Ever notice

[MissAmelina]

"you are perfect just the way you are"


I agree with you, SuzyParker.....but I also think we should be taught how to properly care for ourselves and keep healthy. I was watching an old Esther Williams movie today (Million Dollar Mermaid), and my GOSH, she was SO STRONG! Now, I know she was a "professional athlete" for all intents and purposes, but man, it is amazing what the human body can do when it is properly cared for.

In this flick she portrays Annette Kellerman, who was a vaudeville swimmer, dancer, actress et al, (and also the woman who invented the one-piece swimsuit at a time when gals were wearing those crazy-ass poofy dress swimming costumes at the turn of the century). So I googled her.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annette_Kellerman

Look how fit she is...strong, healthy...when you compare her to current fashion standards she is short with a little "junk in the trunk." You can tell that she wore a corset when she was not swimming. In fact, I think she's wearing it for this publicity shot (she is thicker in other photos).

She wrote a book called "Physical Beauty: How to Keep It" and I would love to get my hands on a copy, but sadly the only available one I can find is on amazon for around 900 dollars. lol

Anyway, some of you may have already heard of her. I would love to know more about her. I love reading about progressive and powerful women!

 

[Miss 1929]

Annette and Esther both rock like hurricanes!

We all have to not only love our own bodies, but appreciate and love the various types we see out there on each other.

No one can ever reach a perfect ideal - and so many people put off living their life until they lose that 20 pounds... it is sad. Be who you are, improve yourself if you like, make sure to think of your health first. Remember to be forgiving to yourself as well as to others - the person inside is just as valid no matter what they look like.

There's a lot of reasons (ranging from physiological to psychological to economical to cultural) why you might not have the vintage body of your dreams - maybe the dreams need adjusting to be realistic.

I used to be a tiny thing, and was sick all the time. I might be fat now, but I don't have 10 colds a year anymore. I had to go through the grieving process to mourn my formerly hot chick self, but now that I know myself better, I know that I would never have been satisfied with what I looked like, as I didn't like myself inside.

I'd rather wear the Rago and slap on the war paint and call it a day, and be able to deal with life, than to be the slender, weak, crazy, self-deprecating gal I was back then.

 

[MissAmelina]

AMEN!!

 

[Lily Powers]

The presentation of an "ideal" beauty isn't just recent, although it's certainly over abundant in our modern times. The Golden Era had some of the most amazing photo-negative retouchers in the business - kind of a human photoshop crew. They would take a star's photos and erase peach fuzz, elongate a neck, smooth a midriff, remove facial lines, add a finger (Harold Lloyd) and generally create a lovelier-than-life portrait. I think this was to present a beautiful fantasy, and not so much to tell women (or men) that this was how they should look, which is what I feel today's media does.

 

[Inky]

I believe in eating lots of cookies. They make me radiant.

That's the best beauty advice I've ever heard...I'll brb, I have some lovely meringues beckoning

Well said, Miss Amelina!

 

[Sunny]

that is totally correct. The things women have done to themselves throughout history are amazing. I am continually flabergasted at the corsets, chest bindings, foot bindings, et al that were once in widespread use. The tiny waists of the 50's did not happen naturally, and those tight girdles did not do anyone's health any good. Of course not everyone in any era goes to the extremes we see in pictorals and there are always women who tone down or ignore the fashion "must-do" trend of the day.

I agree, except that I'd change the last sentence a bit. I think very few women went to the extremes in any era, and the majority of women have always toned down the fashion must-do's. It's really eye-opening to look at candid, or even studio, pictures of non-celebrities from any era and compare them to fashion illustrations of the same year. The differences can be staggering. I think that at the Fedora Lounge we ourselves are often guilty of focusing on the vintage ideal. Not that that's bad, since we do think it's attractive! But that makes it easy to miss more "Everywoman" styles that are more representative, often more comfortable and practical, and in my opinion more interesting.

The luxury of today, I think, is the ability to regard or disregard the mainstream. With all of the interconnections and media outlets, we are more than able to pick and choose our movie stars, authors, and fashion mavens from whichever era we prefer. If we look hard enough and network enough (like we do here on the FL) we are even able to find new icons and films to enjoy. But it sure would be nice to watch television with my daughter without putting it on mute and explaining that all shapes are beautiful and she does not need to watch her weight nor dye her hair.

