Ethics in Design Academic Purposes 6 April 2009 By Shanna Paxton
Ethics in Design By Shanna Paxton
Susan Sontag, a writer known for her essay ‘The Heroism of Vision’, talks about the struggle that exists in photography between beauty and truth telling (Sontag, 1977:87). Since the creation of photography people have been amazed by the way in which ‘reality’ is recorded so accurately. Therefore this device was seen as recording only the truth, that the camera could not possibly lie about what was being recorded. The fact is that photography can capture truth and beauty at the same time or separately, and each image is different with every click of the shutter.
The purpose of this essay is to
illuminate the truth telling and beautification of fashion photography in its many aspects. This will include the beautifying one performs, the truth about fashion photography, the manipulation behind the print, how society is affected by this photography, analysis of four images, and a conclusion.
The definition of beauty from the Oxford dictionary states it is ‘a combination of qualities such as shape, colour, etc., that pleases the senses, especially the sight.’ (Thompson 1995:112). The definition of truth states it is ‘the quality or a state of being true’ (Thompson 1995:1499). These two contrasting elements will now be discussed in terms of fashion photography.
Beautification involves one beautifying themselves through the use of either internal or external methods, be it through the use of make up, clothes, diet or surgery. It is ones perception of beauty that results in how one will beautify themselves. Their perception of beauty could depend on their cultural beliefs or personal experiences. Ones idea of beauty will also depend on their surroundings, if one is constantly bombarded with visuals from the media, they will believe that this is what they must look like. On the other hand if one has grown up in a community away from this media, they become more
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Ethics in Design Academic Purposes 6 April 2009 By Shanna Paxton
influenced on how others around them appear, be it scarification or the lengthening of ones neck. It is mostly women who have beautified themselves over the centuries, only lately (about the past decade) has the male started taking more pride in his grooming and appearance (the metro sexual age), thanks to the infamous soccer player David Beckham. Having both sexes of the human race beautifying themselves, the demand for beauty and fashion products and advertising is at an all time high. The cities are full with print advertising their fashionable items on bus stops, billboards, subways, inside the shops themselves, magazines, newspapers, as well as in ones own home, on the television. The problem comes in when people start believing that the imagery they are seeing is how they should be depicting themselves, and if they do not look this way there is something wrong with them.
The truth of the situation is that the purpose of fashion photography is to ‘depict something perfectly beautiful, even more beautiful than it is realistically’ (Sontag 1977:104), in other words to create a perfect image with idealized content within it, something that will be visually interesting or pleasing to look at. Society, due to the conditioning they have been put through with the media bombarding them with idealized visuals, has accepted this kind of deception for truth, or rather reality. They feel that because they are looking at something that was produced by a machine that makes real pictures (compared to painting), that ‘the camera does not lie’. Little do they know that the visuals are in fact not realistic in a sense of ‘truth-telling’ (like in documentary photography), they have mostly been manipulated before and after the photograph has been taken.
Then again manipulating a photograph has been around since 1855 (Sontag 1977:86) whether it entails excellent use of lighting, or the new age of drastic digital manipulation. One needs to wonder why there is a problem with this new form of “art” only now. Surely this is just photography pushing the limits of the medium? The reason could possibly be because this is not the only way in which the image is being manipulated; there are numerous manipulations that go into creating an image for print. It begins with the fashion designer making
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the items that will say something about the individual that chooses to wear them; next it is time to create a story about these items of clothing, how one will feel if they choose to buy them, this consists of a team of art directors and designers; the plan is then set into motion and executed by the photographer and his/ her team of assistants who see to the lighting and brining out of the desired attitude of the model; the make up and hair stylists as well as clothing stylists step in to ‘make up’ the model; after the photograph has been taken the digital re-toucher or artist edits the photograph accordingly; which is then passed onto the designer to place into an advertising material of some form. So it is a team of ‘manipulators’ as such, the role in which the models are portrayed is also a heavy part of manipulation in fashion photography.
