Ugly Face
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DECEMBER 2013
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COVER The December issue of Ugly Face is an exploration of beauty ideals within the fashion industry. We want to challenge how they effect society and how they can be challenged.. And on top of that, we want to do this through art like imagery. We hope we please you visually and mentally.
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PICASSO BABY
FASHION KILLA
| photography | street Style
THE UGLY FACE OF BEAUTY
| Exploring the Effects of Photoshop | Photography | Article
Editor in Cheif Kiera Muers
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E d i t o r s n o t e
Twenty T h i n g s
I’ve
Learnt At
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A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. ROALD DAHL
There is no passion to be found playing small - in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. NELSON MANDELA
Ladies don’t start fights, but they sure can finish them. M A R I E, A R I S T O C A T S
Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck. THE DALAI LAMA
Be careful who you trust, the devil was once an angel. UNKNOWN
Mondays are fine. It’s your life that sucks. RICKY GERVAIS
Silence is the best reply to a fool. IMAM ALI
Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it. ROALD DAHL
Roaring dreams take place in a perfectly silent mind. JACK KEROUAC
Sometimes, the smallest things take up the most room in your heart. WINNIE THE POOH
Remember, remember, this is now, and now, and now. Live it, feel it, cling to it. I want to become acutely aware of all I’ve taken for granted. SYLVIA PLATH
You’re going to be in your own skin until you die. Thats a while. You might as well get comfortable in it. UNKNOWN
Just because one person’s problem is less traumatic than another’s, doesn’t mean they’re required to hurt less. J.A. R E D M E R S K I
I think it’s very healthy to spend time alone. You need to know how to be alone and not be defined by another person. OSCAR WILDE
Relax. You will become an adult. You will figure out your career. You will find someone who loves you. You have a whole lifetime; time takes time. The only way to fail at life is to abstain. JOHANNA DE SILENTIO
When a women says, ‘I have nothing to wear!’, what she really means is, ‘theres nothing here for who I am supposed to be today. CAITLIN MORAN
. The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrafice. Ironically their virtues make vunreable; they are often wounded. Sometimes destroyed. ERNEST HEMMINGWAY
Don’t ever let anyone dull your sparkle. UNKNOWN
If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit. W.C. F I E L D S
The time is always right to do what is right. M A R T I N L U T H E R K I N G JR
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Picaso Baby
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Photography KIERA MUERS Models BECKY EARL & BETHANIE MORAN
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she a fashion killa, and I’m a
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trendy
Photography KIERA MUERS Models JENNY FITTES & JOHN MELCHICO BRONX
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Shoes GAP | Jumper GAP
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Shoes VANS | Bag GAP
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Boots TIMBERLAND | Scarf ALEXANDER MCCQUEEN
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The Ugly Face Of
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Retouching affects all types of advertising; we know a McDonalds burger isn’t going to appear as quite as perfect as it looks on the menu. Yet somehow we forgive the gloopy cheese and oozing grease and we settle for the reality of how that burger burger; we accept and forgive its imperfections. So with this in mind, it has to be asked; what makes us think so differently between a photoshopped burger and a photoshopped model? Digitally enhanced images are blamed for a lot when it comes to body confidence. The ideals that are portrayed are said to create a negative and self-loathing mindset in the mass public. Unable to achieve glossy hair, flawless skin and a slender figure, ideals are heightened and body confidence is lost. Despite the fact the majority of both women and men are completely aware that the images they see have been manipulated, it still doesn’t stop them craving that perfect yet unrealistic body.
Has the fashion industry taken photo editing too far? Or has the public taken it to seriously? Either way, now that the damage has been done, how much further will the boundaries continue to be pushed? By Kiera Muers.
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‘When you look at art you appreciate the work and passion
And with issues such as eating disorders and body dismorphia on the rise, the use of photoshop has never been such a debated topic. The fashion industry defends its use of photo editing saying that fashion is about selling a fantasy or a feeling rather than clothing. A fair point. Model and graphic designer John Melchico-Bronx defends this statement and states ‘There’s nothing wrong with having an ideal face that fits the brand, I would say it’s no different to Cristiano Ronaldo being the ideal ‘beauty’ to advertise for Nike Sports.‘ Take a brand such as Abercrombie who sells typical jeans and apparel, the selling point for the audience who shop there is the lifestyle being portrayed in the advertisements. Similarly, Victoria Secrets sells sexy. If these same products were sold at Primark without a brand label would they sell the same? I doubt it. The name is associated with the quality which is decided by the public, however how do the public decide the quality of these brands? Their advertising, and the beautifully sculpted and manufactured models they see and aspire
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to look like in those clothes. It seems a little unfair and misleading. Within the industry many argue that there is nothing wrong with a brand creating an ideal picture of beauty. When asked about how he feels about this from a graphic designers point of view John stated ‘When you look at art you appreciate the work and passion that has been put into creating an image that defines someone’s vision. Edited images are no different and should be appreciated like art.’ After all the images are merely illustrations masquerading as photographs, cartoons composed with a computer rather than a pen. No company has ever said these images were made to be idolized or copied. The campaigns are created to show a particular brands vision of beauty, not everybody’s. We as an audience have our own individual views, nobody forced anyone to agree with what the fashion industry is saying is beautiful. Although it has to be questioned, despite the fact we are now aware of the editing, is it really at the forefront of our minds when we flick through
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Edited images are no different and should be appreciated like art.
magazines, subconsciously registering the image of an ideal? Perhaps not. ‘Everyone would like to see themselves in the highest light,’ explains John ‘but when you see how much of yourself has been changed to suit someone’s ideal, it can have a real knock on effect on your confidence.’ Perhaps where edited images become a real danger is not the fantasy created by an over edited photograph but the lost identity of a person, for example, wrinkles and age spots being removed or skin being lightened. Although it sounds extremely offensive, it happens more than you’d think, such as in Beyonce’s 2010 campaign for L’Oreal. This is where photoshop in the fashion industry becomes an issue, as commented on by Kate Winslet in the Daily Telegraph regarding her 2003 cover for GQ magazine ‘The retouching is excessive. I do not look like that and more importantly, I don’t desire to look like that.’ Making someone’s skin a little smoother is forgivable, however it is easy to see why there are alarm bells ringing when there are publications and brands that produce images that
are taking away someone’s ethnicity. Does being high fashion mean you have to be light skinned? This is starting to feel a little 1950’s. Equally as disturbing is removing the natural lines and wrinkles of a persons face, the lines that show the story of someone’s life. It appears only youth is celebrated in the world of fashion and ‘ageing’ might as well be a swear word. Although photoshop has only been at our fingers tips since 1990, it is now one of the key components to both pop culture and the fashion world. It is an art form in many ways and brings a whole new level of creativity to almost anything digital and published. It appears the brands and companies who use the tool are almost saying ‘our viewers are intelligent, they know this is for entertainment’. A true and a fair point to make. But one must wonder now that the boundaries have been pushed this far and caused irreversible damage within society, how much of a person are editors willing to dissolve to create their perfect monster?
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“Everything that looks too p e r f e c t, is too p e r f e c t to be p e r f e c t.” ― Dejan Stojanovic