Wardrobe Wednesday: Symmetry vs. Beauty in the Whole

The Power of Kindness: Choose to compliment the girls and women in your life for character traits, actions or talents you admire about them. The compliments that stick with you for a lifetime are often those that acknowledge your valuable qualities, like a good attitude, selflessness, talents, honesty and so much more than beautiful hair or a cute outfit. –Beauty REDEFINED, Sex Appeal and Thin Ideals, February 6, 2012

Many years ago, I read an article that stated that the people we consider to be the most beautiful have the most symmetrical faces; their eyes, eyebrows, ears and cheekbones are close to the same height and their features are close to mirror images of each other. They named a few celebrities, Denzel Washington among them, who were symmetrical. I'm not sure where I read the article, but I'm thinking Reader's Digest. Since that time, I've wondered how symmetrical I am and if perhaps I would be beautiful if I were more symmetrical. I used a photo of myself that I've always liked and did a little digital photo editing {technology is awesome!}. Here is the result.

This image makes laugh a little. The face on the left is my right side mirror imaged. I kind of look like a cartoon character. Obviously, that is my more angular side, and while there is a resemblance there, it is very slight. The face on the right is my left side, which is a bit softer, a bit rounder and perhaps a pretty face. It looks more like me, but I don't find that the resemblance is particularly great there either. What I find interesting is that I prefer the woman in the middle. In this case, the sum of the parts is not greater than the whole. The two sides of my face compliment each other.

To be fair, I did Denzel Washington too. The real Denzel is in the middle, his right side is on the left and his left side is on the right. I know, it's confusing.

Although she wasn't mentioned specifically in the article {that I can remember} I did Angelina Jolie as well. Again, the real Angelina is in the middle, her right side is on the left and her left side is on the right.

I'll let you draw your own conclusions about my mirror image experiment.

The media bombard us with the idea that appearance is the single defining characteristic of beauty. They are trying to make square pegs fit in to round holes. And rectangular pegs fit into round holes. And triangular pegs fit into round holes. They're even trying to make oval pegs fit into round holes. Why not let each peg, or person be her own kind of beautiful? Why not let each person's uniqueness characteristics define her beauty?

If appearance isn't everything, then why post about what's on my outside? Where does my What-Not-To-Wear-on-a-shoestring-budget experiment fit into all of this? Looking good on the outside goes a long way to making you feel good about yourself on the inside. Part of what Stacy and Clinton, the hosts of What Not to Wear encourage the contributors to do is to express who they are in the way they dress. If you're a beautiful person on the inside, why not show it on the outside? It is about finding the right balance.

Silver ¾-Sleeve Top
I'm not sure who the maker is because I cut the tag out. It was bugging me. But it came from Shopko.
Retail: $39.99
Out-the-door: $11.99

Levi's 512 Dark Wash Bootcut Jeans, Macy's
Retail: $54.00
Out-the-door: $36.32

Royal Blue Suede Platform Heels, Payless Shoes
Retail: $27.99
Out-the-door: $17.99

Red ¾-Sleeve Cardigan
I love this red sweater. I wear it a lot. I could use more ¾-sleeve cardigans in my life. I got this one second-hand for free. It started out as a mock twin-set and I re-purposed it because I liked the shape of the shell. The front panel, had a really high neck, so I cut it away, took off the buttons, dyed it from a sort of coral pink {because I already had a cardigan that color} to red, added some pretty pearl buttons with silver trim and voilá. A cardigan to dress up any outfit. Total cost in dye and buttons: $8.00.