Photography, the Hot New Hairstyle and Celebrity

I came on this picture recently when I was in a doctor's waiting room.  It is the cover of the February 2014 issue of Vogue magazine.  When I saw it, I thought immediately of Twiggy.

I'd read about Twiggy recently.  Actually, I read about her often.  Modern media are awash in celebrities, even old ones.

Twiggy was the waifish-to-anorexic fashion icon of of the 1960s, known for her short blonde hair and deeply blackened eyelids and lashes.  Here's Twiggy sometime between 1965 and 1970.

If Twiggy were an American citizen, she'd be just about ready to collect Social Security.  But she's English, and if you follow fashion, as I do on occasion, you know that she still was modeling for Marks and Spencer in the UK as late as last year.  Here is a 2013 photo.

But let's not get confused.  The Vogue cover was not a picture of Twiggy.  It appears that it was an homage to Twiggy, circa 1968.  Fashion writers report that Twiggy's short haircut, sometimes with a beehive variation, has come roaring back into style.  Anne Hathaway, a celebrity actress, is cited repeatedly as an example of the new trend.

(I do not plan to adopt this look myself because I am pretty sure it would make me look like a giraffe.)

In fact, the woman on the Vogue cover is Lena Dunham, the originator, writer and star of the HBO program Girls.  I watched about 20 minutes of the show a couple years ago and then changed the channel.  Not my thing.  Still, Girls has a big audience and is, in baseball terms, a home run for Ms. Dunham, impressive for someone who is not yet 30 years old.

I have no opinion about Lena Dunham, but one thing I will say is that, in real life, she does not look anything like Twiggy.  Here is the most flattering photo I could find of her, with the new haircut, at a red-carpet event.  (Celebrities spend a lot of time at red-carpet events.)

I really don't know what to make of magazines and blogs today.  They are obsessed with celebrity, and seem to operate under  a compulsion to make celebrities fit all our fantasies -- smart, gorgeous, elegant, witty, the whole shebang.

In my experience, people don't come that way.  Most people are good at one or two things, and that's it.

My view only.  Disagree if you like.

And, if any of my readers knows how to contact the photographer for Lena Dunham's Vogue photo shoot, please let me know.  I want to make an appointment.