The Struggle is Real (The new normal and average)

Hello Lovlies!

One of my favorite things to do each month is receive my Glamour, Seventeen, Instyle, People Style Watch and Nylon magazines in the mail and enjoying a cup of hot tea while I flip through the latest fashions.  I adore the photo shoots which help give me inspiration for my own modeling and love to see what styles are hot for the upcoming seasons.  

Nylon Magazine in 2004

I also appreciate the artistic insight that I receive by reading about actresses, makeup artists and models who help give an insider look into an exclusive life which I use to help me in my own modeling, writing, photography and makeup skills.  Plus, it is especially interesting to read about artists whom you like or feel a connection to, such as Avril Lavigne whom I've loved ever since her very first album and am still going strong in the woman crush territory.

However, there is a current movement that I have not been in favor of ever since it started.  And that is the fast growing idea that super models such as Cara Delevigne and Karlie Kloss are just as human as the rest of us.  This popular attitude has made being a normal, average girl even harder than ever, because if a model is what people consider normal then where are we?  Pretty much thrown in the gutter as unattractive leftovers who aren't worthy of being considered beautiful.

At first I was pretty much resigned to this idea since hating on people takes too much energy and I'd rather focus on the positive things in my life and work hard on being myself rather than trying to conform to society's idiotic ideals.  In fact, that was part of the reason I started this blog; so that I could work hard on loving myself and helping other people do the same.  We are all beautiful and deserve being recognized as such, no matter our size, race, shape or height.

Behold; the new normal and average!

However, society is trying its hardest to make us believe that in order to accepted as anything worth having we must embrace the 'Thigh Gap' (Stay tuned for another disgust fueled blog), achieve washboard abs, be over six feet tall(in the legs alone) and apparently as seen above have clearly visible ribs as well.  In other words, let's embrace anorexia and call it normal because all the famous girls are doing it.

In my most recent issue of InStyle there was an interview with famed Victoria's Secret model Karlie Kloss who discussed her intimate relationship with recently deceased designer Oscar de la Renta.  It was touching to hear about his passion for what he did and how wonderfully he treated those who worked with him.  But something in particular stuck out out to me and made me internally moan.  Kloss stated that every time before she walked for Oscar he would take her hand and say, "Karlie, you are beautiful."  She said that this helped affirm her internal and external beauty...

...That's great for a six foot three super model who has been walking for Oscar since she was fifteen.  Why is it that when Karlie Kloss gets her hand held and told by one of the most famed women's designers that she is beautiful that the entire world goes, 'awwww,' and feels for her struggle?

What about the girl who belongs to the 99% of the world who cuts herself and never eats because she's too fat?  Wouldn't things be wonderfully different for her if instead of pandering to his models Mr. De la Renta had taken her hand and told her she was beautiful.  Why can't her life be just as beautiful.

I am not trying to demean models since I am currently trying very hard to make it as one, though I would prefer to work for alternative brands than mainstream couture.  I would just like us to take a moment and mentally take some young girl's hand and tell her that she is beautiful, because she deserves it just as much, if not more than a model whose existence revolves around her beauty being reaffirmed every single day.  

This was me for more than half of my life.  Don't condone it and help those who deserve better.

It is important to remember that among the famous, beautiful people in the world there are those who struggle each and every day because of what society tells them.  These problems are real and maybe we can take a moment to help someone who really needs to be told they are beautiful instead of worshiping people who already know it.

You are beautiful and you don't need a famous designer to tell you so.  If you have no one else then take your own hand and say it over and over again because it is true.  Do not forget, you are you for a reason.

Be True To You.