on beauty (for lily)

On my previous post ('backstage: the pretty girl'), I mentioned 'the models and the non-models', and said I'd be doing posts on them, too, as they have a beauty all their own. And then I got this comment from Lily, which I'm quoting in its entirety:

"To be honest, I'm rather disappointed that your 'Pretty Girl' looks so typical. Yes, she's very pretty, but she's also white, blonde, and blue-eyed. 

 Where's the dark-skinned girl with stunning almond-shaped eyes, who grew up being told that she wasn't pretty because she *wasn't* white, blonde, or blue-eyed? And who realized that she was stunningly beautiful anyway, on her own terms? I'd rather see her."

So, Lily, this post - which, uncannily, was part of the series that I'd alluded to - is for you.

I'm so interested in this concept of perfection in beauty (that 'blonde, blue eyed, white' stereotype) that I wrote a novel based in part around that theme, which I'm adapting - as we speak - into a screenplay. There are so many beauties - in terms of that colouring, those 'perfect' features - born every day in Scandinavia, Holland, Estonia, Eastern Europe, Russia.. it's no big deal there. And each culture's concept of beauty is so vastly different, anyway.. the idea that in places like Japan, the beautiful Japanese woman often wants to be more Western.. I agree, Lily. The most beautiful women - and men - in my eyes, have as often been Asian, or Black, or any blend, long as - I'm cringing as I"m typing this, but I'm going to have to say it anyway - their beauty radiates from within.

Even thinking of any 'beauties' in recent years, the past half century.. Jackie Kennedy, while she was just a girl, graduated from Vassar, applying for an internship at Vogue (which she won - and turned down to be a 'girl about town' in DC with a camera, meeting the young Senator Kennedy) described her face as so imperfect - her eyes so wide she had to be fitted with special sunglasses .. or Twiggy. I mean, bless her cotton socks, she was no one's idea of pretty, at the time. Even Kate Moss, who I read recently that someone described her face as being the 'perfect proportions', beauty wise, has her uneven smile, her wonky teeth.. I think of models like Alek Wek, Fei Fei Sun, my god is she gorgeous, the first Chinese model on the cover of Vogue Italia..

The most beautiful women I've met and shot - models or otherwise - have not fit that stereotype. Leomie is one that comes to mind.


I could go on and on - and I hope to - but I'll stop, for now. Of the backstage shots I'm showing here, only one was a model in the show, and I'll show you tomorrow who that was. The other were simply beautiful women involved with fashion, just not on the catwalk.

Can you guess which one of these women is the model? Answers revealed in my next post.

Okay, one last thing - I guess I'm on a roll now. I think of Charlize Theron, a great big amazonian blonde beauty, classic Dutch/French Huguenot descent, white South African, who has tossed away her beauty (albeit temporarily) for roles like Monster.

She did an excellent film called Young Adult.  I feel it was the most courageous film a beauty like her could ever make. Not because of any violence, or car chases (altho, come to think of it, there was a car crash), but because she had the courage to play a flawed human being: a girl so used to trading on her beauty that she could afford to be cruel. And then, she wasn't the prom queen anymore, and her looks started to fade. And what do you do then, when you're not beautiful inside? 

backstage: the pretty girl

It's probably stating the obvious: models are meant to be pretty.

But when I was backstage after a show at fashion week, shooting more from an anthropological standpoint: watching the humans interact, the models and the non-models (and I'll be doing posts on them, too: they often have a beauty all their own) - and you see that they're just girls, being all warm and happy and, well, girly together.

And then there's, invariably, the Pretty Girl.

We all know who she is: she was born different. She was always a bit separate from the group. Nice - very nice - but somehow more grown up. Emotionally self reliant. Not quite a girl's girl: not a bitch, just not seeming to need the sisterhood as much.

Maybe I was reading too much into this story - it was just a frenzy of shooting, and maybe her BFFs forever were already changed and waiting for her outside. But when I caught this girl on camera, she was alone. I asked her permission, of course, and she tried to explain to me why she was still there - something to do with trying to untangle her hair (where are the hairdressers AFTER, I ask you? When you really need them?) but I got this feeling that it must be a bit lonely, being the prettiest girl in a room of the pretty girls.

We all have our crosses to bear in life, and granted, there are worse hardships to overcome, but I feel for her. She's going to have already experienced envy from other girls, and men being nice to her for the 'wrong' reasons.. I wish her well, this anonymous, nice, Pretty Girl.

maria

Backstage, and on the catwalk, at Maria Grachvogel's show. As before.

There's something almost autobiographical about her work. It's beautiful and mysterious, and the girls are so young. Well, she's so young.

There is also something so spiritual in a beautiful show. But what goes on behind the scenes: that chaos, but also that quiet: it's hard to describe. It's a privilege to bear witness to it. I realise it's only fashion, but when it's a happy environment, as her show clearly was, it transcends fashion. It's just a celebration of life, and the creative spirit.

models are people, too

Okay, what are the odds of this: I met & shot Helene, a Dutch model, on New Bond Street, did a whole bunch of other things, London was having a tube strike, there were no taxis, I was near the Ritz, and who do I see but Helene, waiting for a bus. Like a mere mortal!

betsieD and the maharishi

Okay, this has happened a lot recently, and it's a little embarrassing. I've gotten ballsier about running up to total strangers and asking to take their photos (at times, risking certain death crossing busy streets) - and I'm constantly amazed that people let a total stranger take their photo to put up on the internet: that's trust. But recently, I've run after women who turn out to be.. working girls.
Professionals. Models, I mean. It's like going up to Gordon Ramsay and saying, 'Hey, mate, would you whip me up an omelette.' Bit cheeky.
BetsieD was on her way back from a job, with her book in her suitcase, and I assumed she was just another beautiful woman coming back from holiday. She was a good sport about it. (She claims it was because I was so sweet but really, she knew I wasn't going away til I got my shot.) Her gorgeous coat is by Maharishi, aka Hardy Blechman. Interview here in the JC Report.