Do You Think it's Exausting to be this Beautiful?: A Well Groomed Picspam of Olivia Palermo and Cheryl Cole

I wonder how much these two spend on false eyelashes and hair extensions in a year. Also, I would maim, kill, or take Carine Roitfelds name in vain for either of their wardrobes

These two beg the question: theoretically in our society, can anyone be beautiful (YMMV) and famously admired if they just wear the right clothes, apply the right make-up, and eat the right things?

Cindy!

I'm just speechless. She looks amazing. This is MUCH better than her other more recent shoots for U.S. Harpers, and Paris Vogue.
Speaking of U.S. Harpers,
Glenda Bailey,
If you are google alerting listening, I love you, but you need to get with the program already; this is stale as hale. You could be more, but I feel you are not living up to your potential. Don't listen to the haters, 'cause let's face it, they gonna hate, but I still think you are better than anything U.S. Vogue has to offer. Yes, after all these years, you still do it for me. But photographing Kate Moss through vasaline and gaussian blur and making her look blander than day old, unsweetened oatmeal is making it harder to support your cause. Also, why did you inflict those homely Twilight kids on us? I became increasingly concerned when gave Miley Cyrus a cover. Please come back to me, I know we can work this out.

Love,Whitters But enough of my bitching, check out the pretty, it's all so Herb Ritts-y and hot:



Janice Dickinson resemblance, no?

Charlotte and Grace

credits; Life magazine, fanpix.net

I really have nothing to say here except the very obvious 'holy sh*t I wish I shared their genes'.

Lily Donaldson is Perfection

May I have some of her old school glamour please?

Baptiste

"This place was used to keep ashes around the year zero. But it was a place full of joy and life. I photographed a boy there naked to show life in a place of death" - Karl Lagerfeld

Yeah right Karl.

credits; wallpaper magazine, getty images, the fashion spot

I think I have just seen the most beautiful man alive, and his name is Baptiste Giabiconi. Seriously, this man is better looking than a Ken doll (and dare I say even Derek from Barbie and the Rockers, the standard to which I hold handsomeness to this day?)



I mean, he has aproached and eclipsed Rob Lowe territory of prettyness.


So here's the deets on Baptiste;

* he's 20 years old
* he's Karl Lagerfelds' protege/muse
*he allegedly met Karl by being engaged to Karl's niece
*He's french
*He used to work in aeronautics (how hot is that?)



I don't think I could even attempt to stand next to him . Ugh, I don't even think I would dare come up and introduce myself without feeling the strong urge to climb under a bridge and cry myself to sleep:

^Baptiste meets Lilo

Brooke Shields

Brooke Shields photographed by George Hurrell

Brooke Shields has one of the most beautiful faces I've ever seen documented on the screen. Even the famous photographer George Hurrell came out of retirement to photograph her. I also think she had that scary, unnerving, Lolita-like "is she a woman or a girl?" type of look that she seems to have lost as she got older.

Many seem to comment that she's lost her beauty, even though she's still gorgeous to me, I can see what they're saying, she looks very different now. It's not so much the typical "she got older" argument (yet technically, it really is), it's just that her facial structure is very different now. She was born with strong features, those same strong features combined with the youthful plumpness of her face from her child and teenage years made for a striking combination. Our faces get thinner with age of course, so with that youthful plumpness gone, Brooke's strong features became sharper. It's basically the opposite story of Michelle Pfeiffer, who was very average when she was younger, but suddenly blossomed into a very beautiful woman within the last several years (it's also worth noting that Michelle has very soft, delicate features).

Brooke is still attractive though, and and has that regal, sophisticated look, like what Ingrid Bergman and Grace Kelly had in their 40's, I could only wish to be that hot at 42. But can you imagine being one of the most beautiful women in the world at only 15?

In the movie, Wanda Nevada, Brooke plays the title character. Part of the premise is that Wanda Nevada is a 13-year old runaway who has fled Catholic school. Peter Fonda's character "wins" her in poker game, he feels obligated to take her with him as a way of protecting her, but he mostly regards her as a pest. In one scene, the two characters are at a reststop diner, Wanda has just gotten into this big argument with Peter Fonda's character, and decides to go off on her own. As she's making her way around the parking lot, she's whistled at and solicited by various bikers and truck drivers. She's obviously frightened, but she keeps on walking, a creepy guy follows her, he threatens her and tells her to get into his truck. Peter Fonda drives up just in time to rescue her. The juxoposition of the make-up, jewelry, the tough game she talks, and the fact that she is still just a kid underneath all of that make-up couldn't be greater. It's a feeling that I was familiar with growing-up. I liked wearing make-up at that age, fixing my hair, and wearing trendy clothes, but underneath it all, I still felt awkward and self-conscious. When I was 14, I met this actor who was a friend of my cousin's, he was cute enough and in his early 20's. Upon meeting him, he asked me " I think I've seen you before", I told him I was pretty sure that was impossible. I related this to my sisters and was suprised to learn this was an obvious pick-up line. I remember feeling both incredibly flattered and weirded out by this, I wasn't used to being seen as a woman (he didn't know how old I was until later).

