What Is Beauty

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REALITY VS PERCEPTION 6 / dove real beauty sketches 9/ egon schiele+learning curves 11 / jan masny+freedom 15 / the gentlewoman 17 / what is beauty 19 / moodboard 20 / references+images 21/ bibliography

kellie-jay hooper n0430228 module leader / sarah lewington fcp2 fash20031 communication & message

front cover / fig 1

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‘‘if we were to meet a clone of ourselves, we would struggle to recognise ‘them’ as ‘us’, as our brains have different perceptions of our own bodies’’

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Research has suggested that if we were to meet a clone of ourselves, we would struggle to recognise “them” as “us”, as our brains have different perceptions of our own bodies (Ezra, 2013). Women are said to be their own worst beauty critics (Unilever, 2010) and our constant comparison to the rich and famous and the girl on the magazine cover seems to have completely distorted our views of ourselves.

Further research has found that looking at fashion magazines for just one hour lowers the self-esteem of more than 80% of us, particularly young women, showing that we are affected by what we see on a daily basis (Fagan, 2012). Initially inspired by a poignant advertising campaign for the brand Dove, combined with the creativity of life drawing in the style of Egon Schiele and the energetic dance photography of Jan Masny, we created a series of images to show the difference between perception and reality of the female body.

Known for their active involvement in changing the way that women see their body, in 2011 Dove used an interesting campaign to support their self-esteem movement. Dove gathered a group of women, who were individually invited into a room where they were asked to describe all the features of their face and hair to Gil Zamora, a FBI-trained forensic artist. Zamora was unable to see the women he was drawing and had to follow their instructions in the form of their descriptions of themselves. The women were then asked to describe a woman they were introduced to the previous day, which, again, was drawn by Zamora, following the woman’s instructions (Dove United States, 2013). The two drawings that were produced of each woman looked completely different and in most cases, not like they were of the same person. Women were much more critical of their own appearances, focusing on their imperfections and more flattering when describing the woman they had previously met, focusing on the things that were beautiful about her. One woman was quoted as saying “my mom always told me I had a big jaw”, whereas the participant describing her said “she was thin so you could see her cheekbones. And her chin was a nice thin chin”.

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Women were much more critical of their own appearances, focusing on their imperfections and more flattering when describing the woman they had previously met, focusing on the things that were beautiful about her.

This experiment just attests that women are much more critical of their own appearance, yet these seeming “flaws” are not picked up on by other women, suggesting that others see us differently than how we see ourselves. Dove has always been in support of using “real size models” and have targeted brands such as Victoria’s Secret in the past, to focus on the difference between stick-thin, toned models and the real women you meet every day (Lutz, 2012). Other research that backs up the idea that this distorted view is caused through the celebrity culture and fashion industry found that 66% of girls thought that the way the media portrays girls and women is the main reason why we go on diets (Fagan, 2012), and almost half of young women agreed with the statement that “seeing adverts using thin models makes me feel more conscious of the way I look and makes me want to diet/lose weight” (Credos, 2012).

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EGON SCHIELE

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Life drawing classes pay a lot of attention to just letting creativity flow. Following the style of artist Egon Schiele, it is often advised to just continuously draw a shape or figure for thirty seconds without letting your pen lose contact with the paper. This enables you to keep your eyes focused on the model and disables you from thinking about your drawing too much, creating a more realistic perception of the shapes in front of you. As a starting point for a photo shoot idea, we combined continuous life drawing with the influence the Dove campaign has had on us and gave three models thirty seconds to draw how they saw their own body shape without taking their pen off the paper. This enabled us to project the drawings onto the white backdrop of a photo studio, with the model standing in front of said drawing. We soon realised that our models were not artists and struggled to create drawings that truly showed their own body perception in a creative way, which meant it proved difficult to create photographs that portrayed our idea in an interesting way. Furthermore, it was our initial idea for the models to pose in the same way they drew themselves, thus including a lot of static poses and no real movement. In an attempt to make the photographs more successful, we started adding colours and layering drawings which were created in an actual life drawing class by a girl in our team, in post-production.

Upon presenting the photos to others, we decided that in order to show the distortion between reality and perception, we would need to incorporate more movement into our photos and use drawings created by a group member, who fully understood the idea behind our photo shoot and could create sketches that we could layer and modify in post-production rather than using a projector, which disabled us to move the shapes around, thereby creating poor results.

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JAN MASNY

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We looked for inspiration in Jan Masny’s dance photography. He captures models as they jump, twirl and move through the frame, rarely incorporating static poses, creating images representing freedom, carelessness and strength.

