got at Uniqlo (inspired, no doubt, by a pair that have already gone from discounted to ebay-only, themselves perhaps inspired by a still-more-haute variety) were lovingly crafted under the finest working conditions in Japan.

-While I'll admit to wanting much of this, in particular the backpack, wallet, and miniskirt, I fail to see what's space-age about some of the items. A $720 "gel-filled clutch"? Where would you put the protractor?

-Whatever your insecurities, here, feel bad about yourself.

-That didn't work? Try the story about the model too beautiful to model.

2 comments:

Britta said...

Ok, not to rehash a long dead conversation, but again, with that final model, I really don't see it. In half the photos she didn't even look pretty, just really weird. Maybe I'm a heterosexual male trapped in a woman's body, but while I would love to be tall and leggy and thin (though not quite runway model thin, maybe more Uma Thurman), I would hate to have an actual model's face.

Phoebe Maltz Bovy said...

They just all look kind of the same, including this one. Walking around NY, it's always immediately clear who's a model, and build's only part of it. It's like there's one face, some gene combination found in limited numbers all around the world (if more in some places -NE Europe, NE Africa - than others), and that's what's selected. And... it's a face-type that, while generally attractive, is not what most women wish they had, or what most heterosexual men would deem most appealing. That's why as much as the "discovery" stories always read as marketing - having been "found" as a sporty, tomboyish Danish teen sounds more romantic than having gone into a modeling agency in L.A. at 16 and announced one's dream to be a model - it kind of does make sense that those who have this specific look would need to be chosen by scouts. It's a look that's been described in not-so-flattering terms as space-alien, heroin-chic, etc., but that could be described more neutrally as having a tiny face in proportion to one's body, along with nondescript/inexpressive features (not Angelina Jolie/Megan Fox/Natalie Portman/Scarlett Johansson distinctiveness). Someone with that face wouldn't necessarily grow up thinking her main asset was her looks.