Let’s take a walk down memory lane of perfection. Old Hollywood brought us real glamour, the movie star. They were basically untouchable. The paparazzi and the public only had limited access to them. They were uberglamorous, super human so to say.
In the eighties we saw a trending that is still taking shape today. A new celebrity was emerging on the runway and in glossy magazines. Models made way for the Supermodels. These models were more than just a pretty face, they had names and personalities. They sold fashion and magazines, not just because of their looks.....but because we felt a personal connection with them. We no longer wanted just to admire a fashion statement from a plastic mannequin in a storefront, or a generic model in a magazine. Sports Illustrated, Vogue and Victoria Secret made these girls household names. Today we still know them well, Cindy, Naomi and Kate Moss. In essence, supermodels were multidimensional. We fell in love with them because they were real people. Well, they were real people with super looks of course.
Soon came the era of the celebrity. Supermodels made way for celebrities to adorn the covers of Vogue and Shape. People magazine began to showcase the sexiest men and women alive. Endorsement were a new arena for us to experience something celebrity worthy. Oprah made celebrities human by speaking with them frankly. We felt as if we were sitting on the couch right across from them. Social networking and TMZ style sightings paved way to giving celebrities more personality. This was a whole new level of multidimension for us. This was a new experience for the senses, a very tantalizing allure.
Two steps forward, one step back. Recently, YouTube and video blogging has light up the web with demonstrations on how a celebrity is edited and morphed into a perfect image, prior to signing of and releasing that image to the public. Coupled with major and minor alterations at the plastic surgeons office, we again find ourselves looking at the Hollywood image that is again untouchable. Sports figures have done the same with their use of steroids. Celebrities are striving for such a perfect image, that it has become a smokescreen as thick as a raincloud.
Hollywood Glamour has really become an oxymoron at this point; their quests to convince us they are perfect are anything but Oscar worthy. Real movie stars, supermodels and celebrities have all had their fifteen minutes. They are slowly spiraling into a decline of scandals, pharmaceutical grade drug addictions, and their unrealistic quest to look perfect.
As Hollywood Celebrity loses its allure, the era of Personal Celebrity is beginning to emerge. We are slowly finding that the people we can really admire are not always perfect. They are more likely to be someone we have a personal relationship with, or someone that we brushed up against in life here and there. We may turn to inspiration in a good read, or a great outfit we see on a coworker, a personal video someone posted on the web, or a real person we see highlighted on a news show. The allure of the celebrity is meeting its slow decline with the onset of Photoshop Editing and the like. Cheers to the admiring those who have substance, grace, and who persevere. Cheers to those who are not perfect and don’t claim to be. by Lisa Waller Gage, Copyright 2011