Cultures - ideal beauty

Japan

In the Far East, in Japan, a century old tradition offers an original beauty recipe treatment: nightingale droppings. These are transformed into a powder, mixed with soap and used as a face wash. The facial is supposed to make the face look young.

Kayan Tribe

The female members of the Kayan tribe (situated on the border between Burma and Thailand) have another ideal of beauty. Also known as “long necks”, they measure a woman’s beauty according to the brass rings wore around the neck. As they grow older they increase the number of rings which gives them an elongated neck appearance. They start this ritual as early as the age of 5 and their neck is absolutely transformed by the heavy rings. The elongated neck is a result of the pressure the rings put on their shoulders, clavicles and chest. The shoulders are being pushed down, that’s how the elongated neck appearance is achieved.

Indian

In India the long hair, the jewellery worn excessively especially at weddings, the coloured saris and the home made remedies take beauty to another level.

Africa

Ethiopia - Karo tribe

In Africa the idea of beauty varies from one side of the continent to the other. In Ethiopia, the women of the Karo tribe wear scars on their stomachs meant to attract a husband. The scarring process starts in childhood and once finished it means that the woman can get married and have children.

Mauritania

In Mauritania being skinny is definitely not a sign of beauty. Here a beautiful woman is a woman with curves…big curves. Nowadays forbidden, the gavage is in many cases the way of achieving a true, Mauritanian beauty. Through gavage young girls are being force fed in order to fatten them up. A “heavy” lady is more likely to be desirable and get a husband.

 

 

Middle East

In the Middle East beauty is sometimes not connected with what ones sees, but with one does not see, or with what one smells or catches a glimpse of. From the head to toe black covers women wear (called abaya) that sometimes reveal only the eyes, to the dark eye kohl pencil, henna tattoos, oud and coloured fabrics, scarves and jewellery. 

 

Polynasian

The Polynesian women are considered to be beautiful if they wear traditional tattoos on their lips and on their chins.

Western World

In the Western World the standards are different; the means of achieving beauty are sometimes extreme as well. From plastic surgery, implants, hair extensions, hair colour to fitness, diet and cosmetics, the beauty has a different meaning. What ever nature has not given, the knife can solve. The Western ideal of beauty is a skinny, tall, good looking lady (90-60-90 if possible) with perfect teeth, perfect hair and perfect fashion. A 24 hour working lady if possible, who never complaints, who is up to date with the latest fashion trends, is a fighter, considers herself a “Superwoman” because she can achieve whatever she desires, all by herself.

I don’t know which woman is more beautiful. I don’t know which one of the beauty rituals work and I definitely don’t know how one could compare the different types of beauty. One thing is certain: beauty is dictated by the places we live in, cultures we are a part of, traditions we are following.

All I’m saying is that diversity is beautiful and beauty is an individual, subjective concept.

Dove - Onslaught

Dove - Mothers and Daughters

Dove Ad:The Evolution of Beauty

Custody battle rages over 'Toddlers and Tiaras' tot

Introduction to my Project

For our Unit 3 body of work we were allowed to chose our own projects to work upon, whether this was am artists style we admire, a particular campaign or charity we would wish to work for or just a concern that we feel passionate about. I chose to work on the world of beauty and the extent people go for it. I mainly gained an interest for the world of beauty when I went to an exhibition to see the work of Zed Nelson who did a project on the global obsession with beauty and youth. Also with personally feeling like I am a more 'natural' person I find the world of plastic surgery, lyposuction and botox rather too extreme and no matter how bad i felt I personally would never result to the stuff. I even find the concept of dying my hair a bit extreme as i would like to stay as natural as possible, therefore by being this sort of person the world of beauty has always fascinated me and I have always been intruiged to why do people go to such great extents for it?
When I started looking into this project my main inspiration was the photographer Zed Nelson to which a particular project he worked on that I favoured for was called ‘Love Me’. His ‘Love Me’ project was based around reflecting on the cultural and commercial forces that drive the global obsession with youth and beauty; he took images of cosmetic surgeons, beauty queens across the world and beauty operations. Some of my other inspiration for this project would be Douglas Alves and Helen Lyon. IO chose Helen Lyon as her work evolves around the view of the woman, she created a modelling piece of a very thin model with the caption "no cigarrette, no tits, no talent" which to me shows the harshness of the beauty industry, i want to look into her work to gain inspiration through how women are percieved in society and behind the emotional falls that women have to fight through for beauty. With the work of Douglas Alves however it is not what message his work is trying to give, but more his style of work Douglasd Alves has an illustrative feel to his work which makes me think along the lines of advertisement and camplaigns, i want to look into douglas Alves because i want to be inspired by his technique and style of his work.with my project I want to explore how the commercial forces drive the beauty obsession today compared to the past and what did people in history thought was beautiful and what did they use to become beautiful (e.g corsets) as well as looking at how the difference in cultures can effect peoples visions on what beauty is but I don’t want to just look into the difference between Western and Eastern culture I would like to go into depth about particular cultures and possibly link this in with the research of the history of beauty and look at if there was any difference between different cultures in the past as well as different cultures in the present and possibly future. I want to explore different media being able to combine both photography, art work and photoshopped together to experiment with the field of beauty as well to look into the world of video.  
 

