BEAUTIFUL, PRETTY, HANDSOME

Exploring the Beauty Within...

• I have a photo of a face, a fashion face, a creator-of-fashion face. Female fashion usually revolves around either gorgeous women or in more recent decades, “quirky or unusual “ facial structure.

  The fashion face in my 1997 magazine photo is Miuccia Prada, one of the top designers of women’s garments. Miuccia has a face I call “handsome”. As it is more often a term defining men, why would I call a female face, “ handsome”? I would say because her face is deeply thoughtful, deeply thinking, a deeply creative woman outside the predictable box. Miuccia does not look frivolous, frilly or fluffy, not that there is anything inherently wrong in those things! Since she has been in a rough and difficult business, that of designing garments, she projects strength and a serious tone. That, to me, is a core element of handsome.

  Being an eccentric who is both verbal and visual, based on my 73+ years of life, I experience types of female “looks” in a certain way. One is “beautiful”, which usually involves a face of symmetry (cheekbones!!), proportion and balance, serene and yet striking. “Pretty” is usually a somewhat lesser intensity than formally “beautiful”, perhaps less intimidating and more lighthearted (think of the beauty of someone like actress Sophia Loren or top model Iman, versus the rest of us with more average looks). Then I have a description of what I call a “handsome” woman, which to some degree, is where I myself fit it, as handsome women can be attractive and also highly intelligent and not focused on being a “girly-girl” but on the honorable use of the intellect, honoring the invisible realm of God, His Son and the Holy Spirit and such Eternal gifts. While I love the realm of beauty, I am also an Elder and over a lifetime, I have seen the steep and sometimes jagged cost of pursuing the surface “stuff.” Beauty can be serious business.

  Since I have been a biological female since birth in 1952, I will say, based on my direct and difficult experience in the laboratory of my own life, there is a seriousness in women! Although the surface can sometimes appear lighthearted, flippant, flirtatious... aka “silly girls”, I think at the core, women have a seriousness that belies that surface presentation.

  Anyone who has a physical element that, once you reach puberty, you BLEED every month and later that lining of the uterus has the capacity to hold an ovum that can be fertilized by a sperm cell and life is sparked...that is pretty darn SERIOUS.

  I very sincerely honor men for their strength, their courage, their industry, their dedication, their honorable (sometimes!) protective instincts. I am drawn to men, I am attracted to men...but the puzzle piece requires a twofold journey, which while I have had in the past, one long term relationship with a man in my life, I never formally married...I guess I am just too untrusting in the long run. I have never had a Covenant relationship.

  The polar opposites of male-female are like a push-pull drama...offending and yet drawing, the “opposites attract” stuff.

• What a sometimes-mess?? What’s a garment and beauty lover to do?? One thing is, I continue to be a type of “scientist”, a deep observer of the human condition, with much of the human condition revealed in clothing, both good and not so good.

  Men’s clothing is often far more practical: direct, blunt, somewhat more simple and to the point. For example, my Dad’s overalls made that point quite well, that though he sadly did not pursue the work he felt drawn to ( a draftsman, ), he kept on with structured work to keep the basics toogether.

  Overalls are sublimely practical, with grommets and pockets for every need! He worked for many years on the railroad and overalls were the perfect garment for that work.

  Women’s clothing can be far less practical, sometimes frustratingly silly at times and very demanding of bits and pieces...that cost $$$$$. Good grief and gravy, the minutia we girls are expected to have!!! (Multiple shades of red lipstick, each costing $30 to $50...for what??? Dont get me started...) I love makeup, I understand the fascination with subtle shade differences… I do not love the demand of 15 different shades of red at the cost of hundreds of $$$, for what result?? This is overkill, IMHO.

