We little girls in the neighbourhood would sometimes sneak off with our mom's and elder sisters' clothes and cart them off to a friend's place. There we would pile them up and try them on for an impromptu fashion show. One of us, usually the eldest would act as the MC and she would call us out one by one and we would sashay on the kitchen floor.
One time, this girl, maybe a couple of years older than us, moved to the neighbourhood and we invited her to join our fashion show. Instead of wearing someone's mom's clothes, she draped a curtain round herself. We gawked at her elegant make-shift gown and her exaggerated poses on the kitchen walk. And then to top it all off, when the MC asked her where she came from, she threw her hands up in the air and cried, "I come to... CUBAAA!!"
That for us was the pinnacle of glamour. Never mind that our teachers taught us that the correct response when someone asks where we come from is "I come from..". We all wanted to come to (dramatic pause, hands thrown upwards) Cubaaa. Afterwards, we would suck up to whoever was the MC so that she would call us out first and we could claim Cuba. Being very sucky at sucking up, I came to Cuba just once, but oh, the utter divaesqueness of the moment! It didnt matter if youre born in the USA, or you come from the land down under, or you could fly yourself to the moon. Cuba was it. Original Cuban girl too could never afterwards match up to her debut performance.
Often, I find myself wondering what makes a person attractive. Classical beauty aside, there are certain people who others are drawn to like sugar to ants. I once had a roomie who was quite frankly, certainly no raving beauty but every time we went out in a group, she always, ALWAYS, had at least two romeos who walked up to her on the street and who introduced themselves to her. Being prissy little teens then, we would wonder what the attraction was and surmised that she must've batted her scanty lashes at all the guys she passed (meowr).
Looking back, I think now that it was her sheer exuberant, laugh out loud persona that was the attraction. Roomie had always been able to have a good laugh with even the dourest person, and even when she hooked up with the guy I and a friend had been heavily crushing on for months, she could still make us laugh our stomachs flat. I think that too was the attraction posed by Cuban girl. The curtainy gown and the posing were pretty good but in itself were nothing worth remembering after 20 years (omg 20!!!) And though I can't recall her face, I cant forget the starry look in her eyes, the exuberance in her raised arms and the total openness of her smile as she cried "Cubaaa!!" She made Cuba seem like a place where all was sunshiney and beautiful. Wonder what Fidel would make of her.
So, .. er, physical beauty aside, I guess attractiveness depends on the happiness that a person exudes. Which is why I think Victoria's Secret models are soo attractive. Apart from the slinky bods and the sexy lingeries, its the friendliness and the "I have fun" attitude which they exude that sets them apart from the other sulky-looking models out there.
Still, I think batting one's scanty lashes would do the job pretty well too...
5 comments:
This reminds me of those international booty pageants we used to watch as kids.. Miss Universe, Miss World . (Nowadays the titles are so diversified - we have Miss Universe Earth, Miss Universe - Asia Pacific etc which sounds just a bit silly to be honest). Also I used to think that the Miss Uni title was more prestigious thatn the Miss World title - Universe being bigger than the World. In those days all I can remember is that the girls from Venezuela used to win the title almost every other year and it seemed like Venezuela had this conveyor belt which churned out raging beauties who'd win every beauty pageant in the world. However the last booty pageant I watched was the one where dear Aishwariya Rai won. Wonder what became of her after that.. her career really went down the drain.
As for the beauty that some women have, its like that L'Oreal ad - She's got it (or she doesn't). Some women just have that attractiveness about them that draws men like a moth to flame.
Kalawme.
Oh my! We used to do the same thing, only thing was I was one of the older girls, the organisers so to speak. We would gather all the younger kids and have a fashion show at someone's house, though there never was an audience. And we would have competitions with kids from the neighbouring locality (Kulikawn ho nen kan intihsiak hahahah chak zawk pawh kan awm chuang lo)
And the "coming from" thing, this was a regular feature of the "Miss thlan", and there is this girl (who is mother of two now) who'd always say "I crome from".. and the popular places were Spain, Hongkong and London.
Okay enough of the nostalgia. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, so they say. But do you know who are the most beautiful? The most confident ones. Ugly but supremely confident people makes you think twice "Why is this person so confident, there must be something good about him/her" and you automatically see the good points in them.
ha hah...."miss thlan""LMAO...why is it so important in a girl's life i wonder...We used to collect wedding gowns from our aunties and mothers and wear them for the final question round!!!!!and the most common question was"what soap are u using to get such a smooth skin?"...Gosh!!! those were the days...i was always the last runner up lolz if u know what i mean...
its a pity kids nowadays are too engrossed with computer games that they miss out on the simple pleasures of life!!like inbailemchhuan...in thengkah...inkawibah and the list goes on
@Aduh....Kulikawn nena in el ngei chuh!!!!
My teens were filled with tons of those mini fashion shows we'd put up for friends, family and school. I DID wear bell-bottoms, knee-high zippered boots with 3" heels, day-glo colors, and all the other things that went along with being an early '70s hippie-type. I probably was, back then, the walking definition of fashion faux pas. :D
I love, love people who know how to have crazy fun and have had many friends along the way, including my current bf. It makes them a heckuva lot attractive! :)
@ mosa: En hrat hmel mai2. Ti daih teh ang,Mr.Universe, Manhunt etc hi a lucklo bik ngawt mai, mipa inthehthil hi chu an hmuhnawm ve vaklo aniang. Keipoh kalawme.
@Aduhi:I wonder why we were so preoccupied with beauty pageants back then. A few girls in my locality get together and enact Idol shows. I guess it all has to do with the times. Confidence-yes, mahse Mizo hi chu kan sual ngawt mai, "chhe confi" tih te hi kan hrat fo aaa :D
@Gr135l: I know! Kids these days miss out on a lot. I loved those Sunday afternoons when we would all be let loose on the streets and we would inkawibah or inhawngbi till our parents called us home for dinner. I was never a beauty pageant winner either, sniff :(
@Eve: Hey, who's the new guy!? Have you been holding out on me? Current fashion trends are always funny 5-10 years later, and fashionable again 15 years later! So wait a while, when bell bottoms and day-glo colors come back in style, u can boast about what a fashionable kid you were :)
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