How high is your beauty standard?

I recently read an article in The Huffington Post about the excessive use of Photoshop in fashion and the celebrities who have spoken against this. I feel the need to write about this subject, because I see around me the negative effects it has on women’s lives. I see them mostly on teenagers and young women, who are so influenced by what they see in the magazines.

Growing up, I’ve had issues accepting my own flaws, because I’ve set my beauty standard too high. I never felt beautiful enough. What “enough” means, I can’t really say.   It took me years to make peace with my own body, but I did it because I had the chance to work in fashion and understand that “what you see is not what you get”. I am now the mother of an almost 2 years- old girl, and so I’m concerned about how she will be influenced when she grows up.

My dear darlings, no body is as flawless as you see it in pictures, no skin is as perfect, no woman gets out of bed with the perfect hairdo. Yes, they are models, but trust me, you don’t want to be as skinny as they are.

Pictures: Pinterest

And yes, some of them are really beautiful, but so are many other women who are not presented on the covers of the magazines. They are like me & you…beautiful, but not perfect.

In fact, I believe perfection is overrated. But, somehow it’s still attractive. Probably, this attractiveness pushed the excessive use of Photoshop, and in time it just got out of control, to the point where it alters reality.  Lately, more and more celebs refused to be extremely enhanced, as they felt that agreeing to that, would mean being a part of a big lie.

[pull_quote_center]Lady Gaga: “Young people should fight back against the forces that make them feel like they’re not beautiful” and cited unreasonable beauty standards printed on magazine covers as an offender. She elaborated, “It is fair to write about the change in your magazines. But what I want to see is the change on your covers… When the covers change, that’s when culture changes.”  [/pull_quote_center]

[pull_quote_center]Kate Winslet: “The retouching is excessive. I do not look like that and more importantly I don’t desire to look like that.” when she saw the cover of GQ magazine. [/pull_quote_center]

Source: Huffington Post

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Picture: Huff Post

I worked with brides for lots of years, and I’ve seen them so many times coming with photos of wedding dresses from fashion websites or magazines and with the belief that “if it looks good on her it would look good on me too”. I’ve seen them disappointed, because they didn’t understand that knowing your body and choosing the right style is so important and it’s the first step in feeling great with yourself. Some of them were not in love with the dress itself, but with the image they saw in the magazine.  And that is a mistake! Those images are made to sell, and they do a great job.  Your job is to see beyond that…

This is an interesting video: The Dove self-esteem Fund

Look great, feel wonderful and enjoy your weekend!

Kiss Kiss,

Gia

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