This was going to be a standard, run-of-the-mill, pontification about the seeming void of value in making Celebrity Best Dressed lists. Then on Wednesday, December 14th, something amazing happened. My wife, Elizabeth Davidescu, was rushed to the hospital because she wasn’t feeling well and she had thrown up a few times. She was 35 weeks pregnant.  It was soon evident that it would be in the best interest of the baby and the mother to deliver the baby via c-section. As a result, I became a first-time father at 10:08 PM on Wednesday, December 14th. Having the baby the way we did made me really think about the best dressed lists and how incredibly absurd they are.

Let us look at this randomly selected list from 2001. Helen Hunt was number 7 on the list that year. Does anyone even remember that Helen Hunt was named the number seven best dressed celebrity according to People magazine in 2001? Moreover, did anyone remember the fact a week after the best dressed list come out?

To some extent, I think that the lists are all about living a fantasy life that will most likely never be fulfilled outside of the mind. “Oh, look how beautiful Helen looks in that dress! I hope some day I can wear a dress like that and have people gawk over me and want to take my photograph.”

Then there is the flip side to the best dressed list — the worst dressed list. In some ways this is even worse than the best dressed list because it really takes someone who put effort, even minimal, in choosing an outfit and stabbing them stylistically by saying that they have poor taste. Somewhere, a fashion guide may be getting fired because a magazine said that the outfit they chose was ugly.

I can’t help but disagree with a lot of choices made for the worst dressed list. Opinions do vary and mine don’t always coincide with those of the people writing the lists, but with our baby laying in the NICU area of the hospital for the next month, I don’t even think I will be making much effort to think about who dresses well and who doesn’t in the celebrity world.  Real things matter now, and I’ll let fame live on in the vacuous vacuum of its own creation.

10 Comments

  1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
    David W. Boles says:

    Love that beautiful new baby, Gordon! Congrats!

    I agree the celebrity world is a strange place that has no relevance in the reality of our lives. These Best and Worst Dressed lists are all about making money for designers and getting PR for celeb bodies. Boring!

  2. ANNE – I live and teach on the upper West Coast of the United States. My interests are Philosophy, English, and Social Communication.
    anne says:

    That’s a sweet baby, Gordon. Congratulations on the new light of your life!

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  7. Given the story of his arrival – Chaim is a very fitting name — Life!
    And Yosef…. May he fit his name well.

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