Douglas Alves

Another beautiful mixed media illustrator/graphic designer, Brazilian born and Los Angeles based Douglas Alves have some stunning images in his portfolio, a 26 years old self-taught graphic designer who worked already for some prestigious company like Coca-cola, Mtv, Microsoft and Honda amongst others…  I like a lot the fact that he’s showcasing his work in large format – You should definitely check his nice flash website: www.nacionale.net and his Balance.

“I was born in I Sao (squiggly line over a) Paulo, Brazil and im 26years old. As a self –taught i started my career in 2000 working in agencies and interactive shops . After 5 years i decided to become a freelancer and i started to do illustrations. I’ve had a pleasure to with great brand names and some of these”

Brief

A new company called "Be Natural" wants to change the face of beauty in the commercial industry. The company has done a wide range of research into the damage that can be caused by people who go to drastic extents for beauty and 'Be Natural' would like to give the public the choice to be beautiful and age gracefully without the damages and side effects that can be caused by beauty regimes in the market today. 'Be Natural' is a company that provides beauty in the most natural way possible, by using anti-wrinkle creams with vitamin C and other natural Minerals it allows for the buyer to gain the beauty they want and disserve at the same time as giving their body and skin the special treatement it needs to help it stay young and beautiful as 'Be Natural' products aim to revive and renue the skin and the organs to make their customers feel younger, healthier and more alive than ever before.

What 'Be Natural' wants you to do is create a series of advertisements for 'Be Natural' products to which will enable for them to be promoted on the commercial market as well as an attempt to change the face of beauty forever. The advertisements may include posters, billboards, packaging, labelling ect.

The Baltic/Laing Art Gallery Trip

On Monday 2nd July the art department went on a trip to the Baltic Mill as well as The Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle to enhance our research skills as well as gain some knowledge on new artists that we could be interested in for our Unit 3 project. We first went to the Baltic Mill and looked round at the different artists that they were showcasing.

A History of beauty through the ages

Renaissance Period

 In the 15th century, upper-class ladies of northern Europe painfully plucked their hairline to make their foreheads seem higher, and scraped their hair back under an elaborate headdress. In the warmer climate of Italy, women displayed their hair in plaits and under low, jeweled turbans or caps. Blond hair was considered to be a sign of beauty and high class. As a result, both men and women attempted to turn their hair blond by using bleach, saffron or onion skin dye, or, in the case of Italian women, by sitting for hours in a crownless hat in the sun.

Elizabethan  Period

In the 16th century, after Francis I of France accidentally burned his hair with a torch, men began to wear short hair and grew short beards and mustaches. Of course, Queen Elizabeth was instrumental in setting the female trends for this era (thus the name). Society women copied her naturally pale complexion and red hair, using white powder in great abundance, along with red wigs. The most successful means for re-creating Elizabeth's pallor, unfortunately, was ceruse, or white lead, which was later discovered to be poisonous. Inspired by Italian women, the Elizabethan lady would also give a healthy glow to her cheeks by using lead-based rouge colored with dye. She'd color in her eyebrows, lips and even blue veins with alabaster pencils. For the final touch, she'd apply a thin glaze of egg-white paste to hold it all together.

