French women are celebrated globally for their Mediterranean beauty and model good-looks. Maybe it’s the sunshine or maybe it’s the red wine, but photographers the world over seek French models. Emphasizing this point, French Elle featured a number of European celebrities sans makeup or even…Photoshop. As frightening as it may be so confront a woman’s face before she has concealed, rouged, and glossed herself, the April 2009 issue was a smashing success. Could readers actually like women in their organic state? Women are constantly flooded with messages to “enhance natural beauty” and “highlight” their best features. This gets to be a little confusing when “natural” becomes synonymous with “you need this product.” Readers commend editorials like this one for being revolutionary or challenging those of us without hair and makeup teams to face the world bare-faced. I have to ask, though: why is it that not altering oneself is trailblazing?
WAGStalk
Amherst College Department of Women's and Gender Studies. Gender in its contexts
