essay

We’ve all heard of phrases such as “beauty is only skin deep”, “seeing is believing” and “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, but have these phrases any meanings or value in contemporary media? Bearing this in mind, the question remains….

‘How and why do fashion magazines such as Elle and Vogue construct unobtainable representations of beauty? Is this a concern’?

Elle and Vogue are well known and established women’s magazines, sold and read all around the world. Elle Magazine created in France in the 1940’s and Vogue created in 1910 cover issues such as fashion, beauty and health, subsequently the magazines are immensely popular amongst readers and are at the forefront of the advertising industry. This essay will discuss how and why Elle and Vogue magazine construct unobtainable representations of beauty and whether this is a concern for the magazines audience. I will look at how the media has created a beauty myth that magazines follow to anchor in the audience, and how the evolution of technology has changed our perception of the ideal body and face.

The issue of unobtainable representations of beauty has long been debated even when technology had not yet advanced to today’s standards. In the yesteryears, magazines such as Elle and vogue featured flawless looking models in their magazines using specialist lighting and expensive make up to create a perfectionist look on their models, giving their audience a misrepresentation of an unobtainable beauty. Over the years as technology advanced and the introduction of specialist editing software such as adobe Photoshop, technology has allowed images to be manipulated to the advantage of the magazine companies for their financial and status gain. This issue also came into the limelight of politicians, and the members of the Liberal democrat’s party in 2009 backed proposals to require all photos “‘retouched’ to make them more attractive to be clearly labelled as retouched images. This was because they were “misleading and harmful and had contributed to the rise of eating disorders” . Katy Gordon, the party’s Glasgow north candidate described how even “Marilyn Monroe would be considered fat by today’s standards” , and highlighted the fact that “however good a parent you are, you are up against the might of the beauty industry and the media” .

The media uses images of beauty against women to force an ideology of the ideal women that is impossible to attain, a so called ‘beauty myth’. This is done by magazines to escalate magazine sales and to help sell third party products advertised in their magazines in order to generate a profit by portraying women as sex objects. Naomi Wolf’s “The Beauty Myth” describes how there is “a secret “underlife” poisoning our freedom: infused with notions of beauty, it is a dark vein of self-hatred, physical obsessions, terror of aging, and dread of lost control” . The ‘beauty myth’ has effected “women in Western culture” as females “are damaged by the pressure to conform to an idealized concept of female beauty” . In July 2010 Elle magazine featured an airbrushed image of the renowned RnB singer Rihanna on its front cover. The image had been digitally enhanced to show the slim singer looking impressively leaner. This manipulation of the celebrity’s image using digital enhancements helped Elle to depict the singer as a sex symbol and hence follow the beauty myth, as the media knows that sex appeal sells to both genders and subsequently featuring the singer in this pose increases magazine sales. In contrast, this process of image manipulation gives rise to the hypodermic syringe model where passive audience are injected with misleading ideologies of beauty which they are likely to believe. In return the audience (usually young women) are led to believe that they are viewing a genuine image of the singer and attempt to attain a similar figure at all costs, usually by starving or eating and then inducing self vomit to control body weight resulting in eating disorders and illnesses such as bulimia and anorexia.

“Within this universe connotating superficiality and the worshiping of appearances, Photoshop reigns like an emperor” . With the introduction and availability of specialist editing software such as Adobe Photoshop, media has become equipped with a powerful tool that could enable it to manipulate any digital image to its advantage.” Supermodels such as German born Heidi Klum who has appeared on the cover of fashion magazines such as Elle and Vogue once said “Hook me up with a great photographer, a clever stylist and an expert retoucher, and together we create a beautiful illusion” .This shows that no one is perfect and how even beautiful women have become dependent on technology, as the increasingly demand to look immaculate grows on image conscience women in society. In order for magazines to sell they must have a unique selling point, so in this case fashion magazines feature airbrushed images of models to anchor in the audience and promote sale. The female consumer is deluded by this and is led to believe that the magazine will guide them to achieve the model look through segments on beauty tips, fashion advice and special diets features, when in fact the truth is that the immaculate look is superficial and unobtainable.

’The technological development of the medium has undoubtedly made images seem more ‘real’ . The advancement of technology has allowed the print medium to create their own representation of reality. Using Photoshop tools such as the ‘patch tool’ that is used for eliminating blemishes on images and ‘clone tool’ which is used to duplicate good areas of an imagine to cover flaws along with numerous other image enhancing tools such as liquidfy filter and lighting, the print medium is enable to create flawless images of females what they believe to be the ‘ideal women’.

‘Together, the visual images and headlines on a magazine cover offer a complex semiotic system, communication primary and secondary meanings through language, photographs, images, colour and placement’ . Magazines such as Elle and vogue use image enhancing software to retouch images of their models. This is done in order to create an image of the so called ‘ideal women’ purely for the purpose of sensationalism. The models are depicted on the cover in a direct mode of address to catch attention and stimulate an interaction with the reader. This along with aspects of non verbal communication e.g. facial expressions, gaze, text and posture of the image is used by the magazine to entice its audience. Together, the unique mast head, the magazine layout, the fonts and texts, puffs, sell lines and buzz words all contribute to its identity and appeal. While informative hints on hair and beauty, diets, fashion, health issues and make up /fashion disasters are some appealing segments covered by the magazines to which all women can identify and relate to.