18th Century 

 In the 18th century fashionable wealthy men wore white-powdered wigs tied back into a long braid at the back of the neck and encased in a black silk bag, or tied with a black bow. Some men wore their own hair in this same braided style. In the early part of the 18th century, society women had trim, crimped or curled heads, powdered and decorated with garlands or bows. By the 1770s, coiffures built over horsehair pads or wire cages and powdered with starch were all the rage. Some extended three feet in the air and had springs to adjust the height. They were extravagantly adorned with feathers, ribbons, jewels, and even ships, gardens and menageries. Such constructions required several hours of work every one to three weeks. Between sessions the undisturbed coiffure was likely to attract vermin. In the 1780s, a reaction against formality and extravagance led to the hérisson (hedgehog) style for men and women, a loose, bushy mass of curls.

Victorian

 The puritanical Victorian era advocated a modest, natural beauty, restrained and without makeup. Middle- and upper-class women used cosmetics less, but did not abandon them completely. Beyond face powders, more audacious colored makeup was reserved for prostitutes and actresses, who wore it only on stage. Society placed great emphasis on hygiene and health, and many women's magazines warned against the toxic qualities of lead-based industrial cosmetics. Beginning in the 1840s, women's heads were sleek and demure, the hair oiled and smoothed down over the temples with long sausage curls at the side and later with a heavy knot of curls or plaits in back. In the 19th century men tended to keep their hair relatively short, sometimes curled and dressed with macassar oil. Most men wore some variety of mustache, sideburns or beard. 

The 1920's 

 During the "Roaring Twenties," societal trends reacted against the puritanical Victorian standards of beauty. Popular new short "bobbed," waved or shingled hairstyles symbolized the growing freedom of women. The impact of cinema was felt for the first time, as women increasingly took their beauty cues from film stars such as Louise Brooks and Clara Bow. The heavy use of makeup also returned to fashion in this era. Generally, white women applied pale powder and cream rouge circles to the cheeks, plucked their eyebrows and penciled in thin arches, and painted their lips very red, emphasizing the cupid's bow of the upper lip. Fashion-conscious white men wore their hair parted in or near the center and slicked back with brilliantine — an oily, perfumed substance that added shine and kept hair in place. This look was popularized by screen idols such as Rudolph Valentino. Some African-American males adopted the "conk," a hairstyle popularized by entertainer Cab Calloway. The conk was an attempt to straighten the hair and was accomplished by enduring a truly painstaking process of "relaxing" with a solution dominated by lye.

The 1940's

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Hollywood starlets continued to set the trends in women's fashion. Longer, more feminine hairstyles became popular again, and women immediately copied Bette Davis' curls, Betty Grable's topknot with ringlets, and Rita Hayworth's gleaming waves. Veronica Lake created a sensation by wearing a lock of hair that covered one eye. The hairstyle that most symbolized the era, however, was parted on the side, with soft curls falling over the shoulder. Also, for the first time, tanned skin (for both men and women) began to be perceived as a symbol of high class — again showing the influence of screen stars on standards of beauty. Men continued to wear their hair short and often slicked back with oil, and skinny, trimmed mustaches were popularized by stars such as Errol Flynn.

The 1950's

In the uncertain times following the end of World War II, tradition and conservative values made a big comeback. The glamorous woman at home, able to attend to all domestic chores without a hair out of place, became a popular image. As a result, many women spent an inordinate amount of time living up to the '50s ideal of beauty. The "doe eye," created with shadow on the lids, eyebrow pencil, mascara and heavy eyeliner; along with a pale complexion and intensely colored lips, became fashionable. Women's hair suffered even greater abuse. It was teased, styled, sculpted and sprayed at the salon every week into a helmet of perfectly formed curls, waves and bouffants. Hip white men wore their hair in a D.A. (short for Duck's Ass). Formed by combing the hair back on the side of the head and holding it in place with hair grease, the hairstyle was created by Philadelphia barber Joe Cirella in 1940 and took off when it was worn by television, movie and music stars such as James Dean and Elvis Presley. The D.A. was usually coupled with long, thick sideburns — making their first appearance on men's faces since the 19th century — and a high-crowned poof of hair brushed straight back off the forehead called the pompadour.

