Autumn Whitefield-Madrano

Autumn Whitefield-Madrano
Location
New York, New York, USA
Birthday
May 27
Company
The Beheld
Bio
I write The Beheld (the-beheld.com), a blog examining our concepts of beauty, using interviews with women whose professions and passions lend them a keen insight into personal appearance; analysis of news, business, economics, and culture; beauty experiments; and personal essays.

MY RECENT POSTS

MY RECENT COMMENTS

Autumn Whitefield-Madrano's Links

Salon.com
MAY 31, 2012 8:23AM

You Really Got Me



I have a regular Mad Men date on Wednesday evenings, which is a fantastic way to have good conversation about the show, but a poor way to blog about it since I’m three days later than everyone else. But this week’s episode was so chock-full of material on erotic capital, beauty,/…

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MAY 29, 2012 2:53AM

Life at 36: Anne Bancroft, Phylicia Rashad, Reese Witherspoon, and Me

Thirty-six!

I had a birthday over the weekend, and it’s the first birthday I’ve had where I’ve been remotely tempted to be coy about my age. I’d never understood why anyone, particularly a woman, would lie about their age. I’d heard the classic story about Gloria Steinem quipping to a report/…

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MAY 25, 2012 3:30AM

Beauty Blogosphere 5.25.12

What's going on in beauty this week, from head to toe and everything in between.

From Head...
Chinese beauty: This piece on buying habits in China gives beauty products only a passing mention, but it's worth reading if you're interested in international consumerism. Particularly of note here is the Chi… Read full post »
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MAY 24, 2012 3:28AM

A Partial List of Male Celebrities Who Have Given Or Received Pedicures


Will Arnett, actor
Howard Stern, radio personality
Charles Barkley, former basketball player and sports analyst
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MAY 23, 2012 3:52AM

The Sweet Smell of Sexcess

(via)


Nefarious may seem a strong word to apply to cake-scented perfume, but bear with me for a minute, okay? Years ago, I was copy editing at a women’s magazine, and one of the beauty pages was all about food-scented products—lemon cookie body souffles, cotton candy lip gloss, caramel body polish/…

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1 Comments
MAY 18, 2012 3:24AM

Beauty Blogosphere 5.18.12

What's going on in beauty this week, from head to toe and everything in between.


From Head...
Seeing red: Red lipstick increases waitresses' tips? Headlines say yes (of course! anything to add to the idea that there's a right way to be a lay-dee), but a closer look at the study show
… Read full post »
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MAY 15, 2012 12:18PM

"She Was 25 and Curvaceous": The Death of Lorena Xtravaganza

I am stinkin' mad, which is why I'm double posting today. I just found out about the death of Lorena Xtravaganza, a performer with the drag family House of Xtravagazna. (Coincidentally, I just watched the "ball culture" documentary Paris Is Burning for the first time this weekend, and the House of…

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1 Comments
MAY 15, 2012 3:11AM

My Own Private Beauty Myth

A number of things I once believed to be true about my appearance: I have strong features, I am big-boned, my skin is both very pink and very pale, I am pear-shaped with a small waist, I have oily skin, and I am hirsute.

Here’s the truth, or at least as much/… Read full post »
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MAY 11, 2012 3:16AM

Beauty Blogosphere 5.11.12

What's going on in beauty this week, from head to toe and everything in between.


Vidal Sassoon, 1928–2012

From Head...
"If you don't look good, we don't look good": Legendary hairstylist Vidal Sassoon died on Wednesday of natural causes. Famous for pioneering the "wash and wear" look of the London mod…

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MAY 9, 2012 3:54AM

Strike a Pose: Vogue, Eating Disorders, and Desire

Vogue stopped using bird models in 1921.

Several years ago, after a long day at the magazine I was freelancing for at the time, I hailed a cab and cried the whole way home. The chief cause of the crying was the last task I’d had to do at the office before/…

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MAY 7, 2012 11:40AM

Edith Wharton and Yo Momma

...aaaaand, I'm back, after two weeks of a blogging break. What's happening, internet? 

Edith Wharton, whose looks were the only thing that made her sympathetic,
according to Jonathan Franzen, Great Observer of The Human Condition 

I'll be posting actual content this week, but for today I'm j… Read full post »
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APRIL 25, 2012 8:35AM

Unplugged


People! It has come to my attention that I, like many citizens of the Internet, indeed need to occasionally unplug. I'm going to take a short break from blogging (like, a week), the idea being that a week spent actually reading articles instead of skimming them, having a chance to replenish/…

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1 Comments
APRIL 23, 2012 3:00AM

Beauty Blogosphere 4.23.12

What's going on in beauty this week, from head to toe and everything in between. (A couple of days late, apologies!)


