Sunday, April 19, 2009

And Now For Something Completely Serious...

In searching for Tom of Finland images (strictly for educational purposes), we came across this striking image of a young man who modeled for the Tom of Finland boutique in New York City:


With lips and cheekbones which could heal the sick, we were sure that he probably led a charmed life, as all people with museum-quality bone structure do. What we learned was that his name was Brian Bianchini, and on March 16, 2004, he died by his own hand.

He was still four months shy of his 24th birthday.


Despite being worldly-wise and sophisticated, we sometimes have the naive, silly notion that Life Is Perfect If You're Beautiful. So we found it shocking and sobering and incredibly sad that such a young man of such remarkable beauty could possibly find life so painful and meaningless that death seemed the only option.


We have no answers or pearls of wisdom; here at SSUWAT, we unabashedly celebrate the superficial. Glamour, beauty, artifice, and style over substance quite often help us make it through the day, and soften the ragged edges of real life. For us, that's enough. For Brian, and for many others, nothing could fill the void or ease the pain. So, for a moment, we will be completely serious: if you find yourself feeling that life is hopeless, please don't be afraid to seek help. Find and appreciate the beauty in life, and yourself.


R.I.P., Brian Bianchini. We hope that you've found the happiness which eluded you in life.




Tribute to Brian here.

2 comments:

  1. Sad story indeed. And beauty is only skin deep.

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  2. Strange how all of the RIGHT qualities so rarely come together in one individual. If you’re missing even one ingredient then you might as well have missed the boat. Ambition, Motivation, Drive, Talent, Beauty, Self Esteem, Ego, Intelligence, Style, Savvy....Fate...Sad to see such a pretty loss.

    I attended a wedding reception several years ago and met the most handsome man I have ever seen in person. It turned out he was a former Dolce & Gabbana model who now worked as an International Male catalog skimpy underwear model. Nevertheless he was hot. He died three weeks after this meeting in a freak parachute accident. The chute got tangled in a camera mounted on his helmet and plummeted 11000 feet. He lived for three more days afterward.

    Some pretty people seem to have been doomed from the start it’s like they traded a long happy life for extreme beauty.

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