Out with pouts and down with frowns as the smile sneaks on to the catwalk
Fashion loves a pout and generally doesn’t really do smiles. But in the industry of late, corners of mouths have been sneaking upwards. At the recent Emporio Armani show in Milan last month, smiling models emerged on to the catwalk under a picture of model Noemi Ditzler flashing a wide grin.
The Beckhams, headed up by renowned smiling refusenik Victoria, have been out on smiley form at the shows. Even Anna Wintour, who is famous for her bob, her sunglasses and her straight face, has been cracking a shy smile on the front row.
Smiles have been appearing on magazine covers, too. Cindy Crawford is pictured on the March issue of Vogue Arabia showing off some enviably straight pearly whites, and an innocent grin graced the cover of British Vogue this month courtesy of Rihanna’s baby. It is a marked contrast from the icy expressions that the industry is known for. Fashion’s lack of smiling is so ingrained that it is something of an in-joke. Victoria Beckham once wore a T-shirt that stated: “Fashion stole my smile. ”Scientists at the University of Toronto reported in a study published this month that smiling could help you get hired.
It follows other studies lauding the importance of smiling, from the political – one Japanese study from 2019 found that political candidates who smile more get more votes – to the psychological: last year, scientists finally seemed to agree, after decades of debate, that just the act of arranging one’s features into a smile can make you feel happier.
But although all smiles have the same physical premise – the activation of the zygomaticus major muscle – not all smiles are the same.
It is the “only expression we show across very different contexts and that comes with different emotions,” says Magdalena Rychlowska, a lecturer in psychology at Queen’s University Belfast whose research focuses on expressions of emotion.
People smile when happy but also when angry. There are genuine smiles – the so-called Duchenne smile also involves the muscles around the eyes – and less genuine ones.
So why are the fashion shows normally so devoid of smiles? One 2015 study suggests it might make some commercial sense if participants smiled more – pictures of smiling models were found to increase consumer joy.
If models are there to project to customers what you might feel like if you wear these clothes, Dr Chaona Chen – a researcher at the University of Glasgow school of psychology and neuroscience – believes that if a model is smiling, then the customer will “have this subconscious feeling that if I wear it, I will be happy too”.
But some fear that smiling models might distract from the clothes. Plus, it isn’t necessarily in line with the image all fashion brands want to communicate – for some, the approachability of smiling is at odds with a desire to suggest exclusivity.
In a society where, as Rychlowska points out, “there’s very often this cultural expectation that women should smile, and women are very often asked to smile in situations where we don’t feel like smiling”, a lack of smile might be seen as aspirational – and therefore in line with a luxury aesthetic.
“[Not smiling] communicates a certain prestige for the model. She has achieved the status where she doesn’t have to smile.”
There have of course been times when fashion has shown its jollier side. At the Chanel spring/summer show in 2021, models smiled their way down the catwalk. Sonia Rykiel, the late French fashion designer, was known for shows at which models smiled and laughed.
And fashion historian Tony Glenville points out that, back in 1988, “Anna Wintour’s very first American Vogue cover was happy!”
It has been models with strong individual presences who have tended to smile more. Back in the 1990s, it was the supermodels, such as Amber Valletta and Shalom Harlow. “[They] always danced and sang and enjoyed life,” says Glenville.
Glenville thinks the current good mood might be down to many female designers being at the helm: “A lot of newer designers and women designers encourage smiles, or at least a more normal or relaxed look,” he says, mentioning Gabriela Hearst, Stella McCartney and Molly Goddard.
In a landscape where smiling is still not the norm, it can also be a bit of a rebellion – according to Rychlowska, “you still have all the positive messages of a smile, but it can also be a very subversive message”.