Smiles Everyone...

Vintage Purple and Pink Cabbage Rose dress

This is such a sweet cocktail dress. My mother loved this, and I know that there are pictures of her wearing it, but I have to find them. I do remember her vividly in the dress, though, it was such a lovely color on her, and it brought out the roses in her cheeks. When my mother smiled, she had the greatest cheeks, I know that may sound weird, but I loved the way her checks would raise and her eyes would sparkle. It turns out, there is an actual name for that kind of smile; it is called a 'Duchenne' smile after a French neurologist. Here is a little info that I looked up on it:

"Dr Guillaneume Duchenne further defined the differences in smiles. A true genuine smile stimulates the zygomatic major muscle and lifts the corners of the mouth in an upward movement and the muscles around the eyes (the orbicularis oculi) to wrinkle up, also known as crow's feet, by pulling on the cheeks. Dr Duchenne noticed that "fake" smiles or smiles not attached to any specific emotion, engages the zygomatic muscle but not the orbicular oculi muscle. This is why true, voluntary and intentional smiles are referred to as Duchenne Smiles."

Wow! Who Knew?! I'll take crows feet over a fake smile any day. The pics below are two of my favorites of my mom, it's the smile in both, that makes me love them.