MOXVOX

In a world obsessed with perfection and the ‘plastic’ attainable beauty one may purchase, by succumbing to the scalpel, unconventional beauty seems all the more attractive. Unique faces with slight imperfections and so called flaws to me are much closer to what beauty really is. Nature is never perfect, so why is it that in our culture more and more frequently, we are obsessed with flawless, symmetrical, well balanced faces? Is this a sign of our times? In this computer enhanced digital culture, it is sometimes hard to remove oneself from the bombardment of  ‘photo-shopped’  imagery thrown at us from all angles.

And yeah sure…unconventional beauties have claimed their space in the fashion world, but is it merely to keep it fresh… are these Pretty Uglies ever going to make it to be the supermodels such as Christy Brinkley, Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangalista became? Stella Tennant came close. She has the ability to look quite harsh and strong, almost masculine with her hardened features. Then on the other hand she can also look quite gentle and more ‘pretty’ in other instances. Some may consider Kate Moss to be someone that has achieved this recognition for her beauty,  her look was not considered at all conventional when she first gained attention in her career.

No doubt my curiousity and thoughts on this topic arise from my general rejection of mainstream ‘hollywood’ films. Fake tan, fake boobs, fake lips etc etc does nothing for me. I prefer women that grace independenet cinema, art house/foreign films, it is generally the case that the more subtitles the more ‘jolie laide’ the women. Now this word or term Jolie Laide…arkwardly translated it means Pretty Ugly…but in essence it’s about beauty that does negate the imperfections or quirks, rather it’s about celebrating them – after all it’s these things that make us unique.

Perhaps this is what I love about the women that could be labelled as ‘Jolie Laide’. There is a certain fearlessness in their ability to show their strong side and not just the vunerable ‘pretty’ side.  It is also claiming beauty on their own terms. And this is definitely what we need more of if we want our youth to grow up without thinking they need to fit into a box. The more diversity the better! It’s as though there is a more compelling message here, a message for women and also for men. After all, in my eyes there is nothing quite as ugly as a pre-packaged airbrushed pose à la Paris Hilton. So become the master at showing off the features that make you unique, chances are that’s what makes your beautiful.

For me Jolie Laide is personified best by the following beauties (at least as these women are well known):

(If I were to include a few more, women such as Grace Jones, Cate Blanchett, Sofia Coppola and Tilda Swinton would no doubt get a mention.)  So who would you consider to be ‘Jolie Laide’??

1.Vanessa Paradis

2.Rossy de Palma

3.Charlotte Gainsbourg

4.Juliette Lewis

5. Charlotte Rampling