Define Magazine by Jessica Fecteau

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

[ digital issue ]

Editorial

/beauty in the digital age It was easy to criticize the first wave of web vanity: downward camera angles, pouts, filters. Social media platforms were once nothing more than a way of seeking approval by documenting a fabricated life and projecting a perfectly curated image to an audience of acquaintances. Yet this introduction to the digital image is just one of the many sides the online era of beauty has known. Sure, many of those socially shared pictures still serve to exhibit narrow standards of beauty, but they’ve become powerful tools to dismantle these paradigms. They are now used to celebrate the diversity of beauty. A shift that goes beyond race: we now embrace different genders, ages, body types and sexualities. The digital world allows ideas to spread and reach a larger audience than they ever had before. We now want to see real people in campaigns and selfies, being their antithesis, lo-fi and DIY rather than highly produced, are precisely what’s revolutionising the industry’s advertising approach. lfies ive culture of now, se at ic un m m co rpe hy s t as In today’ rcissistic or capitalis na As . er w po al ur lt have real cu far more empowering r fo ed us be n ca ey th they may be, dly ought that exaggerate th ve ha ld ou w ho W . ends ny screens would ti on d ye la sp di s ot perfect 2-D snapsh more meaningful that ng hi et m so to in rn tu eventually ereotypes and is curst d an sm xi se , sm ci challenges ra beauty? In its first of ld or w g in pt ce ac rently shaping an e different visions th e or pl ex u yo ts le ever issue, Define of digital beauty.

Enjoy! Jessica Fecteau Editor in chief

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

[ digital issue ]

[digital issue] #1 S/S 2015 Founder Editor in chief Art direction Jessica Fecteau Photography Jessica Fecteau Susanne Junker Retouching Jessica Fecteau Text Jessica Fecteau Laurent Goumarre Bertie Brandes Jane Helpern Modeling Louise Harling Mélissa Carina Merbouche Jessica Fecteau Camille Faucon Sarah Huby Binta Joab Coralie Erichsen Géraldine Pace Salomé Cynamon Makeup Rika Bitton Jessica Fecteau Andréa Koloko Hair Rika Bitton Jessica Fecteau Styling Jessica Fecteau

Cover

Advertising

Photography & retouching Jessica Fecteau

Photography Jessica Fecteau

Model Louise Harling

Agnès B model & makeup Jessica Fecteau YSL model Binta Joab

YSL makeup Andréa Koloko

Kenzo model Kenzo nails Géraldine Pace Jessica Fecteau

Contact Define Magazine +33 (0) 6 51 73 53 59 jess.fecteau@gmail.com

Makeup & hair Rika Bitton

Summary

8. /A new kind of touch The digital world is all about contact.

20. /Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s beauty for you today? Your definitions.

22. 32. /Beauty add-ons Sharing fake face enhancements.

/The tribal alteration of bodies A cross-cultural search for approval.

42. 52. 62. /Virtual surgery No need to go under the scalpel.

/Looking good, feeling good

/Susanne Junker Interview.

Skincare tips to be picture-perfect.

74. 84. Photo

Susanne Junker, ID-Identity

/The rise of icons through social media

/Anti-beauty movement

The once-elite industry is no longer unnatainable.

Chill out, perfection.

Introduction

/a new kind of touch

Digital: a sensuous word rather than a dematerialized one; a word that calls for gestures and glances. The story of how a new choreography of fingers has found its counter point on a tactile screen. The digital world is all about contact.

photography makeup/retouching Jessica Fecteau text Laurent Goumarre model MĂŠlissa Carina Merbouche

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

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A new kind of touch

Introduction

“ It’s very reassuring to still be able to ca re ss the immaterial.”

There are some words that are immediately suggestive of certain gestures. “ Digital, ” for example. This Americanism, which implies dematerialization, is improperly translated in French as “ numérique. ” Digital is the promise of a gesture, a tiny choreographic movement, the caress of a forefinger on a screen. In short, skin contact, even slightly sexual, between us and nothing. It’s very reassuring to still be able to caress the immaterial, to feel a whole world scroll past at the tip of your finger. Because that’s what your forefinger’s for: to scroll images and data. And even when the presence of a finger isn’t required, the gesture remains. It becomes autonomous, a gesticulation without an object; rhetorical, like the raised forefinger of St. John the Baptist in classical painting, or the signal “ I promise, ” given when an étoile locks his first two fingers together in classical ballet. Digital technology predicates a whole series of finger gestures: the index finger that touches or presses on a touchscreen to launch, select or change the location of an application; the forefiger, again, that taps twice to zoom in or out on a text of photo; and the opening movement of the thumb and forefinger to zoom in on a screen, or which we pinch together to zoom out or close an open application.

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

There’s no more traversing or entering. With digital technology we stay on the surface; we have the world at our fingertips and it only asks to be touched or tapped to open, pressed to change place, caressed to display itself, pinched – without doing harm – to close. We knew and employed these gestures before the digital era. But now they have been defused or their former aggressiveness and distilled to the one gesture that they all contain: a caress. Yes, that’s what digital technology has taught us: when before we tapped, pressed or pinched, we were each time offering a caress.