In June 2009 Elle featured an airbrushed image of Reese Witherspoon (actress) covering the Elle masthead accompanied with a single strapline ‘Reese hearts Jake’ . This layout of the front cover highlights the importance of the ideal women over the brand name and emphasizes the importance of women’s images indirectly through the reinforced physical beauty on show. Therefore, In Elle and Vogue magazines case, depicting images of unobtainable beauty in their magazines attracts the audience and acts as an inspiration to women as to what they should look like and can become if they were to follow the magazines way of lifestyle. The consumer is then given an impression that the magazines will offer guidance in achieving similar beauty when in fact it is unachievable.

‘Advertisers often emphasize sexuality and the importance of physical attractiveness in an attempt to sell products’ . The majority of advertisers today use airbrushing to enhance images of ordinary looking women; this is because “advertising makes big money from images of flawless women” . Everybody wants to look immaculate as it boosts self esteem and confidence, ‘by presenting an ideal difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits’ therefore seeing perfect beauty in images is pleasing to the eye and it also acts as an inspiration which people are attracted to then follow suit. Advertiser’s uses this principle to delude and influence its audience into buying the advertised product, who do not realise that the portrayed beauty within the advert is really unobtainable. Elle and Vogue understands this psychology, therefore the magazines only select and feature adverts that have been airbrushed along that feature skinny women as this is the demand set by the beauty myth. This way the magazines not only generate revenue from advertisers but also maintain their high status through associating itself with high class brand names, an example being ‘Gucci’ and ‘Louis Vuitton.

Throughout the Elle and Vogue magazines there is evidence of image manipulation. This is notable through the depiction of slender looking models and flawless beauty on display page after page.” Just 2% of today’s women see themselves as beautiful” , the beauty industry bombards us with images of perfection which fuels a sense of insecurity amongst the ordinary women. The pressures to look like the ideal women that the beauty industry has created make the ordinary women question themselves whether they measure up. This intense pressure on the ordinary women has known to give rise to eating disorders such as Anorexia and Bulimia. Clare Curtis from the Eating Disorders Association highlights, “Sixty-seven percent of girls think they are overweight and six out of 10 girls say they would be happy if they were slimmer," . Magazines such as Elle and Vogue portraying images of the perfect women inject representations of beauty as they see it, which has given rise to the passive audience who are easily influenced and manipulated by what these magazines have put across to them as they believe that ‘photographs represent the real world’ . Young women are then led to extreme dieting which result in excessive weight loss, malnutrition and depression leading into health major mental health and physical health problems and a moral panic within society as a whole. A recent body image survey found, ‘Girls who were already dissatisfied with their bodies showed more dieting, anxiety and bulimic symptoms after prolonged exposure to fashion and advertising images’ and that ‘”very thin “models made them feel insecure about themselves’ . So to an extent Elle and Vogue magazines convey a message to the ordinary women what they are and what they should be. This pressure put upon women has also seen rise in Bulimia, an eating disorder in weight conscious women who over indulge in food and then induce vomit in order to control their weight.

To conclude, I think that magazines such as Elle and Vogue have a great control and influence over women in society as they inject ideologies of the ideal women into ordinary women which they are, to an extent, compelled to become. As Elle and Vogue magazines are distributed in many languages and countries, the beauty myth is seen as a worldwide issue and the pressure for women to look immaculate is being spread globally by these magazines. The magazine‘s do not promote the natural beauty of a women, rather they promote what a women should look like.

‘In the age of the airbrush, can we ever really believe our eyes?’ Since the print medium is now in possession of powerful editing software such as ‘Photoshop’, there is no limit as to how extensive an image can be manipulated. Imperfections such as blemishes, spots and wrinkles on images can easily be eliminated from images at a click of a button. So the phase ‘seeing believing’ is indeed obsolete and has no value today in the world of print medium. Elle and Vogue magazines see that sex and beauty sells, so they only feature those adverts in their magazines that have been airbrushed or that feature models in a seductive posture as they fit in to the lifestyle of their magazine. As human beings we are attracted to beautiful people, so the perfection of beauty depicted in these magazines inspires the passive audience who are led to believe that the magazines will offer them advice in obtaining similar beauty and this is what increases the magazine sales as we want to associate ourselves with immaculate looking people.

Elle and Vogue have created their own representation of beauty which makes us ordinary people feel insecure about our body and looks. To measures up to the immaculate images that magazines such as these bombard us with from all angles, we take measurements such as dieting and surgery, which in the long run has a negative effect our physical and mental health. So by featuring images of unobtainable beauty in their magazines, Elle and Vogue are contributing to the insecurity felt in ordinary people about their body and looks. “By presenting an ideal difficult to achieve and maintain the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits” . As unobtainable beauty continues to be promoted as a demand and judgement upon women by magazines such as Elle and Vogue the insecurity in ordinary women will remain and the increase of eating disorders such as Bulimia and anorexia are likely to increase leaving a moral panic in society.