Mar-A-Lago Face

I learned about that term because of the whole Susan Dell thing, which I have mixed feelings about. 

On the one hand, I don't really like making fun of people for how they look. On the other hand - WTF happened to her?!?

Let me step back a moment though. 

A long, long time ago I heard that "eyes are the windows to the soul."

I think that's right, and I've tried to pay attention to them. It's kind of fascinating, really. Like - how can eyes sparkle? How can some seem dull and dead? What wizardry is this, that peoples inner thoughts and emotions can somehow be captured by their eyes?

Or perhaps it's really the entire facial expression that does it. Microexpressions. Small muscle movement in relation to our thoughts and feelings. 

I don't really know how it works, I do know that this collection of photos showing soldiers before, during, and after their time in Afghanistan illustrated the point more than I ever expected. Perhaps it's due to the different lighting when the picturing were taken, but I felt that the soldiers pictures from during the war made them look almost fey. It brings to mind authors descriptions of soldiers with a 'fell light' glowing.

We've seen something similar with before and after pics of various well-known figures, though the focus is mostly on whether or not they've had cosmetic surgery. 

Consider the fuss over Jared Kushner a while back. 

The posts I saw commented on whether he'd had some work done, but what struck me the most was the eyes. They almost seemed to twinkle in the first pic. They seemed dull and dead in the second. 

Maybe it's just one bad day? He's lost the cute little dimples and the twinkle in the eye, his skin is pale, his eyes dull... 

It doesn't seem like a good change.

So now let's get back to Susan Dell. 

 

 

The dead eye look isn't there, so the difference isn't quite as bad as it is with Jared. There is the other oddness with the cheekbones, thicker eyebrows, etc. What strikes me here is actually how wide her eyes are. It reminds me of the surprised look of a young ingenue. They're much wider than in the original pic, and I think it contributed to how odd she looked in that horrid White House picture. Like she's a bit too mature to be an ingenue. There also seems to be something a bit off about her eyelashes, which seem to have a bit of eyelid between where the lashes are and the eyeball? 

Add it to natural aging and whatever cosmetic surgery was done and it really makes her offputting. Combine that with that odd pose and the shoulder pads in that White House picture and... yeah. I can see why people freaked out.

Apparently all of this is normal for the women in those circles? Like... they like making themselves ugly so much that there's a whole term for it?