What Is Beauty?

Image Analysis Essay: What Is Beauty?

FASH20031 Katie Ottewell N0367214

“Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye” (Shakespeare 2008: 36), is a statement which has radiated through the centuries. However through the years what people consider to be beautiful has altered.

Now we have to ask the question “what

happens when the majority of people have overly high expectations and evaluations of what is beautiful?” Advertising, magazines, music and films are fuelling men and women’s views of ultimate beauty, with the underlying ideal of almost artificial perfection as McGarry says in Stylist Magazine (McGarry 2011:48).

Beauty being more than these ideals was the starting point for our photo shoot. We wanted to show the spectrum of beauty and focus on the areas being under represented in the fashion industry. The ‘Barbie’ ideal of beauty in western society creates a narrow set of standards we have come to think of as the holy grail of figure and looks. Society refuses to acknowledge beauty in everyone and as the dictionary definition of beauty states it is “the combination of all the qualities of a person or thing that delight the senses and please the mind” (Simpson, Weiner 1989:144 ).

Figure 1. Twiggy

Historically the notions of beauty have not always been set around the guidelines we are accustomed to today. It wasn’t until the 1960’s that women began to appear in fashion and the media looking decidedly thinner than the decades previously, with an example being the model Twiggy in figure 1. From then on women in the spot light only seemed to be becoming thinner. The shift in body shape, from the larger women of the mediaeval era as in figure 2, to the accentuated curves created by corsets of the early 20 th century shown with actress Sarah Bernhardt (figure 3), finally seems to have come to a roadblock with the end result being the over thin models we see today. This idea of beauty is being valued more highly than the truth about what it means to beautiful (Smith, Barringer, Rosenfeld, 2012: online). People seem to have forgotten that all women have layers of beauty to show no matter what their race, age or size. So does this mean our views on what is beautiful have changed, or have they been manipulated for us?

Figure 2. 'I am Half Sick of Shadows', said the Lady of Shalott

Figure 3. Sarah Bernhardt

Figure 5. Untitled (I Shop Therefore I Am)

Figure 4. You are Not Yourself

Figure 6. Royal Rumble

Inspiration for the style of our photo shoot came from the artist Barbara Kruger, whose work we first encountered at the Postmodernism Style and Subversion exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum. We were drawn to the layered effect she creates within her pieces. Our main inspirational image was her piece ‘You Are Not Yourself’ shown in figure 4, which uses a layering effect of a fragmented photograph. We felt this would fit well with our idea of layered beauty, but would be more effective if we printed the images on a translucent material, creating a piece with overlapping photographs. We were also drawn to the messages behind her images and her “desire for social change” (Barrett, 2012:118). This particular image shows the changes to identity people have to make and are willing to make to conform. In many of her other pieces Kruger says she aims to “make statements that are negative about the culture we are in” (Kruger in Barrett, 2012:118) and to “challenge the perceived stereotyping that women have been experiencing for years”(English, 2007:106). Her famous piece ‘Untitled’ (I shop therefore I am) as seen in figure 5, comments on how people in society are defined by what they buy. She does this using a play on words of philosopher Rene Descartes ‘I think therefore I am’, saying people in our culture have to shop to exist and their identity is made up by what they buy (Hall, 2007:24).

We also looked at other artists for inspiration including Mario David Fischer and his layered acrylic sculptures (figure 6). His work is created by screen printing sections of an image onto acrylic, then layering them to create an overall image. We felt that the illusions created in his work through the use of layering could translate and reinforce the message of layered beauty we were trying to portray and doing this by printing onto transparent material and overlapping the images. From this we arrived at the title ‘Delusional’, with the illusion of beauty that the media feeds us leading to our opinions of beauty being delusional.

Figure 7. Head shot

Figure 8.. Waist

Our final piece is comprised of four photographs printed on acetate and layered over each other. We blurred all the images around the edges to represent the blurring boundaries of beauty we were trying create with our images.

The first image in the piece is a head shot of a black woman, cropped as not to distract from the beauty of her face (Figure 7). We felt that ethnicity was being not being fairly represented with 79.4 % of models at New York fashion week Spring Summer 2012 being white (Sauers 2012: online). In the photograph the model is looking straight on at the camera as if staring directly at the viewer, forcing them to question their thinking.

The second photograph is of the waist of a woman (figure 8). We chose to focus on this area of the body as it is one often altered in Photoshop to look as small and smooth as possible because “within western media thinness is overwhelmingly idolised and being overweight is often stigmatised," (Boothroyd 2012:online) . We wanted to change this idea by photographing a slightly larger and curvier woman with the aim to illustrate and change the behaviour of others towards women of different sizes and body shapes. The model has her hand on her hip in this image with the connotation being attitude and confidence, showing she is proud of what she has.

Figure 10. Eye

The next photograph, figure 9, is the torso of a woman with diamond and floral tattoos across her chest and arms. The woman is not wearing clothes to show the full extent of her tattoos and is cropped to highlight this area. We included this photo as models, the people beauty is often compared to, generally do not have tattoos. Often tattoos connote rebellion, which could be viewed as negative motivation. In this case the woman is rebelling against the expectations of being beautiful and shows her personality through the art she put on her body, expressing her inner beauty.

The final photograph is a close up of the eye of an elderly woman (figure 10). We felt showing this area of the body, which one in five women take daily action against by using anti-wrinkle eye creams (Mintel2012: online) , would highlight the beauty that comes with age. We wanted to challenge some of connotations of wrinkles by showing they can signify beauty and wisdom not just old age.

