Marilyn, revisited.

Browsing through nymag.com yielded this fascinating slideshow: Lindsay Lohan does Marilyn. I remember hearing about it when it first came out, but it just now really caught my interest. 

It's fascinating to see variations of the female form. As design objects, each element of a woman's body can take on different forms: the curvature of the breast, size and shape of nipples, shape and roundness (or lack thereof) of the buttocks. The musculature of the abdomen, the placement of the navel. 

The ideal human form, as we learn in figure drawing/design classes, is based on proportions of the golden ratio. Which makes me wonder, do plastic surgeons study this mathematical formula and apply it in their work?

In contrast, looking at photos of Marilyn, it's obvious that she was definitely a better designed product; classical lines, elegant, proportionate forms, a golden ratio masterpiece. 

Not that Lindsay's unnattractive, but it's amazing how subtle changes in geometry can make the difference between a great beauty like Marilyn and just-another-pretty-face one, like Lindsay. Her breasts are huge, but she has no hips. her lips are odd (maybe too many injections?). Her proportions are off. She's too asymmetrical. From the waist down, she looks like an adolescent male, minus the penis. IMHO, of course. And from a strictly formal, design standpoint. 

The photography is nice, though.