Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Alexa Chung. Let us all try to get along, shall we?

I dig Alexa Chung. I really do. From her face to her lanky legs to her skinny frame and her penchant for quirky mismatched clothes. This girl epitomises true London style in all its eccentric devil-may-care tongue-in-cheek glory.

I have been lucky enough in the past to have been invited to some of the fashionable events and parties where Miss Chung was also in attendance (it’s not what you know dear but who you know, ahem) and I can tell you unequivocally that she really is that pretty in real life. The girl is a knock-out. Simple fact. Refusing to believe differently does not change this fact. And if that were not enough she is also possessed of a very funny British sense of humour which I believe in part hails from her pin sharp witticism and observances that she likes to…share out loud.

But of late there has been a lot of negativity aimed at her and maybe this has something in part to do with her rise in popularity and therefore her subsequent rise on the fashion radar which has seen her move up the ranks to the point where she has become an icon and muse du jour to many a fashionista.

I’m interested in breaking this hate-fest down. I want to put my own spin, if I may, on why certain girls and women feel the need to dislike her and others of the same type. I think it is important to do so. I don’t just want to sum it up as jealousy even though this is what it amounts to in the end, for that would be far too easy a dismissal. I want to understand a lot more than that. Please stop reading here if you are easily offended.

For instance, the women who claim to hate her (face) are normally very short of stature, toping 5’ 2” at the very most. With short stumpy stocky legs that lack any true definition between thigh, calf and ankle. They are probably also carrying love handles on the sides of their short torsos. Their necks are short and their faces are flat, wide and featureless like their noses. These women can find beauty only in others who look exactly like them. Women who define beauty by wearing long tresses of wavy mermaid hair placed just so over the shoulders. Coloured contact lenses are also de rigour. I am talking about the kind of look glorified by such magazines as ViVi who employ half-pint “models” such as Sara Mary, Jun and Rinka to be the pin-ups of the short disgruntled women I am talking about today.

Yes I placed the word “model” in inverted commas because lets face it, while it is true every country has its own definition of beauty, the real money making powerhouse of fashion resides in the West, in Europe and America. It would be impossible for a girl like Sara Mary to scrape her hair off her face into a tight severe pony tail , not I hasten to add into a cutesy puffy, tendril falling, face framing top knot! And wash her face free of makeup, wear the simple models uniform of skinny jeans with a plain white or black t-shirt and some heels and expect to have any luck what-so-ever on a go-see when in competition with a 5’ 11” chiselled creature with cheekbones so sharp it could cut glass! It wouldn't happen, not in this universe anyway.

Perhaps you haven’t heard of ViVi or these models of which I speak but it is quite easy to find if you browse the international section of any decent magazine store.

But, here is the kicker. These same women secretly love and therefore begrudge the very features which they claim to hate in others. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at the men they date and marry. These men are nearly always their exact opposite. Tall while the women are short. Thin and lanky while the women are stumpy, stocky and petite (petite is not the same as skinny. Skinny is bony whilst petite can encompass anything that is tiny). A sharply defined chiselled face whilst the women's are flat, broad and devoid of contours. Classically handsome opposing the not so. Even the skin tone more often than not is different. What does all this mean? Opposites do attract! And the good news is, this is great for the gene pool.

And if you are out there and happen to be reading this and experiencing that sick feeling in your stomach because deep inside you know this post applies to you, well, I want you to understand something quite important: we can all see it quite easily when you are out together with your man. The world is not blind! Really doesn’t matter how you try to disguise it and fix your mermaid hair or make-up or what clothes cover your body or indeed the way you always pose for photographs favouring a semi profile shot with chin either tucked down or sticking right up and out and lips that are extended and pouted ( a trick used so often by the non photogenic and insecure).

These women I speak of go for men who are their direct opposites because they can appreciate and understand this kind of beauty in a man. In a man, it is non threatening. For females who see every other woman as competition (even after they are married), the world of tall, skinny, contoured and beautiful is a very daunting and scary place. So it makes perfect sense that they build armour by pretending to be indifferent and by creating a private world which protects and nurtures only the type of “beauty” which they can easily attain and therefore understand. For my two cents, I think it is a very small world they live in where reality is warped to suit a required belief.

I don’t like it at all. True, we all need to feel better about ourselves but surely it should not be at the cost of reality! Or is reality nothing more than ones perspective of the truth? I leave it to you to answer.
The jig is up ladies. Hatred is a horrible thing. Let us have no more of it.

OK. Enough, I’ve said my piece and I am satisfied. Let’s have a girl crush moment and perv on a few Alexa Chung pictures.

