I had to look it up: fashion models are required to look glum on the runway in order to avoid taking the focus away from the clothing they are wearing. In other words, perhaps if they smiled, they would look too beautiful for us to bother caring about their clothing. This doesn’t make much sense to me. Why hire those who have, ostensibly, the most perfect faces and then tell themβ “Go out there and knock ’em dead! βbut not too dead. We don’t want actual dead people, so look as average as possible.” Why not just hire average people and let them smile? In sum, I don’t buy it. I think there’s another reason they’re required to look glum, and I think I know what it is: glumness is currently in fashion. Smiles come and go! Here is a woodland setting with facially fashionable children. Uh, wait. Isn’t it fashionable for children to smile? Oops…