Lashing Out

Style over the years seems to dictate to some women, how to look. Hems go up and down, shapes go twig or trunk, and make-up goes natural or neon. At the moment, and it might be only a moment, eye lashes and brows are the big fashion push. People are rushing to salons to get their eyebrows tattooed on and their lashes stuck to lids. Hair chic is no longer subtle; it screams, "look what I did". And that's all very well, but some of the latest trends go far too far. The other day in a drug store, I was lashed by the pharmacist who was offering advice. Her fake glued-on eyelid hair was so long that I worried she might get it entangled in her clipped-on hair piece that coursed redly, down one shoulder. There is nothing wrong with enhanced big eyebrows or even eye lashes, but when the length begs lawn mower please, that goes too far. Men also have their fashion dictates. Some of the hair styles that defy description are worn with mannish miens that say, if you don't like it, don't look. Sorry, but that is impossible, and you know it. When a young man's forehead cowers beneath a bang that rises six inches skyward and the rest of the hair spikes to the stars, too, it's a challenge to divert one's attention to his collar buttons. To add to the "do" are the rainbow hues. But, to each his own and personal expression reigns. That is the rule. Apparently. But don't tell me off-the-wall-style, isn't done to attract attention and comment about the individual's uniqueness. But then, if everyone was on the fashion "stage" who would be the audience? It is, therefore, not only amusing but essential that we have persons who go to fashion extremes for the sake of alleviating our day to day boredoms. The greats of the global designer world, when they hold their iconic shows, always add attention-getting segments that are more for trend signals than as wearable garments. The shoes are lethal ankle breakers, the fabrics are so complex and difficult to create more than once, the models so cracker snap thin that we all know it's pure fantasy, and we love it. Few women on our health conscious continent are unlikely, anyway,  to squeeze into  designs that hired immature fourteen year old bodies sashay down the aisles anyway. They won't fit the average form, no matter how many hours a week the hopeful women sweat themselves to "fitness" on a treadmill in the local gym. Be it eyelashes, brows, bony bods or Vitamin B, it's fashion and not going to last. But, it is fun to gaze at, and wonder why.