You can kiss my epicanthal folds

Funny that song-ah-puhl was mentioned recently, because I have been thinking about this very thing lately. Our eye shape is undeniably a defining trait, and as we know all too well, favorite fodder for playground taunts from the young and old. Sigh. And the rampant eyelid surgeries and commentary all over the Internets seem to lean towards describing the epicanthal fold (from Wikipedia: a skin fold of the upper eyelid, from the nose to the inner side of the eyebrow, covering the inner corner of the eye) as a kind of "unfortunate feature", if not an all-out defect - like a medical condition to be corrected. And I say, RAAAAAAR!! to that. These are the eyes I was born with, the eyes of my mother and father and everyone that came before, and I've made up my mind, I'm keeping my baby, er, I mean eyelids.

Not too long ago, Mama Nabi did the whole gallery of women with whom she has been compared, and in a similar vein here's a gallery of gowajous single-lidded women. Like me, all these women have epicanthal folds to some degree. Some do have a double lid in that the skin that retracts when the eye is open folds over the eyeball instead of under (mine fold under), but the inner corner is covered by the fold. Besides this, and the general Asianness, that's probably the only thing I can claim having in common with any of them. But, I am proud to bear my Korean face. And these women posess the features I recognize in myself and all the generations of women (and men) in my family. So without further ado ...

I'm pleased that the idea of beauty is expanding to include faces (and eyes) like these. About damn time.

Smith Cho, actress from "Ping Pong Playa"

Anyway I think she's Korean. Who needs eyelid folds? Pshaw. I wish I looked this good ever.

Amerie, singer

Her mother is Korean. I admit I don't know her music. But not much else to say here, she's just beautiful.

Marié Digby, singer/songwriter

Not Korean, her mom is Japanese. But who the hell is fresher faced than her?

Okay, so those women are a little younger, of course they are going to be stunning. Here are some contemporaries ...

Lisa Ling, journalist

I think she's so lovely. Not Korean, but she married one!

And yeah, she's kray-jee, but I can't deny that Kimora Lee Simmons (part-Korean) has outrageous presence. She's wacky, so out of control and in control at the same time ... like a controlled uncontrolledness. And I love that of all her roles, she always emphasizes being a mom in her public persona. This may shock you (or not) but I actually think she's pretty awesome.

And my favorite of all these ladies, Suchin Pak from MTV News.

I just love her success story, and she has a poli sci degree from UC-Berkeley. She's beautiful, always on trend in a very smart way, and commands authority in her investigative reporting - a pretty girl you take seriously. I hope she never goes to E! Network or one of those god-awful shows like Extra or Star Access. She's only one year younger than me, but for some reason I have an image of her just starting out at MTV burned in my brain, like she'll never get older. Her parents must be so proud, I know I would be if I had a daughter like her someday. Hell, I'd just like to be her! Yes, there once was a time when I planned on and wanted to be in television. But life took me another way. So, I'll continue to live vicariously through Suchin Pak.

Photo credits: I'm really sorry but after some mad-style Google image searches I lost track of where these photos came from. If you happened to be the owner of one of these images, let me know in the comments and I will credit appropriately.

-- Carol

Comments

[Nina]

Okay, my joking reference in the new blog design announcement post aside, I really hate the idea that so many Asian - and particularly Korean - women want to change their eyes to align more with a Western beauty ideal. I love your response Carol - RAAAR! indeed.

I have friends that put tape/eyelash glue on their eyelids every morning before going out for years~.

The first thing the Koreans in my family did when my sons were born, it seemed, were to check whether or not they have the double eyelid (which I have but my husband doesn't). Whatever, double eyelids or not, my sons eyes are STUNNING, I tell you.

That said, I wouldn't go under the knife unless I absolutely had to and plastic surgery (not in all cases, obviously - burn victims and women who have had mastectomies come to mind) kind of baffles me in general.

Is it sad that I've got Christina Aguilera's "We are beautiful" song in my head now?

Great post Carol and all those women are hawt.

[Julie]

Is it possible to have double eyelids _and_ an epicanthal fold? If so, I think I have both. Both the kiddos do too, so my mom can die in peace now. :) Seriously, though, did any of the boys in junior high and high school (the paragon of beauty beholders according to my damaged psyche) actually care? At least at my school, they all were in love with the same 4 girls, and some had that fold and some didn't. (Keep in mind that I went to an academic magnet school where the population was about 65% Asian)

[Angie in Texas]

i LOVE my eyes. (though this was not always the case . . . childhood can be so cruel.) i love that when i smile the outside edges of my eyes curl up (just like my mom) and my cheeks take over my entire face.

i would NEVER go under the knife to "fix" my eyelids - they don't need fixin'. Raaar, indeed!

**i also find the "nose job" trend in korea to be really disturbing. i love my nose and i love that HSBF loves my "kitten" nose.

[Sandra]

Julie, my mom has one eye with the double fold and one eye without any fold. She does what Nina mentioned and puts eyelash glue on the eye without the fold.

I don't understand the extremeness (is that a word?) that some women take beauty to in Korea. I remember reading on a blog (I forgot which one!) about the types of facial treatments you can get, and hair removing treatments, etc. It just seemed overwhelming to me.

[eingy]

Sandra, my friend from high school, her little sister, and her kids all have the one eye with double fold and one eye without! I had never seen it on anyone else before, so that's pretty neat for me. :)

Yay our eyelids, in their natural-born states!

[Mary]

Julie, I believe the answer is yes. If what I'm picturing is what you are describing. I believe it is called sok-ssang-ah-puhl (inside ssang-ah-puhl). i have one of those too. heh.

[Sandra]

eingy, I don't have the two different eyes myself. I just have regular boring double-fold eyes. I would love to have eyes like Smith Cho, I think her's are really pretty.

[Kate]

My (half korean) eyes are double fold, but seriously I was never aware of it until my recent visit to Korea. After a nasty stare from a girl, my friend commented that she was probably jealous because of my eyes. I had to take a look in the mirror! Pfff.. to get plastic surgery for such a minor thing goes beyond me. Thanks for speaking up on this issue! I'm happy with my Korean looks (i'm a proud "duplicate" of my Korean mom) and don't see why Korean women should think so low of themselves that surgery is the only solution.

[Bea]

Great great post as always Carol, I have had a love/hate relationship with my no wrinkle eyelids, but I'm learning to love them more as I get older. I remember as a young girl looking at an Asian Beauty book at the bookstore, and I got so upset because every single woman had the wrinkle! They all had the round eyes, which was just so nuts to me. As I get older, I have become so much more comfortable with my looks, especially since as I am almost 30, I get carded occasionally ;)