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Who were your beauty icons when you were a kid?
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I vividly remember two seminal beauty moments from when I was a child. I remember Catherine Deneuve's Chanel No 5 TV ads and knowing even then that she was a stunningly beautiful woman. I wanted desperately to look like her but I never really tried to copy her look. I suppose I realized it would be completely futile. However... I went to see "Tales from the Crypt" when I was 11 and came out of that movie knowing two things --- that I would always be nice to blind people and that I wanted to look just like JOAN COLLINS. I figured out that afternoon that stillettos, red lipstick and a pushup bra were definitely the way to go. None of this tall-and-skinny-with-stick-straight-hair-like-twiggy stuff for me. I knew that drop-dead glamour was the thing for me. I still love Joan Collins and while I don't copy "her look" I'm still drawn to that type of over-the-top glamour. Did anyone else have a "defining moment" when they were little? Was there someone whose look or style you admired and still emulate today or are you now horrified by what you thought was "the best" when you were little? (Let's be honest here; I will totally NOT believe you if you tell me that you wanted to look like Jackie Onassis when you were 10.)
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Mine isn't even a woman.
When I was a kid I wanted nothing more than to wear Steven Tyler's clothes. -
And what makes you so sure he's not a woman?
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I grew up in the 80s, so I totally emulated Madonna. I was always getting my mom to crimp my hair, and I was always wearing huge, poofy dresses over jeans or leggings and lots of jewelry. I was 6 or 7 then, so it was cute.
I don't really have any style icons nowadays but if I had the money, I'd wear anything by Anna Sui, Betsey Johnson, or Vivienne Westwood (LOVE her jewelry, but I have to go on eBay for it). -
Heehee! "walks like a lady...."
The only "girly icon" I had as a little kid was Cher. I loved her independent ways but also loved the way she did her eyeshadow and copied it when I got to be a teenager. I loved Chrissie Hynde's black liner.
Cathernie Deneuve will always be one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen-what class. -
I think that Cher was so gorgeous in the 70's, but it's a shame how fake she looks now.
I've always loved Joan Jett and Chrissie Hynde's style. -
I remember being younger than 12...I was still in Catholic School and had a really rough day of teasing and I was sitting on the bus on the way home thinking to myself that when I was older I would look as beautiful as Jacklyn Smith. Although I don't really look like her, but it made me feel better.
Jennifer Aniston in my late teens and early 20s and even now
Of course I loved Madonna...but was no where near allowed to dress like her.
Maybe I wasn't 10 when I realized what great style Jackie Kennedy had, but I was in my teens.
And of course who didn't love Boy George? I know I did! -
And of course who didn't love Boy George? I know I did!
Ha! I so loved Boy George. I was such an 80s pop child, until my mum remarried. Then, we didn't have cable for years so I was really cut off from what was cool, and when we got cable, I wasn't allowed to watch MTV or VH1 until I was 14.
I watched a lot of old movies on AMC and old tv shows on Nick at Nite, though. I loved Elizabeth Taylor's style in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, actually, just Liz in general. I also loved Rhoda Morganstern from the Mary Tyler Moore show and Rhoda. I'm so happy that wide-legged trousers and jeans are in this season, they remind me of Rhoda. I just need a funky headscarf and I'll be good to go. -
hm..
I used to look up to this Chinese pop singer named Coco Lee. When I first saw her and heard her music, she had wild purple hair and a huge smile that made me want to be like her.
So guess what color I dyed my hair when I was old enough to? PURPLE! -
Ooooh! Good question to get some nostalgia going here, PurpleRules!
For make-up, the supermodels that donned the covers of Seventeen and Glamour magazines: Cybill Shepherd, Cheryl Tiegs, and Christie Brinkley (Oh, how I wished I had blond hair & blue eyes!)
For hair: Farrah Fawcett (Anyone else remember the Wella Balsam Shampoo that she advertised? VERY green!)
