Fashion magazines show: thin women, clear skin, latest trends, symmetrical facial features, no tattoos, all white teeth, straight teeth, happy/smirking/suggestive expressions, short catchy headlines, "how to" editorials, wrinkle free skin, even toned skin, perfect symmetrical eyebrows, selling sex, young 20 something's,
Fact: Signs of aging is airbrushed before printing the final cover release.
Inference: Fashion magazines depict the beauty of a beautiful woman as a woman that has no physical signs of aging.
Judgement: Wrinkles make a woman appear unattractive; attractive women don't have wrinkles.
Judgment: Signs of aging must be hidden to show a beautiful woman.
Judgment: Beauty is a certain age range.
Fact: Her front leg is photo shopped to appear thinner.
Inference: Thinner legs is one feature of sexy body.
Inference: Thinner legs is something a beautiful woman has.
Judgment: Thin thighs are sexy and fashionable.
Judgment: Thin thighs will show the beauty of the human body.
Judgment: The size of your leg will classify your leg as either being visually pleasing or not.
Fact: The actress' under eye is smoothed out in the after picture.
Inference: Under eye circles are smoothed out to show the perfect body does not have under eye circles.
Judgment: Under eye circles must not be present, otherwise it is not a desirable trait.
Judgment: Women with under eye circles aren't as pretty with women who have them.
Judgment: A smooth under eye is something that is a favorable trait and showing other wise might turn readers away.
Fact: Her hair is made to look symmetrical and voluminous.
Inference: The need to have everything look even will show the beauty of a woman.
Judgment: Having an even looking body, down to the hair is something society favors.
Judgment: Symmetry of the face will show the beauty of a woman.
Judgment: A symmetrical face and body is something a beautiful woman has.
Fact: Her skin is smoothed over to appear lighter.
Inference: Lighter skin is a beautiful trait.
Judgment: Lighter skin is something one should try to achieve, women who fall into this category is desirable.
Judgment: Even colored body is something one should achieve to look visually appealing.
Fact: Her stomach crease is smoothed over.
Inference: In order to follow appealing image the stomach must appear flawless.
Judgment: Ripples or creases when you hunch over is unattractive.
Judgment: Healthy, flat tummies are sexy.
Judgment: A creased stomach might appear unattractive.
My obsession with finding photo-shopped fashion magazine covers has caused me to question a lot about beauty and consumerism. The definition of fashion is something that is trendy or the production and marketing of new styles and goods. So what is are we to assume for when we see the women on these fashion magazine covers. If i was to look at the image that I see and just merely name the ideas that the image has or does not have I begin to create a list of what is considered beautiful in the fashion world. So if i could safely assume women who do not fit into the schema aren't beautiful. This is a bold statement because not everyone thinks what is produced as beautiful on the covers is attractive. Some people like women with tattoos, birth marks like moles, curvier bodies and so on.
I spent two days just filing up a folder on my desktop full of before and after pictures of models and actresses on magazine covers. I then posted some of my findings onto my facebook account to see what reaction I would get from my friends about the covers. Most people what I had to say about the covers and some just gave a thumbs up to the thought of 'tailored' beauty. I thought to myself what were the ones that didn't say anything thinking?
The imagery women see have caused most women to become so very vein. Yes, there are a lot of us that can appreciate fashion and fashionable accessories but when does the shopping for something you don't have end? Does it stop with plastic surgery, when all your credit cards are maxed out, or does it stop when you just hit a point where you've had enough of what fashion magazines tell you to go after?
Some videos that I'm entertaining the idea of basing my essay on:
The pressure on women to meet unrealistic beauty standards is so unrelenting. You’ve picked a great topic!
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t in class last week, so I don’t know the parameters of the essay, but some of the things I thought as I read your piece:
Maybe if you covered some of the unhealthy things women have done for beauty thru historical (foot binding, corsets, arsenic face powder) and cultural contexts (skin lightening and fattening huts.)
It would be interesting to hear why certain beauty standards exist. I just saw before/after shots of a Britney Spears Candies ad. Britney is a dancer, and the before shot showed amazing muscle definition in her legs. You can see she is strong and athletic, but they retouched them to look like Barbie doll legs. And the retouching on her skin . . .she looks plastic in the final shot. If beauty ideals have any basis in biology and reproduction, shouldn’t her healthy (and human like) traits be encouraged?
Along those lines . . .I heard a designer say that fashion makes clothes for the model body type because to do a variety would decrease profits. So, the customer needs to fit the clothes, not the other way around. I also remember something about how beauty standards changed over night with the invention of the camera. The camera films angular, symmetrical shapes better than irregular bulbous ones. Are women are being enslaved to material items like clothing and cameras?
Over the past couple of years the fashion crowd has been taking a lot of heat for its lack of diverse representation. Last year’s press was all about models of color, this year it is about plus sizes. Do you think they are just being fashionable and will revert to the standard, skinny, white, young model once the heat is off? Vogue has really been responsive, but I wonder if it is just to get good press. Then again when I saw this month Vogue India that has darker skinned models on the cover and I honestly got a little misty eyed. And they do use Crystal Renn often. I love her, I haven't read her book yet but think its going to be a beach read this summer.
Lastly, France was thinking about requiring photoshopped images be labeled. But I met a retoucher who told me any and every image you see in print has been photoshopped. Do you think labeling would help? If not, what other ways do you think we could educate the viewing public.
Good luck with your paper!