Wanting too look like a celebrity is something I have been striving for all my life. I keep a folder on my laptop with pictures of beautiful women.
As a fashion student I just label this my “research folder”, to validate it to myself, but to be honest its my little collections of beautiful noses, perfect bangs, the right shade of ash blond, all mesh together as the perfect woman, that I am far from being, but would very much like too.
The women are usually musicians, models and actresses, Kirsten Owen, Cate Blanchett are amongst my favorite, but I could go on and on. I collect the pictures from fashion editorials and blogs.Facebook has become one of my main sources of women collecting. Through having Liked different fashion magazines on my Facebook profile, Their articles appear on my news feed and then it’s just one drag to my “Research folder”. This folder probably has more pictures than any other folder I have.
But don’t forget: That this is my “Research” folder.
Self- concept or self-identity refers to the global understanding a sentient being has of himself. It can be distinguished from self- consciousness, which is simply an awareness of ones self.” Sinha, Deepti
But what happened when self- concept is almost purely defined by self- consciousness? Are we developing into a society where vanity, beauty and perfection is more important than personal traits such as kindness and compassion? Is it more important to have the perfect slim nose? Or even more so; to replicate someone else’s perfect slim nose, rather then focusing on your own personal growth?
My most drastic and irrational memory of a desperate attempt to look like a celebrity are from when I was about 14. I used to watch MTV like it was my religion. Anything on MTV was the coolest thing in the world to me. My favorite music video at the time was Torn by Natalie Imbruglia. She was my perfect woman.I remember her wearing baggy trousers and a sleeveless t-shirt with a dragon on it. She had the biggest and nicest lips and her eyes were incredible, and her hair were cut into a short boyish style.
One day after having watched this video, I take action. I was going to cut my long hair at the time of to a boy cut like Natalia had. I went straight to the bathroom, took the scissors and chopped my hair off. I shaved it on the sides and styled my bangs to the side. Now I felt good, I looked a little more like her, mission accomplished.
Now there is many more forms of beauty improvement then just using scissors, with a little help from professionals you can change your whole physical appearancethat stays permanent, plastic surgery is no longer a taboo but a norm.”A nose job”, botox, facial lift, boob job are some of the most popular procedures that will change your physicality.
In Dr.Sharon Lee’s lecture at the new school, she talked about the K-Pop culture and how their stars are idolized in south korea. Dr. Lee states that it has become highly popular to have plastic surgery in an attempt to become a look alike of their favorite K-Pop stars.The pressure of having the perfect face and the competition in fashion to have it is creating a huge rift between women.The perception of how we should look changes with trends. While it is one thing to buy clothing that are “in” one season, it is another to change your facial features every time a trend changes, while it is one thing to buy clothing that is “in” one season*
33 year old Toby Sheldon , a die hard Justin Bieber fan has paid more than 100,000 dollars on plastic surgery in an attempt to become Justin Bieber. The list of things he had done to himself is absurd, but common in plastic surgery circles. Sheldon had smile surgery, a brow lift and face lift , all to come as close to looking like Justin Bieber as possible.
“Consciously or unconsciously, people think that if they look like a particular celebrity, it will bring them the power that a celebrity has”
Dr. Carole Lieberman ,Huffington Post
The twins Mike and Matt have dedicated their time and money to resemble Brad Pitt. They were certain that this would “make them big”. Rhinoplasty and cheek implants is only two of the many number of operations they got to look as close to their idol as possible.
Female appearance norms have been perpetuated by the trendy idea of body sculpting. It is important for us, especially women to understand and determine if the effects of pursuing that perfect face or body is even worth it. In society we are mental slaves to the idea of beauty when beauty, like many things is in the eye of the beholder
Cites
Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/24/celebrity-plastic-surgery_n_4151715.html 10/24/2013
Pham, Minh-Ha. Parsons The New School for Design. New York, NY. 5 March 2014. Guest Lecture.
Lee, Sharon. “Cosmetic Surgery in South Korea.” Class lecture, Fashion Cultures from Parsons the New School for Design, New York, March 5, 2014.
