The picture on the left features Naomi Campbell on the cover Vogue Thailand's November issue. The other picture is real life snap shot of Naomi Campbell.
As you can see in the two pictures she could almost pass for two different women. On the magazine cover her skin has been lightening, her eyes look blue, her nose is smaller and her famous super model jawline has been softened.
It all basically comes down to this controlled idea of beauty standards. White or fair skin is considered "beauty" in many cultures. The issue of having lighter skin equating to "better-ness" creates things like shadeism with in communities, hurts the self esteem of females as the struggle to obtain this view of "beauty", and just overall makes it hard to except people for who they are and not what they look like.
Naomi Campbell looks great in both pictures but lightening her skin does a disservice to identity and her own personal beauty.
I am always shocked by such actions-- who the fuck would feel the need to photoshop Beyonce or Ms. Campbell? Ebony, I'm curious as to your opinion the the chicken/egg question concerning this; that is, is it the media's misguided perceptions of beauty that dictate what the consumer gets, or do we need to look more at the consumer's willingness to accept this photoshopping that drives the continuing of photoshopping? In other words, is this a problem stemming from the top, bottom, or both?
ReplyDeleteI imagine these companies are controlled largely by white men with narrow perceptions of beauty- it seems that we need to shake up the controlling forces behind these industries. That said, customers also have to be active in bitch-slapping these guys when they do this stuff; I think it's dangerous to place all the blame at the top, as it can make individuals feel helpless, and therefore can prevent action.