Experimental cut and paste here, from a yet- unfinished autobiographical essay called “A Braid of Memory” If it works, there will be more, This one refers directly to the one below, and explains Dr Frances Flint Hamerstrom’s connection to my old grammar school…
The Letterman video runs long.Turn it on and jump to her segment. I wish I had the first…
in 1907, Frances Flint is born on Louisburg Square
in Beacon Hill in Boston, to a family both wealthy and intellectual. She would
claim in her autobiography that she took up smoking cigarettes four years later
while crossing the Atlantic, saying to the adults “I ADORE my evening
cigarette!” (She got the phrase from a visiting actress).
I surely wish I had met Frances. I heard lots of stories about her from the Robinsons who knew her well. Speaking of the modeling. From what I've heard (and seen in old magazines and catalogs), models back in Frans day were the "5 foot two, eyes of blue'. But from what I've gathered over the years, Coco Chanel changed that. Coco was hiring tall leggy/lanky women to model her designs (like her tall lanky build). And coming back from the Rivera all golden bronzed and tanned on one of her excursions, started the tanning trend that now has found to be quite un-healthy.
I looked into modeling. I was plenty tall enough, but found I was too 'broad shouldered) (not fat at only 12% body fat when I applied). They want all women to be one size (about a size 8 in my day). So all women can fit in the same attire. And I was too broad shouldered (size 14) for their clothes. And size 8 in pants. So is is really economics, not anything else that drives this industry. I've always said that women athletes should have a side business as fashion models. They are often a variety of sizes and builds (like the Serena Williams and her catsuits she wears while playing tennis, or Jessie Graf of American Ninja with her superhero outfits). And physical fitness, NOT fitting into those size 4 jeans, should be the goal.