Masny has worked with companies such as Sony, Illamasqua and Sleek (Masny, 2013). To incorporate his style within our own photo shoot, we hired a model through Model Management who has been a dancer all her life, thus being able to provide us with the kind of movement and elegance we were looking for. We decided against the idea of using a projector all together, and a group member created sketches of the model in Egon Schiele’s continuous drawing style, as she started to pose for the camera. We captured the model’s movements by getting her to spin, jump and dance, which created some strong raw images.

We also experimented with some more static stretches such as splits, which supported the dance influence of the shoot. Due to the energetic nature of the shoot, it was quite difficult to keep the model within the restrictions of a photo studio, thus we decided that we would go for the “rough and ready” look by including some of the equipment such as lights within the shot. We went for a plain white backdrop to provide contrast between this and the model’s black leotard, an outfit that enabled us to show her body shape and movements, without the added distraction of clothing. The images that these changes resulted in were much more successful than the initial ones we took. Getting the model to move around mocks the idea of beauty vs. perception, enabling her to show she is oblivious to what others think, proving she can do whatever she wants and above all, that she is happy in her own skin.

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THE GENtLE WOMAN 12 / WHAT IS BEAUTY

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Chuck Palahniuk, “Haunted” /

“The difference between how you look and how you see yourself is enough to kill most people. And maybe the reason vampires don’t die is because they can never see themselves in photographs or mirrors” After the shoot, we collectively decided to use the images in which we captured real movement, rather than static poses, as these got our message across in a more effective manner. We also used the life drawing sketches we created during the shoot to layer over in post-production. Instead of following the shape of the model’s body with the lines of the drawing, we layered images more creatively, by rotating, enlarging or cropping them, as well as layering more than one sketch over the same image. Our final three images were made up of two showing photographic studio equipment and one with a plain white background. This, in an exhibition setting, may look as though the images were not taken at the same shoot, resulting in us adding a line of colour to each photograph in Adobe Photoshop, tying them together artistically.

We chose our photographs to be featured within style magazine “The Gentlewoman”, as they focus primarily on the strength and power of women and celebrate those representing style and purpose, including Beyonce, Adele and Angela Lansbury. Our photographs have a strong message concerning beauty, the empowerment of women and how they see themselves. Even though “The Gentlewoman” is aimed at women that are of higher average age than our model, the Dove campaign showed that the distortion of perception vs. reality affects both younger and more mature women, thereby making the message relevant to the magazine’s demographic. The magazine will feature a multiple page spread with a selection of our images and an article talking about the misinterpretation of our own beauty.

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Overall, we aimed to create a visual representation of the Dove Real Beauty Sketches campaign. It is clear that women are very unforgiving about their own appearance; yet see the beauty in the other strong women around them. Our photos portray this message without being too obvious due to the aid of postproduction which enabled us to enlarge and edit our sketches inclusive of our artistic license. The combination of contemporary and classical artists and their use of movement and dance within the images, as well as the sketchy nature of the life drawings, create a more playful and informal approach to a distressing issue of modern society. Dove revealed that only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful (Dove United States, 2013) – our photographs intend to start changes in these statistics, inviting women to accept themselves for who they are.

Word Count / 1517

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visual moodoard we used in preparation for our photoshoot

VISUAL INspiration

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REFEREnces 28 Nov 2013].

CREDOS. 2013. Pretty As A Picture. London: Credos. 14.

DOVE United States. 2013. Dove Real Beauty Sketches. [online video].

14 April. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=litXW91UauE [Accessed 07 Oct 2013].

EZRA Magazine. 2013. OPINION – A Woman’s Perception Of Her Own Beauty. [online] Available at: http://ezramagazine.com/2013/05/14/ opinionarticle-a-womans-perception-of-her-own-beauty/ [Accessed 25 Nov 2013].

FAGAN, K. 2012. Girls’ Attitudes Explored... Role Models. London: Girlguiding UK. 11.

LUTZ, A. 2012. See The Difference Between Victoria’s Secret And Dove Models. [online] Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/victorias-secret-angels-vs-dove-models-2012-12 [Accessed 28 Nov 2013].

MASNY, J. 2013. [online] Available at: www.janmasny.com/. [Accessed

PALAHNIUK, C. 2006. Haunted. London: Vintage. 144.

UNILEVER. 2010. DOVE REVEALS WOMEN ARE THEIR OWN WORST BEAUTY CRITICS. [online] Available at: http://www.unilever.com/brands-in-action/detail/Dove-reveals-women-are-their-own-worst-beauty-critics/353094/ [Accessed 24 Nov 2013].

ImAGES 2013].

Fig 1 / HOOPER, K. 2013. Own Photograph. What Is Beauty [photograph]. [Accessed 18 Nov 2013].

