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10/15/05

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susannah_breslin

susannah_breslin

I'm lost
June 2005

OCT 16, 2005 07:05 AM

The New York Times Magazine unveils the new "jolie laide" trend in beauty, an affection for those who are, as the phrase translates to mean, "pretty-ugly," in "The Unfairest of Them All." Jolie laide represents a push away from conventional, symmetrical notions of prettiness towards unbalanced, unexpected beauty. Poster girls for the movement include director Sofia Coppola, actress Anjelica Houston, and model Alek Wek, and the jolie laide privileges inner substance over superficial style.

Leave it to them to introduce a concept of feminine beauty so pure in its abstraction as to defy all logic. I am referring to the term "jolie laide," which translates literally into the clunking phrase "pretty-ugly," but which connotes something more lyrical, even transcendent.

These days we tend to invoke the word "transgressive" whenever we want to move a given discourse outside the box, but jolie laide comes out of a different attitude than mere defiance. In its endorsement of the poetics of irregularity, jolie laide hints at alternate possibilities rather than an antithetical universe: "the beauty of innuendos," to borrow a phrase from Wallace Stevens, rather than inflections. It is not, that is, about violating the very existence of loveliness by throwing spiky purple hair or black lipstick at it, in the goth or punk mode.

No, jolie laide aims to jog us out of our reflexive habits of looking and assessing by embracing the aesthetic pleasures of the visually off kilter: a bump on the nose, eyes that are set too closely together, a jagged smear of a mouth.

_DictionaryGirl_

_DictionaryGirl_

NEWSWIRE

San Diego, CA

OCT 16, 2005 08:02 PM

Mais oui, je suis une jolie laide.... or something, I'm no good at French. ooo aaa

Spaceboy

Spaceboy

Dallas, TX
October 2004

OCT 16, 2005 08:04 PM

Sweet, does that mean I'm good looking now?

MistahPrince

MistahPrince

Chicago, IL
February 2005

OCT 16, 2005 08:05 PM

So... the rest of the fashion and beauty world is moving towards what we've been at since the day of birth?

That's nice.

Also, Anjelica Houston is straight up hot.

Xanippi

Xanippi

HOPEFUL

Richmond, VA

OCT 16, 2005 08:07 PM

Yes, kathleen's set was simply brilliant.

robosagogo

robosagogo

State College, PA
September 2004

OCT 16, 2005 08:07 PM

Spaceboy said:
Sweet, does that mean I'm good looking now?



And how! love

Cassiel

Cassiel

Aurora, CO
September 2004

OCT 16, 2005 08:11 PM

i've always thought Sofia Coppolla was beautiful

_chris_

_chris_

Fayetteville, NC
March 2005

OCT 16, 2005 08:13 PM

I second that one... Sofia Coppola is beautiful...

alpo

alpo

Portland, OR
OLD SKOOL

OCT 16, 2005 08:21 PM

Two words: Sandra Bernhard. love

yumchen

yumchen

Klamath Falls, OR
August 2002

OCT 16, 2005 08:35 PM

"jolie laide" uh? I can't wait for the middle schoolers to start ripping off their braces and rich high school girls begging their parents for crooked nose jobs for graduation instead of boob jobs.

Yay for hot quirkiness!!!

FrankMask

FrankMask

Saint Paul, MN
June 2003

OCT 16, 2005 08:37 PM

So... People who were already widely regarded as pretty are now being widely regarded as pretty as part of a pretentious social trend that aims to change everything by doing the same thing all over again?

Blueberries

Blueberries

I'm lost
September 2005

OCT 16, 2005 08:44 PM

Frank said:
So... People who were already widely regarded as pretty are now being widely regarded as pretty as part of a pretentious social trend that aims to change everything by doing the same thing all over again?


that's what I'm saying

tensix

tensix

Regina, SK
October 2005

OCT 16, 2005 08:48 PM

Frank said:
So... People who were already widely regarded as pretty are now being widely regarded as pretty as part of a pretentious social trend that aims to change everything by doing the same thing all over again?



