I'm Not Fashionista

And I do not aspire to be so. I enjoy shopping, finding deals, and wearing clothes that make me feel good/look good. But it ends there. I don't want to design clothes for myself or others to wear. But I do like to look at runway-type fashion shows on TV when the opportunity presents itself. So it happened that a recent news spot on CBS Sunday Morning caught my eye. One of the news anchors was talking to some designer - I forget who - and while they were talking, the designer was in the process of arranging clothes on a model that was - no joke - skinny as a twig and flat as a board.

And I had a light bulb moment.

That model looked like a human canvas. That was her physique: skinny and flat, like an artist's canvas would be. So if a designer considers him or herself an artist, why wouldn't he or she want the most nondescript canvas/model possible so that the art itself is on display, rather than the model. So often, girls think they are supposed to look a certain way based on the physical appearance of such models. They feel pressure to be thinner because that must be the ideal or it wouldn't be on the runway. But think about it: If an artist was going to use a canvas that was not perfectly flat or thin, that artist would have to plan his or her art around the different medium that was going to be used. "Starry Night" doesn't look the same on a vase as it does on a canvas. If "real women" were used in what Tyra calls high fashion, the fashion itself would not be on display; the women would be. And while there is a place for women to display their curves, perhaps the runway simply isn't that place - unless the artist chooses to use a woman's curves as his or her medium.

Just a thought.