Recently, the digital world has also embraced the gaze; our eyes enclosed beneath a helmet or behind glasses. Indeed, the physical experience of digital technology has in essence been reduced to nothing but a gaze, paradoxically directed inward. It's wonderful when you think about it. Digital technology offers us the bodily experience of diving into ourselves. Of course there'll be some who claim that this is the path to isolation, each individual focused on his or her own body, blind to others, their fingers skimming the empty air. That it's sad to see a digital community of unconnected bodies.

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Introduction

A new kind of touch

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

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Introduction

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

A new kind of touch

Introduction

A new kind of touch

“ Being digital means experiencing others in their absence, using our eyes and the tip of our fingers to caress the world of others. ”

Well, in fact it’s just the opposite. It’s no different than from the whirling dervishes who stare inward, eye wide shut, engaging in no physical communication – but all, every last one of them, participants in the same trance; a community of spirits. Being digital means experiencing others in their absence, but others who nonetheless think of you, who sometimes think for you, who connect you with others because you have the same tastes, have bought the same disks, seen some of the same films. Because once you both visited certain sexoriented Web sites, and might both be interested by… In the end, that’s what the digital world is all about: using our eyes and the tip of our fingers to caress the world of others, on whom we have no hold and exercise literally no pressure. Just a light touch.

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Please define

What’s beauty

Beauty nowadays is feeling good in you your body without discomfort. Beauty i despite adversity. It has as many defin However, it always comes from the si the autenticity of one’s appearance pai you can’t describe. It’s something you it means you’re white and you have big about the way we feel about women fe Beauty is when you succeed to make y inner reflection. Nature should be beau dence. It’s the harmony that exist betwe it, both on an æsthetic and intellectual

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Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

for you today?

ur own skin and being proud of showing is about people who exude happiness nitions as there are people in the world. incerity of the heart. Beauty in 2015 is ired with a vibrant soul. It’s something feel and something you like. In China, eyes. Can we say that is beauty? What eeling good no matter where they are? your mirror reflection concur with your uty now. It rhymes primarily with confieen a person and what is emerging from l level. It is our best perception of things. Andréanne Pesant, Sophie Lapierre, Sophie Desloges, Catherine Bolduc, Catherine Vachon, François Grenier-Gagné, Alexandra Grenier, Fannie Berrouard, Marie-Élise Faucher.

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Beauty culture

/beauty add-ons

Added components used to enhance a face or body, usually shared with strangers on social media. Temporary lip fillers, boob jobs, faux piercings… While augmenting one’s appearance for æsthetic gain and cultural acceptance ( or shock value ) is not isolated to the present, in 2015 it’s never been easier or more fashionable to obtain or fake an extreme beauty identity. Whether you’re really taking the plunge or forging a purely decorative apearance, it’s no secret that lashes extensions and 3D nail art are often the subject of a few of your social media posts. After all, happiness is only real when shared. Maybe spicedup looks are too. photography model/retouching Jessica Fecteau

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

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Beauty culture

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

The add-ons

( left & right pages )

model Jessica Fecteau

Fakin’ what your mama gave ya’

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Beauty culture

model

Camille Faucon

makeup

Andréa Koloko

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

The add-ons

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Beauty culture

The add-ons

uthent

model Sarah Huby makeup Jessica Fecteau

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

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f e a t u r e

The add-ons

Beauty culture

( left page )

model

Binta Joab

makeup

AndrĂŠa Kokolo

( right page )

model

Coralie Erichsen

makeup

Rika Bitton

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Origins

/the tribal alteration of bodies photography model/text collage Jessica Fecteau

A cross-cultural search for approval Every group of humans in known history has seen some of its members modify their bodies. These modifications began as rituals or spiritual ceremonies that originated before Ancient Egypt. The reasons behind these practices vary widely, even within a single society. In many cultures around the world, social status, group affiliation, and wealth are advertised with jewelry and adornments; in others, deeper meanings are behind the punctures, scars, and tattoos people wear.

While most of them may seem very extreme, westerners have taken these ancient rituals and appropriated them into today’s culture in an attempt to beautify their own body. And just like their aborigenous counterparts, the intent behind those “ new ” rituals is most often of obtaining social approval or displaying a certain idea of a person’s identity.

The tribal The tribal

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Origins

The tribal alteration of bodies

Lenghtened n e ck s Women of the Kayan Lahwi tribe of Thailand are well known for wearing neck rings, brass coils that are placed around the neck, lenghtening it. Girls first start to wear rings when they are about five years old. Over the years, more turns of coil are added, which causes the weight of the brass to push the collar bone down and compresses the rib cage. The neck itself is not actually lengthened; the appearance of a stretched neck is created by the deformation of the clavicle.

Str etc hed lips The Mursi, Chai and Tirma are the last groups in Africa amongst whom it is still the norm for women to wear large pottery or wooden discs in their lower lips. A girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lower lip is cut when she reaches the age of 15 or 16. It is up to her to decide how far to stretch the lip, by inserting progressively larger plugs over a period of several months. Some persevere until their lips can take plates of 12 centimetres or more in diameter. Just like other forms of body decoration and alteration found around the world ( like ear piercing or tattooing ), the lip plate worn by Mursi women is best seen as an expression of social adulthood and reproductive potential. It is a kind of bridge between the individual and society. Wearing the lip-plate also serves ĂŚsthetic purposes, to attract men before and in the first years of marriage.

