My Idea of True Beauty

CONFIDENCE

CAREFREE

KNOWING THAT YOU'RE FABULOUS

EXPRESSION

UNIQUENESS

"UNICORN" FACTOR

Iris Apfel. She is here not only because of her age and how good she looks but because she isn't necessarily an attractive woman, she has a large nose and a masculine jaw but she is so confident in her eccentric style that you wouldn't even notice.

This lady is here because shes so different and unique and edgy but to her its completely normal. Its completely who she is.

Vivienne Westwood is here for the obvious reasons of her old eccentricity but i love this photo especially because it shows so many flaws, but all of them seem to enhance how fabulous she is and reflect her personality. Her teeth are terrible and you can see all of her wrinkles but he confidence, uniqueness and HUGE smile make her beautiful.

This is an image of the OMO tribe of Ethiopia. I adore this image because it shows so much decorative culture in one photo and it is nothing like how we express our culture or even how I've seen other tribes express theirs. Even though all the "makeup." I was a bit worried at how i would incorporate makeup to a person that wouldn't usually have it because i didn't want to compromise the idea of their natural beauty showing, but this has helped me understand how i can use it to enhance.

This is probably one of the most truly beautiful women I've ever seen. I love this image because shes covered in freckles, has a wide nose and has shaved her head, which goes against everything were told is typically beautiful.

FAKE Diversity

We are constantly surrounded by beauty companies trying to sell us products under the false pretence that everyone is beautiful to them. This is a lie. In ever one of these campains we see the same three things that are meant to represent diversity: A beautiful white female, a beutiful Asian female, and a beautiful (often westernised) Black female.

In my research of this issue i could not find a single image using real Black women with black features, nor could i find any using black women with darker skin. They were all light skinned Black women with perfect slim noses. Same for the Asian women. It was like the campaigners were trying to get as close to the white ideal beauty notion as they could while hiding under the idea of diversity. It actually really frustrated me and was the first time I've felt angry at anything like this, now that i really understand it.

Beauty Vs Attractivness

To discover what my interpretation of true diverse beauty was I first had to distinguish the difference between beauty and attractiveness. I decided to look up how each was described in the Oxford Dictionary to begin.

Attractive is described in the Oxford Dictionary as:
"Pleasing or appealing to the senses:an attractive village foliage can be as attractive as flowers

(of a person) appealing to look at; sexually alluring:a stunningly attractive, charismatic man"

Beauty is described as:

"A combination of qualities, such as shape, colour, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight: I was struck by her beauty"

The definition of beauty surprised me, because it describes beauty as being really truly diverse. I now feel confident in my understanding of the brief and am starting to get a clearer idea of where i want to go with the project.

We are constantly told we must be ATTRACTIVE, rather than beautiful.

Cabaret

                              

The film Cabaret gave me a better understanding of live and times in the 20s in Berlin. Things that stuck out to me were:

• I LOVE the fact that everyone is different ages, shapes and sizes but are still described as beautiful - "Even the orchestra are beautiful!" There are dancers with rolls and large butch looking female musicians but they're all there, they're all dressed up to the nines and they're all FABULOUS.
•  Confidence exudes from EVERYBODY involved in the cabaret. They are all completely confident in they're own skin which in itself is beautiful. "Doesn't my body drive you wild with desire!"
• The lack of judgement shown to these people through the film. And when Sally is judged by Natalia for sleeping with lots of men she brushes it off and doesn't really let it bother her. There is more judgement shown to the Nazis than the performers.
• The fashion is amazing and very similar to that of Chicago, but its more raw and more unpolished because the scene is a lot more seedy and underground in Berlin.
• The Era; because the film was made in the 70s you can see a lot of 70s influences creeping in to the original 20s style. The colour scheme and use of denim, and the shapes and materials of a lot of the clothes are very 70s.
• Sally's childlike facial expressions. She was very bouncy and childlike and excitable and o me this reflects on her being carefree and having no worries. A child never worries what others will think of them, and neither does she.

 The one thing that really bugged me throughout the film was Sally's nails. She is always described in literature and other remakes as having chipped emerald green nails. Her nails were emerald green but they were ALWAYS perfectly manicured. i felt this was one if the things that really references her faux-glam lifestyle and yet the stylists completely missed out on it.