I think in many ways it's very much harder to avoid the mainstream these days than in the past. Mass media has exploded in power and pervasiveness since the 1940s. TV, Internet, movies, ads everywhere we turn - we can't avoid exposure to the so-called ideal. And I don't care how independent a woman is in her style, the very fact that she has to choose to be independent and knows that she is different shows that the "ideal" has affected her. The pressure of the "ideal" may drive a woman to conform, or she may choose to do something else, but the pressure's there. Back in the 1930s, say, the pressure was vastly less. Still movies, yes... but what else? Billboards, newspapers, lots of illustrated magazines. But in most cases she'd have to choose to expose herself to them, to buy and read them. And if she chose not to, she's not ignoring an already-present pressure; she's avoiding the pressure itself. Her "ideal" would be picked up more through osmosis and the stylish (or everyday) women next door. And those are real people, not ideals.

It strikes me as a lot more free and relaxed a way to follow fashion, having the "ideals" filtered through movies and magazines and friends, instead of having extremes blasted at one every time the TV's on. I've lived this, really. I've never subscribed to the modern "ideal", even before I went vintage. But it is a constant mental struggle to feel comfortable knowing that I differ so widely from the current cookie cutter, and that everyone who sees me knows it. That's the environment that mass media has brought about.

 

[Lareesie Ladavi]

You know the funny irony of it all? Men tend to guess that women are smaller then they actually are. It's great.

 

[Paisley]

fftopic: I read another article that was fascinating. Apparently, a lot of MEN these days feel insecure when they see images of the perfect guys in magazines, etc. Any comments on that ladies?

I don't think this is the case for most men, at least those who don't trade on their looks. In movies, you can look like Jack Nicholson or Woody Allen and get an attractive woman half your age. My observation is that some men take that seriously.

 

[MissAmelina]

True, but my husband ALWAYS gets up in arms when we are watching Smallville or Supernatural or something of that ilk and says, "Oh look at that chiseled and handsome bloke. I hate him. I hope he gets killed next."
So guys have issues too.

 

[Red Diabla]

You know the funny irony of it all? Men tend to guess that women are smaller then they actually are. It's great.

Hahahaha, one of my guilty pleasures is reading Craigslist, and it cracks me up when guys go on and on about how any woman over a certain weight (usually something silly like 135 lbs) is "obese". If I were that weight, people would think I escaped from a concentration camp.

Same with sizes...they'll rant about a size 8 being "fat", but when presented that size in person, they wouldn't know the difference between an 8 and a 6 or a 10. Arbitrary!

To see someone who is allegedly an "ideal" size and weight in real life is a little freaky. They just look so weird to me, but probably because not only are they scrawny, but have had plastic surgery done to an obvious degree. Do guys really find that attractive outside of a magazine or tv ad? I dunno.

RD

 

[Odalisque]

Hahahaha, one of my guilty pleasures is reading Craigslist, and it cracks me up when guys go on and on about how any woman over a certain weight (usually something silly like 135 lbs) is "obese".

Honestly, any guy who would be so obsessed over ladies weight has some personal issues. I find guys like that who have such high superficial standards are pretty sad and un-datable themselves.

 

[Foofoogal]

I know many men who want a plus size gal. There is even a club of them I believe.
You are attracted to what you are attracted to. I have never even noticed a blonde guy I don't think.

 

[VintageRed]

I know many men who want a plus size gal. There is even a club of them I believe.
You are attracted to what you are attracted to. I have never even noticed a blonde guy I don't think.

That sounds like my husband. He can spot a redhead from a 10 mile radius coming in his direction. LOL. He just has a thing for the fiery sort, I guess. Good thing I have red hair.

 

[Paisley]

There are some really bitter men on the Internet. I'm glad they stay home nights with their computer. I don't want to meet them!

 

[Mojito]

In this flick she portrays Annette Kellerman, who was a vaudeville swimmer, dancer, actress et al, (and also the woman who invented the one-piece swimsuit at a time when gals were wearing those crazy-ass poofy dress swimming costumes at the turn of the century). So I googled her.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annette_Kellerman

Look how fit she is...strong, healthy...when you compare her to current fashion standards she is short with a little "junk in the trunk." You can tell that she wore a corset when she was not swimming. In fact, I think she's wearing it for this publicity shot (she is thicker in other photos).

