What if brains and superior accomplishment replaced beauty and a petite figure on ads in fashion magazines? Would it be for the good? Certainly, egalitarianism is an idee fixe of the modern world, but should it apply to fashion where a highly unequal and very personal standard of beauty reigns? It’s an interesting thought experiment, and Lauren Tuck, news editor of Yahoo!, gives it a spin on Yahoo! Style.
Tuck bases her view on the fact that older famous women, from Joan Didion and Julia Roberts bested their younger counterparts for spots in major fashion magazines’ spring campaigns this year. She also highlights what Elisa Rodriquez-Vila, who works as a designer and illustrator for Fusion, did in a wholly hypothetical ad campaign with older “role model” feminist icons, say a Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg in a Chanel ad or Gloria Steinem for Chloé. In the end, Tuck notes, “digital manipulation experiment won’t change beauty standards overnight, but Rodriguez-Vila, does hope that the visual exercise will act as a test, and maybe even serve as inspiration for brands when it comes time to cast next season’s campaigns.” Here’s to Betty White’s new fashion career in 2016!