Anthropologists have hypothesized that the wear-ing of coils originate from the desire these women have of looking more attractive by exaggerating sexual dimorphism, as women have more slender necks than men. Kayan women, when asked, acknowledge this idea, and say that their purpose for wearing the rings is cultural identity associated with beauty. Westerners do not necessarily try to have particularly long necks, but a longer, slender neck is often considered more beautiful, especially in the fashion industry. Models are generally required to have excellent bone features, such as high cheekbones, long legs and necks. Also, westerners do not like when the skin of the neck starts sagging with age. In order to keep their neck looking elegant, women often take care of their neck as they do with the skin on their face, by applying creams and massaging it.

Scientists have found that the size of somebodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lips plays a key role in determining whether they are sexually attractive to other people. While we, westerners, may not insert plates in our lips to enlarge them, we do go to great lenghts to have fuller ones. From collagen injections, to implants, to lip plumpers, the search for voluptuous lips is probably the most common one.

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Origins

The tribal alteration of bodies

P a i n t e d b od ie s In the remote Omo valley in Africa, where the earliest known Homo sapiens remains have been found, indigenous tribes have been painting their bodies with pulverized minerals for millenia. People of the Surma tribe decorate their faces and bodies with coloured clay as many as three times a day. They have long slathered on clay to prevent sunburn, but colors are used to designate position, for ritual, to ward off illness, to attract the opposite sex, to associate with family or an animal, and of course just recently, to impress tourists. Body painting seems to represent a way of life that dates from prehistory and once enabled humankind to overcome nature’s hostility. Art was then a means of survival. Now it is as much a part of daily playtime as an ancient ritual. Children paint their faces with coloured ochre and white clay. Friends will often paint each other’s faces with identical designs to show their closeness. When they are old enough, they will go to great lengths to decorate themselves to attract the opposite sex at ceremonial gatherings, so this is an important skill to practice. The desire to adorn our faces and bodies is obviously a deep seated one. Fashionable clothes and especially makeup are westerners’ adornments. Instead of clay, women go through daily routines of slathering on foundation and eye shadow before they head out the door to face the rest of the world. Some just go for a natural look, others almost put on a completely different face. Whether it is to look good in front of men or co-workers, to impress at a special event or just to feel more confident, the reasons for which women wear makeup are, in the end, very similar to those of the aborigenous people.

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Blackened teeth In Japan, a practice called Ohaguro, which consist of dyeing one’s teeth black, was seen amongst the population as beautiful until the end of the Meiji period. Objects that were pitch black, such as glaze-like lacquer, were seen as beautiful. Blackening teeth signified wealth and sexual maturity, especially for women, and they would drink an iron-based black dye tempered with cinnamon and other aromatic spices to achieve the lacquered look. In 1873, the empress of Japan made a radical beauty statement, appearing in public with pearly whites instead of pearly blacks, which persuaded Japanese women to follow suit. By the 1910s, tooth blackening was a rare sight in urban areas. Today, the practice can be seen among many minority groups in Southeast Asia. The practice is dwindling among the younger women, but remains prevalent in older women among certain of the hill tribes.

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

The tribal alteration of bodies

Origins

Of course, this practice could not get very popular in the Western culture. For us, having very white teeth is a norm. But the ideas behind both concepts are very similar, healthwise and symbolically. Keeping teeth white usually requires good hygiene, whereas blackened teeth generally held up against decay better than untreated teeth. Teeth whitening is expensive, so sporting extremely white teeth kind of signifies you are wealthy enough to treat yourself to this luxury. A study has confirmed that a white set of teeth is a sign of health and genetic quality designed to help choose a mate. So the desire of showing them off can indicate the time and ability for a woman to have children, in a similar fashion to what it meant to the Ohaguro.

Tattoos and scars In New Zealand, the Maori people consider women with tattooed lips and chins to be the most desirable. A “ moko ” as they call it, is the ultimate statement of one’s identity as a Maori. The head is believed to be the most sacred part of the body, so having a facial tattoo is an undeniable declaration of who you are. It is also a symbol of integrity and prestige, as well as a reflection of history. In Ethiopa’s Karo tribe, the practice of self-scarring is a form of adornment cherished by the people eof this culture. It involves a process in which one’s skin is cut, etched, burned or branded into a design to create a inkless tattoo-like scar. Similar to being tattooed, this form of body modification is a permanent one. Scarification serves as a symbol of strength, fortitude and courage in both men and women. Scars are used to enhance beauty and society’s admiration, and are considered very attractive on women. A woman’s eagerness to tolerate pain

is an indication of her emotional maturity and willingness to bear children. Though scarification is not as widely practised in Western culture as tattooing, it is actually offered in many tattoo and piercing stores in many countries and is gaining popularity. It came with the body modification movement of the ‘80s, during which fraternity brothers would brand their house letters on their body to symbolize eternal membership. Scaring acts as an alternative to tattooing, but both pretty much serve the same purpose. Even though these practices have once been considered a form a deviance, they are now an acceptable form of expression. While it is historically a symbolic practice, those opting for tattoos and scarification today typically do it for aesthetic reasons, to gain status or as a symbol of identity. They usually bear great significance to the person who chose to have something etched in their skin forever.

