Murray Hill Institute
Special Edition Newsletter
June 2005
Volume 2, Number 2

I think you would all agree that we have had a lot of impressive input and been given a lot to think about in the last twenty-four hours, and looked at our topic: Woman, Beauty and Image from a variety of angles and viewpoints, from philosophical ideas on women and the concept of beauty to what goes into the actualities of fashion design, advertising and journalism.

I would like to take a few minutes to revisit some of the highlights of the conference to pull together some of the common threads from the various presentations and then focus on how we can apply these ideas when we leave this room.

One definition of beauty that everyone seemed to be agreed on, although it was stated in different ways is that beauty has to do with the expression of the personality of the individual.

Oscar de la Renta shared with us his positive attitude about our times: that the woman of right now is the one he would want to be designing for more than any other era in history: "Never in any period of time has woman been in control of her destiny as she is today—never." Then later he said he is always trying to know the woman (today’s woman) that he is trying to dress, and described her as "uptown, attractive, elegant and feminine… a woman of the world.” One can no longer tell which city or region a woman is from by the cut of her clothes.

While we’re basking in compliments let’s jump ahead for one moment to Mr. Ziccardi’s words on the modern woman: “talented, unafraid, unabashed, cross-shoppers: Bergdorf to Target—you want to be yourselves.” (It was interesting that both of these gentlemen used the word “woman” rather than “women” (and then “she”) which seemed symptomatic of considering us as individuals rather than as a “pack.”

This morning Pia de Solenni spoke of beauty as a quality, which draws people to itself because it resonates deeply in the human heart. She contrasted sensible beauty, which captures the eyes and heart through the senses with spiritual beauty, which captures the imagination and can inspire the person to higher things. Beauty can lead toward self or toward others. We have to live with the facts that:

• women judge and are judged by a quick first impression, even though we are complicated unique human persons;
• women have a particular association with beauty and have a certain power because of it which can be used for good things or for bad;
• women can try to use fashion to express who we are and who we want to be.

The panels gave us a fascinating look at the workings of the worlds of advertising, the media and image: how fashion is created, how the image is created in advertising, how these are portrayed in the media, and the interrelationships of culture and these components. Although the participants sometimes showed us the slightly seamier side of the industry, there was a general tone of hope and a positive outlook for the future. We are being listened to and respected. Mr. Buchman demonstrated this trend with his 2003 to 2005 advertising comparisons. People on the advertising and media panels both emphasized that:

• the consumer is the bottom line;
• letters really count, even in small quantities, and even as emails.

Several people on the other panels said, “Be pro-active,” and recommended working with the people you know wherever you happen to be.

If those in the Fashion, Media and Advertising industries are receptive to our ideas, then we not only have the option to share them, but the responsibility to do so if we want to have a hand in shaping the culture of our time.

I would like to end with the challenging quote used by Justina McCaffrey from Dostoyevsky: “Beauty is the battleground for good and evil.”