"Beauty is a matter of luck, but the same could be said of many other talents." In Anne Applebaum's blog, she dicusses how Russian beauties such as Natalia Vodianova rise to fame without lifting a finger. Wouldn't it be great if somebody on the street came up to you and asked you to be famous? Yeah, that'd be nice.
Anyways, this blog of hers touched on a couple of issues for me. First, being well, what is "beauty" anyway? Does Russian culture just give birth to beautiful women or do we make them beautiful by categorization? Who decides this standard of beauty?
Natalia Vodianova is the face for Calvin Klein and has modelled for Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Marc Jacobs. I'm sure you've seen her in some sort of ad or another. Anyways, the point is, she's making millions off of her beauty! Is it because she's Russian?
"Certainly to become a model every woman has to be not just beautiful, but to respond definite requirements. The height is usually 172 to 180 centimeters which is not really typical for a woman. That's what all beauties have to be 90-60-90 is not a designers' fancy, or even a morbid sign of the times, but a production necessity: the camera makes you look fatter and a woman with a normal figure will look rather plump. Also nice long hair is a necessary thing."
Natalia has been dubbed gorgeous because of her Russian, therefore model, features. I guess how we see and do things depends greatly on the culture in which we live (Adler 47). I just find it interesting that now this whole beauty standard thing seems to be crossing over, culture to culture. Take Vogue's new launch of Vogue India for example:
These women all sort of resemble Natalia Vodianova. I guess her beauty has been classified into a marketable image. Which brings me back to my earlier question: what is beauty? I remember distinctly learning in the first of Communications lectures that, you aren't attractive without those who are attracted. That stuck with me for some reason. It seems so true. If one person tells you you're attractive, it might make you feel attractive. But if a billion people find you gorgeous, then you become gorgeous, you become an ideal by global standards, just like Natalia. And because she's Russian, and we perceive her as beautiful - suddenly Russian women are thought to be generally appealing.
Enter Anne Applebaum who believes that these women are indeed stunning. She claims beauty is a matter of luck.. as are other talents. What about Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis champ? She seems to have struck gold, literally, with Russian genes. Perhaps we have empowered these celebrities by putting them on a pedestal, allowing them to become famous - without lifting a finger.
Our culture seems to praise those with a particular class of beauty. If measurements and nice cheekbones are what it takes for someone to be famous, then count me out.
Adler, Ronald B., George Rodman, and Alexandre Sevigny. Understanding Human Communication. Canada: Oxford University Press, 2008.
1 comment:
Is culture our beholder?
At my other job (marketing and promotions) two of the people I work with are professional models (very real and down-to-earth- people, believe it or not). ANYWAYS, we were eating dinner at swiss Chalet and they were scoping out potential models in the waiting staff; they actually get paid more if they find the "so-called look". Our waitress was off by a couple inches.. detials, details..
interesting thoughts!
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