issue 1
“There is nothing more rare, nor more beautiful, than a woman being unapologetically herself; comfortable in her perfect imperfection. To me, that is the true essence of beauty.� - Steve Maraboli
editor sarah-louise deazley nothumbria university sarahlouisedeazley.tumblr.com
with special thanks to arabella kaye, david farrell, flossy barraud, hannah grubisib, hannah lancaster, jo brossman, jessica joseph, kirsty coleman, mollie smee, sarah deazley, thelma deazley & the beautiful people of newcastle
autumn/winter 2013
street style the cover up editorial pretty different fashion pictorial an afternoon with arabella
the cover up
khaki parka coat with leather trim, New Look £70
brown leather trench coat, Vintage £195 faux fur collar, Topshop £22
This issue celebrates the exposure of our natural beauty, our editor takes to the streets of Newcastle to document how its ‘lush lasses’ are covering up, to keep out the cold.
dark green fluffy coat with cable cuffs, Topshop £80
beige faux fur coat, eBay £15 cream cable knit snood, £22
brown and cream tile print coat, River Island £65 burgundy faux fur headband, Primark £6
black parka coat with fur trim, Topshop £75 burgundy knit scarf, Accessorize £26
navy and mustard yellow check coat, Topshop £95 navy knit hat and scarf, Accessorize £44
brown sheepskin coat, DEEP Vintage ÂŁ45
pretty different models mollie smee, flossy barraud, hannah lancaster, hannah grubisic & jessica joseph in order of appearance words & photography sarah-louise deazley
Sarah-Louise Deazley explores whether the The 21st Century face of beauty is homogenous, blemish-free and appears manufactured. People striving for perfection in their outward image, are more abundant now than ever before. Not only ageing women feel that their natural beauty is deemed inadequate and undermined by idealistic media standards. Obsession with physical appearance is filtering down through generations, to young children trying to emulate their friends and family members, as much as celebrity icons. Why has it become normal to conceal the beauty that is representative of a person’s individuality?
media users, hoping that they will be given some sort of verification that they ‘are’ in fact, pretty and therefore more acceptable to society. What is harder to take in than the possibility of older male attention that these videos may receive, are the comments, giving genuine criticism and opinion: “Your forehead is just a tad big but other than that you are pretty,” and “Just get bangs, you’ll be fine.” Some may say these girls are simply seeking attention. However, the reality that a seven year old girl has to question how beautiful she is, indicates a serious issue arising, regarding the body ideals that today’s fashion and beauty industries are promoting.
Today’s society has “Even if I feel fat, become conditioned to I try not to say it treating these oddities as abnormal and has around her. I try to banished the distinctive stop myself talking idiosyncrasies that make Who is gaining from the demoralisation of about it.” individuals stand out young people and others in this manner? from one another, to be Who determines what ‘pretty’ is? Where hidden away from the current conventional image did they get these ideas from? When do people of ‘pretty’. It is puzzling that a face full of stunning begin to decide that they no longer look or feel freckles, teenage acne or story-telling wrinkles, ‘pretty’ or that they are not ‘pretty’ enough? can be quickly regarded as ugly or unnatural. Louise Orwin, a live artist who is exploring this These perfectly natural imperfections are what subject and its themes in a performance she is render each person unique and interesting. calling Pretty Ugly, told a journalist at wired.co.uk, Why are these characteristics disguised in an “...but it was about the media. Now if you look on attempt to conform to the beauty and body Tumblr, Youtube, Twitter, it’s not the media but the standards created by the media? teenage girls themselves perpetuating this myth. They are re-sharing these images, re-blogging. A Youtube trend ‘Pretty or Ugly’ clearly illustrates There’s always going to be peer-pressure but I the extent to which these heavily edited images think social media makes things worse.” and beauty ideals can affect some young people. Extremely harrowing are the videos of children People constantly self-edit online avatars of from around the age of seven, publically asking themselves, for public viewing on social media Youtube visitors if they are ugly or pretty. platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These young girls are opening themselves up to They choose which polished pieces of themselves the brutal scrutiny of Youtube’s myriad of social the world gets to see.
media is toying with our fragile self-esteem.
Females are especially bombarded daily through the media with very heavily edited images of what is perceived to be the current portrayal of the perfect woman. How does this lack of self-validation affect their juniors, especially for women with young daughters? “One thing I try not to talk about in front of my daughter, Aimee, is weight,” states Sarah Deazley, a Patient Care Coordinator at The Hospital Group, in Northern Ireland. “Even if I feel fat, I try not to say it around her. I try to stop myself talking about it.” The media’s negative portrayal of blemishes is not only affecting the women it is communicating with but it is subsequently influencing generations of insecure girls.
“The only thing we were obsessed with was how long we could stay up and do all the interesting things we wanted to do.” Children become more aware of their physical appearance by closely watching their elders as well as media icons. They can quickly begin to notice their own minor flaws, based on what they interpret, as possibly being unattractive. They may look for ways to rectify these falsely perceived imperfections, as they become convinced that marks such as freckles, moles and spots are considered defects in the unwritten beauty and body image laws. “It makes things unfair,” Sarah says, speaking of the media, “especially for young girls, teenagers who maybe aren’t happy with their weight and go to drastic measures to try and be skinny.”
It is horrifying that young women old enough to understand that what they see represented in the media as being beautiful isn’t actually real, have serious body hang-ups but that this is now filtering down through generations so that young children are tearing themselves apart in the quest for an accepted form of ‘pretty’. “I am greatly saddened by this,” states Jo Brossman, a life model for Northumbria University, “a lot of my childhood was spent running and cycling and being wild. The only thing we were obsessed with was how long we could stay up and do all the interesting things we wanted to do. Today’s children are constructing their identity around these unattainable ideals. How far will the media go before the face of beauty is so far removed from anything that represents spirit, character, soul or humanity? Real people are more than just an image on the page of a glossy magazine. They are human beings, with thousands of freckles, clusters of spots, defining wrinkles and unusual scars. They come in many body shapes and sizes. Society has judged these characteristics unflattering, but we can only self-edit so much before it becomes self-destruction. Individuals are remembered for their distinctive peculiarities. They should be celebrated in this form instead of being concealed to meet the beauty and fashion industries perfect body image pretensions. Jo humbly shares a way we can begin to achieve this, “I just learned ‘not to give a sh**’ what other people think about me and the way I look. I once read that what other people think about me is none of my business. This is a great way to get through the day without being too hung up by all the opinions about the way I look and act.”
an afternoon with
arabella model arabella kaye photography & styling sarah-louise deazley
arabella wears look one: black high-neck crop top, ASOS £18 leopard print skirt, Beyond Retro £14 look two: dark green satin shirt, Rusty Zip Vintage £15 look three: white jersey crop cami top, Topshop £6 burgundy track top, Adidas £55 look four: strawberry festival sweatshirt, ASOS Marketplace £28 look five: cream knitted waistcoat, Oxfam £12 pale blue angora wool jumper, Marks & Spencer £38 green gingham skirt, Beyond Retro £20 hair: natural make-up: rimmel eyeliner from £3.49
Š tarnish magazine autumn/winter 2013