Essentially. I am not sure whether it is a necessary function of being avant-garde that something must be incomprehensible, or it is the incomprehensibility itself that makes something avant-garde if it's presented with just the right amount of implied elitism. Hopefully, sooner or later, someone will figure out that provoking a reaction is not the same thing as saying anything significant.

billyfivecrows

billyfivecrows

Roswell, GA
July 2005

OCT 16, 2005 08:55 PM

yumchen said:
"jolie laide" uh? I can't wait for the middle schoolers to start ripping off their braces and rich high school girls begging their parents for crooked nose jobs for graduation instead of boob jobs.

Yay for hot quirkiness!!!



Oh...it won't stop there. Even neurosis will become chic! Doctors will be able to easily alter your brain chemistry, your choice. You can become obsessive compulsive. It's a simple outpatient procedeure...You'll be the life of the party! Or how about a nice case of crippling claustrophobia? Like food? Get an eating disorder. Enjoy all you can eat and more! How about a nice stutter to go along with that lazy-eye daddy got you for Chritsmas last year???

Ah...the future isn't pretty.

Isn't it pretty?

Lior

Lior

United Kingdom
August 2005

OCT 16, 2005 08:59 PM

Ummm Alek Wek is stunning.

Luis

Luis

Preston, ID
February 2004

OCT 16, 2005 09:00 PM

In other words, Kate Moss is asking for too much money nowadays, so lets say these other models are the new hotness.

Jeff_Fries

Jeff_Fries

Humptulips, WA
September 2003

OCT 16, 2005 09:19 PM

Faith Popcorn strikes again

BraveArt

BraveArt

Los Angeles, CA
February 2004

OCT 16, 2005 09:25 PM

Frank said:
So... People who were already widely regarded as pretty are now being widely regarded as pretty as part of a pretentious social trend that aims to change everything by doing the same thing all over again?



well, yes, except that those "formerly regarded as pretty people who are now being re-regarded as pretty people" are actually being regarded as "pretty-ugly people", or, "ugly-pretty people", or something like that....but of course "ugly" is the new "pretty" which is really just the new "black"

SirPsychoSexy

SirPsychoSexy

Ridgewood, NJ
January 2004

OCT 16, 2005 09:35 PM

Luis said:
In other words, Kate Moss is asking for too much money nowadays, so lets say these other models are the new hotness.


..or drive down the price of cocaine.

aslancollas

aslancollas

Vancouver, BC
April 2005

OCT 16, 2005 10:59 PM

I have always said real is beautiful. Crooked teeth, skinny legs, flat chests, big noses, etc... Real is human and human is beautiful.

thefreak

thefreak

NEWSWIRE

Gardner, MA

OCT 16, 2005 11:03 PM

SirPsychoSexy said:

Luis said:
In other words, Kate Moss is asking for too much money nowadays, so lets say these other models are the new hotness.


..or drive down the price of cocaine.



ZING!

-TM

spunsugar

spunsugar

Burnaby, BC
July 2005

OCT 17, 2005 12:08 AM

awesome. so now when I say "hey you're pretty. pretty ugly!" I'll be totally IN

Iseult

Iseult

United Kingdom
September 2005

OCT 17, 2005 03:06 AM

I've always preferred striking, unconventional beauty to the conventional ideal: Regular, symmetrical features are all well and good, but they can render their proud owners interchangeable with the countless other regular-featured beauties. In contrast, striking looks are memorable looks and I am proud to be jolie laide. biggrin

On one occasion, when I was an angsty, self-loathing teenager, (with all manner of physical hang-ups) my Mum scrutinised me for a few seconds before saying, "You're not very pretty, are you? No... but you are striking."

Naturally at the time, that comment didn't go down well at all, but a couple of years later I truly appreciated what my Mum had said. I am truly happy and content with the fact that my face is striking rather than conventionally pretty and were I ever given the choice, I would choose that which I have already.

Of course there are lucky people who have both these qualities in equal measure, (some of whom are SG's) and I think that their looks will always be appreciated, no matter what the changing trends percieve as beautiful. tongue smile

MistahPrince

MistahPrince

Chicago, IL
February 2005

OCT 17, 2005 07:14 AM

spunsugar said:
awesome. so now when I say "hey you're pretty. pretty ugly!" I'll be totally IN



If by "IN" you mean "beat the fuck up," then yeah... sure.

PointBlank

PointBlank

New York, NY
November 2004

OCT 17, 2005 07:38 AM

I like that Jolie Lady.

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