The 1960's

In the 1960s women were once again moving out of the domestic sphere and into the workplace, pursuing careers as well as an education. As a result, in the early to mid-1960s women reacted against the time-consuming, complex hairstyles of the '50s and opted for more practical short styles (often variations of the 1920s bob), or long, straight hair. There was only one makeup look throughout the 1960s: dark eyes paired with pale lips (or, by the late '60s, no makeup at all). Popular culture, especially rock 'n' roll, gained ascendancy in generating standards of fashion and beauty. When the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964, their "mop tops" created a revolution in men's hairstyles — making long hair fashionable for the first time since the 18th century. Social movements such as Black Power and the anti-Vietnam War campaign also helped shape the conception of beauty in the '60s. Many African-Americans rejected white-influenced styles such as the conk, and adopted the Afro as a sign of black pride. The influence of psychedelics and the hippie movement advocated a natural, wild look for men and women and a complete rejection of cosmetics.

The 1970's 

The social revolution spawned in the 1960s took root in the '70s, and the standards of beauty reflected this upheaval. In fact, hair became the symbol of the era in more ways than one, evolving into perhaps the most powerful means of projecting an image or making a statement. For most of the decade, men and women of all ethnicities wore their hair long, natural and above all free. Farrah Fawcett's loose mane of freely falling curls, bronzed skin and glossy lips created a sensation in 1976, as did Olympic figure skater Dorothy Hamill's short-and-sassy wedge cut. Men adapted Farrah's "wingback" style into the center-parted, "feathered" hairstyles worn by teen idols such as Leif Garret and the Bee Gees. The Afro hairstyle remained popular and was also adopted by many white men and women, though a closer-cropped version, such as that worn by Muhammad Ali, was becoming fashionable. Toward the end of the decade the punk movement arose in opposition to the hippie-influenced values of the era. Punks created a deliberately shocking, provocative look that included spiked hairdos dyed bright fluorescent colors, shaved and tattooed scalps, facial piercings and spectacular makeup.

The 1980's

 In the 1980s the "age of excess" was easily translated into hairstyles, in general — the bigger, the better. Pop stars such as Madonna and Cyndi Lauper popularized a style that included heavy makeup with vibrant neon colors and intentionally messed-up and off-colored hair. Michael Jackson sported the "jheri curl," a sparkling wet-looking, heavily processed version of the Afro. Decidedly less audacious middle-class white teen-age boys adapted the punk-influenced spiked hairstyle, which sometimes included a small braid at the back of the neck (the "rat tail"). Androgyny also made a stunning impact in the '80s, from Sinead O'Connor's shaved head to heavy metal "hair bands" with their makeup and explosion of long, dyed hair. In opposition to these trends, a neoconservative "preppy" look was also in, popularizing traditional short hairstyles for men and women.

The 1990's

In the 1990s standards of beauty were incredibly diverse and constantly changing. Model Kate Moss created a disturbing standard of extreme thinness, sometimes referred to as "heroin chic" from the strung-out, emaciated appearance of the face and body. The "grunge" movement in rock music popularized an unkempt, natural style in opposition to the heavily artificial looks of the '80s. Long, matted and unstyled hair characterized the grunge look. Tongue, eyebrow and nose piercings (for both men and women) also came into vogue in the '90s and even crossed into the "mainstream" of youth culture. Michael Jordan made shaving the head a popular "hairstyle" for men of all races. Jennifer Aniston of the sitcom Friends created a brief hairstyle fad with her modern version of the '60s shag. The "Rachel" cut was sleeker, with longer layers and face-framing highlights.

Dada movement/ Dadaism

My short explanation of the dada movement is that they were artist that were not artists/ and creating art that was not art. The where the 'rebels' of the art word as they wanted to turn art on its head and poke fun at the old 'traditional' art.

Dada was the artistic movement that was born in Europe during the time of World War 1, because of the war many artists, writers and intellectuals - notably of French and German nationality - found themselves congregating in the refuge that Zurich offered them (In Switzerland). Far from feeling relief from the respective escapes, they were driven by the rage that their modern European society would allow for the war to happen. Due to this rage, they under-took the artistic protesting we call Dadaism today.

