A THING OF BEAUTY
I went to a fashion show last night.I am not the sort of girl who frequents fashion shows, and I hesitated before actually going, but yes, I was there last night. To my great surprise, it was not as flashily tedious as I thought it would be.
Because it got me thinking, even with all the hedonistic crowd and music so loud.
Models walked to and fro on “catwalk” and they did seem like cats- purring, satisfied, cunning, dangerous cats. They hid their claws. They were without flaws. Those models were so awfully beautiful that I thought they were creatures from another earth.
Well I have this prejudice about beauty. I believe that in most cases beautiful means brainless. Perhaps you are actually bright, but the more striking your beauty is, the less you need to make use of your grey cells. Being beautiful is enough work. Hence, as I was saying, in most cases beautiful means brainless.
Anomalies?- there are some. I heard Natalie Portman had brain (so was the rumour about Dian Sastro –an Indonesian celeb- but I’m not convinced). Jewel and Vanessa Mae could be in the list. And Arundhati Roy.
And these models pampered in extravagant dresses- I tried to find anomalies last night; to break the myth. But when you see models on catwalk what do you see?
Bodies.
It sounds derogatory, yet that’s the stalk-naked truth. Mere bodies.
“It takes bright girls to be models, I reckon. What with all these sophisticated walking and turning around. You have to estimate the angle of your turn, or else you will shamefully stumble. Something to do with physics, eh?”, Pristi, standing next to me, whispered in a suppressed giggle.
“It takes a lot of practise and that’s about all”, I replied coldly.
“Aww come on-“
“No, I’m not going to buy your campaign of how bright models are”.
Because, if they have beauty, elegance, and brains, all in one package, what’s left for ordinary girls like me? That will make Life seem a bit unfair.
So long as gorgeous models are concerned, I’ll only go so far as to admit that underneath the glamorous images, a whole bunch of hardworking is involved.
They have to walk back and forth for hours to rehearse a two-minute appearance on stage. The demanding “healthy” diets for those slender bodies. The bills for pots of cream to keep their skin so silky smooth. Having their make-up on since 12am while the show won’t start before 7pm. Not to mention the guts to show your body around like that in clothes that are more revealing than covering. And just imagine the backstage- it takes skills and a strong will (and perhaps a certain moral standard, ha ha) to undress completely among a crowd, don’t you think? These are things not everyone can do. Models, in their own ways, even excluding their divine bodies, ARE superb.
But they are not necessarily bright. I’m sorry that I choose to be undoubtedly arbitrary as to stick to my prejudice. I’m going to say it for the third time: in most cases beautiful means brainless. Brain and beauty just don’t go together- Nadine Chandrawinata has already showed us a good example.
Names:
Natalie Portman: actress (Starwars, Garden State, Closer, V for Vendetta, etc) and international celeb
Dian Sastro: actress (Ada Apa dengan Cinta, Ungu Violet, Pasir Berbisik), presenter (Who Wants 2b A Millionaire –Indonesia) and Indonesian celeb
Jewel: singer and writer- www.jeweljk.com
Vanessa Mae: violin player
Arundhati Roy: Indian writer (The God of Small Things, The Cost of Living)
Pristi: one of my best friends- see her pictures in my album!
Nadine Chandrawinata: Miss Indonesia 2005, known for her ridiculous blunder during Miss Universe 2006 pageant.
To Yessi, my model friend for whom I went to the show: of course you have brains, girl! YOU are an anomaly.
posted by eloque @ 8:55 PM
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