I think it must be some sort of miracle that Brooke came out of her teenage years uncorrupted. She didn't become addicted to drugs, she went to college. Part of it could be contributed to her mother. Terri Shields was a classic case of a stage mother, she was famous for being rigid, and hard to work with regarding her daughter's career. I do think it's strange for a mother who has a reputation for making Mama Rose look laid-back, would let her then 10-year old daughter pose naked, with a face full of make-up in a series of photos (a photographer whose name was appropriately, Gary Gross), or star in a film like Pretty Baby. I remember reading that Teri regarded Brooke like a painting, her beauty as something that should be seen and shared, which I think, is an interesting way to look at the career choices she made for Brooke. I can't get over the feeling that Brooke was, in a way, exploited for her looks. I think it's great that her beauty was documented on film, but the problem lies in the type of film and the way she was photographed.

Anyway all of that aside, I love how Brooke's look is experiencing a resurgence in the fashion world. John Galliano made a spring/summer collection inspired by the way she looked in Pretty Baby. Last year, The New York Post ran an article, telling everyone to throw out their tweezers. Hilary Rhoda, Doutzen Kroes, Ali Micheal, and Marina Linchuk are all in high demand. Natalia Vodianova was hired by Calvin Klein because she reminded him of Brooke. Of course, none of the new girls are quite like the real thing.

left: Brooke Shields, right: Marina Linchuk

The Cats

Irina Kulikova from img.com

Move over Gemma, Lisa Cant, Lily Cole and the rest of you with oversize doll faces. Your days on the catwalk are numbered and it's time for a new breed of model (at least according to The New York Times anyway). Make room for the cats:

"Sometimes there is a hankering, more felt than articulated, for types with snub noses, shortened upper lips, eyes set on a slight diagonal, and petulant expressions that inspire one to offer them a dish of cream."

"I call them the cats," said Pat McGrath, a make-up artist who has worked with virtually everyone of importance in the business. "When I first saw Irina [Kulikova]," Ms. McGrath said, "I thought to myself, "She looks just like a little cat."

Clockwise from top: Behati Prinsloo and unidentified male model (who kind of looks like a young Malcolm McDowell from "Cat People" btw), Irina Kulikova, Marina Linchuk, Caroline Trentini, Jessica Stam, Madalena Frackowiak, and Sheila Marquez
Center: Sasha Pivovarova

The original article can be read here: In Paris, a Fevered Pursuit of "It" by Guy Trebay

Also from the same article:

"Wherever at the dozens of parties during fashion week one finds the pretty cats, the old dogs can also be seen sniffing around. And there at the Tuesday night party the models Carmen Kass and Jessica Stam gave for "the green cause" of some sort at Le Baron-a charming dingy dive first popular decades ago- was Bruce Willis , in uh, very antic form.

Was Mr. Willis there to learn more about the neoprane florals at Balenciaga? Was he there for a lesson from Ms. Kass on carbon neutral living? Was he there to dance with Ashley Olsen hiked around his waist? (oh, wait, that was someone else, in another corner of the bar)."

Oh Bruce, give it up. You're old. Don't you think it's time to throw in the towel? Especially when your conquests are friends of your daughters? I mean, at least think of them. That's got to be totally embarrassing for their dad to be pulling a Ryan O' Neal.

I Love a Good Pair of Eyebrows Part 1:Jennifer Connelly

It's one of the first things I notice about a person. Eyebrows help make the whole face, they can practically make someone beautiful. Jennifer Connelly has some amazing brows:

Jennifer Connelly photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott for V magazine

She's a great actress. A good thing about her is that she's fearless as an actress. She's not afraid play characters like in Requirem for a Dream. She managed to work her way out of the sexpot ingenue roles and make herself an interesting career. I admire that even though she's gorgeous, she didn't go off on a Jessica Alba "I'm too hot, so I don't get any good roles/no one takes me seriously even though I posed in Maxim, woe is me" tangent. Jennifer actually worked hard to get where she is.

Though people actually do criticize Jennifer Connelly's looks a lot. One of the main complaints people have about her is her eyebrows. The usual complaint goes something like this: "Jennifer Connelly would be so much prettier if she did something with her eyebrows" or "eww she has man- eyebrows!" To those people, I give you a picture of the 21 year-old Megan Fox:

Megan Fox by Brian Bowen Smith

Is this how you want Jennifer Connelly to look? With porntastic eyebrows that make her look 20 years older, evil, and constantly pissed off?

Rock on with your perfect, full eyebrows Ms. Connelly.

photo by Steven Shaw