Gathering together in a loosely-knit group, these artists, writers and intellectuals used any public forum they could find to (metaphorically) spit, poke fun at and rebel against nationalism, ration-ism and any other -ism they could find which they felt could of contributed to a senseless war (if i was to think of any -isms today i could rebel against i would probably pick racism, sexism and agism).

Zed Nelson

I also looked closely into Zed Nelson's work on his 'Love Me' project:

i found his work highly interesting as it was based on being aware of the global obsession with beauty.His 'Love Me' project was based on how far people go to look beautiful, and more importantly, younger. His work range from some shocking images of tummy tuck operations and fat that has been removed from surgery in a jar, to images of breast implants and the consequences to taking steroids to which is 'Love Me' project has been nominated for 2011 Deautsche Borse Photography Prize. Zed Nelson currently lives in London and his work has been published and exhibited worldwide. He gained recognition and major awards as a documentary photographer working in some of the most troubled areas of the world. Nelson has increasingly turned his focus on Western Society, adopting and increasingly conceptual approach to reflect on contemporary social issues. The two most famous projects that Zed Nelson has created was his 'Gun Nation' and 'Love Me' projects. 'Gun Nation reflects on America's deadly love affair with the gun as for 'Love me' reflects on the cultural and commercial forces that drive a global obsession with youth and beauty. Her has also been awarded First Prize in 2010 Picture of the Year (POY) competition in the USA for 'Love Me', Judges Special Recognition for the Best Photography Book for Love me, third Prize for 2010 World Press photo competition, first prize for Picture of the Year competition, won the Alfred Eisensteadth Award and many more.

I found his work incredibly eye-opening and shocking to view as he wanted to illustrate his work on the issue of the extent that people to go beauty. Zed Nelson illustrated this series of images because he wanted his work to "reflect on the cultural and commercial forces that drive the global obsession with youth and beauty". To create this series of images Zed Nelson went to the effort to visit 18 different countries over 5 years across 5 continents to which he photographed cosmetic surgeons, beauty queens and body builders next to original and ordinary teenagers, housewives and businessmen. He varied his work from images of spray tanning to more eye-opening images of tummy tuck operations. One image I remember was a beauty queen contest image, it was an image of a 47 year old female prisoner who was originally a tour-guide however was imprisoned for 4 years for drug smuggling in Rio, Brazil. What was the most shocking factor of this was that after all the events this woman had been through her life, beauty was still highly important to her. One factor I noticed to why people strive for beauty is because they feel they have to compete with the younger generation such as one of Zed Nelson's work of a 40 year old man having a chin and abdominal operation of "I am competing with men 20 years younger than me". Zed Nelson's intentions is to show that beauty is not as 'beautiful' as it seems to which is why he has captured images of grousom surgery and the harsh realty as he captures an image during a tummy tuck operations.

His Projects throughout the years have granted him many nominations and awards in the past as Zed Nelsons 'Love Me' project has been nominated for the 2011 Deautsche Borse Photography Prize. He currently lives in London and his work has been published and exhibited worldwide. He gained recognition and major awards as a documentary photographer working in some of the most troubled areas of the world as well as he has increasingly turned his focus on Western society, adopting and increasingly conceptual approach to reflect on contemporary social issues.Two of his most famous projects of his are probably 'Love Me' and 'Gun Nation'. 'Gun Nation' is a disturbing reflection on America's deadly love affair with the gun as for 'Love Me' reflects on the cultural and commercial forces that drive a global obsession with youth and beauty. Zed Nelson has been awards for many prizes and nominations since, he has been:

• awarded first Prize in 2010 Picture of the Year (POY) competition in the USA, for 'Love Me'
• Judges Special recognition for Best Photography Book for 'Love Me'.
• Third Prize in 2010 World Press photo competition.
• First Prize for Picture of the Year (POY) and First Prize for the Aldred Eisenteadth Award.

As well as many more. 

