Leaked photos of Beyonce have people excited for an unexpected reason. A few bumps in her skin (ironically probably caused by all that make-up!) and something less than her usual airbrushed glow have people gasping about, wait for it, Beyonce’s beauty! Her natural beauty, that is. Unadorned. Coming on the heels of similarly unretouched leaked photos of supermodel Cindy Crawford, the effect of the Beyonce reality has been a giant BRAVA!
At the Daily Beast Tim Teeman sees a moment in which “the twinned fashion and beauty worlds of make-believe showed signs of courting the reality of how women look.” Maybe. (But these were leaked photos, not the photos on the covers.) And while some fans were upset that the photos had been leaked (“petty”, “in poor taste”, and the leaker “should be punished” are some reactions) most just said, wow, Beyonce looks great. Which is part of a trend. Real people looking great–like plus-size Sports Illustrated swimsuit models and the rest of us.