The beauty standards that defined our culture

While the occidental culture tend to abuse on makeup and contouring, there are others where the savage beauty is the most important thing. ¿How are this beauty standards evolving?

Our culture has had a lot of changes and referents in the history of beauty, and the makeup has been the main character for a long time. Today, the important thing seems to be having the perfect body and women doesn’t take advantage of their natural side; in fact they cover it under layers of makeup.

The idea is that nobody knows you are wearing makeup, but sometimes it can turn you into someone unrecognizable. At what point hiding our imperfections became stop being ourselves?

It’s true that beauty standards change constantly, depending on the evolution of time. In Renaissance, having more weight was synonymous of health and wide hips of fertility. Today, we are far away from that theory. Thin bodies are applauded and even there are some celebrities –like loved and hated Kim Kardashian- who celebrate their curves, there are some beauty magazines who try to keep this ridiculous and not healthy beauty parameter. Yet, there are others who are making big efforts so all sizes could be considered in the fashion world.

Other Beauty Standards

Of course, beauty, as we know it, it’s not the only kind. For other cultures the concept could be very different and the reasons that they wear makeup it’s not always for cover imperfections. Some photographers have used their work just to show other kinds of beauty, away for our beauty canons, that we thing are perfect. Eric Lafforgue, who has photographed different civilizations to show that makeup is not always used to stand out beauty, but as part of rituals. His photos were taken for ten years and they show women from New Ginea to Myanmar and Mozambique wearing makeup as part of a ritual or just for sun protection.

On the other hand, the series “100 years of beauty” talks about the beauty standards evolution in Kenya, with the beautiful model Kesee Andrea, from 1900 from 2000. And in its amazing Pinterest account we can see the behind the scenes of every look.

As we said before, there are some photographers who wanted to show different women, saying that the reality we know, it’s not the only one. Photograph Mihaela Noroc left her work to portray women that she knew while she was travelling. The result it’s pretty much impressive. Away from the traditional beauty standards that we know, she find the inside beauty of each of them, all beautiful in their own style. Many of that women have never been in a picture before. But they didn’t pose like a model, they did it like strong and challenging women. “After taking so much pictures, in more than 45 countries, I can say that beauty is everywhere. And it has nothing to do with cosmetics, money, race or social stratum; it has to do with being ourselves” said Norac. “Global trends makes us look and behave the same, but we are beautiful because we are different”.

We love that there are people who support every kind of beauty without typecast. The classic standards are leaving behind and step by step the beauty industry is listening the voice of real women and even want they want. The Dove campaign has been there for a while and has been a success for that reason: being away of perfection and photoshop, because what is important it’s that we have to accept each other with those extra pounds, because that’s how we are perfect, in our way.

Original Article here

Moving abroad

There’s something that nobody tells you about moving abroad. Of course it’s a great experience and it takes a lot of courage to do it, no doubt about it. But when you move abroad you leave your whole world, your friends, your family and everything behind. When you make that decision, everything changes, because it means you are ready to fly on your own and leave everything you have been attached to. You experience a lot of feelings, you get scared and excited at the same time. But the most important thing is that you are brave, most of the people don’t have the guts to do it.

When I knew I would move abroad I was so excited that I wanted to quit my job as soon as possible. It was my dream. I always thought I was born in the wrong place, but the thing is I didn’t know (still don’t know) where I belong to. When the day finally arrived, deep in my heart I knew I wouldn’t come back anymore.

So began my adventure and although I was scared, everything went well. I made a lot of friends, with whom I still keep in touch. Except something was not right. Although I was constantly spending my time with new people, I felt alone. It’s a feeling very difficult to describe. Because it’s not the loneliness you feel when you are single, it’s another kind of loneliness. When you read all the great stories about travelling, no one tells you about it. It’s like you were alone in the world. It’s about being on your own although you have people around you. That’s one of the most difficult parts of moving abroad, since it is the first time you realize you are all alone, all by yourself. And that’s really scary.