Fashion Friday

So I was doing my thing, reading Life! (and as always, skipping the main newspaper itself) while drinking my day's first glass of water (Daddy says it helps to cleanse the system). Then I came across a picture bearing the likeness of these two people:

accompanied by the headline "Odd fellows". The picture was taken on the runway of John Galliano's Spring ready-to-wear collection, best summed up in this droll single-sentence paragraph:

"The models were chosen for their unusual physical attributes. But instead of selecting only aberrantly tall young women who weigh 50kg, there were beanpole men, tiny old folks, models with jet-black skin or who were as pale as an albino."

(An aside: I also found the same article online, only with slight changes here and there. I suppose what we got was a version edited to suit the version of English - "50kg" instead of "110 pounds" - used as well as dumbing down in culture-specificity - "yard-long, auburn dreadlocks " omiting the following "who looked like a Rastafarian Rumpelstiltskin". Oh another possible, more probable reason, for its practicality - word limit.)

But the article wasn't just reporting the rarity of such a fashion show. The question was two-fold: what message was it trying to send? And: what message did it ultimately send out?

On the surface, it seemed like a celebration of diversity, something flippantly acknowledged by Style.com's reporter: "(t)his season, his roll-up, roll-up fashion sideshow had a moral: Everybody's beautiful; live and let live; respect one another—that sort of thing." But these people were dressed up and walking down a runway show designed to convey a carnival, sideshow-esque atmosphere. The reactions of the audience was even more revealing, according to the author of the article. Laughing, frowning and shifting uncomfortably, no one really knew how to react.

My interest piqued, I decided to check out more of the photos. And what surprised me more was how natural-looking some of the non-models looked, compared to the professionals.

Sure, Mr Sage looks out of place in his bright yellow-and-red wise man costume, but at least he doesn't look like his head was a former peanut, transplanted onto an otherwise dead body.

And look how glam and goddess-like this Bottecelli lady is:

Or how distinguished this lady looks:

Okay, this one is kinda gross, but once again, old man looks normal and totally happy to be there. Model looks... well, blank.:

On a related note, I have a contention to make against Urban's feature of good-looking people: either devote more space to it, or cut back down to one good-looker per week. Although I know there are many good-looking people to be found on our shores, for sure, it's a waste when the people whose fashion sense you applaud are so small I can hardly see what the big deal is. Or worse, have an opposing opinion.

I was extremely tempted to do a blow-by-blow of what I thought of the people they featured, and in fact started to do so, but realised that my remarks were much too scathing to merit being posted. After all, these people are normal folks like you and me, so it's not fair that they get lambasted for all and sundry to read about just because I don't agree with Urban's choice.