  I have a saved newspaper story from quite a long time ago, about young women’s “ backlash” to shorter skirts , preferring the sweep , feel of movement and perhaps even the protective force of longer skirts ( what used to be called “midi” or “ maxi” skirts. I remember my journalism class teacher in my junior or senior year of high school long ago, a formidable and brilliant woman, looking amused at my wearing a midi skirt, and she calling it a “ get-up”. I defended it, strangely enough. She heard me…

• The “ no dang good “ pronouncement runs very intense over women...the spirit of condemnation is truly woven all into the thread of much of women’ s clothing, makeup, physical self, status or none, the push-push-push never ends.

  When you add the ELDER on top of it all...age is verboten #1. We are simply never enough.

  Makeup tutorials, the steep dangers of getting old, the winnowing down to dust of our authentic self...the making small our humanity...it is relentless.

  I could further lash out...but I wont, I feel none will hear me. I have enough struggles to deal with as it is, in the repercussions of my legendary sharp tongue!

  With the pitched battles of humanity in 2026, flooding over our world on all continents, all colors, all tribes, the earth itself rattling with the devilish deeds...it would seem my tiny concerns and malaise and emotional rants should remain mere pebbles in the avalanche of darkness...and yet I see HOPE on the horizon. Many are waking up to God and His mercy and love. I myself came back to God from 35 years of wandering as a Prodigal.

  How and where is this hope, as amidst the chaos of sadness is hatred, blame, defeat, cynicism, the rapacious hunger for even more darkness...the food that does not fill....the suffering empty souls screaming to belong, to grab the Hand of God holding out a warm and rough-hewn palm open in bounty, provision, abundance but not STUFF...reaching to our tear stained faces of despair... I am sure Papa God hears me wail over and over again, “Why would You love me?? Do You know my filthy history?? My shame, my sorrow, my regrets, my unhappy memories, the grief I have hauled behind me for sixty years since immediate family members died suddenly in my teens..the heavy bag of rocks...how can I leave the bag behind...it would get lonely without me...” Papa is holding out His hand, saying “let the burden GO...” to my face full of crying ... as I say over and over,” Help me. Papa, amidst the charnel wreckage of past of tears...HOW HOW HOW?”

  He tells me to pursue my lifelong love of all things fabric, garments, beauty and what He calls “THREADS”. He is almost shoving me in this direction, regardless of my dithering. He says to me “Hand Me the keys, I know the Way, W.E.W. “ Shall I do this?? I suspect, YES.

• Wendy Elizabeth Williams Friday, June 5, 2026

  --Consider becoming a paid subscriber at $5.00 a month. The yearly cost is $60, if you prefer that way...but I actually prefer the $5 a month, if possible, so there is no snagging if you decide you have to step down from a paid subscription. Less confusing and less costly for me. You can subscribe easily on my Substack page and if you find you can no longer be a paid subscriber, you can do so via Substack itself or contact me via a direct message on Substack Notes and I will help you. I know financial things can be gnarly for many of us in general and I take not a penny for granted! No pressure on you!

  --Consider donating any amount from $1 and up on my Ko-fi page at Ko-fi.com/wendyelizabethwilliams. You can donate one time, periodically or monthly, as you see fit. I am also enjoying writing a shorter weekly piece on my Ko-fi page, focusing mainly on my lifelong love of fabric, garments, beauty and the centuries- long battles between men and women. After I get my weekly Substack longer piece up on Friday nights, I also place my shorter Ko-fi piece up on Notes. Tonight’s short piece on Ko-fi continues my ongoing theme about garments and the power of clothing to help or harm. “A Direct and Sober gaze, with a touch of class”, regards a couple of high fashion photos I still have, from the days of yore when I subscribed to fashion magazines. Two photos, one I spoke of in my Substack piece, is Miuccia Prada, amazing designer of clothing. Her face is not mean but sober. Second photo is for a luxury Italian clothing brand, Bottega Veneta and features a very sober young man in a beautiful suit jacket. I love the quiet dignity of a sober face, not mean but serious and not lighthearted.

  --Please pray for me! Thank you, Wendy