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Blurred Lines: Supermodels and academia
Wednesday 5th June 2013 | Hanan
Supermodels of today are admired for their edges and angles and their perfect porcelain skins. They also seem fairly impenetrable. With the ultimate combination of chromosomes creating long limbed, ethereal women of every nationality, their cold and distant looks seem encased behind huge glass. With their blue, green, hazel irises and alluring foreign tongues.
I Hope I have set the scene immaculately enough. What is not often focused on, however, is the extreme perfection of something that isn’t so visible, their advanced thought pattern. I was first struck by models that were entering, or had already entered into the complex world of academia when Lily Cole took a break from modelling to attend Cambridge. The face of British Vogue at the tender age of 16, this was then followed by a fast paced career, being the face of campaigns for the likes of Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Galliano, Rimmel London and more. All until she decided to put a hold on the fruitful world of Zoolander induced Blue Steels, runways and 12 inch heels turning them in for books, glasses and lecturers. She achieved a double first from the Cambridge University in Art History. And Lily Cole is only one of many.
London born model Emily Ratajkowski is of English and Polish descent. Recently featured in Robin Thicke’s tongue-in-check ‘Blurred Lines’ video, she expressed her interest in the world she had grown up in, with a father who is an artist and a mother that is an English professor and writer. Creativity as well as academia already in her genes she attended UCLA majoring in Fine Art, until deciding modelling was more for her. Rebecca Romjin is another example having worked for clients such as Forever 21 and Nordstrom as well as Turkish GQ. Romjin, a stone cold, blonde bombshell is quite well known amongst the hot blooded males of the world through her role as a fiery mutant in the film X-men. She has been featured in Maxim and Sports Illustrated, as well as being a top Victoria Secret Model. Romjin, however, has displayed other interests. Before her big break, she studied Music and Voice at the University of California, Santa Cruz. And then there is Iman, the first Somali model to break stereotypes, providing pathways for other women who were also in hot pursuit of the tantalizing world of modelling even though they didn’t quite fit the stereotypical image of a model ethnically. Before she became wife of David Bowie alongside her longstanding international supermodel career, Iman studied political science at the University of Nairobi and is well acquainted with five languages. Other models include the flawless Cindy Crawford a face for Versace, Revlon, Clairol, Maybelline and Pepsi, whilst appearing on countless magazine covers from Sports Illustrated to Vogue. Crawford studied at North-Western University pursuing studies in Chemical Engineering before pursuing modelling further.
What could possibly make a person seem more unobtainable than the perfect IQ to match the perfect limbs, face and hair? Don’t get me wrong I appreciate a prolonged gawp at a beautiful combo as much as the next man, but what I was reminded of is how briskly these facts have been brushed under the carpet, what is bought to the forefront is the atomic bombshell rather than a radioactive intelligence. Young minds that already look up admirably to these statuesque bodies and cat-walking mannequins with vacant expressions could be exposed to so much more if we could highlight the power of being both brainy and beautiful. There is no harm in endeavouring to put brains and personality at the forefront. Take eccentric supermodel Cara Delevigne for instance, she has demonstrated the importance of being comfortable in your own quirky skin, where ethereal chromosomes are just a lucky fold of icing on an immaculately decorated cake. Perhaps this will empower young minds to pursue a little bit of both mind and body, and tap into their creative psyche becoming a generation that is a force to be reckoned with.
Hanan Abdel- Khalek
