Lectura de sambata dimineata

‘People judge appearances as though somewhere in their minds an ideal of beauty of the human form exists, a form they would recognize if they saw it, thought they do not expect they will ever will. It exists in the imagination. Emily Dickinson, spending most of her time in her parents’ attic, once wrote about the power of imagination to envision the beautiful: „I never saw a moor, I never saw the sea, Yet I know how the heather looks, And what a wave must be.” Kenneth Clark observed in The Nude that every time we criticize a human figure, for example that the neck is too short or the nose too long, or the feet too big, we are revealing that we hold an ideal of pshyical beauty.

We are always sizing up other people’s looks: out beauty detectors never close up shop and call it a day. We notice the attractiveness of each face we see as automatically as we register whether or not they look familiar.

Beauty is a basic pleasure. Beauty ensnares hearts, captures minds and stirs up emotional wildfires. From Plato to pinups, human beauty have catered to a limitless desire to see and imagine an ideal human form.

But we live in the age of ugly beauty, when beauty is morally suspect and ugliness has a gritty allure. Beauty is equal parts flesh and imagination: we imbue it with our dreams, saturate it with our longings. But to spin this another way, reverence for beauty is just an escape from reality, it is the perpetual adolescent in us refusing to accept a flawed world. We wave it away with a cliche: „Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, meaning that beauty is whatever pleases us (with the subtext that is inexplicable).’

Nu intamplator am deschis articolul de azi cu paragrafe din „Survival of the Prettiest” – pentru ca saptamana trecuta va invitam sa va ganditi la frumusetea imperfectiunii. As fi curioasa sa aflu cate dintre voi va simtiti si va vedeti cu adevarat frumoase, superbe, splendide, extraordinare? Nu in sensul standard al cuvantului, ci intr-o definitie personala. Cate dintre voi se gandesc, intr-o cabina de proba, ca un caracter frumos, o viata frumoasa, un suflet si o inteligenta cultivata cantaresc mai mult decat niste solduri care nu incap in marimea S? Deseori ma gandesc ca am fi mult mai fericite si mai impacate cu noi insine daca am trai intr-o lume fara oglinzi…

Revenind la o nota mai vesela, va dati seama cat de putin mai este pana la Craciun??? Ce cadouri vreti sa primiti? (hai, rasfatati-va!) Ce cadouri vreti sa faceti? (haide, nu fiti egoiste!)

Eu, pana sa finalizez lista cu cadouri de sarbatori, deocamdata mai bifez cate ceva pe lista de to do: sambata urmatoare, pe 22, un Style Conversations altfel decat cele de pana acum (daca vreti sa descoperiti cum sa va imbracati in stil parizian, londonez, milanez sau new-yorkez, mai sunt 3-4 locuri libere, imi puteti scrie la inscrieri(at)imagematters(punct)ro), jurizarea concursului „Recrutam stilisti” in Baneasa Shopping City, cursul de Stilism & Tendinte de la DallesGo, o filmare pentru DigiTV, pregatirea unui workshop foarte special despre rochii de party, cocktail si gala si a inca unuia despre accesorii si incaltaminte de party (stay tuned, veti afla in curand datele!). Sincer, abia astept vacanta de iarna…

Va las sa cititi, bucurati-va din plin de acest sfarsit de saptamana!

Should Hermès, LVMH and Kering Keep Their Fights Private? – “For the last three-plus years, the three major French groups have been duking it out in the courts over a variety of bad-behavior claims on the parts of one another or their employees, an uncharacteristic display of public acrimony that has served to paint none of them in a particularly glistening light.” In NY Times

Bettina: the first french supermodel – „Bettina was the first French supermodel, playing muse to Fath, as well as a young Hubert de Givenchy, who named his first collection, led by the iconic full-ruffle Bettina blouse, after the redheaded model. She would later inspire Givenchy’s bestselling fragrance, Amarige. She gave wit and charm to the decade’s dramatic boat necklines, statement round buttons and elaborate fascinator hats.” In Another Mag

How sportswear became fashionable– “An affirmative revolution is happening: more and more of us are regularly exercising, and wearing the leggings to prove it. In response, says Lisa Armstrong, the likes of Nike are becoming not only fashion and performance brands, but communities.” In The Telegraph

How New Balance became fashion’s no-risk source for sneaker cred – “New Balance shoes have become a totem of geek-chic, adding a flair of preppy insouciance to a wide range of shoppers, from fashion bloggers to Rihanna.” In BusinessWeek

The secret psychology behind selling beauty products to men – “Although guys may seem uncomfortable with the idea of dolling themselves up, the men’s beauty industry is growing explosively. The male grooming market is valued at $6 billion in the U.S. alone and $33 billion globally.” In Racked

Thank you very merch: the evolution of merchandise beyond the realm of music – “While fashion and music have always been closely intertwined, it has progressed into something that is more of a lifestyle, where the two have come hand in hand like never before.” In HypeBeast

How Stylebop grew for a decade – “Stylebop has reaped the fruits of the digital shopping revolution since it launched 10 years ago – and when others have floundered in that time, the German-based site has flourished.” In Vogue UK

Now you can shop the world’s little-known luxury boutiques on your phone – “Farfetch’s wares—all 105,000 of them—ship from nearly 300 boutiques around the globe, which allows the site to offer more small, independent labels.” In Quartz

Condé Nast Entertainment hires YouTube stars for original video push – “To meet the content demands of its growing millennial audience, the magazine publisher’s digital-video division, Condé Nast Entertainment, has begun signing YouTube stars to wide-reaching agreements that will make the publisher the exclusive representative for the creators’ digital deals.” In Advertising Age

Body Language: the enduring appeal of a fashion pose – „Many models are known by their silhouette – Brigitte Bardot’s exaggerated crossed legs, Twiggy’s knee-lunge, Madonna’s ‘In Vogue’ face frame – and many fashion poses are definitive of an era, from Salvador Dalí’s early ballerina silhouettes to Jean Shrimpton limbs akimbo throughout the 1960s or German supermodel Veruschka’s elongated leaps.” In Another Mag

Bonfire of the inanities: The history of the Styles section of the New York ‘Times’ – “If the New York Times Styles section seems like a puzzling amalgam of content that seems to have little to do with “style” (whatever that even means), that’s because it is.” In The Awl.

The Investment Dresser: the knee-high boots – „Longer skirts have conspired against knee-highs. Mucho fabric plus leather-encased pair equals suffocation. The death – long, long ago – of the skinny- jeans-tucked-into-knee-highs uniform has not helped their recent career either.Yet it seems the return of the knee-high boot is nigh.” In The Telegraph

Fotografii: pinterest.com