Fellow Fusion author, An Na's book "The Fold" just came out today and I look forward to reading it with great interest. In it, an Asian girl is offered the chance to get plastic surgery done on her eyes to give it the coveted caucasian eyefold.
And this surgery is quite common across Asia, especially in Taiwan. Having those eyefolds are mandates of beauty; something I experienced up close and personally.
Because at my photo shoot for my new author photo (my new novel is a Chinese folktale-inspired fantasy--since it takes place in an imagined reality, I thought it fit to have the author photo be a bit of a flight from the imagination as well), my eyes were the first thing that were changed. The make-up artist, after taking off my glasses, cut pieces of thin plastic and glued them to my eyelids and, voila!, I had eyefolds. I had misgivings about the entire procedure but was persuaded by the studio workers' coos of admiration.
And that is how they took me bouncing into the studio looking like this:
and changed me into this:
Yikes! (I also was instructed not to smile in the photos which is why I am smirking in all of them). Obviously, I have regrets.
Because now I, the me I know, am unrecognizable in the photos (the only good ones were the ones where I was looking down when the fake folds were not as noticeable). I realized, in that moment I allowed myself to choose between being "beautiful" and myself, when the original goal of the photos was to achieve both. I hope the character in An Na's book realizes the same.
6 comments:
Actually, I like the pre-studio photo of you quite a lot!
I love the before Farrah Fawcett look you have going on. Want to see more of the glamour shots. They are fantastic. The third one says "Try Winston cigarettes. They taste good."
I like the third one, too! And I don't even smoke. ;) Seriously, they're all beautiful. I haven't seen a bad photo of you yet. I hope you find that happy medium you're looking for!
This whole idea intrigues me - we have an adopted Asian daughter - and someone told me that this may be something she metions - wanting to change her eyes - I SO HOPE NOT - I think those almond eyes are beautiful - and you look great!!!
I am going right out to read the book too - sounds very good!
Wow. Thanks so much for sharing this. I am reallt shocked that they do that in photo shoots. I like your eyes just as they are. Though the photos are lovely, I totally see what you are saying about not recognizing yourself. I would feel the same way. What a weird log to have to cross... I mean, if you're a model that's one thing,. but we're behind the scenes people. So, very, very odd.
You know - I have never given this a thought. I have actually always found Asian women to be stunning - I realize that is a gross generalization, but it is true for me. I hope you know now that you never had to choose between being beautiful and being yourself - and you certainly didn't need eye folds to achieve it either.
The picture is lovely - but no more so than any other picture I have seen of you to date.
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