Being Pretty Ain't Pretty At All

When reading the book Feed one thing really sticks out, and it is quite gross. It appears that the newest fashion statement are these lesions or sores that adorn most of the populace. When I hear the word "lesions" I begin to think of the plague or small pox, two diseases that ravaged the earth when they were making their rounds. That is not what is happening in Feed though. It seems to me that these sores are not exactly causing death and destruction. In fact it's become cool to have them. I'm having trouble getting over that, how can something so gross be in fashion? Well funny story is, this is not so far off from fashion statements of the past. In the Georgian era it became "en vogue" to shave off your eyebrows and use rat fur to create new ones and in Tudor England having black (fake) teeth was a trend. Of course none of these trends were deadly, or were they? For over three hundred years a special white paste makeup was used by rich women all over Europe. Having porcelain white skin was every good courtier's goal. If your skin was pale and unblemished that meant you did not go out much and that you had other people do work for you. Pale skin was a sign of wealth. This had dire consequences for the wearer of the makeup. The paste/powder had high levels of lead in it. The lead would seep into the skin and cause marks and creases in the skin, meaning more makeup. It would get so bad that many people died of lead poisoning. Queen Elizabeth I used this makeup after a bout of small pox, and would continually use it to hide her ageing skin (she was very vain). Most people believe that Elizabeth died of blood poisoning caused by the makeup she wore. In Feed one of the characters has so many lesions that you can see inside her body. Her muscles and tendons were showing. The pain that people go through to look good are unbelievable at times, but as they say, "pain is beauty".

Kendall's got nothing on Tess

Another thing that pops into my mind is about how fast things change when it comes to trends. I'm not sure how long these sores were on trend in the book, but probably not that long. Looking at things today we see how fast thing go in and out of fashion. Remember Silly Bands? No? Well they were these ridiculous rubber bands that were shaped like various things and kids would wear a bunch of them on their wrists. I never had any, my mother thought they were a waste of money and I thought they were stupid. My sister on the other hand had a few. She would get them as party favors, or her friends who had them would give her some. I remember one girl would have them almost up to her elbows. Then one day they were gone. No one wanted them anymore. It was onto the next big thing. As I got older I never was into anything on trend. Twilight? I could not read past page nineteen (and I would laugh during the movies, but that's a different story). Harry Potter? Well that's a funny thing actually, I said it was because it was stupid, but I was actually afraid of it. (I still don't like it though) And so on and so forth. Who says anything is "good" or "bad" Up until the 1800s being fat was okay and even seen as beautiful, but now a fat girl cannot even eat in public without being harassed. Who says that KenDULL Jenner is prettier than Tess Holliday just because Kendall is skinny? Seriously, let me know who says that so I can punch them. Sometimes this just gets me so frustrated!

Rita Hayworth could hit me with a bus and I would thank her

The same thing happens with makeup, although now makeup is a little less deadly. In Feed they do not cover up their sores (once again, ew) If it was a hundred or so years earlier they probably did. I bet foundation and cover up sales began to sky rocket. Companies like Cover Girl and MAC were dancing in money, until the eras hottest celebrity stepped out and said on a magazine cover that they were not ashamed of their sores. The rest is history. What is and is not pretty changes so fast now (I'm repeating myself now, oh well) The history of modern day makeup is quite interesting actually. During the Victorian era makeup was bad. Women would pinch their cheeks to make them appear red and they would dampen red paper and wipe them on their lips to give them color. In the 1920s makeup was rediscovered. Women wore dark eye makeup and deep red lips with pale skin. Red lips were in fashion for decades and even now it is still a good fashion choice, but the rest of the face is drastically different, Now girls are expected to contour their faces (I still do not know what that means) and their eyebrows have to look a certain way (society has come a long way since rat fur eyebrows.)

In today's world people move fast. We want our food fast, our Internet fast and we want other people to be fast too. Imagine how fast humans want things to be in the year Titus's lives in. Trends and fashion go by fast. we forget things and move on and we get upset if someone does not move with us. I was going to write something else today, just pull something out of thin air, but something broke my heart and prompted me to write whatever this is. I have two little girls who live next door to me. They both love Disney and other young kid stuff. I'm not sure how long ago this happened, but the oldest of the two asked her mom for a new backpack. When asked why she wanted a new one she told her mom that it was because the other kids were making fun of her for her Secret Life of Pets backpack. M (not putting her full name) told her mom she wanted a new one that looked like the other kids. Now she walks around with the backpack hanging off of one shoulder (terrible for posture) and is starting to shun everything she once loved because it is for little kids. Want to know how old M is? She is in Kindergarten. When I was in Kindergarten I had a matching Sleeping Beauty lunchbox and backpack set and even in first grade I had Tinkerbell. When my mom heard the story she sighed and said, "they make these kids grow up so fast these days" and it reminded me of trends and what is and is not beautiful and how things change. Maybe in one hundred years open sores like the ones Henry VIII had on his legs will be in style, but until then things will continue to change at alarming rates and I know that I won't be able to keep up.

T.Swift forever

Hannah R. 1,189
Sources: Feed by M.T. Anderson
and my strange personal life