Beauty is a Talent

It’s a sensitive issue, and I simply add this: based on my experiences, I believe physically average people can be intimidatingly attractive if they know how to dress for their body type and maintain excellent posture. Fashion, grooming, makeup and composure are all skills like any other. Many people look for shortcuts or otherwise execute borrowed/popular ideas poorly, myself included. Brands are traps or distractions at best.

Corollary: anyone can look celebrity-hot given the same budget for talented stylists, makeup artists, photographers, photoshop geeks, and so on.

The most interesting parts of the ‘toothpaste-speckled bathroom mirror myspace self-portrait’ phenomenon are cognate to all this: seeing who ‘gets it,’ how they posture themselves and how effective their efforts are. I suppose we could say the same about Tumblr’s gpoyw business. No self-portrait is truly candid.