The Look
As I've been digesting the collections presented over the past several weeks, one thing that keeps coming to mind is how intentionally ugly a lot of the designers make their models, particularly in terms of makeup. so is beauty now just all about being incredibly thin and tall?
As I've been digesting the collections presented over the past several weeks, one thing that keeps coming to mind is how intentionally ugly a lot of the designers make their models, particularly in terms of makeup. so is beauty now just all about being incredibly thin and tall?
posted by Chris at 10:38 PM
2 Comments:
As someone who finds a lot of high fashion unappealing, my personal speculation is that these designers subconsciously know that the clothes they are making are in fact pretty ugly, and they uglify the models because it would be too jarring to see their clothing being worn by beautiful women---the contrast would force them to confront the ugliness of their own designs, and that would just be too much to bear.
Since you probably like the clothing more than I do, I suspect that you disagree. And it's not as if I look at a lot of cutting-edge fashion, so my opinion is admittedly not worth much. I do like that blue tulle dress you posted a picture of in the previous post. (Mind the gap!) I glanced at the rest of that Viktor & Rolf collection, and most of it looked pretty silly to me. Do people really wear those things? The pregnancy-hiding shirt/cape was especially awful-looking. I guess I'm not their target demographic, though.
Do you have any theory about why they make the models ugly? Could it be some sort of conflicted pomo discomfort with the very notion that some things are beautiful and some aren't? I feel like we live in an age where no one is willing to publicly admit that anything is beautiful, so everyone who wants to be taken seriously cloaks their artwork (or music or literature or whatever) in layer upon layer of irony which sabotages any beauty that it contains. Maybe taking beautiful women and turning them into monsters is the fashion world equivalent?
Okay, I'm babbling. You make an interesting observation, though. I wish you'd posted some amusing pictures---top five ugliest make-up jobs of 2009, or whatever...
senor colburn, i think your comments are very insightful.
i do find beauty in a lot of these clothes (you are, however, spot on in judging the viktor and rolf collection as little more than gimmick). ultimately, though, it comes down to the problem that fashion is an applied art. as such, it is judged by criteria aren't applied to the pure arts (i.e., a Bacon doesn't need to be 'wearable').
i do think there's a certain wink wink nod nod that exists within this world, though. a sort of "emperor's new clothes" effect, if you will, where an intentionally ugly garment can signify to others "in the know" that one is at the epitome of fashion.
stay tuned for the top five ugliest make-up jobs of 2009... ;-)
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