Corduroy, Velvet, and Steel

One's personal catalogue of what's beautiful does not necessarily correspond with the rest of the world's. Some things are so hideous that people find them irresistible, like Chihuahuas and Rene Zelwiger. But then there are those with the rich, soft, velvety looks that make you melt like a chocolate bar left on the dash in 90 degree weather and the girls who are so exotic that you find yourself inexplicably craving tapas.

There was a time when either my inexperience with the world made me think I needed to proverbially put my looks on ice to preserve them. But, to be what we think we should be, girls willingly subject themselves to a beauty regiment that ultimately has old womaning effects from the stress, late nights, tanning, excessive make-up, and not eating. Beauty these days is not simply a rubberstamped replica of a Hollywood standard. We’ve finally reached a point when beauty truly does come in all shapes and sizes; but there’s a catch: beauty is now hooked in with everything we are.

I’ve spent the better part of my free time in 2006 modeling in all sorts of genres (no, Daddy, not nudie pictures), and I’ve learned that the more overrun our culture becomes with media, fashion, celebrity, and surgical procedures, the more beauty standards we have to choose from. Natural is the new sought-after look by at least East Coast photographers, and it is a relief from the botoxed withering roses one sees everywhere now. Everyone has something of interest about his or her looks, but that’s the easiest obstacle to overcome in being considered beautiful.

What has become important and key to stardom is the ability to do it all. Online modeling portfolios offer a long list of the model’s other talents like singing, dancing, acting, and even a place to list other languages she speaks. Desired women are not just pretty faces with smooth, even skin and sparking eyes (all of which can be created with make-up and Photoshop), they are the ones who you’d want to both look like and be like. Even the lauded experts from E!, Cosmo, and the gossip columns fail to realize how much they don’t know about how to become a cultural icon, as they sit behind their laptops casting judgments of who’s wearing what, whom, and how and reporting on everything on the surface.

Fun, flirty, pretty girls are overpriced at a dime a dozen these days. There are literally thousands of these beauties that you can't take your eyes off. The difference between your average Miss Roadside America and an icon is the corduroy, velvet, and steel that make up the icon. A real star is the woman who is as textured, multidimensional, and classic as corduroy, soft and elegant as velvet, and who conducts herself with the consistency and solidity of steel.

So quit with the Magnum and Blue Steel, and work on being it all. No pressure.