Ugly and Beautiful, two contrasting words that, although a basic part of every being’s vocabulary, could not exist without one another. The general reference of an ugly person, place, or thing comes from some form of displeasure that it causes its onlooker. Beauty, on the other hand, is a word used to describe a more pleasant, sometimes breathtaking observation. Without one, there could not be the other, and what may be ugly to you may just in fact be astonishingly beautiful to me. This difference in opinion is seen in art—and perhaps nowhere more often than in the fabulous world of fashion, where I work.

I can remember being a thirteen-year-old girl, always conscience of my looks whether I liked them or not, going through my mother’s closet of wardrobes past. The knee-length shift dress or the flowing top in browns and oranges screamed UGLY to me in my adolescent state, yet to her they were simply beautiful and reminded her of a not-so-distant part of her life. Without my opinion, hers would not have been so strong and meaningful. The clothing was ugly, but it was incredibly beautiful at the same time—it just took four eyes to see it both ways.

A runway show is just a larger scale of my mother’s closest. One artist’s opinion of beautiful being displayed down a white stage with thousands of eyes and hundreds of minds thinking one of two things: ugly or beautiful. Although there can be winning shows and losing shows, there are always people who will disagree, and that is the true beauty of it. Fashion would be a very boring and not so glamorous arena if we didn’t have differing opinions. Ugly is beautiful, to someone, and the best part is that it changes over time. That same ugly shift dress that I saw in my mother’s closet years ago just so happens to be the inspiration to one of the most beautiful pieces in my closet today.

— Emily Vannucci, Account Executive, Men's and Women's Collections, Marc Jacobs, Intl.