Twinkling eyes, porcelain skin and pouty pink lips grace the glossy covers of magazines everywhere. These picture-perfect models are ingrained into our minds. But even women who get paid to be beautiful aren’t perfect.
These cover girls are critiqued and edited until the photoshopped pictures are flawless and sometimes unrecognizable. You can read Pinterest quotes about being comfortable in your own skin as much as you want, but the idea of being perfect is forever in the back of your mind.
American Eagle’s sister store for lingerie, Aerie, chose to defy the odds with its spring 2014 campaign for “aerie real.”
“Get Real. Think Real. No Supermodels. No Retouching. The real you is sexy,” reads Aerie’s motto for its newest collection, which features untouched pictures of models of all sizes appearing confident and proud of who they are.
This inspiring campaign attempts to show that no one is perfect, but we should instead learn to embrace our flaws. Aerie’s message is projected loud and clear: you are stunning inside and out, so pass it on and live it up.
Models with thigh gaps, exposed ribs and sunken cheeks are made to look beautiful in fashion magazines, but to achieve these impeccable looks, which appear effortless, countless hours of work are needed.
What we tend to forget is the amount of airbrushing and tweaking that produces these images.
According to a global study on women’s relationship with beauty conducted by Dove, only 4 percent of women consider themselves beautiful. Statistics also show that 72 percent of girls ages 10 to 17 felt “tremendous” pressure to be beautiful. The same study found that only 11 percent of girls feel comfortable describing themselves as beautiful. Similar to Aerie, the Dove Movement for Self-Esteem is dedicated to revisiting societies idea of beauty.
As much as you might want to look like an underwear model with a perfectly toned body, that isn’t real life. If you learn to love your go-to T-shirt and hair piled on top of your head, you’ll be happier for it.
This lingerie company is trying to prove that being natural is beautiful and having flaws is human, so let’s hope the trend catches on.
Enough worrying about the weird way your hair flips, or thinking that losing an extra pound will solve all your problems.
Sitting at the computer stressing and wishing to look perfect isn’t going to make your life better. Campaigns like these from Aerie and Dove can offer a boost of confidence.
