Lately I have been thinking a lot about what society defines as beautiful and what is actually real in the fashion industry. When you look at those fashion ads in magazines, did you know that what you are looking at is altered? Those models in Victoria Secrets magazines are stunning, but did you know that those photos are photoshopped before going to print? Not only has society set a standard for what we all should considered beautiful, but they have altered reality. Not even the most stunning model can reach those standards without being tightened, smoothed, and lifted in a computer program.
Beauty surrounds us. It draws us in. It creates happiness and joy.
But what is beauty?
Beauty is defined as (1.) A combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, esp. the sight. (2.) A combination of qualities that pleases the intellect or moral sense.
But what does that mean to you?
Beauty is subjective. It is often a personal experience. What is beautiful to you, may not be as beautiful to someone else.
Yet society has changed our perspectives of beauty. The industry has told us what we must think is beautiful. They have told us that we have to have high cheek bones, unobtainable thin waist, long legs, and absolutely no fat under the arms.
No wonder our perception of beauty is so distorted...
And is beauty a cultural thing? A time period thing?
When you look at other cultures, other periods in time, you find different attributes that define beauty.
So...is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Or is beauty based on what society tells us it is?
If you look close enough you can see beauty in everything.
-Rebecca
