“Glamour is not cruelty. Glamour is not closemindedness. Glamour is not bigotry or hatred. Glamour is not self-conscious; it’s not trying really hard. It’s just expressing your own truth. I think that’s what the essence of glamour really is, expressing your uniqueness.” — Kevyn Aucoin
I pulled the above quote from Dressful’s Facebook page and was reminded of how much I adored Kevyn Aucoin and what a shocking loss we suffered when he died in 2002. Kevyn grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana, where he suffered ceaseless bullying at school over his being gay, a fact he discovered about himself when he was six. Aucoin was forced to drop out of high school as a result of the abuse and enrolled in beauty school. He took a job at an exclusive women’s shop giving make-up lessons, but the female customers were uncomfortable with a man applying their make-up.
He moved to Baton Rouge where the abuse continued when he and his friends were beaten by security officers. His move to New York to start his career was motivated as much by fear for his life as a desire to be at the epicenter of fashion and beauty. It was while building his portfolio doing free make-up applications for models that he was disovered by Vogue and began working with famed fashion photographer Steven Meisel. During 1987-89 he did nine Vogue covers in a row and commanded up to $6000 for a make-up session.
The most enduring quality about Kevyn Aucoin and what makes me love him so much is that he revered the beauty within every woman and saw his job as one of making women feel beautiful. He considered make-up a tool to help a woman discover herself. He refused to do the make-up of models he felt were too young. Working for Revlon, Aucoin launched a make-up line called The Nakeds which was the first to address all skin tones, a move considered groundbreaking at the time.
According to Kevyn Aucoin:
Beauty is about perception, not about make-up. I think the beginning of all beauty is knowing and liking oneself. You can’t put on make-up, or dress yourself, or do your hair with any sort of fun or joy if you’re doing it from a position of correction.
Perfection is boring. If a face doesn’t have mistakes, it’s nothing.
Today I see beauty everywhere I go, in every face I see, in every single soul.
Yes, but everyone is beautiful to someone.
You’ll be spending lots of energy and enthusiasm to reach your objective, so you’re the only one responsible and you should be sure of what you’re doing. Daily Good: Manual for Climbing Mountains
Confucius did have a lot to say, but if there is one principle that runs through his philosophy, it’s that personal virtue is the way to the good life and the good society. Daily Good: The Enduring Power of Virtue
Former model Katie Halchishick is on a mission to transform how girls think and feel about their bodies. Teen Vogue: Healthy is the New Skinny Campaign Celebrates True Beauty
The entertainment industry only places value on outer beauty, but Weider and her website are seeking to promote a counter-cultural message – that real beauty comes from within. Ruby-eyed Okapi: Project Inspired
Four misconceptions about the simple life are so common they deserve special attention. These are equating simplicity with: poverty, moving back to the land, living without beauty and economic stagnation. Daily Good: 4 Misconceptions About The Simple Life
“Fashion Week has become a powerful voice, which reaches millions of people across the globe and we should not underestimate the consequences of the messages that we send.” Huffington Post: Fashion and Eating Disorders: How Much Responsibility Does the Industry Have?
I want to live happily. Why settle for anything less? By Anika: On choosing happiness in fashion and in life
Who can really complain at a montage of Gosling’s finest moments in film? Jezebel: Ryan Gosling’s Accent is an Inexplicable Gift that Keeps on Giving
See how pretty your hair is?
Stars are just people. Huffington Post: Madonna is no Goddess
Adele has a stunningly beautiful head, shoulders and cleavage. But last time I checked, she was more than a floating head. iVillage: Adele is Ready for Her Not-So-Close-Up
Adele on the cover of Vogue!!! International Business Times: Voluptuous Singer Adele Graces the Cover of UK Vogue
One of our own Feminist Fashion Bloggers, Kjerstin Gruys commits to a year without mirrors at the height of wedding dress shopping: Huffington Post Women
Jessica Alba’s “honesty” about her workout/starvation regimen. Dress With Courage: Celebrities are just as screwed up about their bodies as we are
On coming out of hiding. By Anika: I am a free spirit. I will not be tamed.
Saying ‘yes’ to life! The Loudmouth Lifestyle: Living the Dream
I’ve learned via Fashionista.com that Vogue Italia’s September issue features a photo of Stella Tennant with a waistline measuring 13 inches. How they reduced her waist size is subject to speculation: photoshop, perhaps? The image is said to be an homage to Ethel Granger who was popular in the early 1900s and whose claim to fame remains her standing in the Guinness Book of World Records for the smallest modified waist ever.
It was just a few months ago that Vogue Italia was being lauded for featuring three plus models on its cover but this month’s photo proves the magazine has no interest in improving the fashion industry’s approach to body image. The image is hurtful to women on so many levels.
First, it glorifies an era in which women were subject to physical torture due to the sartorial demands of the day. Such manipulation of women’s bodies, which borders on mutilation, is a form of control over women and restricts their very freedom of movement and ability to carry out everyday tasks.
