I really enjoy the "Humans of New York" Facebook page. If you haven't yet seen it, check it out here. HONY captures the diverse, energetic, and sometimes downright weird energy that permeates New York City. You will see the city and its denizens in an entirely new and entertaining light.
Sometimes, I glance at these photos as they appear in my news feed and simply chuckle as I am scrolling by, but other times, I just have to click the photo and learn more about the subject. That's what I did when I saw this photo today.
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| Photo from advancedstyle.blogspot.com |
This lady is, to put it bluntly, a badass. You can tell just by looking at her. She strikes a pose that says "I own this place." She is elegant, feisty, and seems to have a good sense of humor - a lot of the qualities I enjoy about my own grandma. She is a free spirit. She's the kind of person I'd love to grab a coffee with, just to see what she would say.
When I went to the HONY page to learn more, I discovered that this awesome woman (age 95!) was part of a whole fashion show put on in NYC by Advanced Style. The participants ranged in ages from 60-95. Awesome!
So, naturally, I checked out the Advanced Style blog to see more photos of the show. Check it out here.
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| Photo from advancedstyle.blogspot.com |
Why am I writing about this, you may wonder? Well, the impulse just struck me as I was reading about the fashion show because I'd never seen anything like it. Upon further reflection, though, it interests me because we as a society tend to have such a boring, superficial concept of beauty. There seems to be an age and weight limit attached to what people generally feel is "beautiful." And they couldn't be more wrong.
Who says we stop being beautiful as we age? Who says we should attempt to turn back the clock with hair dye, Botox, and face lifts? These ladies are beautiful too. They certainly are more beautiful than the quasi-anorexic models that grace magazine covers worldwide. They have their own style and flair, they are confident enough to strut their stuff, and that, in my book, is more beautiful than anything else.
And I suppose that I can relate this to MLWP's general parenting theme. My child is beautiful. And she will always be beautiful to me, regardless of her age, weight or personal style. I want her to learn that beauty is about more than just what you wear or what size your jeans are.
I also want her to appreciate that a large part of what makes someone beautiful is the spirit that shines through in his or her personality. This is definitely true of the amazing subjects of this photo shoot. I hope this is something that Anna will internalize as she grows older.
And heck, my wish for myself is that, when I'm an old lady too, I still have as much vigor, style, spirit and zest for life as these women do. Rock on, ladies.
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| Photo from advancedstyle.blogspot.com |
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