Fig 2 / ALAS, M & PIGGOTT, M. 2013. Amber Valletta for Interview Magazine, The Originals [online photograph]. Available at: http://models. com/work/interview-magazine-the-originals/193541 [Accessed on 29 Nov 2013].

Fig 3 / WORDBONER, 2012. Screw Perfection [online photograph].

Available at: http://society6.com/wordboner/Perfection-N4h_Print#1=45 [Accessed on 25 Nov 2013].

Fig 4 / ALAS, M & PIGGOTT, M. 2013. Christy Turlington for Interview Magazine, The Originals [online photograph]. Available at: http://models. com/work/interview-magazine-the-originals/193543 [Accessed 1 Dec 2013].

Fig 5 / SCHIELE, E. 1910. Nude woman hair-dressing [unknown medium].

Available at: http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~svb/Schiele/ [Accessed 26 Nov

Fig 6 / MASNY, J. 2012. Dancers in Motion [online photograph]. Available at: http://bonexpose.com/featured/jan-masny/ [Accessed 27 Nov 2013].

Fig 7 / HOOPER, K. 2013. Own Photograph. What Is Beauty II [photograph]. [Accessed 18 Nov 2013].

Fig 8 / HOOPER, K. 2013. Own Photograph. What Is Beauty III [photograph]. [Accessed 18 Nov 2013].

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Fig 9 / ALAS, M & PIGGOTT, M. 2013. Amber Valletta for Interview Magazine, The Originals [online photograph]. Available at: http://models.com/work/interview-magazine-the-originals/193541 [Accessed on 29 Nov 2013].

Fig 10 / HOOPER, K. 2013. What Is Beauty Visuals [digital moodboard]. [Accessed 12 Nov 2013].

Fig 11 / HOOPER, K. 2013. Own Photograph. What Is Beauty IV [photograph]. [Accessed 18 Nov 2013].

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The ATLANTIC. 1998. EGON SCHIELE (1890-1918). [online] Available at: http://www.rodin-web.de/approach_art/schiele.htm [Accessed 25 Nov 2013].

BON EXPOSE. Jan Masny. [online] Available at: http://bonexpose. com/featured/jan-masny/ [Accessed 29 Nov 2013].

CREDOS. 2013. Pretty As A Picture. London: Credos. 14.

DOVE United States. 2013. Is your daughter’s perception of beauty distorted by the media?. [online] Available at: http://selfesteem. dove.co.uk/Articles/Written/Is_your_daughters_perception_of_beauty_distorted_by_the_media.aspx [Accessed 28 Nov 2013].

DOVE United States. 2013. Dove Real Beauty Sketches. [online video]. 14 April. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=litXW91UauE [Accessed 07 Oct 2013].

ELSEN, A., HAAS, W. & JAMISON, R. 2003. Rodin’s Art: The Rodin Collection of Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center of Visual Arts at Stanford University. London: Oxford University Press. 66.

EZRA Magazine. 2013. OPINION – A Woman’s Perception Of Her Own Beauty. [online] Available at: http:// ezramagazine.com/2013/05/14/opinionarticle-a-womans-perception-of-her-own-beauty/ [Accessed 25 Nov 2013].

FAGAN, K. 2012. Girls’ Attitudes Explored... Role Models. London: Girlguiding UK. 11.

FOSTER, L. 2009. Photographer Focus: Jan Masny. [online] Available at: http://www.flavourmag.co.uk/photographer-focus-jan-masny/ [Accessed 25 Nov 2013].

LUTZ, A. 2012. See The Difference Between Victoria’s Secret And Dove Models. [online] Available at: http://www.businessinsider.com/victorias-secret-angels-vs-dove-models-2012-12 [Accessed 28 Nov 2013].

MASNY, J. 2013. [online] Available at: www.janmasny.com/ [Accessed 28 Nov 2013].

PALAHNIUK, C. 2006. Haunted. London: Vintage. 144.

PHILOSOPHOS [pseud.]. Auguste Rodin. [online] Available at: http://philosophos.hubpages.com/hub/auguste-rodin [Accessed 27 Nov 2013].

RICHARDSON-TAYLOR, A. 2013. Forensic artist challenges Dove women’s self-perception. [online] Available at: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2013/april/ogilvy-dove [Accessed 27 Nov 2013].

UNILEVER. 2010. DOVE REVEALS WOMEN ARE THEIR OWN WORST BEAUTY CRITICS. [online] Available at: http://www.unilever.com/brands-in-action/detail/Dove-reveals-women-are-their-own-worst-beauty-critics/353094/ [Accessed 24 Nov 2013]. back / fig 11

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kellie-jay hooper n0430228 module leader / sarah lewington fcp2 fash20031 communication & message 22 / WHAT IS BEAUTY