Beauty is a
Beast
Why do we
think we’re not beautiful?
There’s been
a multitude of things in the media over the last few months about the beauty
and fashion industry. France made the not-so-drastic choice to ban beauty
pageants, Dove launched its campaign of ‘Real Beauty’ and Barbie is no longer
the most popular girl in Malibu. Times are changing. So, it’s about time we
removed the foundation that’s covering up the cracks in our views on what’s
beautiful.
We all know
of the perfect ideal that we can wear whatever we want, whenever we want, so
why does no one act upon it? You don’t see Miley Cyrus crying in the bathroom
that everyone hated her outfit; she’s out there in the spotlight writhing
around in a plastic bikini no matter how socially inappropriate it is. I’m not
saying that we should all jump on the bandwagon, wearing wetsuits in winter,
but maybe it’s not such a bad idea to adopt some of Miss Miley’s ‘don’t care’
attitude.
The past
Throughout history, people held different opinions on what ‘beauty’ was; it’s
not only the fashion that changed, but the definition. Females of the 21st century are
struggling with the pressure to be thin, to be picture-perfect…but if you look
at actual painted pictures from the
15th century,
society preferred their women chubby by today’s standard. 18th century
women liked to squeeze themselves into corsets that were bruising but
beautiful, yet nowadays women are shamed for wearing the current trend of
corsets and cropped tops. Correct me if I’m wrong but I’m sure Marie Antoinette
didn’t get hassle for her high fashion.
The present
A study was
done by Boston University showing the levels of self-esteem in teenage girls
throughout their college life and how it decreased as the years progressed. Was
that because of super model influences, or harshly judged outfits? It’s both.
The beauty and fashion industry is meant to be a hopeful resource to girls to prove to themselves and others that they can be beautiful no matter what their shape, size or social status. As time has gone on the beauty and fashion world has become one filled with criticism and judgement, no longer a celebration that women can look however they want but a destructive environment for women that don’t fit the mould.
The beauty and fashion industry is meant to be a hopeful resource to girls to prove to themselves and others that they can be beautiful no matter what their shape, size or social status. As time has gone on the beauty and fashion world has become one filled with criticism and judgement, no longer a celebration that women can look however they want but a destructive environment for women that don’t fit the mould.
The future
So what
about an even younger audience; how are we influencing the opinions of young
and impressionable girls? I bet we can all name someone that owned at least one
Barbie…or thirty and we wonder why girls have such high standards. Barbie has
perfectly styled blonde hair, an unrealistically perfect figure and the biggest
wardrobe known to mankind. She is the epitome of perfection. Or should that be
she was?
In a recent report published by Mattel, the creators of Barbie, the sales of the multi-billion dollar doll dropped by 6%. Girls just aren’t as interested in Malibu’s most famous anymore. This is probably due to the introduction of competition, ironically also owed by Mattel. ‘Monster High’ are dolls made to resemble famous monsters such as Frankenstein and Count Dracula, carrying the catchy slogan of ‘Be Yourself, Be Unique, Be a Monster’. It’s definitely encouraging to see consumers opting for a brand that encourages individuality rather than idealism.
In a recent report published by Mattel, the creators of Barbie, the sales of the multi-billion dollar doll dropped by 6%. Girls just aren’t as interested in Malibu’s most famous anymore. This is probably due to the introduction of competition, ironically also owed by Mattel. ‘Monster High’ are dolls made to resemble famous monsters such as Frankenstein and Count Dracula, carrying the catchy slogan of ‘Be Yourself, Be Unique, Be a Monster’. It’s definitely encouraging to see consumers opting for a brand that encourages individuality rather than idealism.
It’s not just young girls that are gaining better
ideas about what beauty is, but also a slightly more mature generation. Dove
recently launched a campaign talking about finding ‘Real Beauty.’ A survey was
completed, worldwide, that showed only 4% out of over 1000 women consider
themselves beautiful. The research also revealed that 72% of women feel the
pressure to be perfect. That is hugely depressing. Is this really the society
we would like to live in? The beauty world should be doing something to fix
that depressing statistic.
Some may argue that beauty is encouraging women to
improve their self-esteem and the way they view themselves, but those people haven’t
yet fallen down the rabbit hole to a world of madness, exposing themselves to
the hypocrisy of the beauty industry. How can people feel good in their own
skin when they constantly compare themselves to the likes of Kate Moss and
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who prance around catwalk like they’re queens of the
world?
In general we need to come up with a way of combatting the self-esteem issues that shroud women like a black storm cloud. This could mean using models with more ‘average’ proportions in magazines and fashion shows, or changing the dolls that are given to girls so a better message about self-image is presented. The point is that every woman has the power to pick up a magazine and say “I’ll look good in that outfit” and not bother to pay attention to the person actually wearing the clothes. Every woman has the power to believe they are beautiful.
In general we need to come up with a way of combatting the self-esteem issues that shroud women like a black storm cloud. This could mean using models with more ‘average’ proportions in magazines and fashion shows, or changing the dolls that are given to girls so a better message about self-image is presented. The point is that every woman has the power to pick up a magazine and say “I’ll look good in that outfit” and not bother to pay attention to the person actually wearing the clothes. Every woman has the power to believe they are beautiful.
Together we
can change the way people think about themselves and what it really means
to be beautiful.
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