Fashion Cultures Parsons 
I like your very personal approach to the subject of celebrity image. We see a presentation on South Koreans trying to look like their favorite celebrities and these drastic measures can seem foreign to us. These are good examples of how plastic surgery is still very popular in the US and other Western countries. We may not have the highest rate but we do sensationalize it. Why do we even hear about the stories of these men who are trying to look like Justin Beiber and Brad Pitt, or even the infamous “real life Ken doll”? It would interesting to look at male beauty ideals and masculinity when it comes to these plastic surgeries.
Hey,
When reading your post, I really related to how the competition to achieve an idealized form of beauty causes rifts between women. This rift becomes ever more clear when women put other women down for using plastic surgery as a means to achieve this. Some women claim plastic surgery is “cheating” when it comes to beauty just because they feel threatened that this method will put them behind in this beauty contest. For example, I recently overheard a conversation between a straight male and female that went something like this (for the purposes of this response, I am simplifying the conversation):
Male: “Your friend is so hot”
Female: “She’s cute but it’s all fake… she’s had a nose job and boob job. I’m sure she has had more.”
Male: (sits there quietly, not sure how to respond)
Here, the female uses the term “but” as if to say that the plastic surgery in a jealous-like manner. I feel that putting women down for their attempts to “beautify” unnecessarily divides women, creates anxiety within women, and results in angry attitudes towards women. So bad…
It’s also funny how guys have picked up on this phenomena. I have heard guys compliment girls on being “naturally hot” (even though these girls wear plenty of makeup). For example, “you are so hot, girls get plastic surgery to look like you.” In my eyes, this reinforces this competition to look beautiful. It rallies women with men while positioning women against one another.
I really like your post, made me ponder about this issue 🙂
I was really struck by the quote: “Consciously or unconsciously, people think that if they look like a particular celebrity, it will bring them the power that a celebrity has”
Dr. Carole Lieberman ,Huffington Post
For my Senior Thesis in undergrad, I evaluated the history of beauty and connected this history with the experiences of young Asian Americans and their experience with blepharoplasty– double eye lid surgery. What initially sparked the idea was the fundamental concept of identity and what shapes identity. The reality is that people come in all shapes and sizes. Yet in today;s society, the harsh reality is that there is much pressure and emphasis to fit in by looking and acting a certain way. Growing up I quickly learned that identity is closely shaped by how one looks and how society judges a person by his or her appearance. I am biracial. My mother is Chinese, Filipino, Portuguese and Spanish and my father is Scottish American. Growing up I always felt I was stuck in between two worlds. I grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood where i was praised for having a beautiful tan. Yet I was teased by my mom and sister, who would sing a Filipino song about a poor dark person who lived in the mountains. On the other hand, whenever I would see my mom’s friends, they would praise me and tell me I could be a model or movie star in the Philippines. But in high school many of the Asian kids would call me “white washed”. I wrote my thesis in order to understand the root causes of why the Asian American women I interviewed wanted to undergo ethnic plastic surgery in order to alter their eyes essentially to look like mine– still Asian yet the most white they can look. Very much like Dr. Carole Lieberman, I knew that changing ones eyes may be a quick fix but it doesn’t change the societal problems we face. My almond eyes have been both my enemy and friend; they have made men think I am “exotic” in a sense objectifying me but they have also allowed me to assimilate in white culture, setting me up for success in a Eurocentric world.
Thank-you for being so honest. Divulging the secrets of your “Research” folder was quite brave of you.
I wonder if you still felt good about your Natalie Imbruglia hair cut in the days or weeks afterward? Seemingly when we are trying to resemble a celebrity, we are trying to achieve a certain aesthetic standard- a thin nose as you say, perfect bangs, maybe skin like Cate Blanchet that has been slathered with musty byproduct from sake manufacturing. Though it may sound cliche, I wonder if this is really the road to happiness long term. One of my favorite fashion writers, G. Stegelmann wrote an article entitled “Beauty, Actually” where she grapples with physical “imperfections” that may develop with age. She makes the point that in order to play or experiment with your looks and actually enjoy this process we cannot start from a “position of correction” i.e. if we’re pointing out that there is something wrong with ourselves, according to whatever standard we choose to abide by, it will be almost impossible to enjoy the results because this process will be miserable. We will be constantly looking for what can be “fixed,” and of course, we know that perfection is not attainable. I am not sure if I am at this point personally since it is very challenging to stop picking at ourselves, but it is something to think about. If calling ourselves ugly will only lead us to feeling ugly, will calling ourselves beautiful lead to more beauty? How much does process matter here?