She wrote a book called "Physical Beauty: How to Keep It" and I would love to get my hands on a copy, but sadly the only available one I can find is on amazon for around 900 dollars. lol

Anyway, some of you may have already heard of her. I would love to know more about her. I love reading about progressive and powerful women!

I'm so glad you brought up Annette, Miss Amelina! She's one of my heroines - an ocean loving Aussie girl - and I collect material relating to her. Some of my pieces are currently on loan to the National Maritime Museum for an upcoming swimwear exhibition, including a swimsuit from her "Annette Kellermann" line in the 1920s and a set of the health and fitness correspondence course she issued from that decade. Much of her advice on exercise and nutrition makes sensible reading today.

One curious thing about Annette is the way she photographs - her biographer notes that she never looks like the same person in any two shots! She was very down to earth about her appearance, and reckoned that her face wasn't her best feature. Her profile showed it to best advantage, which is why she preferred to be photographed that way rather than full faced.

Her weight fluctuated - she's quite full figured to fit the Edwardian ideal in early shots, but if you see her in the stills for Daughter of the Gods, she's very slim indeed (given she was wearing little to nothing in the movie, you'd see if she had an ounce of superfluous flesh on her!)

If you're interested in her, you may want to get a copy of the 2006 biography by Emily Gibson & Barbara Firth titled The Original Million Dollar Mermaid: The Annette Kellerman Story. She has also been the subject of a documentary of the same title.

You couldn't have made Annette's life up - from her early struggles to overcome disability, her adventures in vaudeville and her pioneering role in early films, her efforts at organising troop entertainmnet during World War II and her successful campaign to liberate women from constricting garments while swimming (her immortal line: "I want to swim. And I can't swim wearing more stuff than you hang on a clothes line"). She is just absolutely amazing.

There's a revival of interest in Annette, particularly down here in Australia. She has already been the subject of an exhibition at the Maritime Museum, and much of her personal collection is now with the Powerhouse Museum.

I couldn't find my favourite photograph of her online - a full body profile where she's standing at the edge of the natural rock platform about to dive into the sea, her arms stretched above her head, and the most radiant smile. If I had an ideal of physical perfection, it's Annette in this shot: fit, slim (not excessively so) and just exuding health and energy.

 

[MissAmelina]

Thank you so much for sharing all that!! What a neato lady, indeed. I will check out that biography for sure. You're a peach!

 

[I'mSuzyParker]

I know many men who want a plus size gal. There is even a club of them I believe.
You are attracted to what you are attracted to. I have never even noticed a blonde guy I don't think.

I'm laughing out loud Foofoogal becuase I LOVE blond men.. all my beaux were blond and the wonderful Mr. Parker is of the dishwater variety...

you are correct, however, it's all about what you like... and luckily, we all like different things.. how boring it would be otherwise

 

[kamikat]

Hahahaha, one of my guilty pleasures is reading Craigslist, and it cracks me up when guys go on and on about how any woman over a certain weight (usually something silly like 135 lbs) is "obese". If I were that weight, people would think I escaped from a concentration camp.

What gets me is when the guy doing the ranting about "fat chicks" is fat himself. There's a local talk radio show with two guys that I occasionally listen to. One of the guys talks about trying to lose weight and sometimes even talks about things like hiding what he ate from his girlfriend so she won't know he binged (he doesn't call it that, of course). So clearly, he knows what it's like to have an unhealthy relationship with food, right. Then, he'll go on and on about how disgusting fat chicks are.

 

[MissAmelina]

Yes...I have dated some of those "Shallow Hal's" before. One of them complained about my body when I weighed 120 lbs, which is just madness. Thankfully, the world is actually full of nice people too....and i finally found one who does his best to help me feel good about my body.

As a side note...Just another example of how standards have changed.....I was looking at the Venus of Willendorf the other day. The relic is a fertility goddess forged sometime between 24,000 BC and 22,000 BC. And I giggled to myself, as I considered that it might be the Stone Age equivalent to a Golden Age Betty Grable pinup.