Saturday, February 16, 2008

My Favorite Model


On Thursday the New York Times put its fashion coverage to the sidebar and highlighted instead a new group of beauties: the comely canines in Westminster’s annual Kennel Club Show.

They’re good-looking dogs, to be sure, but this fashion/beauty writer has a certain bias.

I’d like to share a photo of Marilla Moormaiden Aprilsdottir, a glamour gal if ever there were one. Her appellation bespeaks of her literary lineage—her first name a character from Anne of Green Gables, her middle name evoking the landscape of Wuthering Heights (and this lassie would have loved to frolic on the moors, charming even the most cantankerous ghosts), her last name in the Icelandic tradition with a twist: she’s named after her mother April.

Neither long nor svelte, Marilla could nevertheless command any sidewalk, park, or veterinarian’s waiting room with her physical grace and flirtatious nature. Who could resist a brindle bullgirl sidling up to them in full wiggle, her sturdy Robert Lee Morris collar-with-a-heart around her considerable neck, a mischievous glint in her eye?

This photo captures her in her grand dame phase, at the dignified age of ten. And although she passed away later in her tenth year, Marilla shows here how she could still call on her inner coquette when a camera was around.

She’s my very favorite model.