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Life as a Fake Beauty Queen in Small-Town China
- comrade1 12y agoThe voice in this article is very familiar. Is this the same author of the woman that wrote about high-worth dating in New York? Living in a hotel room with multiple women while going on dates with rich guys... I can't remember the details and I've done some initial google searches but haven't found the original. The voice, the situations, etc in this article feel similar to what I remember of this other article.
- prawn 12y agoIs this the article you're talking about? My Summer As a Professional Pretty Girl in the Hamptons http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/07/my-summer-as-a-professional-hamptons-party-girl.html http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/07/my-summer-as-a-professional-...
- w1ntermute 12y agoIt's just a generic basic white girl voice. It's not specific to any one individual.
- eru 12y agoHow do you tell the colour from the voice?
- w1ntermute 12y agoHere are some of the signs: http://theodysseyonline.com/maryland/how-to-tell-if-you-re-a-basic-white-girl/60187 http://theodysseyonline.com/maryland/how-to-tell-if-you-re-a...
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- seanmcdirmid 12y agoWhoever this girl is, she has a good future as a writer.
- Cogito 12y agoIt makes me want to know more about the writing process for pieces like this. Does she write it alone, and send it off to various publications who might edit it slightly but otherwise run it as written (or not at all)? Is she paired with a ghost writer who complements her amazing story with similarly amazing writing? It seems unlikely (in general) that the people with the best stories also happen to be the best writers, so I would assume there is a lot of ghost writing and editing going on, but it would be great to know more about how this particular sausage is actually made.
- seanmcdirmid 12y agoShe is a college grad, so I'd giver her the benefit of the doubt. Sure there is an editor involved to provide feedback, but she could have been studying to be a writer anyways. E.g. Journalism is a tough field to find a job in, but plenty of kids have a talent for it, so go off and get crazy life experiences to write about.
- Cogito 12y agoThat is where I think I come down on it too. There are (probably, I don't really know) so many people out there who are either good writers or have good stories, it would not be so surprising if there are a significant number of people who are both. Doing a quick google turns up [1] and [2], which describe her as "Meredith Hattam is a web designer and writer based in New York, and an advisory-board member for the Model Alliance, a nonprofit labor group for models working in the American fashion industry." Her homepage [2] also points to [3], and the writing there seems to live up to a similar standard. I can't tell if she writes everything on there or has simply submitted a story, but the tone of the few pieces I looked at sound very much like her. Her blog is also quite interesting [4] [1] http://www.theatlantic.com/meredith-hattam/ http://www.theatlantic.com/meredith-hattam/ [2] http://meredithhattam.com/ http://meredithhattam.com/ [3] http://waitingroomny.com/ http://waitingroomny.com/ [4] http://meredithhattam.com/blog/ http://meredithhattam.com/blog/
- cs702 12y agoWow, there's a cottage industry for booking young models as fake national beauty contest winners to participate in fake international beauty contests. The quotes are surreal: "My first stint as Miss America for hire had been that September, in the desert oasis of Dunhuang, for the city’s International Grape Festival. It was a surreal experience in which 40 models, including me, were paid to walk down a catwalk for about 2,000 locals. Later, we rode camels across the dunes of the Gobi Desert, crisscrossing the sand in single file. The photos of all 40 of us on camelback—some only in bras, to dodge tanlines—are wonderfully absurd." "For the second pageant, in October, I was hired to cruise around Dalian in a fake gold Mercedes golf cart with five other girls for three days, in an effort to lure potential buyers into investing in a miniature replica of Versailles. A printed guide to the event offered fictitious backstories in Chinese about each contestant, and her purpose there." "Of the nine 'fashion shows' I booked while in Beijing, only two were on a runway. The rest were fake pageants, car shows, and trade shows—but I was not informed of their nature until I was en route to the events. Models flagged as having low earning potential will do fake pageants frequently, as they’re easy to book. I once met a Russian teenager who was stuck traveling on a bus for 10 days across rural China as 'Miss Argentina.'"
- seanmcdirmid 12y agoChalk it up to new money and not knowing how to spend it. I'm sure China will develop better taste eventually (goes for ad agencies, their clients, and the customers being vied for). Until then, we'll have things like this: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-11/09/content_18889439.htm http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-11/09/content_188894...
