When I was younger and working in media, I worked with a photographer who shot stunning women for a living. He did it all – glamour shots, fashion photoshoots, celebrity interviews. I met his wife once on a photoshoot. She was about twenty years older than him and at first glance, incredibly plain. But within a minute of meeting her I realised she was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. I had gone from ‘what does he see in her?’ to being speechless at her beauty in a flash.
And since then the three women I have considered the most beautiful I have ever seen, have been more or less the same. And actually looked rather similar to the photographer’s wife. Tall, aquiline nose (often with a bump), small mouth and eyes, snaggle teeth, and very long hair. Not classically beautiful but they take your breath away. I think that beauty is the best because it is a surprise, it grows on you and it never lets go. Age does not wither it and it shines from inside with no cosmetic help at all.
Meryl Streep is an example of this – she was turned down for roles in the beginning because she was not good looking enough, but she is actually gorgeous. Just not the chocolate-box beauty we are supposed to revere.
Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy is another person who just had ‘it’, as is Kate Moss. The whole is more than a sum of its parts.
Bessette-Kennedy worked for Calvin Klein for a while and she epitomised their look. Minimal, sleek, very New England. She always looked a little like a deer in headlights when papped which made one feel a little protective of her. She could rock red lipstick like no other!
There is a movie out about Carolyn B-K and JFK Jr, with Carolyn played by a gorgeous actress. But she does not have ‘it’. She is wearing the same outfits and has her hair done the same way. But there will never be another Carolyn.
