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I Like Monday 11
Mar. 17th, 2014 05:26 pmThis Monday, I like... naming the models in hairstyle magazines.
Edited from an image originally taken from It's a 10 Haircare blog The individual photos are copyright of the original photographers and stylists.
I'm not a fan of women's magazines. They are either salacious gossip/fawning glurge about "celebrities" I don't recognise, or else they're salacious gossip/fawning glurge about "real-life" folk looking for their five seconds of "fame". Just looking at the front covers, I can feel my IQ start to drop.
But I make an exception for hairstyle magazines. No mention of break-ups or drug addictions or new mansions. Nothing about cheating death or boob jobs or finding out your husband is a bigamist. They have a very simple, straightforward focus: what does your hair look like and how can you make it look better? It's shallow, yes, but it's a clean shallow that doesn't leave me feeling like my brain's been wallowing in a stranger's pig sty. The writing (if there is any at all) is minimal, while the tone is cheerful and helpful rather than mean-spirited or scandalised. And while "celebrities" feature, the vast majority of the photographs are of anonymous models like those above. Nobody expects you to know what they are called. Nobody expects you to know who they're going out with/breaking up with/having a cat-fight with. Nobody expects any story about them at all.
Which makes them irresistable to someone who likes making up stories. Their faces are a blank canvas upon which I can impose any name, any character, any backstory I desire. It's a casual thing, more of a game I play with myself than a serious creative exercise. I've never written any story inspired by a hair magazine model. But it's fun, studying each face for hints of personality, suggestions of lives that aren't about modelling. Take the redhead on the far left: a sultry little madam, I reckon she's a jewel thief in the 1960s, who has arrived in Italy for her next job; she's been all around the world but is originally from Wales and still has the soft, lilting accent; clever and self-sufficient, but with a thrill-seeking streak that can make her careless when on the job. I think I'll call her either Branwen or Caron. And the two brunettes? Now they could be the same model photographed with two different hairstyles, but I don't think so; the one on the far right has a bigger nose than the one in the middle. But they're pretty similar-looking so I could cast them as sisters. I reckon the one on the right is the elder, we'll call her Danni, and the one in the middle is Jean, they both love swimming and Jean is competing at college/university level and thinking of turning pro.
Well, you get the idea. And within one magazine there are so many photographs, all opportunities to go on wild flights of fancy. You don't have to stick to the one story or name all the time. Maybe I'll come across the photo of the redhead on another day and decide she's actually a dancer or a nurse or a Southern belle. It's quick and easy story-telling on the go.
Edited from an image originally taken from It's a 10 Haircare blog The individual photos are copyright of the original photographers and stylists.
I'm not a fan of women's magazines. They are either salacious gossip/fawning glurge about "celebrities" I don't recognise, or else they're salacious gossip/fawning glurge about "real-life" folk looking for their five seconds of "fame". Just looking at the front covers, I can feel my IQ start to drop.
But I make an exception for hairstyle magazines. No mention of break-ups or drug addictions or new mansions. Nothing about cheating death or boob jobs or finding out your husband is a bigamist. They have a very simple, straightforward focus: what does your hair look like and how can you make it look better? It's shallow, yes, but it's a clean shallow that doesn't leave me feeling like my brain's been wallowing in a stranger's pig sty. The writing (if there is any at all) is minimal, while the tone is cheerful and helpful rather than mean-spirited or scandalised. And while "celebrities" feature, the vast majority of the photographs are of anonymous models like those above. Nobody expects you to know what they are called. Nobody expects you to know who they're going out with/breaking up with/having a cat-fight with. Nobody expects any story about them at all.
Which makes them irresistable to someone who likes making up stories. Their faces are a blank canvas upon which I can impose any name, any character, any backstory I desire. It's a casual thing, more of a game I play with myself than a serious creative exercise. I've never written any story inspired by a hair magazine model. But it's fun, studying each face for hints of personality, suggestions of lives that aren't about modelling. Take the redhead on the far left: a sultry little madam, I reckon she's a jewel thief in the 1960s, who has arrived in Italy for her next job; she's been all around the world but is originally from Wales and still has the soft, lilting accent; clever and self-sufficient, but with a thrill-seeking streak that can make her careless when on the job. I think I'll call her either Branwen or Caron. And the two brunettes? Now they could be the same model photographed with two different hairstyles, but I don't think so; the one on the far right has a bigger nose than the one in the middle. But they're pretty similar-looking so I could cast them as sisters. I reckon the one on the right is the elder, we'll call her Danni, and the one in the middle is Jean, they both love swimming and Jean is competing at college/university level and thinking of turning pro.
Well, you get the idea. And within one magazine there are so many photographs, all opportunities to go on wild flights of fancy. You don't have to stick to the one story or name all the time. Maybe I'll come across the photo of the redhead on another day and decide she's actually a dancer or a nurse or a Southern belle. It's quick and easy story-telling on the go.
