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“I think the pursuit of great beauty by the average person is ridiculous” (Fran Lebowitz 1997)

 

I think the pursuit of great beauty by the average person is ridiculous. Not because I’m against artificiality. I’m a fan, and a connoisseur. Nothing interests me more. But it is an absurd pursuit that breeds a tremendous amount of unhappiness. What’s striking to me is that, as a culture, we understand that great intellect is a quirk of fate. Yet somehow we still believe we can create great beauty, when, in fact, staggering beauty is as genetic as staggering intellect. Few people would compare themselves to Isaiah Berlin, but every eleven-year-old is comparing herself to Amber Valetta. Nobody stops to think girls like this are gleaned from a huge pool of beauties, and then gleaned again and again...and then given the best hair and the best makeup...and then airbrushed to death. Nobody looks like Amber Valetta – not even Amber Valetta.

 
 

Fran Lebowitz in “What Is Beauty? New Definitions from the Fashion Vanguard” by Doroty Schefer (1997), Thames&Hudson Ltd. London.