- srtjstjsj 12y agoYes, one day, the Chinese will develop better taste in advertising, like http://www.rsvlts.com/2014/01/02/hottest-go-daddy-girls/#1 http://www.rsvlts.com/2014/01/02/hottest-go-daddy-girls/#1
- Jedd 12y agoAgreed - beautifully surreal quotes, lovely writing style, fascinating subject. She wrote a piece back in January[1] that gives a lot more insight into the logistical and management aspects of the arrangement, as well as the risks (financial and physical). [1] http://fashionista.com/2014/01/model-in-china http://fashionista.com/2014/01/model-in-china
- userbinator 12y agoThe whole culture behind this is also an interesting phenomenon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanzhai#Shanzhai_culture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanzhai#Shanzhai_culture
- brianbreslin 12y agoYears ago I remember reading stories of a market for "White" guys to rent themselves out for business meetings in China. If you looked anglo, and could look presentable in a suit, the Chinese companies would hire you to make them look more serious as though you were their American officer/VP. http://www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/06/29/china.rent.white.people/ http://www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/06/29/china.rent.white.peop...
- peteretep 12y agoI live in Asia, and I need to get in to this business clearly
- pm90 12y agoI just don't understand this fascination of Asian, and more so East Asian peoples, with the West. Replica of Eiffel tower? Why would you want that when you have the forbidden city, the great wall and maybe countless oriental palaces?? Especially after how badly China was treated by most western countries (and Japan) during the Qing dynasty.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- jpatokal 12y agoFor the same reason you would eat Chinese food when there's hamburgers, listen to Gangnam Style when there's Beethoven, or watch Japanese anime when there's Disney? Also, China's a big place, the developer putting up a replica of the Eiffel tower is doing so precisely to separate his development from all the other ones out there.
- reedlaw 12y agoI don't think it's the same. I've also noticed that nearly all apartment complex, villa, or furniture mall advertisements feature a style that could be described as Baroque. There are markets for traditional Chinese style furnishings, but it's as if the default for new construction is European style. This is at least true in big cities. Historical ancient cities sometimes mandate all the buildings have the same traditional style. And older homes are more likely to contain more traditional Chinese art and furniture. But for young people decorating their first home it's cheaper and much more common to buy furniture that mimics Western design.
- cubancigar11 12y agoIt is a quite complicated subject. It is partly a result of colonialism, partly of nationalism, partly of globalization and partly of the way world unfolded after WW2. Basically, beginning of the century, when Asian countries got 'freedom', all the political leaders who got power were educated in western philosophy. They read western books, spoke western languages as a sign of education and adopted competing western ideologies as the model of society. The old, native one was discarded because it was a memorial of defeat. And people accepted it. You can see that everywhere - Gandhi was a barrister who wore coat before he become a monk (and all his lieutenants, from Nehru to Ambedkar, wore suits), Mao wore western clothes. Korean, Japan - they are the best examples of it. Rich people had become rich by following foreigners, and when foreigners left them alone, these same rich westernized people became rulers. Since then there is a fascination with everything west. There are some poor people who are still clinging to the old system, if they can. But the middle class has almost no option if they want to get rich. As I said, it is a very complicated topic in sociology and there is no way I can explain it, as much as I understood it, here. I am eventually planning to write a book, starting from a dedicated blog. Will update here when I do.
- Animats 12y agoThat's the modeling business. Talk to anyone who's done it. Below the top 100 or so supermodels in the world, models make less than a mid-range programmer. Most modeling jobs aren't glamorous. There's trade show work, being a "booth bimbo". There's catalog modeling ("OK, next is item 25631, the blue sweater, and hurry it up, we have twenty more to shoot before lunch"). Mostly there's doing something else while waiting for the next gig. Ask any actress/model/waitress in LA. It's a really short career, too; at 25, you're over the hill.
- peteretep 12y ago> It's a really short career, too; at 25, you're over the > hill. Meh, maybe. My Mom makes some pretty good pocket money ($600 a day-ish) as a photogenic grandmother and general old lady doing catalogue and advert work for cruises, insurance, retirement homes, that kind of thing.
- srtjstjsj 12y agoHow many days per year?