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I was still on the AI boards then and I was defending Kat's Against All Odds performance and her brown dress as nice. Sjwolves disagreed with it but it turned out that we would agree on many things later on. For some reason, I enjoyed looking at Kat with her hair straight and brown, not curly, long and black. This is probably also the reason why I enjoyed Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, STWOM, and SIFFY as well. Kat is very pretty and I think it's simply beautiful to leave the pretty face and hair not overly done or too made up. You can never over-emphasize beauty, I guess. Harnessing the aspects of a beautiful face and hair is permissible on photo shoots, I think, but not when the person is to perform. I get easily distracted by the visuals. I'd like to focus on the quality of the vocals and the delivery as well. But more importantly, I'd like to be able to feel that the song did something - either lustfully sexy-sounding or theoretically perfect vocal calesthenics-- to my mind and heart.
It was a real journey. This girl fought her place till the end. She deserves respect for what she's accomplished. Now, a grown and attached woman, she's on to realizing other dreams. Got to respect it all.
Astute observations there, Mattsie, on how Kat's natural beauty was/is such a great complement to her vocal skills. Even though I always try to focus on her voice as being the most important--Kat's beauty is really unmatched to this day on the show...and any heavy makeup she wears only diminishes what should be emphasized. There aren't many out there who can look fantastic without a shred of makeup on, but Kat's in one of those situations where putting heavy makeup on her actually makes her become unrecognizable and takes away from the aura she exuded that we all remember from her time on "AI." That's not to say that her photoshoots aren't extraordinary. They nonetheless expect the model to slather on enough makeup to give the appearance sometimes of a geisha.
Sometimes I wonder if Kat realizes how good she looks being natural. Of course, I think she prefers to be that way most of the time--with those in control of the photoshoots forcing her to wear heavier makeup to set a certain persona in the shoot. That's what makeup is usually used the most for in Kat's world: To act out a certain look in a photoshoot or performance. Her performances on "AI" were obviously in that mold, too, even though all her fans wanted was just to see her and her natural self.
Ironic that a chameleon-like actress as Kat is ultimately is the most appealing as herself rather than any fascinating character she could ever play.
Anyway, it's interesting to go back and put these things from Season Five in perspective--especially when we thought we'd exhausted every subject about it two years ago.