The problem with all these manipulations is that no one in the real world, through real human eyes actually gets made up by all these people in everyday life. Seeing all these photographs of ‘perfect’ women begin to take a toll on how women perceive what is beautiful and what is ugly. The bulk of what the media presents to the population consists of thin boyish figured young female models between the ages of 15 – 20 years old (Dittrich 1996). There is no range of different body types or ages happening, so women, continue to believe that they must constantly look this way for the rest of their lives. “The tendency to compare one to models that are portrayed by the media increases with age (Kennedy & Martin).” (Dittrich 1996), this just does not seem to make sense, surely women should realise that they are not going to be able to have a young female body for the rest of their lives? Difficulty with accepting this fact of life becomes hard for most of the female population to apprehend which results in eating disorders, unnecessary surgeries and an overall dip in self esteem. Having women in this emotionally and physically unhealthy state could result in harmful consequences such as death via anorexia nervosa. This is the problem with the idealized fashion photography happening all the time. But people are not just standing by allowing this to happen, well known beauty product companies such as Dove have a beauty campaign that educates the population on the misconception of beauty created by the media. Evolution demonstrates just how much manipulation
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Ethics in Design Academic Purposes 6 April 2009 By Shanna Paxton
goes into a photograph, the mini-film starts with a lovely young woman, as the clip plays she is being transformed by stylists, and her photo is taken and sent of to be digitally enhanced. The model’s eyes are made larger, her neck is extended, hair pieces are added and the list goes on. Another Dove short movie clip that opens one’s eyes to the effect the media has on someone, is demonstrated with the clip Onslaught, a visual montage of adverts, fashion prints and the way it affects women is illustrated in this clip. So this company has taken it upon themselves to educate people on how fake the fashion photography can be.
Left: before all the manipulation. Right: after all the manipulation.
These images are beautiful in a sense that ones natural beauty can be transformed into speechless jaw dropping beauty is amazing and beautiful that photography can achieve that. But the fact that this fake unreachable beauty treatment is most likely added to the majority of fashion and beauty images is outrageous.
Below are a few stills from the Onslaught video, illustrating the bombardment of visuals and then the affects it has on the human body. It should be taken seriously, these images are not reality but these eating disorders that result from this are:
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Ethics in Design Academic Purposes 6 April 2009 By Shanna Paxton
"The American Anorexia and Bulimia Association state that anorexia and bulimia strike a million American women every year...Each year 150,000 American women die of anorexia." It is estimated that one woman student in five is anorexic. Cosmetic surgeons are having a field day, with women seeking out the knife for every conceivable flaw. The Beauty Myth preaches that normal, round, healthy women's bodies are too fat; that cushy, soft women's flesh is really cellulite; that women with small breasts aren't sexy; that women lacking the "perfect" face aren't attractive; that a women over 30 who shows signs of life on her face is ugly. No wonder women are either not asking, or disregarding the dangers of cosmetic surgery in their quest for this holy grail of "beauty." (Bryannan 1991)
And that “according to a study (Posavac, Posavac, & Posavac, 1998) on the effects of exposure to pictures of fashion models from popular women's magazines on young women's concerns with body weight, even passive exposure to such images resulted in negative body image and increased weight concern. Negative body image is often the result of a social comparison process, in which discrepancies are perceived between the cultural ideal of attractiveness, usually characterized in the media by a particular emphasis on thinness, and women's views of their own bodies. Negative body image is particularly problematic because it is positively correlated with eating disorders.� (Bryannan 1991)
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Top left and right: these two images show the few images of how they show women. Bottom left and right: shows how being affected by this perception of beauty can change one’s physical shape.
The second major problem with fashion photography is the emotional or rather psychological influence it has on society. Specifically the way in which women and men, be it together or separately, are depicted. The way in which men and women are depicted greatly depends on what is happening in society. For example before the ‘women’s movement in the 1970s’ an analyses of magazines showed woman “mostly as housewives in decorative roles and idle situations or as low-income earners with limited purchasing power” (Lindner 2004), while on the other side “Men were often shown as regarding women as sex objects or as domestic adjuncts. In addition, women were primarily found in advertisements for cleaning products, drugs, clothing, and home appliances, whereas men were shown in advertisements for cars. travel, alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, and banks” (Lindner 2004). things started to change I 1983, woman were shown as more independent creatures as such, but the other half of that study showed that there was also an increase in women being portrayed in the sexual object way (Lindner 2004). The normal stereotype of men being depicted these days in print is that of someone that seems in power and control of his surroundings via his body language. The women are seen in many roles from depicting a delicate pretty object performing a strange pose, to a high powered woman with men under her control and there is of course the opposite of that to, where woman are seen as lazy sexual beings. One can analyse print with the help of Erving
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Ethics in Design Academic Purposes 6 April 2009 By Shanna Paxton
Goffman’s frame analysis technique. The purpose of which was to analyze the different visual cues that say something about the role that human is playing in the image.
In image one here we are seeing a woman lying down; one can presume she is sleeping. While the man hovers above her but not directly, his hand is placed on her hip and he is looking far ahead into noting. They have been placed in a bedroom, filled unrealistic elements (lying on a bed full of roses). According to Goffman’s analyses principles, the fact that the woman is placed lower than the man already shows that she has given up her right to equality amongst the sexes. The act of her sleeping only enhances this illusion of male dominancy, especially seen as he has his hand placed on her in a possessive and not affectionate kind of way. The placing of them in a bedroom also has the notion of a woman being nothing more than a sex object. This combination seems to scream woman at her weakness while asleep and the male is at his strongest due as he is higher in the frame and is obviously awake and in control whilst she sleeps.
