The spotlight has shined on celebrity stylist Ms. June Ambrose. The NY Times published an article yesterday on this influential female fashion artist, who worked her way “up” from her humble beginnings. To some, it may seem a bit trite to discuss the “influence” of a stylist. However, with over 300,000 faithful followers for her 15 to 20 tweets per day, Ms. Ambrose calls our attention.
What does she talk about? Well, mostly fashion of course. Particular styles are not our concern here. What does she say about fashion and its relation to a person? “What we stylists do is very intimate…We’re literally stripping someone to their core, and clothing is only the first layer.”
It is a disturbing to think that someone who deals with putting together your accessories, hats, shoes, clothes (all exterior, material things that can change in value overnight with the brevity of trends) thinks that she is dealing with the core of your being. It is even more disturbing to think that hundreds of thousands of people (and many more) buy into this mentality, often unconsciously. Though so many people are hit by the plague of materialism and superficiality, it is also true that many people are fed up with the excess of the exterior.
Take, for example, Dove’s worldwide Campaign for Real Beauty that promotes confidence in women’s natural beauty. Their Cannes award-winning video clip, Dove Evolution, well portrays this contrast with the kind of artificial ideal of beauty promoted in the commercial sphere.
Why the concern at all? Is it completely absurd? Or does it have to do with who we are, with our “core”. I would assume that Ms. Ambrose would answer in the positive and I would have to agree with her. (However, the article makes me think that our reasons would differ. She thinks that telling people that “it’s all about the ankles” contributes to satisfying her followers’ thirst for “authenticity”. )
I don’t think that anyone would be satisfied with being reduced to their physical attributes, and even less, to their exterior “add-ons”. Why then, do people generally feel the need to express something about themselves to the others, about their “image”? What importance should be given to this physical dimension? These are all questions I plan on addressing in the the following posts, along with the question of why this concern for expression of personal beauty hits women harder than men. Until then, let me know what you think…