Helen Lyon

I started to get interested in the work of Helen Lyon, especially her series of work called 'I'm not here to be a Muse'. I first saw the work of Helen Lyon in a Silvershot magazine and I felt that her work fitted quite well with the theme of obsession with beauty. Although One piece of work I found interesting was two modelling images one with a caption of "no tits, no cigarette, no talent", some of her mixed media work seem quite bold and harsh which is why i felt that this was a great piece of work to be inspired by as it reflects on the

harshness that beauty has on people. This side of the obsession with beauty could also allow me to branch off to the modelling side of beauty, as this would give me many opportunities to branch out my work and explore different experiences with the different obsessions with beauty whether it is in everyday life, the professional image or within the people who create the obsession.

Helen Lyon's photograph's of women are highly intriguing and fascinating. They are small scale, muted colors and incongruous focus enables Lyon to portray a glimpsed intimacy.They are ethereal and glamorous pieces of work as they are the image of paired down antique luxury. Helen Lyon worked as a fashion photographer for many leading style magazine's including Harper's

Bazaar and her work has appeared in such titles as Vanity Fair. Lyon's mixed media are hand printed onto water color paper in editions of only 5. The images take her experience of fashion photography to another step, creating unsettling yet beautiful images that she has worked into with paints and inks and developing a story beyond the initial image. Their diminutive scale makes them highly intimate and very personal glimpses into the female psyche. Making the images appear special and highly intimate.Some people may find her work rather shocking yet subtle when they gain a first impression of the work as some of her pieces do gain a sharp reaction such as caption discriminating a woman as a "waste of love" however the way she portrays women can sometimes be alluring. The sharp grey-scale tones in some of her work to me is what gives her work the edge, if her work was to appear in color i feel that the images and the women them self would not appear so strong as they do in the black and white setting. Although the combination of images with lack of captions and images that have been what appears to be 'hand-written' on is quite intriguing, I do feel that maybe some of her images such as the two images above would of probably been made stronger by adding text that can make the viewer think twice about the photographs. Perhaps as the women appear so strong and independent, adding a written caption that makes them appear otherwise, makes them appear weak and maybe vulnerable would add to the images allure.

Obsession with Aging

I started to look into what is people's obsession with aging because for someone to want to create a way to live on forever their must be a want for it. We see it in society today with many adverts and posters advertising anti-wrinkle cream, botox, plastic surgery. Its not just an obsession with not aging, but an obsession with being perfect, but what is perfect? We see so many campaigns for beauty and fashion and the 'perfect look' which encourages people to try and be as perfect as they can be and in affect puts a lot of pressure on people.

The factor is that most of the time it is not us who want to be thinner, more fashionable, younger looking, but it's what we are made to think we should be like because of what adverts and designers throw it at us. I started making a note of all the things we get advertised to make our self look younger. For example, there

are so many different types of anti-aging skin care advertisement out their and no guarentee that they are actually working, we get told that 'miracle' creams can make you feel and look younger but the fact is they wouldn't be advertising it if there wasn't a market for these types of product. Not only that, hair dye has now not only been used so that people can change their hair colour that they were born with, but so that they can eliminate grey hairs that may make them appear older. We a bulldozered with advertisement and fashion that sometimes you don't know whether our opinion on aging is our own, or the medias.

Start of Unit 3

I've been trying to come up with ideas that I can start developing on for my Unit 3. It wasn't easy but I started thinking about the aging process. I got the idea off the television when i was watching a series of documentaries called 'Curiosity', the first episode was on whether we can live forever?

It was about how technology will soon allow us to create artificial organs and reverse the aging process by taking dead cells out of our blood so it can renew it self resulting in use never aging, treating aging like it is a disease to be cured. I thought this would be a good project to try and work around because it creates so many moral and social problems when trying to create technology for us to live forever. One main problem the majority of society would be concerned about is, what would you do if you have all the time in the world? most people live life in excitement and go to places around the world because they may never get to ever again resulting in the saying 'you only live once' which is true but what would happen if you never stopped living? would you want to travel the world and experience new experiences as much if you had all the time in the world?

Other morals it brings up is with trying to create the technology to prevent aging, people soon become 'lab subject' and many people question whether treating a human being as a lab subject to be prodded and tested on is right? not to mention if they actually managed to prevent aging, how will we control the population of the earth. Many countries such as China already have to place down laws on how many children can be born, it wouldn't make the world a better place if every country would have to result into doing this?

So as you can see I thought i would go down this road for a project because their is so many parts of it that i could branch off to and it gives me a lot more variety to work with.