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Geeky ĂŚsthetics

/v i r tual surgery

No need to go under the scalpel.

photography makeup/retouching J essica Fecteau text Bertie Brandes model Camille Faucon

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Please

make

Chances are unless your face is your moneymaker or you have an impeccably groomed online personality ( I ’m looking at you YouTube Photoshop tutorials ) you won’t have had much direct experience of retouching. Instead, most people know it largely by its blunders: the terrible magazine covers where celebrities’ arms sprout from their rib cages, or editorials where supermodels’ thighs have been enthusiastically dissected and re-formed.

look

The idea that women ought to be liquified into often anatomically impossible shapes is clearly troubling. While there are a few photographers and stylists who have made a kind of sickly glossiness their trademark, women’s bodies in magazines and advertising are often so far from recognisable they look more like freshly glazed doughnuts. Retouching doesn’t have a great reputation and it probably shouldn’t; it’s pretty hard to argue in favour of a practice that seems, at its very core, to be concerned with homogenising beauty.

freshly

model Mélissa Carina Merbouche

glazed Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

doughnut

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

model GĂŠraldine Pace

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Geeky æsthetics

Virtual surgery

Exaggeration is key. Sure, doctoring an image of a woman’s body, in the quest for the absolutely aspirational, in order to sell you things, is gross, but retouching to pursue a creative idea that somehow supersedes capitalism is altogether different. Away from the mainstream, people like Jeff Koons, Nick Knight or more recently PC Music have embraced ideas of Photoshop as part of their artistic heritage - in their hands homogeny can become self-aware and funny, and retouched or digitally re-imagined images are an essential element to their æsthetic. Clearly the issue is more complex than simply forcing everybody to put a red stamp on anything that isn’t fresh from the photographer’s USB stick. First and foremost, there’s a difference between high fashion and highly commercial advertising, which needs to be taken into account, because the minute we start policing how everything ought to be done chances are we’ll start finding our liberal intentions twisting quietly back to the conservative. If I’m starting to sound like one of those people who refuses to acknowledge the effect media can have on people’s self-confidence, now is pro-

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

bably the time to say I’ve found myself on the wrong side of retouching before. While I’m all for creative freedom and think the idea of having disclaimers on all retouched photographs is too extreme, when it comes to mindless manipulation of images, there’s no question that something needs to change. I guess what it boils down to is how we understand beauty. To me, beauty is about variety, and if airbrushing is about pushing homogenous ideas of aspirational beauty then there needs to be enough variation to counterbalance that aesthetic. If aliens came to earth today and tried to understand humanity through the media, they’d think we were all honeycoloured, lithe and beach-ready. In fact, we’re lumpy, freckly, greasy and totally unique, and that’s a beautiful thing. model Jessica Fecteau

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re obviously all shaped like Kate Moss, duh. Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

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Skin care

Skin care tips to be picture-perfect.

LOOKING GOOD FEELING GOOD

photography Jessica Fecteau Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

For the smoothest skin, forget shaving, epilation is the way to go!

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Peeling and exfoliating is the key to getting rid of your dead skin.

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Skin care

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Looking good, feeling good

Skin care

Looking good, feeling good

Don’t forget your sun tan oil FOR A HEALTHY LOOKING BRONZED BODY!

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Did you know mud acts as a deep moisturizer?

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Face masks are the most relaxing way of clarifying your skin!

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Define Magazine [digital issue]

#1 S/S 2015

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Interview by Jessica Fecteau

Susanne Junker

ID-Identity Our outward appearance has always contributed to how we are viewed by people as a whole. Susanne Junker is a photographer and former model that challenges how women are perceived by society through her work. Her intellectual approach consists of speaking of beauty in terms that differ from the usual. Just like Cindy Sherman or Nan Goldin, she stages herself in the name of beauty. So it seemed obvious to me that I had to feature Susanne in this magazine. In her ongoing ID-Identity project, she intends to show another side of feminine beauty. The project consists of portraits of volunteer women exposing how they would get ready without a mirror. The results are both shocking and beautiful. I had the opportunity to discuss the project with her, talk about how she defines her own conception of beauty and even took part in ID-Identity.

Installation view, 12 ID-Identity portraits each 60 cm X 80 cm, lambda prints 2006-2015, Redline, Denver, USA, 2015 Courtesy of the artist

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Interview by Jessica Fecteau

Susanne Junker

ID-Identity #_I1O0072, 2012, lambda print ID-Identity #_I1O0674, 2012, lambda print 60 cm x 80 cm. Courtesy of the artist 60 cm x 80 cm. Courtesy of the artist

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Interview by Jessica Fecteau

Susanne Junker

to arrive at a point where I’m ready to do a project like ID-Identity, where I’m photographing so many different women of different ages, colors, shapes and sizes. I think what I’m asking is a challenging thing, “ what is beauty? ”

You started out your career as a model. Can you describe what working in the fashion industry has taught you, and in which way it has inspired your work? It taught me a lot. I was 16 years old when I started modeling. Therefore, I grew up in this business, learning by doing in that sense. You could call it street smart; you learn languages, you learn how to travel, you learn how to deal with different people everyday. But when you’re 16, you don’t have the confidence that people demand from you at the photoshoots. You’re playing somebody very grown up while you’re still a teenager. That can lead to conflict, but you also learn how to deal with it in a certain sense. What it taught me was to filter this insecureness into my work, and I guess that everything critical I had to deal with in the fashion business inspired me to do my first photographs.