For style and elegance: Audrey Hepburn (LOVED her look as Holly Golightly in "Breakfast at Tiffany's")
For sex appeal: Ann Margaret (Watching her in "Viva Las Vegas" with Elvis - I might not have known the word "sexy" yet......but I knew it when I saw it!) -
Karen--my husband loves loves LOVES Audrey--always has. I was in a wedding in January and had my hair done up and looked a like her. I agree with her for style and elegance
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Cate: Then your husband has great taste if he likes Audrey Hepburn... and married you! :wink:
Last fall, GAP had a line of pants they called the Audrey Hepburn line. They had big B & W posters of her in their store windows, wearing black pants that were cut narrow down to the ankle, cropped, cute ballerina-style flats, and a slimming understated turtleneck on top. Of course, the minute I saw it, I had to have the outfit! VERY FUN look! -
I always thought Jacklyn Smith was the prettiest Angel. Even when I was a kid, I thought she had Farrah beat, hands down. I got my hair cut like her's once; didn't work AT ALL.
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Karen--I totally agree.
And I wanted that outfit...thought it would be really cute on me, but I had to prepare for Christmas here for 3 families...ugh.
PurpleRules--she was the prettiest Angel. Farrah is/was psycho -
So true, PurpleRules and Cate. Farrah had great hair. Good teeth, too....lol Jacklyn Smith is in a completely different league - so elegant and refined! I saw her on Oprah about a year ago and she definitely still "has it". She also seemed genuinely sweet and down-to-earth. She gets my vote for the best Angel, too!
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When I was really young, my dad used to tell me I looked like Christie Brinkley with red hair. To this day, I still think she is soooo beautiful - the amazing impact of a father's statement on a daddy's girl. Incidentally, I look NOTHING like Christie Brinkley, but I would give anything to look like her!
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mindyandben--parents are awesome! My father to this day (I'm 31) still calls me "somersprotzen" which supposedly means freckles in German. He was always praising my freckles whne I was a kid :beard:
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Moxie, I totally agree that Cher had way too much work done and she looked wonderful in the 70's(and 60's). Do not like her blonde hair(or wig, probably) at all. I think she'd look awesome with long gray/silver hair. Just like Emmylou Harris.
Omg, I used to wear this derby and wear small braids cuz of Boy George. LOL People would whisper remarks like: "Doesn't she look like that weirdo from Culture Club?". He may have looked different(and has completely lost it now) but damn can he sing.
Definitely Farrah lost it somewhere, too. Sad. Jacklyn Smith and Kate Smith were always cooler to me. Guys(and some girls) would salivate at her(even my husband had that famous poster in his room) and it got to be just tedious after a while. I do remember those Wella Balsam commercials with Farrah though. Plus those shaving cream commercials she did with Joe Namath. (and the commercial HE did wearing panyhose! :p )
I never got a "Farrah Cut" because I just knew my hair(and the cowlicks) and it would never have worked for me.
mindyandben and cate, you both have sweet parents :) -
Ya know, I just saw an episode of "Family Feud" and the question was...Name an actress that played one of Charlie's Angels.
Farrah made the list. So did Kate Jackson, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Lu, and Cameron Diaz. But no Jacklyn Smith! She was always my favorite angle. :sad: -
Cher, Jane Seymour (sp?), Jeanie (I dream of Jeanie), Morticia (Adams Family).
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Left Brain--Jacklyn Smith was the best! I'm really surprised she was left off. She always stood out to me. I even bought this kick-ass cord jacket from K-Mart (very poor college student that I was) from her collection.
I can never remember Kate Jackson and we share the same first name! -
Jacklyn Smith was the only one who was on for the entire series. And she was the prettiest. And she still looks awesome. (The others, not so much.) The angels from the movie can't even hold a candle to her.
Did anyone watch Sheer Genious? I watched it only because of her. I thought it was really funny when she admitted that she was jealous of Farrah's hair.
