Remember the Push-Me-Pull-You from “Dr. Doolittle”?

I’ve just finished watching The September Issue on my Roku/Netflix device. I know, I’m always late to the party. Mrs. E. and I don’t get to the cinema much, aside from the odd kid’s movie (“How to Train a Dragon” in 3-D this past weekend).

I found it to be a meditation on the delicate balancing point of fashion and beauty, commercial appeal and art. To see Oscar de la Renta in a scene following Jean-Paul Gaultier, and the way that Ms. Winatour and Ms. Coddington approach a trip to Paris (and the magazine in general) is a study in the forces that push and pull each of us in different directions. Each of them is successful. Each chooses to approach things in a different way.

(via Papermag without their knowing…)

(via Zimbio.October 4, 2008 – Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images Europe and used without permission. Let me know…)

Art for art’s sake. The relentless pursuit of beauty. (But isn’t beauty in the eye of the beholder?) Empirical versus conjectural (is that the word? Should it be “personal”) beauty. Cool versus square. Traditional versus modern. (Or is it traditional versus cool?) Style versus fashion. Restraint versus abandon.

These are all the things that we struggle with on a daily basis. Even in such small ways as our choices of shoes or ties for the day. Accentuate the positive and look better than you have to. No matter where you go, you’re going to turn someone’s head. Try to make sure that it’s in a good way.