Your work explores the place of women in the media through self-portraits. What popular perceptions of beauty are you challenging through your photographs? I’m challenging the question “ what is beauty? ” or “ what is beautiful? ” I’m a quite pragmatic person, so I used myself because I was there; I could work any time of the day, I didn’t have to organize any photoshoots and, honestly, I was quite timid to ask other women to put themselves in the position I did with myself. I had no limits and that was easier for me to push myself than pushing a model. I think I still have to explore myself and go as far as I can;

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Your ID-Identity project captures women of all kind blindly applying makeup to their face. Can you describe the idea behind the project and why you chose to shoot other women this time?

Well, I tried it on myself first, of course. But it felt fake because I knew myself so well, through the self-portraiture that I’d done for so many years. So, for me, applying makeup blindly, it was not sincere and it was not “ naive ”. I was not satisfied with my photos, but I still liked the idea, so I asked a friend. She applied makeup on herself and she did all those incredible facial movements which I all captured. I started this project because I realized we do all those weird movements. Like you open your mouth the moment you apply mascara, you pull, push, squeeze your face. You’re going through this weird, ugly moment in order to appear beautiful, or what society is telling you is. This in-between moment, this limbo moment interested me and that’s what ID-Identity is. Some women just apply a little bit of makeup, and some women really go for it. It’s a very intimate moment they share with me.

Is there a type of art that influences your work? I love surrealism. I love everything that deforms the human body, so it’s also an æsthetic interest to photograph portraits which are deformed. I find it beautiful. When you capture a certain movement, it’s so abnormal. There’s this one ID-Identity photo where the woman is pulling down her eye, and is just putting on some black pencil, and it seems so violent. Of course it’s not, but it seems like it.

“ You’re going through this weird, ugly moment in order to appear beautiful.This limbo moment interested me and that’s what ID-Identity is. ”

ID-Identity #_I1O4859, 2013 #_I1O9982, 2013 #_I1O1991, 2012 #_I1O9388, 2013 #_I1O0951, 2013 #_WI1O0648, 2006 lambda print 60 cm x 80 cm Courtesy of the artist

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Interview by Jessica Fecteau

Susanne Junker

I love how raw and honest the photos turned out to be. Most of these women seem to have found a way to redefine their own concept of beauty. What was their reaction when they saw the final result?

Did they find it empowering to be in control of the result, and not to be at the same time?

I think there are 3 states of what the woman goes through when she’s doing ID-Identity. There’s the reaction when she finds out about the project. When she walks into my studio, like: “ Oh what a funny idea, I’ve never thought about that, I want to try that, that really interests me. ” Some come in and say: “ Oh! That’s challenging, I want to do it perfect, as I always do it every morning in front of the mirror. ” She just wants to mimic the robotic movements that she does everyday, to appear perfect, and of course it never works. And then there are women who are shy and thoughtful about it. Then she’s doing ID-Identity. I’m behind the camera, I’m silent. I guide her a little bit sometimes, if I feel there’s a need to. When she goes in the project of applying makeup blindly, there’s a lot of emotion going on. I’ve seen tears, I’ve seen laughter. And then she looks into the mirror. It’s usually very positive and fun. And another level is when she sees the print in the gallery, which is shocking. The print is 60 x 80 cm big. That means 4 times bigger than her head. It’s scary. They’re not retouched, you really see everything, every hair, every blood vessel, what’s coming out of the nose and all that makeup on her skin. It’s very intense, and I think the women are respectful. They’re a bit shocked sometimes, but very proud.

They’re in control to decide whether or not they want to be in the project. Some of them ask me: “ What can I do for you? ”, and I say: “ Nothing! You do it for yourself. ” For me it’s kind of proposing a self-portrait to them. I create a situation, a moment where they can let go, and I capture and follow what they’re going through and what they actually, in the end, decide to do. And the openness and freeness of all their movements and how they react to the light ( it’s a very strong ring flash, it basically blinds them after 3-4 times ). I was in the United-States 3 weeks ago for an exhibition, and there was a lady that came to me and said: “ Well I’m very old, and I have a lot of scars, you see, I had skin cancer ” and then she participated in ID-Identity. And just after the photoshoot she said: “ It’s so great that I did that. ” It’s empowering, I think, to share that intimate moment with me and, later on, the final image.

Are you planning to continue the project in the future? Yes, I want to shoot 1,000 portraits. I have 250 so far. I started the project in 2006, it was just something that I was doing on the side. And then I dropped it for years because I thought it wasn’t interesting enough. I kind of had to grow into the project myself, to really believe that it could be something grand with the variety of women. The more you get, the more colorful it gets, not only because of the makeup, but you can really see women from all over the world of every

ID-Identity #_I1O1814, 2012 lambda print, 60 cm x 80 cm Courtesy of the artist

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Susanne Junker, behind the scenes of a ID-Identity photo session Paris, 2015, by Jessica Fecteau

Interview by Jessica Fecteau

shape, size and age. It can be in a mountain village as much as in an urban city of 22 million people like Shanghai, it always works and the interest is always there. It’s a global interest, and I find this fact interesting. Imagine there would be 1,000 women one day, and you study the project. Maybe you can find leads in many different directions. I can already say that the most colors which are used are blue, red and black. Maybe it’s not difficult to find out, but I have pictures to prove. It’s still quite interesting, why is it red? It’s been hundreds of years that women color their lips red, because it’s a luscious color, it’s to attract men. So it’s still implied in us, even after all the modernism and all of this. Why is that? You can ask yourself lots of questions about it.

