Opening Ceremony is pleased to present the first dip into new columnist Alexis Wilkinson's after-hours thoughts. And you know she has thoughts: president of the Harvard Lampoon; crusader of Domino's delivery boys; educator of Darwinian origins for the bad bitch, Alexis—with her candor and wit—is our new girl crush. Here, "Late-Ish With Alexis" shines the spotlight on Peak Frump. Commence the virality.
I remember the days when we idolized trying. By that I mean, I remember the movie cliché that goes something like this: Boy meets Girl with glasses, ponytail, and a cardigan. Boy ignores girl because ewww gross. Girl probably has other issues, like low self-esteem, weird hobbies like “politics,” desires for things other than Boy, etc. But, one day, Girl takes off glasses, burns cardigan, applies lip gloss, and BOOM. Sex goddess. The audience lets out a collective “gah-damn!” of appreciation. Boy and Girl can finally get together. Why? Because Girl just tried.
We all know this trope. It spans genres and decades, from super-virgin Sally in Grease to frumpy Andrea Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada. The moral of these stories being: Girl just needed to realize her own attractiveness and actively attempt to show it, hence fixing her entire sad, pathetic life. All Girl had to do was give a fuck about herself.
These days, it seems as though a reverse effect has captured consumers' hearts—and wallets. Fifty Shades of Grey, the BDSM-ish fiction novel that set housewives into a conniption, is set to hit the big screen this February. In the trailer, frumpy Anastasia Steele sits across from the sexy, smoldering Christian Grey. She looks pretty pathetic—and that’s exactly her appeal. No one in their right mind should want her and so this powerful, impossibly hot man does. He likes her, and we’re supposed to like her, because she doesn’t try. Her cardigan transforms from a fashion kiss of death to her greatest sexual asset.
Then there’s “normcore,” a trend that’s half sarcastic and all stuff you would wear if you were “going through a rough time right now.” Notable statement pieces include Crocs, fleeces quite not old enough to be vintage, and stonewash jeans that even your mom wouldn’t wear. At its totally normal core, it is an attempt to embrace sameness as a means to individuality instead of pushing it away. It’s hipster-logic gone all telescopy on itself and it’s enough to make your head spin.
It seems that now, to the confusion of all girls like me who try (at least little bit), not trying is the new trying. According to magazines and social media, there is nothing more infuriating that seeing a face seemingly plastered with makeup or, as we recently found out in the unfortunate outrage over Renée Zellweger, plastered with plastic. &ld
I remember the days when we idolized trying. By that I mean, I remember the movie cliché that goes something like this: Boy meets Girl with glasses, ponytail, and a cardigan. Boy ignores girl because ewww gross. Girl probably has other issues, like low self-esteem, weird hobbies like “politics,” desires for things other than Boy, etc. But, one day, Girl takes off glasses, burns cardigan, applies lip gloss, and BOOM. Sex goddess. The audience lets out a collective “gah-damn!” of appreciation. Boy and Girl can finally get together. Why? Because Girl just tried.
We all know this trope. It spans genres and decades, from super-virgin Sally in Grease to frumpy Andrea Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada. The moral of these stories being: Girl just needed to realize her own attractiveness and actively attempt to show it, hence fixing her entire sad, pathetic life. All Girl had to do was give a fuck about herself.
These days, it seems as though a reverse effect has captured consumers' hearts—and wallets. Fifty Shades of Grey, the BDSM-ish fiction novel that set housewives into a conniption, is set to hit the big screen this February. In the trailer, frumpy Anastasia Steele sits across from the sexy, smoldering Christian Grey. She looks pretty pathetic—and that’s exactly her appeal. No one in their right mind should want her and so this powerful, impossibly hot man does. He likes her, and we’re supposed to like her, because she doesn’t try. Her cardigan transforms from a fashion kiss of death to her greatest sexual asset.
Then there’s “normcore,” a trend that’s half sarcastic and all stuff you would wear if you were “going through a rough time right now.” Notable statement pieces include Crocs, fleeces quite not old enough to be vintage, and stonewash jeans that even your mom wouldn’t wear. At its totally normal core, it is an attempt to embrace sameness as a means to individuality instead of pushing it away. It’s hipster-logic gone all telescopy on itself and it’s enough to make your head spin.
It seems that now, to the confusion of all girls like me who try (at least little bit), not trying is the new trying. According to magazines and social media, there is nothing more infuriating that seeing a face seemingly plastered with makeup or, as we recently found out in the unfortunate outrage over Renée Zellweger, plastered with plastic. &ld