What, to you, is glamour/glamorous?

[Stormy]

I don't know exactly. But I do think that today's celebrities really miss the glamour/glamorous mark. Most of them just over do it (whatever "it" is).

 

[Mabel]

What an interesting discussion. I define glamour differently than most people here, but that's because I've dealt with it quite a bit.

I've done a fair bit of image consulting. Women who go to an image consultant are usually looking for specific things they want to embody: Elegance. Confidence. Sensuality. Sophistication. And the most common quality that women aspire to, glamour. Many, many women want to be glamorous, and I almost always have to spend a lot of time and effort showing them how unrealistic an expectation it is. That's because glamour is a fleeting moment in time. It takes a great deal of time and hard work to create, but the modern entertainment industry makes it look effortless, so most women don't realize it's something that can only be achieved for a limited amount of time.

Here's an example: in 1995, a lot of women went crazy for the 'Rachel haircut'. This is the hairstyle Jennifer Aniston sported during the first two seasons of Friends. Tens of thousands of women went out and got the haircut because it looked so glamorous and flirty. Most of them didn't realize until afterward, that it is a super high maintenance hairstyle which requires multiple products and lots of tricky blow-drying to get it just right. When it's done properly, it could make them look very glamorous, but when not done right, or when allowed to dry naturally, it looked hideous on most women. Many women became frustrated and had it cut shorter, or grew it out. They wanted that glamour but didn't realize how much time and effort went into creating it.

Another example: the previously cited Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn was extremely glamorous, yes. She also worked her rear off to get that way. She used to spend at least 2-3 hours painstakingly applying her makeup; she would apply false lashes---not the strips, but individual lashes, one at a time. She would mix together multiple shades of lipstick to get just the right colors, then she would literally sculpt her lips, by applying different colors to different parts of her lips and carefully blending them together. She would do the same thing with her foundation, to sculpt her face. Her signature look took hours upon hours to achieve. When she would go out in public without her makeup or hairstyle, people actually wouldn't recognize her. They'd say things like 'That woman looks like Marilyn Monroe', but they would seriously think it wasn't her, because the glamour wasn't there. She looked like a normal woman.

To me, glamour is not an alluring quality that one possesses. That's charisma. Glamour is creating the illusion of looking larger than life, and most people have absolutely no concept of all the dreary and tedious things that celebrities must do---on a constant, daily basis---in order to try and maintain it.

 

[katiemakeup]

Glamour, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. I also feel it's a state of mind. And a kick ass red lip.

 

[Mervinwaves]

When I think of glamour, I think of a Jean Harlow, Hedy Lamarr and Art Deco. There's a mysterious aura about glamour. And there's also a luxurious quality about glamour.