Susanne Junker

“ The idea of approval and narcissism is something Do you have any other iod r e p y r e v e upcoming projects? of time has had. The toys have just changed. Now it’s a virtual Your work has brought you to reality, it’s travel around the world. Have you noticed anything in particular that shows how Western beauty constant a standards seem to be spreading to other cultures? evolution. ” I’m doing a new series called “ Je suis femme ” that follows a little bit “ Je suis Charlie. ” We are talking about minorities that are in fact such huge minorities, so they’re not minorities anymore, it’s more like a sarcastic view. And I use a model for that. So it continues. But ID-Identity needs a lot of planning ahead. I want to go to Africa, to many different amazing places to continue!

Oh yes, that has been done for many years. For example when I was a model 20 years ago, I often went to Tokyo. And I’m not Japanese obviously, I’m Caucasian, and that was the idea of beauty they wanted back in the day. Now it’s almost reversed. Suddenly, you see Chinese models in advertising. When I was modeling, Asian models were almost non-existent. And now, all those girls are doing very well, and they’re in all the big campaigns. And why is that? Because the Chinese want to see their women. They want to see their girls wearing the hot Chanel bags and the expensive clothing, and then they want to buy it.

What d o y o u t h i n k o f t o d a y ’ s

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Interview by Jessica Fecteau

Susanne Junker

You use extreme self-portraits to challenge ideas. With the rise of the selfie, people want to look desirable and get others approval more than ever. What do you think of this era of digital narcissism? What do you think of today’s fashion campaigns? Advertising is to sell something. You have one top girl, and you can see she does Gucci and the next season she does Dior. And you can’t really separate the brands anymore. Campaigns ressemble each other, while all the girls look the same. Even though they’re trying really hard to do something different. Louis Vuitton recently hired 3 photographers, Annie Leibovitz, Bruce Weber and Juergen Teller to do very simplistic fashion shoots, and they would write under it “ curated for Louis Vuitton. ” This is not a word advertising created, “ curated ” is a word in the art business. A curator is someone who’s organizing an exhibition. So Louis Vuitton becomes a gallery the moment you open a magazine, giving you the idea you’re looking at art. That’s the new big thing. It’s not buying expensive bags and clothing, now you also have to be cultivated and have works of art, otherwise all of this expensive stuff doesn’t matter.

Women around the world can often go through extreme beauty rituals to attain their own ideal of beauty. What is for you the most extreme act of beauty? I think everybody can do whatever they want. Maybe some women find ID-Identity impossible and too much and don’t like that at all. ID-Identity can be an extreme proposal. No, I think what I find extreme is trying to be somebody you’re not. For example, doing things because your boy-friend wants you to do things. I find that not acceptable.

ID-Identity #_I1O0411, 2015 lambda print, 60 cm x 80 cm Courtesy of the artist.

My self-portraits were narcissistic as well, in a way. Nowadays, it’s so much easier to take a photo with a phone. I think it’s a narcissistic diary that the young people are doing, more than an artistic expression for most of the million of people that do it. I think it’s a form of communication.

What was your way of communicating and getting a form of approval when you were a teenager? We had no phones. The approval was more in the moment, when we saw each other. On Sundays at 3 in the afternoon I’d go to this cafe, and there were all the boys and girls, and you would dress in a way, and put makeup on to seek approval. The kids are still doing it when they see each other, but they can also do it when they’re at home. They can have that 24/7, because they’re sharing every moment. The idea of approval and narcissism is something every period of time has had. The toys have just changed. Now it’s a virtual reality, it’s a constant evolution. The kids are very much under pressure, you have to be active all the time, I think it can go that far, which I find very tiring just thinking about it, but it can also be a dangerous thing.

What is your idea of true beauty? Confidence. I said it before in an interview and I stick to it. You can be overweight, and if you’re confident, you’re beautiful. Or you can be anything, I just used overweight because it’s something people critic all the time. And if you’re confident, you take care of your body and treat it nice. Taking care of yourself, that’s for me beautiful.

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

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Iconic canons

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photography retouching collage/text Jessica Fecteau model GĂŠraldine Pace

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

L Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Look at me model Jessica Fecteau

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

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Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Iconic canons

model Salomé Cynamon

model Sarah Huby

“Sharing a distorted version of the truth blurs the line between the digital world and reality”.

