For the past few days, I had been seeing articles pop up on my feed about Zimbabwe’s “Beauty Without Brains Syndrome.”  While pageant stories show up a lot in my feed, recurrence of this “syndrome” intrigued me.

Here’s the story: in a Zimbabwe pageant, beauty contestant after beauty contestant was coming up short – way short – when it came to answering questions about current affairs.  Moreover, their ability to articulate in English was way below acceptable levels.  This lack of education among the contestants embarrassed the people of Zimbabwe.

Who cares anyway?  After all, this is a beauty contest not an episode of Jeopardy! As I’ve written in past posts, why can’t beauty contestants be judged for the gifts they were given, i.e., beautiful hair, teeth, bodies…you get the idea. What’s wrong with just appreciating others’ beauty … end of story?

But I kinda get the issue here.  The beauty contest is sponsored by the country’s tourism bureau.  This organization sees its beauty queens as representatives of their country and culture.  So it makes perfect sense that it should want its reps to be intelligent too.

You may ask, why should beauty queens be looked at as a culture’s representatives?  Why not sports heroes, great teachers or successful businesswoman?  Perhaps Zimbabwe’s tourism organizations realize that no matter how much we appreciate strong, athletic, good-hearted people, we are hard-wired to be attracted to beauty.  And as depressing … or not … as this sounds, I am happy that Zimbabwe not only wants their beauty queens to be smart but that they believe they CAN be smart!  In other words, the belief that beautiful people can’t be smart and vice versa, isn’t at play here.

So, in the end, I applaud the people of Zimbabwe for being haunted by this lack of education among their contestants.  Maybe, maybe just maybe, this issue will influence the government to up-level EVERYONE’s education.  That’s a pretty good thing, no?

About month ago I spoke in front of a mix of clients.  I wore an outfit that I realized may not be perfect for my bod camera-wise but is still kinda cool.  The top is a black leather, peplum top.  It’s both cute and a bit of rock-n’-roll, and I’ve received quite a few compliments on it.

But it also screwed me in a way.  I tend to be a passionate speaker, sometimes I’m even called intense.  Well, for a few of the folks in the audience, this shirt lent a vibe that made me seem über aggressive and even “angry.”  Huh?

I never, ever expected someone to criticize me for sounding angry.  I can certainly list many other unflattering descriptions of myself on stage — frenetic, hyper, aloof.  But angry? Never have I heard that.  And frankly, this description really upset me.  I know there were probably other factors that may contributed to this impression.  I’ve been known to be seen as very “New York-y” but people from middle America.  But the shirt was cited as a key to this impression.

Ugh, I know I can never make everyone happy — or at least that’s what all the coaches to me.  But it still hurts.

I also wonder whether being a woman played a role in this harsh description.  And I certainly have no intention of changing that feature .

All I can say is I have to learn from all these incidents.  I can’t change but I can be more aware.  And more importantly, I can be that much more self-assured that I am who I am, and be proud that I’m one of the people who isn’t just sitting on the sidelines criticising but the among those who risk the slurs and get out there.

@Beautyskew was in full force this week:

While I haven’t gone through a total on-camera transformation, I started using a few tricks Weekend Observations: Applying the Lessons

An honest, raw perspective on modeling from a model/TED speaker Behind the Image: An Honest & Bright Model’s Story

From aging beauty contests to a history of beauty in Japan More to Love: Additions to the Reading List

I wish you all a happy weekend and to my brother, Jonny, a happy birthday!

Irenilda de Oliveira Meneses

Some fascinating beauty-in-culture reading!  Take a look:

• Beauty secrets of geisha revealed

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/13/on-beauty-bottled-secrets-of-the-geisha/

I was taken in by this TED talk: What You Didn’t Know About the Modeling Industry.  Unlike some of the overly scary (but true) stories about how horrible the industry is — it leads to anorexia, fuels major competition and expresses intense age-ism, this story is an honest, thoughtful and raw perspective by model Cameron Russell.

Russell spends about 9 minutes on a TEDx stage answering the typical questions she’s asked because she’s a model.  Her main thesis is modeling is all about image.  Not the truth.  She doesn’t glorify modeling nor does she totally demonize it.  She matter-a-factly tells us of the unfair freebies she gets only because she’s pretty.  She shares how insecure she and all of her fellow models are because they have to think about what they look every minute of every day.

At first I was a little skeptical.  After all, if she’s saying modeling is so horrible for culture, then why does she still do it?  But her approach was so disarming and truthful.  And she points out that like many jobs that we have as teens, it paid for her education.  I actually liked the fact that her agenda wasn’t SO clear.  I liked that Russell simply decoded the profession for us and shared her life story.

Have a look and see for yourself.

I presented last week at Yale Business school’s Center for Consumer Insights.  While I didn’t speak on a massive stage, I was still being filmed.  This meant I could start to apply some of my new-found knowledge on how to look camera-ready.

I haven’t had a chance yet to buy all the make-up and clothing to make me look camera-perfect, but at least I had a few pointers thanks to my session last week.

As you know, the folks from the Guide to Style, Alicia Monica and Christopher Johnstone, were over me casa a week ago to begin my on-camera training.  Alicia gave me a make-up tutorial and picked out the little make-up I had that could substitute for the real thing in the meantime.  She also gave me some guidelines around necklines, colors and types of looks I should adopt.  I picked out a pair of black satin, loose Jodhpur-style pants, and a cream silk sleeveless blouse for the talk.  I exchanged my usual silver jewelry for gold, and slipped on some black high-heeled sling backs. (See bad pic above.  It was taken hours after the presentation by a crappy phone camera but you get the idea)

Did I look amazing?  Not quite.  But I felt great on stage knowing that I look that much better than I did in the last video in which I’m dressed all in black, with little make-up and a high collar and scarf around my neck — ugh!