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Image two seems to play on itself the fact that women are subordinating to other women. Once again the setting is in the bedroom, a place where woman are thought to have no function in particular, a common placing of woman in advertising before the 1970s (Lindner 2004). The room is adorned with shiny items of fashion and beauty products. The two popular models Claudia Schiffer, on the left, and Naomi Campbell, on the right, are surrounded by woman of service, two beauticians on either side and a waitress or servant of some kind behind Naomi. The way in which the models have been placed and their body language speaks about how women are undermining their own kind. It has now become an issue of class, the ‘servants’ are placed on the edges of the frame, the larger servant is even more out of the frame than the older lady. They are not pretty, but they are needed to convey this story, so they are placed nearly outside of the frame. The servant that is just as stereotypically pretty as the two top models, is placed at the back of the image, behind Naomi, with a stiff pose, while her expression leads the eye to see what she is watching, the blonde model. She has become an object indeed, standing without a sense of motion happening in her body. The two top models are how ever much more different than the servant’s body language. They are confident thin, fully made up, their hair and make up is perfect, but the impression that one could possibly get from the surroundings in the image is that they have only just woke up, but they look perfect. The
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colour scheme of this image (red and gold), give a feeling of warmth, royalty and wealth.
The third image is this Gucci fashion spread; it tells a story of one can presume a couple that is running away. The typical male dominant figure is evident through how he is holding her, constricting her movement and therefore eliminating any equality that could have been. In the top left image of this spread he seems cold and distant while she is trying her best to engage with him. The bottom right side of the spread shows them running away, him dragging her along.
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The last image, image four, shows how the dominancy factor can be swung around. The men are now behind her and are smaller in size, as opposed to image one. She is walking on a red carpet which has connotations of fame, wealth and popularity. She carries nothing in her hands, but all the men behind her are carrying at least three bags in each hand. They are her servants as such. This scene does however seem overly un-realistic with the way in which she carries nothing but all those men, which leads one to think how did she get all that onto the helicopter? Did she have more men running after her? The range of expressions on the men’s faces range from ‘I will seem happy for my job’ to ‘this is so degrading’. Surely we should be concerned for the way in which men are being depicted as well? Or is this going to be a swing on things for a long time as a comeback for women?
In conclusion a fashion photographer’s job is to create an illusion of perfect beauty in every way, a fantastical story that one can enjoy and use to escape the harsh realities of life, but that thin line of illusion and reality must be made clear to the public. Society needs to be educated on the matter of fashion and beauty in realistic and non-realistic terms. The media must also become
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aware of what they are doing by focusing on one kind of body type and look. Variety of different figures, shapes and cultures should be shown in different forms of fashion photography be it documentary, high end, location or studio photography.
Reference List:
Bryannan, L. (1991), ‘The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf’. Retrieved July 29, 2008 from http://www.homestar.org/bryannan/wolf.html
Dittrich, L. (1996-2008), ‘About-Face facts on the Media’, Retrieved August 1, 2008, from http://www.about-face.org/r/facts/media.shtml
Lindner, K. (2004), ‘Sex Roles: a Journal of Research. Images of woman in general interest and fashion magazine advertisements from 1995 to 2002 ’, retrieved July 30, 2008, from http://www.google.co.za/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF8&rlz=1T4GGLJ_enZA279ZA279&q=the+influence+of+media+images+upon+ body+esteem
Sontag, S (1977), On Photography, London: Penguin Books.
(2008), ‘Onslaught’, Dove Beauty Campaign, retrieved July 25, 2008, from http://www.dove.us/#/features/videos/default.aspx[cp-documentid=7049560]/
(2008), ‘Evolution’, Dove Beauty Campaign, retrieved July 25, 2008, from http://www.dove.us/#/features/videos/default.aspx[cp-documentid=7049560]/
Thompson, D. (1995) The Concise Oxford Dictionary. Ninth Edition. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Reading List:
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Kilbourne, J. (2000), ‘Can’t Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel’, retrieved July 31, 2008, from http://www.jeankilbourne.com/cantbuy/chapter1.html
Domil, Tiffanie. (2003), ‘The Influence of Media Images Upon Body Esteem’, retrieved July 30, 2008, from http://clearinghouse.missouriwestern.edu/manuscripts/413.asp
Image List:
Image 1, Vogue, 2007, December 2007 Issue, pg 190
Image 2 Vogue, 2007, December 2007 Issue, pg 258-259
Image 3 Vogue, 2007, December 2007 Issue, pg 3-4
Image 4 Vogue, 2007, December 2007 Issue, pg 152
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