Times Reporter Works the Gross End of Fashion Week
Natasha Singer's beauty trend beat at the Times has hitherto seemed like a pretty sweet gig: She finds out about the best wrinkle busters, talks to liposuction experts, and no doubt gets a bunch of free skincare and make-up. All in, it's hardly on a par with risking life and limb in Kabul, or even risking the will to live by interviewing monstrous celebrities. But with her latest assignment she has truly earned her stripes as a brave, intrepid journalist: She joined a manicure/pedicure team catering to Fashion Week and actually scraped dirt from models' finger and toenails.
For three hours, I moved down the line of model feet, some ragged and some kempt, rarely looking above anyone’s knees...I began to recognize toenail afflictions: desiccated cuticles, divots where the nails’ natural lamination had peeled off.
Until, eventually, her "hands smelled like feet." Shudder. But our admiration for her dutiful subjection to this unspeakable task is tempered by just one thing: She didn't spill about whose feet are dirty and deformed! Because call us shallow, but just knowing that, say, Jessica Stam might be a beautiful 22-year-old multi-millionairess, but her second toe is longer than her big toe, would really brighten up our day.