Next, to photoshop a model’s waist to such an extent at a time of public outcry against the use of technology to manipulate the appearance of women’s bodies seems like a slap in the face. Especially when the reason for the outcry is the suffering of girls and women from eating disorders and body hatred brought on in part by the onslaught of unrealistic images of women’s physicality in the fashion and entertainment media.
Stella Tennant is an older, established model with a good deal of power in the industry. I’m surprised she would agree to such a representation of her body. I thought Chanel saved us from all this back at the start of the 1920s.
What are your thoughts on Stella’s freakishly small waist?
Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has been named Forbes 69th most powerful woman in the world I’ve discovered via The Cut. Here’s what she says of being viewed as “intimidating” by the media:
“In some cases, there are stereotypes about women. I often don’t hear men talked about in the same way. It’s more a sexist stereotype than a powerful stereotype.”
Do you think Anna gets criticized because she’s a woman?
Thanks to Fashionista.com I’ve learned about a new French line of lingerie for children that features controversial images of little girls in suggestive poses on its website. Fashionista has been reporting on the habit of the French fashion press to portray very young girls in overly mature ways and tells us the French reaction is to call North Americans prudish and sick for questioning these images at all.
10-year-old Thylane Loubry Blondeau is all over French magazines
Objectification of women in fashion imagery is a huge issue, and it’s so much worse when the ones being sexualized are little girls. Besides the issue of sexual predators, I think about the little girls in these images (who resemble my 7-year-old daughter) and wonder what all this focus on their appearance will do to their present and future self-image. Will they feel as though what they look like is all that they are worth?
Although I tell my girls they are beautiful, I make it clear that the development of character and helping others is most important and that their bodies are valuable insofar as what they can do, not what they look like. For instance “good leg” means a great kick in a soccer game. “Good seat” means a terrific horse ride at the equestrian show. I promote this ethic by encouraging a modest code of dress which takes the focus off our bodies.
We have enough struggle as women finding our value in something other than our appearance. Why are we doing this to our girls? I think the answer lies in one comment on Fashionista’s page: “(Love of) money is truly the root of all evil”. Much like the inappropriate trend of heavy make-up for very young girls, lingerie for little ones is an unethical way for a brand to seek a new market. It seems that in pursuit of profit, any kind of exploitation is accepted and defended.
Further reading:
Globe and Mail: French lingerie line for four- to 12-year-olds decried as creepy
Do these images seem inappropriate to you?
Anna Wintour has been moving from strength to strength with her latest Vogue cover subjects. Style icon Sarah Jessica Parker wears Burberry for the August ‘Age Issue’ and husband Matthew Broderick makes an appearance in the photo shoot inside along with the couples’ three children.
The actress says she takes a hands-on approach to parenting and lives her life like a “ship avoiding icebergs”. Her attitude reminds me a little of Victoria Beckham who manages to juggle motherhood and a professional life while remaining impossibly stylish.
What do you think of SJP bringing the family to work in the Vogue shoot?
Kristy Elena posted some photos of “gritty New York” on Full-time Fabulous, the blog she’s writing for Sunglass Hut on a year-long contract based in Manhattan. In the post she asks for our personal perceptions of the city. My response? “New York is the most amazing city on earth filled with all the best creative minds in the universe.”
Each and every time I visit NYC my mind is blown from the moment I step off the plane. People there seem so alive and friendly and you need only introduce yourself to a New Yorker to find yourself with a lifelong ally. And they always want to DO things for you. I was waiting for the shuttle at LaGuardia which would take me to the subway en route to the city. When the bus pulled up I discovered I’d need exact change for the bus which I didn’t have. Without missing a beat, the girl behind me insisted on paying for me with her Metro card. She said she had an extra fare on there but I think she was just being nice.
The airport shuttle takes you to 125th street subway in Harlem (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd!) It’s so funny when people ask me if I feel safe in Harlem, to which I reply “well, I’m not afraid of black people, so yes I feel safe.” Each time I visit New York I experience an internal shift in consciousness as a result of the unbelievable creative energy there. Here are some of my favourite things about New York:
What do you love about New York?
If this week’s posts had a theme it would be self-love. From Adele’s refusal to kowtow to thin ideals of beauty and focus instead on her work; to Emma Watson’s struggle to maintain her identity in the face of an overwhelming alter-ego; to Dark Girls message of embracing beauty in all its shades, here are this week’s links:
Monday: DIY, Erdem and the Art of Self-love
Tuesday: Emma Watson Covers July Vogue and ponders her next move.
Wednesday: Support Dark Girls the Movie. I made a donation to this fantastic project; hope you will, too.
Plus: Adele “Rolling in the Deep” Speaks Out
Thursday: Summer shorts and why I don’t wear them;
Friday: Fashion Friend Friday: Blogging brought to you by Modly Chic.