From Seat Assignment: Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style, Nina Katchadourian


From Head...
Doin' it Flemish style: Artist Nina Katchadourian makes awesome Flemish-schoo… Read full post »
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APRIL 19, 2012 3:13AM

The Conundrum of Body Hair

1933 ad for underarm-specific razor with curves, which I can't believe isn't a thing now.

It’s skirt season again (my favorite), which means the body-hair feminist conundrum is cropping up again. I shave year-round, and at this point I don’t particularly examine the “why†behind it anymore. Bu/…

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3 Comments
Editor’s Pick
APRIL 17, 2012 3:35AM

Concealer: Makeup and Addiction

Hope in a jar.

If I use the phrase "addicted to makeup," I'm usually referring to how uncomfortable I feel going out in most social situations without the stuff. The reasons I'm uncomfortable are a post of their own, but they boil down to the same old story: feeling as though what/…

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13 Comments
APRIL 13, 2012 3:01AM

Beauty Blogosphere Freaky Friday 4.13.12

What's going on in beauty this week, from head to toe and everything in between.

From Head...
National arch: Benefit, the company that dubbed itself "the brow authority," proclaims April 16-22 National Brow Week, during which all participants are encouraged to grow eyebrows, think about eyebr
… Read full post »
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Editor’s Pick
APRIL 12, 2012 3:38AM

Race, Recognition, and Exotica

This is not me. (It is, however, a Caddo headpiece.)

The central idea behind my examination of the word exotic was hardly difficult to pinpoint: Calling a woman exotic is calling her the Other. And putting women into that category—particularly when there’s eau de hypersexualization wafting about w/…

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9 Comments
Editor’s Pick
APRIL 11, 2012 3:38AM

Thoughts on a Word: Exotic


Exotic is there, not here; them, not us; you, never me. Exotic is warm—hell, exotic is spicy. Exotic is Carmen Miranda, Lola Falana, Lieutenant Uhura. Exotic is Cleopatra, or is it Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra? Exotic is dark and mysterious, but the threat is contained. Exotic is Roxi DLite, Mimi/…

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2 Comments
APRIL 6, 2012 8:38AM

Beauty Blogosphere 4.6.12

What's going on in beauty this week, from head to toe and everything in between.

(via)
From Head...
POTUS style: President Obama on styling Malia's hair. Awwww! (via Yoruba Girl)

...To Toe...
For the record, Team No Socks all the way: You Look Fab asks a surprisingly divisive question: socks or no socks?

.… Read full post »
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Editor’s Pick
APRIL 5, 2012 3:59AM

Jennifer’s Body, Redux: The Case of the Incredible Shrinking Actresses


I mentioned this in my roundup last week but it’s pertinent to readers here: I penned a piece at Salon about the casting of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss in The Hunger Games. You can read the whole piece here, but the argument in brief is this: Katniss is a prime role/…

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9 Comments
Editor’s Pick
APRIL 3, 2012 3:01AM

The Two-Cocktail Makeover

The best makeover tool since the three-way mirror. Science says!

Over the years, I’ve had several of what my friend Jessica calls the Two-Cocktail Makeover, perhaps enough to put a good portion of the Mary Kay sales force out of work for a while. But one time in particular stands out: Jessica/…

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4 Comments
MARCH 30, 2012 3:47AM

Beauty Blogosphere 3.30.12

What's going on in beauty this week, from head to toe and everything in between.


(The actual story link below is cool, but if I were styling my hair on acid it would probably look more like this.)

From Head...
This is your hair on drugs: What your hair would look like if you…

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Editor’s Pick
MARCH 29, 2012 3:06AM

Power, Public Life, and The Hunger Games

Panem map by Aim My Arrows High and Bad Guys.

As a feminist blogger who writes about the significance of the ways we present ourselves, I’m required by law to write about The Hunger Games. This, reader, is that post.


To give you an idea of where I’m coming from, I devoured the… Read full post »
3 Comments
Editor’s Pick
MARCH 27, 2012 3:34AM

The Enduring Popularity of Tans



Around this time each year—usually a hair later, but, hey, climate change!—I enter the same debate with myself: to self-tan or not to self-tan? After years of studiously avoiding the sun, fervently evoking old-timey movie stars with porcelain complexions as my reason for doing so, I spent time in/… Read full post »
7 Comments
MARCH 23, 2012 3:14AM

Beauty Blogosphere 3.23.12

What's going on in beauty this week, from head to toe and everything in between.


From Head...
Un/covered: Spellbinding discussion among three Muslim women who have varying interpretations of what the Koran's dictate of modesty means, from a woman who wears the niqab (face veil) to the hijab (head scarf… Read full post »
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