*** added on 4/16/08 ***
I love the The Pretenders. Their first album, which came out when I was in college, completely redefined my taste in rock music, which had pretty much been whatever my older brother was listening to. Anyway, I've always admired Chrissie Hynde but I assumed she'd go the way of most hard-living, drug abusing rock stars. But she didn't...
www.nypost.com/seven/04162008/gossip/pagesix/the_way_to_age_106701.htm
She's 56 and I think she looks amazing. Maybe there is something to the whole vegan lifestyle because I can't think of any other reason that she doesn't look like a female version of Keith Richards. -
Even as a kid I was old fashion.
We didn't have cable growing up, so I was raised on lots of reruns. Batman, The Lone Ranger, Star Trek, Andy Griffith Show, etc. Though in the 80s I also did get to watch The Golden Girls and Murder She Wrote. Mom also liked to watch old movies. We only had one tv in those days.
So looking back my list would be -
Real People:
Marilyn Monroe
Lauren Bacall
Anne Margert
Doris Day
Fictional People:
Rose Nylund
Blanche Deverux
Jessica Fletcher
Sadly, I'm not like any of them. Though I suppose to some people I can come off as stupid as Rose. I have absolutely no sense of style. Too fat to be pretty. Too loud mouthed. I have two left feet. (Though I CAN sing!) And I couldn't solve a murder even if the killer confessed to me.
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Cher. :-) I loved that she wasn't blonde and was thin with a sharp face. As a skinny, dark kid with a long, sharp face, she was the only one on TV that looked like me ni a time when you had to be Marsha freaking Brady to be thought attractive.
My mom always insisted that Lynda Carter was gorgeous. I think she was pretty, but not so much gorgeous. Cher had a sort of angular elegance that I think I identified with even at that age. -
I liked Cher because she didn't look anything like me. She was dark and exotic and very glamorous, I thought. Actually, I still think she's dark and exotic and very glamorous. Young Hollywood could learn a thing or two from her.
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You gotta love a woman who has the foresight to bring a couple dozen evening gowns on a day cruise.
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My childhood was the 90's so my icons are a little bit different. It started with Linda Evangelista, I saw a fashion tv profile on her and fell in love. To this day I still worship her and would trade almost anything to look like that. When I was 5, 6, 7 years old I idolized the stars of the spanish telenovelas I used to watch. When we moved to Canada I idolized the spice girl, posh in particular (still do, kooky as she is). Then, as was requisite for any girl at my age at that time, Britney Spears. And then, because my first boyfriend told me he liked girls who like rock and not pop, I started idolizing Patti Smith and Debbie Harry and Janis Joplin. When I was in my late teens I became obsessed with Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot, and literally built my look to look like them (I still look back at those pictures and smile nostalgically, man that was a lot of maintenance). And then really lately, the past few years, no energy to emulate anyone else. Just make the most of what God gave me really. Oh and I forgot the eternal icon that I never let go of, Barbie. I still to this day love barbie and envy girls with long barbie hair and long legs.
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Barbie when I was a little girl. I've never played with Barbies, I always used to spend my time admiring them. Now, I hate the Barbie styles.
Kate Winslet and Liv Tyler also. I grew up watching Titanic and Armaggedon (I'm very young, I know) and admiring Kate Winslet and Liv tyler's beauty, I've always loved their porcelain skins and red and black hair with reddish lips, very ethereal and pure. And they were very different from the women I used to see on that time on TV or around me, they were so special and I always wanted to be like them. -
I used to love Rob Lowe when I was a little girl and he was doing so many movies.... now I still think he's so cute!!! The first time I saw Brad Pitt he reminded me of him! Still love his eyes and his smile :wink:
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As for women, I loved Linda Evangelista, too. She still looks amazing! I remember watching the video for "Freedom 90" by George MIchael and thinking I wanted to be like one of them girls! All gorgeous..
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I loved Amy Lee (Evanescence) since I was a child when My Immortal was just released and being played on the radio. I loved the way her black hair contrasted with pale skin and the dark blue eyes all in cold tones beautiful like winter.
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