Smileish: is frowning cool?

Remember that time when the popular, intimidatingly mean girl smiled a lot?

Exactly.

Because it didn't happen.

Stoic apathy has always been the weapon of the inimitably cool.

Inimitable, but not for a lack of trying.

For example: Freshman year of high school, some half-blind person off-handedly mentioned that I reminded them of Keira Knightley (I know, I know. Her again).

Obviously, this meant that for the next 3 weeks, I had to hold my face in a perpetual pout.

This went great!

Until I caught a glimpse of myself in a window and immediately felt a pang of concern for the poor constipated girl.

Me.

That was me.

I looked constipated.

The moral of the story is that frowning doesn't suit me. I'm much more me when I'm smiling. Embarrassing example #2: When in Paris last summer, Stockholm Streetstyle actually had to tell me not to smile when taking my picture. I obliged, but begrudgingly. The fact that I never ended up on their site is a testament to the awkwardness that surely ensued. (or the fact that I was in the same sight-line as Candice and Hanneli)

ANYHOW.

When a friend first suggested I ramble a bit about "bloggers never smiling", I was a sort of stumped.

In truth, I couldn't really think of any that didn't sport at least a smirk on a regular basis.

I realized quickly that this was because of the kind blogs I read (smilers, mostly).

But, if I'm drawn towards dopey grins, why is the fashion industry so smileless?

Well, I came across a NYT article from 2007 that sums it up beautifully. After conducting a study of different models in different brands, the researchers found that the elite models in luxury clothing "were more likely to have neutral expressions or to show anger or disgust" than folk models in cheaper lines.

"Lower status individuals appear to smile more than higher status individuals," they found.

Going deeper into why our culture has condoned this bad habit would force me down the rabbit hole of evolution, extinction and primate genetics, but essentially, weaker people have to be nicer. 

To translate it into relevant terms: when you're popular, dominant, successful, and in control, you don't have to humor the 'little guy'. You don't need to make friends or rely on the kindness of others. You've made it, and you have no perogative or purpose for playing nice. 

So it makes sense why some bloggers would adopt this upper class expression. Everyone craves legitimacy, after all. 

What I don't understand is why, if blogs arose as the everyman's answer to fashion, we still accept being belittled, spoken down to, and worst of all, ignored. If that was our intention, we might as well have just settled for snapshots from Style.com and the NYT style section. 

I guess that's just the timeless paradox of exclusivity versus popularity. 

Anyhow, I get that some photos look better without a cheesy grin - no problem. But from time to time, let's make like Issey Miyaki's fantastic F/W models and have some fun 

(or at least pretend to).

issey miyake f/w '13 via style.com

I have a feeling, though, that the fashion smile is coming back in style. (see Style and the City if you don't believe me). 

I do hope that it's sincere, though, and not another publicity ploy meant to garner favoritism from minions. 

But I'll stash my negativity and opt for optimism. 

Because how much better do clothes look on a happy person? 
And we all know, just as well as Annie does, that you're never fully dressed without a -

:)