M A R I A
ON BEAUTY
Many intellectuals would have us believe that beauty is inconsequential. Since it explains nothing, solves nothing, and teaches us nothing, it should not have a place in intellectual discourse. And we are supposed to breathe a collective sigh of relief. After all, the concept of beauty has become an embarrassment. Survival of the prettiest: the science of beauty, Nancy Etcoff
DIANDRA FOREST ALBINO FASHION MODEL
WINNIE HARLOW FASHION MODEL WITH VITILIGO
“The body is not a thing, it is a situation: it is our grasp on the world and our sketch of our project.” The Second sex, Simone de Beauvoir
JILLIAN MERCADO
fashion editor. She has muscular dystrophy since birth.
RACHEL FLEIT bald fashion designer
MOFFY
cross-eye fashion model
LAURA O’GRADY oversize ears fashion model
TESS MUNSTER PLUS SIZE FASHION MODEL
DAFNE SELFE the world’s oldest fashion model
JAMIE BREWER MODEL AND ACTRESS WITH DOWN'S SYNDROM
DEBBIE VAN DER PUTTEN FASHION MODEL WITH ONE ARM
“People need to stop feeling freaked out, tabooed, offended, superior or inferior when they stand next to a person with a different body to themselves.” VIKTORIA MODESTA the world's first amputee pop star
On her 43rd birthday, in 1990, artist Orlan had the first of the operation/performances that will totally transform her face and body. In her effort to represent an ideal formulated by male desire, she does not strive to improve or rejuvenate her original appearance but uses her body as a medium of transformation. Orlan selected features from famous Renaissance and post- Renaissance representations of idealized feminine beauty. Each of Orlan's operations is designed to alter a specific feature. Supplying surgeons with computergenerated images of the nose of a famous, unattributed School of Fontainebleau sculpture of Diana, the mouth of Boucher's Europa, the forehead of Leonardo's Mona Lisa, the chin of Botticelli's Venus and the eyes of Gerome's Pysche as guides to her transformation. Orlan's female prototypes are also selected for reasons that go beyond the appearance of their "ideal" features reasons involving history and mythology: she chose Diana because the goddess was an aggressive adventuress and did not submit to men; Psyche because of her need for love and spiritual beauty; Europa because she looked to another continent, permitting herself to be carried away into an unknown future. Venus is part of the Orlan myth because of her connection to fertility and creativity, and the Mona Lisa because of her androgyny. The legend being that the painting actually represents a man, perhaps Leonardo himself.
“Same person, no difference at all. Just a different sex.” 1
Orlando, Virginia Woolf
ANDREJ / ANDREA
androgynous model, after transgender sex surgery, Andrej is now Andreja Pejic.
CASEY LEGLER FEMALE MALE MODEL
On Beauty / February 2015 MARIA is a project by María María Acha-Kutscher www.acha-kutscher.com
My beard makes me feel like a brave, confident woman who isn't afraid to break society’s norms. (image cover)
HARNAAM KAUR
was just 11 years old when she first began to grow a beard as a result of polycystic ovary syndrome, a condition which can cause excessive hair growth.