The rise of icons through social media

to curate, package and “ Of course, you should not think that trying media, no matter who your promote yourself for the purposes of social feeling beautiful. ” audience might be, will ever be conducive to model Coralie Erichsen

The selfie’s origins are just about as clear as the one your roomate posted last night from the local bar’s dancefloor. While artists like Andy Warhol and Cindy Sherman pushed the boundaries of self-portraiture towards a more meaningful medium, the selfie as we know it didn’t take really take shape until the advent of social media. From live-sharing your latest attendance from a hip event to showing off how good you look with or without makeup, the use of selfie has been praised and celebrated for a few years already. But it has also faced its share of backlash. As the chorus of criticism heats up, it becomes even more important to examine the selfie’s role in popular culture. What’s really behind the cult? It starts of course with a search for approval. People share different aspects of their lives in order to get likes, to feel good about what they do or about how they look like. But what’s in a like? Put simply, it’s an expression that we have pleased someone else. The more we get them, the more it makes us feel attractive to others, the more we feel that need to please strangers. It’s like the love of those close to us no longer stands up next to the empirical feedback loop of social media likes and comments. The instantaneous return we get on posting flattering pictures can, after some time, create a certain need for attention, a call for people to look at you. Forever staring at our screens, the obsession over our online personas is spiralling out of control. Are we simply a society of selfie-loving narcissists? It seems likely that social media is shaping personal identity in the 21st century and it signifies our need for a technological persona. Standing out amongst the white noise in cyberspace has become crucial to our online identities and with that selfies aren’t just a way to show yourself, but a way to express individuality. Then as our popularity increases, the more we start branding ourselves in a certain way. We adapt our online persona which usually ends up overlooking reality. The sad truth is, being real on social

media is less likely to be acknowledged within the virtual society. It is so easy to portray a fabricated life online that we almost automatically generate a distorted version of the truth. We only show ourselves at our best, only share what we think is worth sharing. We talk about what’s in and try to act like we're on trend. We let ourselves get defined by current social ideals. We hide behind a mask that is our online identity. This distortion of reality not only makes the viewer question what they’re looking at and who they’re looking at, but also question themselves in response to that. In today’s selfie-obsessed society these issues are more pertinent than ever. The power of our perfectly polished constructed image eventually brings up a certain admiration from others. Those from which we used to get approval from now wish they could be our friend. The likes are raining like never before. Admiration, for a person desperately seeking to please, plays a large part in the psychology of pressing like. As does social visibility. The likers themselves are trying to appear generous and supportive. But even if we assume that someone is pressing like, or making a kind comment out of genuine admiration, you have to ask yourself: for what, exactly? For a beautified self, reduced to a series of still images? People liking “ travelling you ” over “ home you ”, “ art gallery you ” over “ grocery shopping you ”? We have become the prophecy of Cindy Sherman: beings shifting in pose and get-up from one mass produced ideal to another. In its best and most democratic application, the internet is a place of free speech, where professional and financial status, where you came from and social cliques are pointless. Rather than the medium itself being regulated by a collective democracy, media icons with the authority of a 10k+ following are in control. For the first time in history the crowd has been able to ingratiate itself with young people and reshape youth culture in its own image. It's actually no wonder that the common people are seeking to obtain a huge following base. Because it is now possible to do so without a famous family name

makeup Rika Bitton

or living in the most glamourous cities. People in the likes of Tavi Gevinson, a teen fashion blogger that came to public attention at only 12, or Amalia Ulman, an artist that completely faked a life on Instagram as a performance, were both able to rise to the top and gain thousands of followers while starting from scratch. In the modelling world proper, the selfie is a viable currency. Today’s ruling class of runway stars, the aptly dubbed Insta-girls, have built up insane legions of followers simply by sharing shots of their strong ass brow games. Models with formidable followings have leveraged their audience as a means of booking real jobs, while brands actively seek girls who they know will keep the like train rolling. The point is, a good use of social media and self-projection has the ability to rise some persons to icons that people will follow religiously, like a clan of disciples. It is a fact. This concept actually becomes interesting when these contemporary icons have the power to influence the crowds and use their newly found voice to pass positive views to the world. Of course, you should not think that trying to curate, package and promote yourself for the purposes of social media, no matter who your audience might be, will ever be conducive to feeling beautiful. Beauty never has and never will be a numbers game. The digital world gives people a perfect platform for self-curation, but be careful not to let it blend with your real life, which you might find you're not living to the fullest because you're too absorbed in the online world. Until we stop assessing our own existence as we live it, constantly weighing up the potential return ( or lack thereof ) of each decision, each statement and photo we post, the line between real life and our digital one will stay blurry. True beauty instead happens when you’re not thinking about it. Only then do you become the vibrant, active, fascinating person you are capable of being. You might not have the Google analytics stats to prove it, but you’re going to have to deal with it.

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Think piece

/antibeauty movement Chill out, perfection. For better or worse, or probably both ( depending on who you ask ), the Internet age has given birth to a generation of savvy and self-crowned photographers, publishers, curators, and models. These industry pioneers are disrupting, changing, and shaping the way we perceive and talk about beauty in 2015. And despite the widespread photo retouching that inevitably still dominates commercial shoots with massive budgets, many of these photographers are committed to capturing and perpetuating the beauty of imperfection. Take the self-deprecating selfie ( crossed eyes, deformed faces, no make-up ), presented as an ode to not take beauty ideals too seriously. Via silly faces and memes, these girls are standing up to corporate oppression and skewed body image and are asking us to see that they are “ normal ”. The face of normal no less, in the self-obsessed age of the internet. The Tumblr-generation muse is no longer a flawlessly airbrushed top model flashing her pearly whites on the cover of the September Issue while dripping in borrowed diamonds. Today’s of-the-moment model has dark circles under her eyes, she’s makeup-free, she’s gap-toothed, gangly, and uninterested in being edited into submission. She’s the notoriously fuzzy-legged, anti-razor, Arvida Byström. She’s the cartoonishly big-lip-

