Convention defied

Word is out that the hot new look is unconventional attractiveness. Not in the euphemistic sense, where that's used to mean ugliness. In the meaningless sense, where it means... I'm not entirely sure what it means. How exactly have we parted with convention this season? To illustrate this new runway phenomenon, photos of conventionally attractive, runway-built blondes, with the occasional light-eyed, pale-skinned brunette, because diversity. From the NYT's version:

“They weren’t cheerleaders in high school with football players chasing after them,” said Jason Valenta, 35, the director of scouting at Next Models in SoHo, of this new type. “These are lanky and awkward girls who come into their own a little bit later.”

Yes, what a shift! Because the tall, thin girl the boys didn't appreciate, who leaves her small town and makes it big in the fashion world, where she's shown the respect that physique deserves, is not the very cliché of a high-fashion model? Am I missing something? I suppose it's convenient that the pretty-enough children of famous people can now be labeled not nepotism's beneficiaries, but jolie laide.

I will in any case be interested when they start looking for quirks like '30 years old' combined with '5'2"', plus 'eats too much pasta,' and a dash of 'not related to any famous people, unless you count distant cousins-by-marriage who are well-known and well-bearded New Brooklyn chocolate-makers'. While that career would still not be for me, it would be nice to see those like myself on the catwalk.