Iris Apfel, Deshun Wang, and the world of "anything's possible"...
Bryce Main
Multi-genre author, mostly Crime fiction. Scottish. Been writing longer than I’ve been wearing big boy’s trousers.
Very few people have a truly symmetrical face.
Under 15% of the human race, in fact.
The rest of us...that's just over 6.3 BILLION (give or take)...have faces with the left side slightly different to the right side.
It's what makes us unique.
It's also what makes lots of plastic surgeons rich.
One eyebrow is different, sometimes imperceptibly, to the other one. One eye isn't the same as the other.
Our nose veers more to one side than it does to the other. The left side of our mouth smiles differently to the right.
Our right ear is stuck on the side of our head a smidgen above or below our left one. Or in front of. Or behind. And its shape differs ever so slightly to its opposite number.
The same goes for the rest of our body.
Arms, hands, fingers, legs, feet, and toes. The left side of us is essentially different (ever so slightly) to the right side.
Even the left side of our brain is different to the right side.
Each one of us is two very similar half people joined up to make one unique whole body.
Which is exactly what the fashion industry didn't want to advertise their wares.
They wanted beautiful people. Symmetrical people. People with perfect skin. Perfect looks. Perfect shape. Perfect dimensions. Perfect teeth. Perfect smiles. Perfect bloody weight.
Happily, they eventually got tired of perfect and started looking very closely at interesting.
People with interesting faces. People with interesting bodies.
People who have looks that are perfectly imperfect. People whose personality shouts out louder than their cheekbones.
People like the legendary Iris Apfel.
Jeez Louise...the dame is ninety nine, has a sack full of wrinkles, and she's a bloody style icon.
She has short hair, more sets of glasses than a spectacle factory, a neck like a turkey, and balls the size of grapefruits.
You can't take your eyes off her.
She's the poster girl for the Style Is A State Of Bloody Mind So Up Yours Foundation.
Their motto is: "I don't give a shit if I'm not young and perfectly symmetrical. I love who I am, I love how I look, and I love what I wear, goddammit."
I love her to bits. Goddammit.
Then there's eighty-four year old Deshun Wang.
Actor turned model turned old (and very fit looking) guy with long white hair who struts his stuff bare-chested down any runway you damned well like.
Started to learn English when he was 44. In pantomime when he was 49. Began working out when he was 50. Learned to ride a horse when he was 65. Then, at 79, walked along a sold-out runway show at China Fashion Week.
He's not just breaking boundaries. He's smashing the hell out of them.
I love him to bits, too. Goddammit.
The world of advertising is changing.
The world of fashion is changing.
The world of "anything's possible" has kicked down the door and is running around the room with serious intent.
Occasionally laughing its head off.
And life, bless its little (bright red) cotton socks, is now a damned sight more fascinating...
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The above is an extract from my book Ad Hoc. Like its sister Ad Lib, and its little brother Ad Infinitum (still in the pregnancy stage), it's about creativity, advertising, life, and lots of stuff in between.
You'll find the first two on Amazon, along with my other books, Love & Coffee and Heaven Help Us. In print and ebook. Just waiting for you. Just look here:
Ad Lib: https://amzn.to/2kd4LKf.
Ad Hoc: https://amzn.to/2Nx8GL8
Love & Coffee: https://amzn.to/28IWaHq
Heaven Help Us: https://amzn.to/2nkQ1Jk
Grab a coffee, grab a chair, and grab a sneaky peek.
Then grab a copy...
Manager Graphics Design and Production
4 年Very nice words indeed. But as things change, is it possible that holding companies will revisit the 60+ People like George Tannenbaum and Kem Dinally. I know I’m changing. My eyebrows now grows faster than my toe nails.
Art Historian & Art Educator at TATE, The Royal Academy, V&A, The National Gallery, and The Design Museum London. Guest Lecturer, State University, Germany. Keynote Speaker. Copywriter (German).
4 年...dammit... ??best thing I ?? have read in a while ??
Wordwrangler. Carrotdangler. Storyteller. Goal-oriented writing that gives your business an advantage.
4 年"The world of 'anything's possible' has kicked down the door and is running around the room with serious intent." That's a keeper. Should be emblazoned somewhere. Not sure exactly where. Maybe over entry doors to libraries. Maybe a strategically placed tattoo on a strategically placed person.
Integrated Project & Digital Programme Manager
4 年To paraphrase Professor Higgins "I have become accustomed to my face". Not perfect, possibly interesting, definitely lived in. Thanks as always Bryce, for a different take on a familiar subject. Terry
Freelance Creative (Conceptual Writer), Author, Thinker of Stuff
4 年Bryce 'n' coffee on a Monday - excellent. I think at best, my face could be described as 'windswept' - I started my career as a photographer, which is why I am a very visual writer. I learnt something early on. Most people don't like photos of themselves. I did a portrait for a client once and accidentally reversed the negative (younger readers might need to google that) - the result was he loved it. As you point out, we have asymmetrical faces, and the face we see everyday is the reversed image in a mirror, which is why we rarely like the 'right-way-around' image in a photo. it's a cruel world.