If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Like Russell, I am one of those who benefited from the genetic lottery; first as a professional dancer and then as a Wilhelmina model. For both, I relied on the fortune of good genes. Like Russell, I felt ambivalent about "cashing out" on being "a pretty white girl," but it's what I did.
Regardless of claims of "paying homage," the message that I am continually getting is that black womanhood is not beautiful unless it is somehow caricatured or manipulated, and I wholeheartedly disagree.
Russell's point that beauty isn't everything is well taken, but maybe that's not the only idea that's limiting us. The act of segregating people into labels based on looks could be a far more dangerous issue.
We are able. We are beautiful. And we count! That's what the 25 models -- who were just recently selected to perform in the Global Down Syndrome Foundation Be Beautiful Be Yourself Gala -- want Congress, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the world to know.
What people really want in relationships is dignity, not domination. While it's not hard to understand why people who have suffered oppression might fantasize taking a turn at domination, to actually do so is to over-reach.
Regardless of the what the results may be of last night's efforts, JFC is well on its way to making $1 Million sooner rather than later.
I have always wondered about what it is like to be a model, is it as glamorous as I imagine? Do models really live on lettuce and vodka? Cecilia Singley's answers to my questions were quite enlightening...
Bras in my size are cheerfully doodled over with hearts, flowers and little cupcakes that would inspire Katy Perry to write a hit song right there in the dressing room. My breasts are offended. They know what they are and they are not part of a Fisher Price play set.
Just around the corner, on Tuesday, April 2, 2013, JFC celebrates the 10th anniversary since the New York event was established, initially as an in-store event, by fashion pioneer and philanthropist, Jeffrey Kalinsky.
"So many people are like me: when they watch Mad Men, they're inspired. They can fantasize about a world where women were elaborately dressed when they came to work, and men were in a suit and tie...My husband -- I'm like, why don't you wear more of that?"
By Bennett Marcus, Vanity Fair There has been so much buzz about Karlie Kloss's new, shorter hairstyle that people are calling it merely "the Chop"...
February is Eating Disorder Awareness Month. Many female teens set up impossible standards for themselves, which are incredibly hard to meet unless they are willing to put their health at risk by engaging in severely restrictive dieting.
I've found one place that would make me think twice about becoming a model (if, of course, I was a foot taller and coordinated enough to stomp down the runway in those monster heels) -- Modellounge x Microsoft.
Fashion doesn't mean you have to be skinny. Fashion, to me, is feeling comfortable and confident in clothes that display your personality. Acceptance is the true key to happiness.
I'm having a rough time accepting that I'll never again be able to wear those beautiful sleek stilettos that I enjoyed when I was young -- stilettos that my father accurately predicted would ruin my feet and aid in cultivating bunions and hammer toes.
