Forum: The ideal physical beauty of women in Singapore
September 29, 2008
“Beauty is an agreement. Every culture ties itself to a beauty loop. We point out what is beautiful to us and lean towards the tendency of adjusting ourselves to the closest form of it. In the process of receiving feebacks, we take certain measures and feed the ‘agreement’. Q: What is your ideal combination of physical(i.e. double eye lids, petite frame) beauty of women in Singapore?”
According to the response, we can see how the ideal Singapore beauty doesn’t quite exist. The preference for certain beauties changes from person-to-person. So there are some more commonly preferred features but they don’t exactly point to the picture of that ideal woman.
Perhaps I should rephrase the question to “What physical features would you like to have on yourself?”
The Way We Dress: the meaning of fashion
September 25, 2008
I picked up a film, The Way We Dress: the meaning of fashion, which showed me my topic from a different perspective.
Call number: TT507W357 @ ADM Library
What I gathered..
What is fashion?
- Fashion is adopted because it is what seems as appropriate
- Successful peer pressure
- A form of non-verbal communication and you have many things to say
- “clothing grammar”
- Not to say who we are but who we want to be
- Friends tend to dress alike
- Young people are still constructing their image so they experiment with different styles
- A way of testing the answers to the question, “Who am I”.
- Influential individual influence fashion
- Celebrity driven
- Upper class man wore wigs — Social status
- Tradition of bridesmaid was due to the idea of fashionable women in the past who required attendance to put on their dresses.
- The change in how we spend time
- Only the wealthy has leisure time
- “Casual” image was a recent invention
- People used to play sports in suits
- Fabric: Social standing, not free choice
- Americans took it from social standing to a freedom of expression
- Clothing is an identity kit: “This is who I am.”
- Fashion is a partial answer to question: “Who am I?”
Just a a side-thought.Who are you?
September 25, 2008
This is a survey-interview. Each person is to spontaneously answer the question, “Who are you?”
The purpose of this is to recognize the trend of thought among the target audience.
Essence of a person
September 24, 2008
Another way to communicate using a string
September 23, 2008
Redeeming Beauty: Scared Aesthetics
September 23, 2008
Read a book, Redeeming Beauty: Scared Aesthetics, briefly.
(I will update this entry.)
What I gathered out of it for consideration:
“Inasmuch as love grows in us, so beauty grows, since love is the soul’s beauty..” P10
“…the beauty of the soul which animates the body..” P9
That’s the effect of inner beauty.
On Beauty, by Frederick Turner
September 23, 2008
Read an online article, On Beauty, by Frederick Turner and reprinted from Rebirth Of Value.
What I gathered out of it:
“..beauty is an illusion in the eye of the beholder, an eye preconditioned by social convention and economic interest.”
“People see (hear, touch, taste, smell) the beautiful, and recognize it by a natural intuition and a natural pleasure.”
“This ‘natural intuition’ is for us human beings activated, sensitized, and deepened by culture, that is, a natural capacity of the nervous system now incorporates a cultural feedback loop, and also uses the physical world, through art and science, as part of its own hardware.”
Using a string to communicate
September 23, 2008
Here is how I use a string to communicate thebeautyloop[s] in various cultures at different periods of time. I took photos of myself and photoshop[ed] the subject in focus. The FA takes the form of a piece of paper in a “loop” format. In other words, there’s no end to flipping as you read.
Thebeautyloop[s] of other cultures
September 22, 2008
Thebeautyloop[s] of other cultures existing at different periods of time: Long Necks, Foot Binding, Black Teeth, Stretched Earlobes and Fattening.
Thebeautyloop Project
September 22, 2008
Every culture has its ideal beauty. You, an individual, do not have to be tied to it to get caught in it. Beauty is an agreement, a “cultural feedback loop” which most of us, who want to be “beautiful”, regard highly. We point out what is beautiful to us and lean towards the tendency of adjusting ourselves to the closest form of it. In the process of receiving feedback, we take certain measures and feed the “agreement”. Well, this “agreement” is a form of approval that we seek.
I’m considering between: 1) Installation and 2) Campaign.
Installation based on metaphorical concepts or campaign to breakout of Thebeautyloop to celebrate self-identity.
(If I choose to campaign) Self-identity can become an issue when some of us fail to run with the approval of others and fall into depression of not being “good enough”. Are we what others say of us? Reports on countless celebrities undergoing the knife is relatively considered as an extreme outward manifestation of the desire within us who want to look beautiful. Obsession over cosmetic surgery, calls for the questioning of self-identity. Yet in the midst of alterations to look “just as beautiful”, we strive to come across different in the opinion of others. The point is we are — Different. You are a human being, a unique individual whom no one can ever, by any means, replace your “earthenship”. Now, what qualifies you for such remarkable individuality? Your birth. So “Celebrate You”.
Get outta here..