I can’t wait for some actual on-camera training and shopping.  Given all of our crazy travel schedules, it may not happen for a month or so.  Once this film from Yale is uploaded, I’ll ask you to judge how I look compared to the first one

Have a great week!

The Guide to Style team

Just when we thought we had it down — we’ve figured out the right haircut to frame our faces, found an awesome outfit and nice make-up to draw out our features — we’re hit by the realization that the whole world changes once the camera turns on.

That sure happened to me.  More and more I’m in front of a camera.  Either I’m being interviewed for some video or presenting on stage.  While I never much paid attention to these projects, I soon realized that because of the highly visual, YouTube world we live in, people don’t bother to read anything we have to say anymore.  They would rather watch us instead.  Our videos matter a lot more than ever.

One problem.  I look like crap on film! At least with pics you can winnow down to the best shot to present to the world.  When you’re filmed, it’s ALL out there.

Well I couldn’t just sit there and take it right?  I guess I could try to spend my life shielded from the camera (a thought I have contemplated many times, believe me!) or I could fix this problem head on.

So that’s what I did.  I was fortunate enough to be introduced to this amazing duo: The Guide to Style.  The dream team is made up of the beautiful make-up artist and stylist: Alicia Monica, and her partner: actor, model, stylist and on-screen coach, Christopher Johnstone.

So far I’ve met with them twice: first, to share hopes, dreams, concerns and my sense of style, and second, to get an on-screen make-up and fashion tutorial.  They were awesome, not only were they patient and insightful, but they offered the clear advice I needed.

First, Alicia taught me how to contour my rather wide jaw, highlight my eyes properly, and actually wear darker lips (something I’m terrible at).  Of course, I’ll need to get a whole new set of cosmetics and make-up brushes but I knew that was going to happen.

Second, Alicia and Chris looked over my wardrobe to try to gauge the right look for film.  For me it’s a streamlined look with more accessories and wide belts to give me a semblance of a waist.  No dresses.  Think tailored jumpsuits. Unfortunately, my closet is busting out with tons of outfits that DON’T fit this criteria.  Luckily Alicia is willing to brave shopping with me.  (She doesn’t know what she’s in for!)

Despite our 3-hour meeting, we didn’t get to my on-camera coaching.  This includes which angles suit my face, and how to engage with the camera.  This is my BIGGEST issue.

So stay tuned for my new looks and on-camera training.  My goal? To show you some amazing “before” and “after” clips by the end of this adventure

A full week in NYC!  So what happened?

How does someone who lost so much care about her beauty every day? Weekend Observations: The Strength to Move On

New news on the different types of sugars and how our bodies react to them Can the Difference Between Heavy and Thin Come Down to A Few Letters?

The beauty news that fascinated us this week More to Love: Additions to the Reading List 

Can’t wait to tell about my great style re-programming!  Stay tuned to this week’s posts

What beauty-in-culture news have attracted our attention?  Take a look:

• The annual beauty contest to raise money for the military is getting criticized, but this time, it’s by men

http://spartandaily.com/104362/beauty-bowl-is-not-pretty-to-all

• No surprise, beauty treatments still flourish despite the recession — even these!

http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/the-beauty-market-resists-recession/

• How those Dove sketch videos really went viral

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-26/how-those-dove-real-beauty-sketch-ads-went-viral

• Lots of hoopla over the identical Korean beauty contestants.  Despite how eery as it looks, there’s an explanation

http://kotaku.com/blame-photoshop-for-koreas-beauty-queen-clones-482285894

Any more s tories to add? Comment or tweet us @Beautyske

]]> http://beautyskew.com/2013/05/03/more-to-love-additions-to-the-reading-list-124/feed/ 0 http://beautyskew.com/2013/05/02/can-the-difference-between-heavy-and-thin-come-down-to-a-few-letters/ http://beautyskew.com/2013/05/02/can-the-difference-between-heavy-and-thin-come-down-to-a-few-letters/#comments Thu, 02 May 2013 13:59:08 +0000 abigail posner http://beautyskew.com/?p=10327

According to a recent article in the New York Times, our brains respond to sweet things but not always in the same way.  A research study by the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation and the Yale Diabetes Research Center, explains that there are two types of sweet chemical combinations: sucrose and glucose.  When injected into the brains of mice, the two energy sources produce very different results: “glucose blunts hunger signals, whereas fructose stimulates them.”

Then the researchers behind this study set out to try this on humans.  Here’s what they found:

“Blood flow and activity in brain areas controlling appetite, emotion and reward decreased after consuming a drink with glucose, and participants reported greater feelings of fullness. In contrast, after drinking fructose, the brain appetite and reward areas continued to stay active, and participants did not report feeling full.”

Well, well, well.  For a sweet-tooth like me.  I got all excited.  Now I can satisfy those sweet cravings with something that’s actually good for me: glucose!

Not so fast.  You see most sweet stuff is a combination of the two, and fructose dominates.

And this is where the research ends.  There’s nothing we can do about this at this inequality at this point except be more educated about it.

Or perhaps one of you trailblazers out there can convince the food and bev industry to make glucose-only products?

I would totally jump on the band wagon!