mirror, mirror on the wall

who's the fairest of them all?

 would it be Snooki from Jersey Shore, Mariah Carey, Fann Wong or Nicole Kidman? 

or does Gisele Bundchen reign supreme?

the notion of a fair beauty has always been a hot topic for discussion. does fair beauty refer to porcelain white skin or is it about the features? that pair of striking eyes, the nose with the perfect angle, the jawline that is oh-so-perfect!

in singapore, the Asian trend is often for ladies to go fair and the men to go tanned. guess that has to do a lot with our cultural roots. fair ladies helps one associate with the notion of the gentle women sewing in the confined spaces of their ancestral homes. whilst, men have to adopt the tanned skin tones... the hours we spent not working but lazing by the pool under the blazing sun just to adopt that bronzed, golden brown tan (of course, there is indoor tanning now...) why do men do that? when one is tanned, one is linked to hard work... ruggedness... everything 'manly'...

culturally, we don't seemed tolerant of tanned ladies... the ladies from my dragonboat team have often had to endure snide remarks because of the tan that they sport... you know what? that's your own problem in life, not theirs... like a saying that has been going round, 'ladies are not expecting you to be Brad Pitt, so why are hoping that they become Angeline Jolie?'

so if we are going to experiment with colours, prints and fabrics in the world of fashion... surely, the skin should be a palette of colours too... so whether you are black, white, tanned or fair, i say, work your colour... 

love you girls... BAM!