Figure 9. Tattooed Chest

It will eventually be the change in behaviour of society as a whole that will stretch the idea of beauty to include women everywhere. Ripples of change are beginning to appear across the fashion industry as slowly, one photo shoot, magazine article and T.V programme at a time people’s ideas will begin to challenge the restrictions our current culture imposes on what is considered beautiful. With the beginning of an epidemic round the corner it just needs the momentum to reach its Tipping Point to become a global phenomenon (Gladwell, 2002:9).

Figure 11. Final Images

Word count: 1,099

References Barrett. T, 2012. Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images 5th ed. New York: McGraw- Hill Boothroyd , 2012. Thinness in media feeds body size obsession [online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-20251825 [29.11.12] English. B. 2007. A Cultural History of Fashion in the 20th Century: From the Calkwalk to the Sidewalk. New York: Berg Publishing Gladwell. M. 2002. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.

New York: Back Bay Books Hall. S, 2007. This Means This, This Means That: A Users Guide To Semiotics.

London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd McGarry, J., 2011. Girls On Film. Stylist, p.46 – 48 Mintel, 2012. Facial Skincare: skin type and usage and products. Mintel [online] Available via Mintel [28.11.12] Sauers, J., 2012. Is Colour Coming Into Fashion? [online] Available at: http://uk.jezebel.com/5943926/counting-models-of-color-at-new-york-fashionweek-racial-diversity-is-growing [01.12.12] Shakespeare, W. Johnson,S., Steevens, G., 2008 . The plays of William Shakespeare: in twenty-one volumes, Volume 7. Princeton University Press Simpson, J. A. , Weiner E.S.C, 1989. The Oxford English dictionary. Oxford : Oxford University Press Smith, A., Barringer, T., Rosenfeld, J. , 2012. Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant Garde: Room 5 [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tatebritain/exhibition/pre-raphaelites-victorian-avant-garde/pre-raphaelites-victorian0-4 [02.12.12]

Bibliography Books Adamson. G, PAVITT. S, 2011. Postmodernism Style and Subversion, 1970 – 1990.

London: V&A Publishing Barrett. T, 2012. Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images 5th ed. New York: McGraw- Hill Bergstrom. B. 2008. Essentials of Visual Communication. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd English. B. 2007. A Cultural History of Fashion in the 20th Century: From the Calkwalk to the Sidewalk. New York: Berg Publishing Gladwell. M. 2002. The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference.

New York: Back Bay Books Hall. S, 2007. This Means This, This Means That: A Users Guide To Semiotics. London: Laurence King Publishing Ltd Simpson, J. A. , Weiner E.S.C, 1989. The Oxford English dictionary. Oxford : Oxford University Press Shakespeare, W. Johnson,S., Steevens, G., 2008 . The plays of William Shakespeare: in twenty-one volumes, Volume 7. Princeton University Press Woods, T., 1999. Beginning Postmodernism. Manchester: Manchester University Press

T.V and Film Am I Normal, 2008. [TV] BBC Two, 29 April 2008 I Want to Change My Body, 2012. [TV] BBC Three, November 19th 2012 Studs, 2012. [Fashion Film] SHOWstudio, July 27 2012

Magazines McGarry, J., 2011. Girls On Film. Stylist, p.46 – 48 Kastrisianakis, S., Kykrilis, V,. 2011 I’m-perfection Project. Naked But Safe, #1, p. 60 – 63 Orton, K., 2012. Desert of the Unreal. Dazed and Confused, November, p. 94 – 99 Scornio, K., 2012. The Age Of Iris. Dazed and Confused, November, p. 100 – 109 Stemp, S., 2012. Now That’s What I Call Gamour!. You, September, p.52 – 55.

Welch, A., 2012. Make Some Noise. Wonderland, April/May , p.256 – 261.

Websites Anonymous, 2011. Eating disorders [online]. Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/eating-disorders/pages/introduction.aspx [01.12.12] Smith, A., Barringer, T., Rosenfeld, J. , 2012. Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant Garde: Room 5 [online] Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tatebritain/exhibition/pre-raphaelites-victorian-avant-garde/pre-raphaelites-victorian-0-4 [02.12.12] Anonymous, 2009. One million Britons suffer from eating disorders - so why is so little being done to help? [online]. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/lifestyle/health-and-families/healthy-living/one-million-britons-suffer-from-eatingdisorders--so-why-is-so-little-being-done-to-help-1642775.html [01.12.12] Boothroyd , 2012. Thinness in media feeds body size obsession [online]. Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-20251825 [29.11.12] Sauers, J., 2012. Is Colour Coming Into Fashion? [online] Available at: http://uk.jezebel.com/5943926/counting-models-of-color-at-new-york-fashion-weekracial-diversity-is-growing [01.12.12].

Databases Mintel, 2012. Facial Skincare: skin type and usage and products. Mintel [online] Available via Mintel [28.11.12]

List of illustrations Figure 5 Kruger, B., 1987. Untitled (I shop therefor I am) [photographic silk screen on vinyl] Figure 4 Kruger, B., 1984. You are not yourself [photograph] Figure 1

Stren, B., 1967. Twiggy [photograph]

Figure 3 Unknown, 1895. Sarah Bernhardt [photograph]

Figure 7, Head Shot. Own photograph Figure 8, Waist. Own Photograph Figure 9, Tattooed Chest. Own Photograph Figure 10, Eye. Own Photograph Figure 11, Final Images. Own Photograph Sculpture Figure 6 Fischer,M.D.,2012. Royal Rumble. [sculpture]. Unknown Painting Figure 2 William, J, 1915. 'I am Half Sick of Shadows', said the Lady of Shalott. [Oil on Canvas]. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada