2011: A Thing of Beauty?

"Beauty May Be Skin Deep, but Ugly is to the Bone."


I don't know who said it, but as I have gotten older, I find it rings more true. This December is known for being the month that celebrates the ultimate expression of beauty: art, in all its forms. From ELLE's December issue devoted to art ranging from architects, artists, fashion, and acting, to the BAFTA Awards earlier this month, the limits of art were paraded and strewn about at a time of year where beauty surfaces and itself is constantly being contested in terms of meaning.


"The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"


Kids jingle belling, carolers, and giving it seems have been replaced with parking lot fiascoes, rudeness, and anger. The most wonderful and what we associate as the most beautiful time of the year, the Christmas/Hanukkah season , seems to be getting uglier and uglier. It was only after reading Umberto Eco's just released On Ugliness, documenting the history of beauty and ugliness in art and society, did I myself begin to wonder about the term beauty, its level of subjectivity and what encompasses it.




When scientists try to 'truthify' beauty they place empirical borders on it such as symmetry and proportion. According to these standards Brad Pitt may be the most beautiful person in the world, and well, many probably wouldn't contest that. However, if we found out Brad Pitt beat Angelina, would that make him less beautiful, possibly even, dare I say, ugly?





"There is No Ugliness in Nature"


Then again, Marcus Aurelius contended that there was only beauty in nature because it was created in the image of its maker. That's an equalizer! I do believe there is no ugliness in nature, until humans intervene and try to play God. That is what happened to Adam and Eve and now why we find ourselves limited in brain capacity. We aren't meant to know all or be all, but many of us try to, this is where materialism and the ego go hungry and get fed, by money, greed, vanity, and well the rest of the deadly sins. This is what I see happening everyday as people compete for the biggest and best presents to give one another during the holiday season, and honestly, it's quite sad. However, this loathing and ugliness, which won Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now praise on Oprah, is not limited, but rather simply exacerbated by this time of year. The ego creates this ugliness that creeps into society and is displayed in the elements of the sensory eye: art, fashion, and therefore limits and at the same time obscures the meaning of beauty.

Perfection in the Imperfections

What Aurelius was really getting at when he said the thing about nature not being ugly, was that God was perfect, and since all of nature, including humanity was created in His image, it too was inherently perfect and as such, beautiful. We have come to associate perfection for beauty, and our computer-like minds always attempt to quantify everything, including these two synonymous terms.

Empirical research has yielded the mathematical formula that our perceptions seem to match. However, it can't account for the beauty we see with our hearts, like the perfect child who suffers from down syndrome or the child born without an arm. They are still perfect and beautiful not in the sense of the eye, but in the sense of the heart. And 2011 looking back was a year full of that kind of beauty, perhaps the truest form, and what God intended for us to see it with. Unfortunately, ego and vanity still got in the way of seeing the real inherent beauty and perfection in what is, and many kids were lost to suicides this year. Luckily, Gaga who fights for the LGBT community and wears gender bending garbs, alongside Adele whose voice is bigger than just her frame, have shown us that beauty starts within. Our hope for 2012 is that this trend continues and that 2012 yields more of these truly beautiful people. But what do we even mean by "truly beautiful?" We mean, people, untouched or airbrushed that do genuinely good and natural things because they want to and they want us to, too. We here at Chasing Pumas resolve this year to see beauty not with our eyes, but with the tool God intended it to be seen, our hearts and we hope you do too.

Happy New Year Pumas!

xoxo,
Pina and the chasing pumas family

The Nerd Heard

A Trend is Worn

Justin Bieber re-awakens a trend

Since Justin Bieber arrived on the scene, it seems haircuts have grown longer, pants have gone South, and even eye-wear has seen a shift. What was once considered social suicide has now replaced sunglasses as the fashion staple. Rather than throwing some shades on, Demi Moore and Selena Gomez alike have been spotted sporting black, thick-rimmed, eyeglasses. The idea started a year or so back, and since the 'Biebs' burst onto the scene, it has only spread like wildfire. Who would have ever thought boys would make passes at girls that wear glasses? Well, we decided to find out so we sent our chief blogger out on assignment to investigate this trend. After testing it out for about a month, we have compiled the pros and cons of this trend, and will reveal which outweighs the other.

*the following is GiusepPina, the chief blogger's, experience in her own words.

Geek C'Est Chic?

I already knew I was a nerd, and I embraced it. If my affinity for classics, poetry, or Calculus and engineering in college hadn't solidified that, my SAT scores and 4.7 gpa certainly could have. So when I first caught sight of the 'Biebs' and the clones his haircut and eye wear spawned, I, like any good nerd, asked first and foremost who was the Biebs, and why should I care? The truth was I didn't, and so I kept myself ingrained in my true passion: writing, reading, and a little bit of arithmetic, oh, and fashion. It was when the world of geek collided with the world of chic that I paid attention, and I must admit i thought we were headed for a fashion utopia. The Scors working it in his glasses

Thick-rimmed eyeglasses are nothing new. I mean the Scors (Martin Scorsese), sports them alongside some thick brows since he started decades ago. So why now? Why would these things once considered to mark a poverty level on the social status scale suddenly re-emerge as the symbol for first-class style? This was an assignment I willingly took on. In fact, I suggested it, and well, after picking my own brain and pair, I think I have some answers.

Getting My Glasses


I made my way into a local mall and headed straight for any teeny bopper trend store within a tenth of a mile radius. These included Hot Topic, H&M, and tween accessory heaven, Claire's, which ended up being where I made my first eye wear purchase. I must say I thought my first purchase would come from the optometrist's office, but Claire's would do (especially since I have had almost perfect 20/20 vision my whole life and never worn a pair before). Claire's was great because they offered a wide selection at affordable prices, and on top of that the lenses were all false.

Pina having fun trying on glasses

After trying on frame after frame, I finally found the square, black, thick-rimmed ones that fit my face and my mantra: geek c'est chic. I knew they were the ones because the instant I put them I didn't feel invisible. Sounds contradictory, right? Glasses are often the first marker of invisibility. Ho can you have a marker for invisibility anyway? Somehow society created one, and it includes braces, braids, and the holy grail: glasses. They are supposed to make features less noticeable and their patrons less attractive. I didn't feel that way though. I felt like Clark Kent right before he puts on the suit with the big "S." I was always smart, but now I felt more attractively intelligent. People would look at me differently, like they could trust in my opinion, seek my advice, and follow my wisdom, and guess what? They did.


The Perks of Being A Wallflower

Over the next few weeks, I received compliment after compliment not just from men, tweens, or old folks, but from attractive heterosexual men and women (or I could have been seeing things askew with the new glasses?), either way I got unsolicited feedback, and this time it was positive. People would not only stop to ask where I purchased them, but they were more polite, attentive, and empathetic towards me. They would open doors, ask me to watch their goods while they used the restroom, and tended to call me "sweetie," "honey," and "doll face" more than I think I have ever heard in my 22 years. I was getting attention, good attention, for doing absolutely nothing, but looking ridiculous. Between my Italian bushy brows lied two more bushy frames, and somehow people wanted to know me.

Without saying a word, I sat in Barnes and Noble typing this post, and at least 2 people approached me to ask if I were a stylist or fashion blogger. I had done this same task week after week, and the only thing I had ever heard prior was "Are you using this chair?" Oh, and occasionally, there was the, "Where did you purchase that notebook? It's so cute!" Now people automatically assumed I had knowledge or skill worth sharing. They wanted to try on my glasses, and find out more about the woman wearing them. (I think it helped that I look 16, too.) Yet, most astonishing to me was that I felt better about myself. How could something I and society had always associated negatively or as an invisibility cloak, have the opposite effect? I went from invisible to visible know-it-all. I have to say it felt good, and didn't look too shabby, either.

In addition to the attention, I also saw some facial pros. The shades acted as sunglasses that could be worn without the sun, and the thick rims masked my under-eye circles. They also gave me a more balanced profile, as they hid the bump on my nose I inherited from my Italian roots. I have to say the only con was that they didn't help my eyesight, but I didn't need it anyway, and if I did, I could have easily ordered them from the eye doctor.

All in all, It never felt so good or chic to be a nerd. Where as before I would have to whip out my College Board report to prove my knowledge, it was known. In a way, I guess Justin Bieber is partially to thank. So thank you Justin. I find myself no longer on assignment and still wanting to wear the glasses. They have become as necessary to me as underwear, and yes, I am still one of the few that still wear underwear (you heard that Britney?). And, if Tyra's recent Tweet, pictured above, sporting them is any indication, they won't be going anywhere soon. For the first time I can proudly say I am a member of the nerd herd, but this herd is now being both seen and heard.

Friend the Trend

If you think you have the face and wallet to pull these shades off, they can be purchased in your local mall at Claire's, Hot Topic, or Zumiez. You can also get prescription ones by Gucci, Prada, and Vuitton from your local optometrist. However, we warn you: they are going fast and many are on back-order. So, the only question left to be answered is by you. Will you join the trend or spell its end? If you can spell, that is ;) .

For now, happy hunting!

**Above photos courtesy of Twitter and Google**