|
As she never came naked, somehow she apparently dressed.
Jack London
I have a neighbour. I like to meet her sometimes in the elevator; it helps in gloomy times. She is beautiful, and is proud of being so. The general impression she makes is of something absolutely round; and if we examine the parts of her body separately, they surprisingly turn out to be round, too. The hair on her spherical head is cut very short; probably not to distract attention from her perfectly round face. Her lips are painted as people did in eccentric 20's; her brows are penciled so high that she looks as if she was surprised to death all her life. I sometimes even fear that one day they will climb to the top of her head and settle there forever. The colour of my wonderful neighbour's eyelids is bluer than any blue thing you have ever seen in your life. Add to this, clothes of colours that a lady of more than fifty (and she is that) is by no means to wear, and you finally get the picture of her.
In general she looks perfectly funny, and that's why she looks really perfect. She is a wonder, and an attractive woman. Making a clown of herself, she hits the target - she attracts.
My concept of appearance is that it must attract and hold attention. (That is of course, if you are not a killer, a secret agent, a private detective or a desperate debtor.) But I want least of all to exaggerate - to insist on someone wearing peacock feathers, green hair, and shoes made from baboon skin. It is enough if, being rather plainly dressed, you can smile so as to catch a stranger's eye and make them think about you. (Of course, trying to make your appearance unusual and attractive, you should be conscious of whom you want to attract, and what for.)
But to catch someone's eye for more than ten seconds is not so simple, even if you dye every single hair hair differently.
You may be lost in a crowd if you look unfashionable, but also if you are absolutely fashionable; and it doesn't matter wether the style suits you or not. For example, gray is still fashionable, but who cares for that colour now? Fashion is not fashion if there is no opposition. Every trend in it sooner or later exhausts itself, and it is always interesting to foresee the end.
But there is always a tendency (it is more evident in movies and on television) to make everything beautiful and good-looking. I don't like it. I believe that people, as well as things, have the right and also the opportunity not to be nice, not to be beautiful - but still to be attractive. You may be attractive even being ugly and being deliberately ugly has a perspective. I advise you not to ignore it. There are no limits to how interesting you can be, and cultivating ugliness you can never complain that Providence was unfair to you. For example, Woopi Goldberg often practices this, as she is much more bow-legged in films than at the Oscar ceremony. In my opinion, she is a brilliant woman.
The only wrong way you may go is in neglecting your appearance completely. Look somehow, but know how you are looking! - that is my motto. And don't forget about mental development.
|