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87761_Preppie_-_Alexa_Chung_hangs_around_and_has_fun_with_friends_in_New_York_City_4132_122_80lo    71640_Preppie_-_Alexa_Chung_strolls_around_the_streets_of_West_Hollywood_-_October_7_2009_692_122_30lo  z19eo32rb6tq Y271335405659222_5   y3un0t6kgi2p   xaqusjof7ydb tumblr_kzdrrkHWbW1qb4838o1_1280   sgsl21 84068_Preppie_-_Alexa_Chung_eating_dinner_on_Abbot_Kinney_in_Venice_Beach_-_October_8_2009_030_122_592lo  87083_Preppie_-_Alexa_Chung_walking_around_Soho_-_July_26_2009_055_122_21lo 2097838458d91c3f672ec59d173e604c

7 comments:

Unknown said...

I loove this post !

I adore Alexa like everybody

I'm a tiny skinny person...and other "regular" girls think I'm ugly, skinny and certainly anorexic.

So this post makes me feel better !!

Hopefully, my boyfriend, who is veeeeryy handsome, loves me the way I am.

But I went through a lot of hatred. Last week, a girl (who looks like a Perrier bottle and got a huge crush on my man) asked my boyfriend "Why your girlfriend doesn't eat ?".

Aaaargh !!!
I just hate that !

But no more about me.
I love your blog, great article !!
Yes, yes, yes !

Unknown said...

im 6ft. tall and i eat a lot so oh well hahaha... i loveeeeeeee alexa chung.. :)

Haute World said...

Great post! I've seen Alexa in person as well and she's definitely even more stunning in person... so if the short stocky women saw her in real life they'd probably throw an even bigger fit ;-) It definitely just boils down to jealousy, but you are so right that these same women choose the features they supposedly hate in the men they end up with. I think Alexa is great and I adore her style. But I might be biased because I tend to stick up for Eurasians (I am one myself)... except for Tiger Woods maybe...

Great blog by the way!

j3nhow said...

love alexia!!! shes a great model and love her style!!! great blog!

xoxo jenna
http://thepetiteblog.blogspot.com/

Rosanna said...

The ViVi models aren't exactly short, most are about 5'6", except for Lena and Jun who are 5'3"...
It's pretty tall in Japan..

....and they're not high fashion models, they're commercial magazine models. They're not meant to be 5'11" with razor cheekbones and alien faces. That's reserved for haute couture.

THE SWEET LIFE OF NUTHING said...

So what about girls who do admire Alexa and fit those descriptions (5'2)? How would you know that those haters are short? Haters come from different sizes, race, etc.

You are just the same as those haters that ridiculed Alexa.

So, don't use Alexa's haters as an excuse to hate on short people.

anpanmanisnumber1 said...

I think the people who posted the above comments about Aleza didn't read your entry properly, just the first few sentences. I too thought it would be a decent post defending alexa but instead it's an idiotic biased arguement that's half trying to sound intelligent. But the ramblings of an insecure girl. Your post is ridiculously contradictory, of course it's wrong to hate on someone you don't know but your doing exactly the same thing by hating on girl's who are short and possibly chubby for 'hating' alexa. Have you exactly seen who it is out there that hates alexa?, Your just making assumptions. I know plenty of tall, thin people who hate Alexa. Because they either don't like her personality, or as you say, are jealous. All female elebrities get hated on by other females, it's not just alexa. Olsens, richie, cheryl cole etc. And I doubt it has anything to do with people's personal height. Your just using this as an excuse to take out your own insecurities on shorter people who have confidence in themseves and have their own view of beauty.

Who exactly said 'beauty' was 5"11 with chiselled cheekbones? Your right, it does apply in the western world but that only seems to be the case in Fashion and Haute couture, the catwalk etc.

When you see girls who are considered 'beautiful', they come in a variety of heights with very slim (not emaciated) figures and a pretty face. Part of me thinks theres a bias in your post and you are possibly a tall, thin girl who is badmouthing shorter people from your own insecurities. I'm a tall thin girl myself and you know, I won't lie, I do get jealous of my shorter counterparts who seem to attract men more than I do. (Most are intimidated by my height.) So I don't understand why you call the 'thin tall world' a reality because it's not, it's just another small community of perceived beauty just as is the short 'vivi' model perception of beauty. You obviously relate to 'tall, thin' beauties yourself and therefore badmouth the shorter beauties, just as you perceive some are doing to you. This blog looks silly, I'm just suprised because your posts usually seem more insightful and interesting...