ped, furrow-browed Lily McMenamy. Some of them aren’t even signed with agents…yet. A far cry from the days when beauty only meant one thing, when models had to be of a certain size, shape, and skin colour, and when gender norms defined what society deemed acceptable, in 2015 anything can be beautiful. Tired of unrealistic ideals about body shape and beauty, and bored of racial stereotyping and gender binaries, Generation Z especially is leading the way or a new kind of beautiful that shines from within and stems from individuality. Black vs. white, fat vs. thin, masculine vs. feminine - whether you want to put it down to social media's fetishisation of the real or our growing dissatisfaction with the Photoshopped world of perfection that fashion constantly surrounds us with, gone are the days when terms such as these were used to define what society thought of as beautiful. We live in the here and now, where anything is possible and where more and more people are challenging the status quo and opening up the boundaries of beauty to include even your most loathed imperfections. Dimples, curls, scars, spots, disabilities, bumps, lumps, birthmarks, love handles, body hair, androgyny, curves, cellulite, in this age anything can be beautiful.

photography retouching illustration Jessica Fecteau text Jane Helpern model Coralie Erichsen makeup Rika Bitton

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Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

model

SalomĂŠ Cynamon

makeup

Jessica Fecteau

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

model & makeup

Jessica Fecteau

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Think piece

Anti-beauty movement

“ Via silly faces and memes, these girls are standing up to corporate oppression and skewed body image and are asking us to see that they are normal. ” While it might feel like we are still in a bad place when it comes to beauty and image standards, things are starting to change. Today the face of fashion images is changing and street casting for editorial shoots and for shows is becoming increasingly popular. The idea of real people selling a brand or product is becoming more and more appealing to a post-internet audience, who are bombarded with glossy imagery every day. Perhaps they no longer want to accept the fantasy of the fashion industry and want to relate to the models in the images. These kids are beautiful, interesting and diverse; they have character and, god forbid, sometimes even hips. The shift in the perception of beauty in the fashion industry is something to celebrate, even if it is happening ever so, ever so slowly, one casting at a time. Toronto-based artist Petra Collins is perhaps at the forefront of the new beauty movement. With her femalecentric, body-affirming brand of photography, she's out to prove that real girls run the world, and that it’s more than acceptable to let the natural female state be seen and celebrated. Although she certainly views things through cotton-candy-colored lenses ( her Instagram is an explosion of vintage erotica, emoji hearts, and neon ) her irreverent pictures of wiggly bellies, free nipples, and plentiful peach fuzz are reprogramming the fashion world’s ideas of womanhood. The internet has opened up a space/ outlet for people. And most importantly for young girls and women to create platforms, magazines, and websites that display images that are against the norm, images of real bodies. Stretch marks, the lines and curves, the hair, they all enhance the landscape of the body.

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

Online platforms make beauty and inspiration accessible. It’s like an endless scroll of out-of-the norm beauty ideals with people of colour, sad girl culture, and different shapes and sizes. The white, all-American girl smiling is no longer the standard for beauty that the mags once stood for. So why is a new generation more inspired by these low-maintenance, uncensored, slightly grotesque images than the hyper-enhanced, unrealistic pictures that have been sold on billboards and magazines for years? Becuse after all this, perfect people seem strangely boring. It’s far more interesting to see what real bodies and faces are made of, bruises and sunspots and indents and all, rather than pictures that have been warped to become unrecognizable and isolating shells of what they once were. Instead of shunning and shaming flaws, this type of photography is about embracing and paying tribute to the quirks and asymmetries that comprise even the most surreally beautiful of human beings. It's not about being unattractive or attractive; it’s about being unique, and being yourself. Like beauty, imperfection is in the eye of the beholder. While some may see a curved spine, black eye, or crooked nose, this crop of photographers see a decisive moment in time, ready to be captured.

model Binta Joab makeup Andréa Koloko

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

model Camille Faucon makeup AndrĂŠa Koloko

Define Magazine [digital issue] #1 S/S 2015

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special thanks to my beautiful models

Louise Harling, Camille Faucon, Sarah Huby, Coralie Erichsen, Binta Joab, Mélissa Carina Merbouche, Géraldine Pace & Salomé Cynamon. for your enthusiasm

my makeup artists

Rika Bitton & Andréa Kokolo. for your talent

Samuel Jacques, Anna-Claude Poulin, Florent Bascoul, Catherine Hamel, Mélanie Giguère, Émilie Savard, Morgan Seite, Brenda Poulin, Catherine Veilleux, Jérôme Demaie, Jean Berthelot-Kleck, Justine Denis, Léonie Lévesque, Alex Lachance, Camille Danneels, Marie-France Dion, Mei-Li Roy, Carl Dallaire, Bouddha le Chien, Sophie Lalonde-Sauvé, Gabrielle Coze, Rachel Thibodeau& Suzie Mercier.

Susanne Junker.

for your definitions & selfies

for all your help

Jean-Louis Bloch-Lainé.

Linda Roy & Richard Fecteau.

for your kindness & expertise

for your time & involvement

Pierre-Alban Kientz. for keeping me sane

Mireille Kientz & Olivier Kientz.

for your support

& Michel Maidenberg. for your constant presence & devotion