THE DARK SIDE OF

BEAUTY WITHIN THE

FASHION INDUSTRY
a paper by Erika Kezhia Josephine, 12th grader
 1. Abstract
The fashion industry has been around for years for it is responsible for providing
on our basic humans needs, clothes. The industry itself also consists of different
levels, one of them including advertisement, which becomes the center of this
research. The act of advertising is closely link to the media. The media is
responsible for generating certain images to provide meanings for certain issues,
and that they are also responsible on deciding what content or message that they
would like for the society to receive. However, these messages can be
interpreted differently by each member of the society. This results in the
occurrence of the social construction of reality. Theorized by Luckmann and
Berger, this theory does not imply that the world we live in isn’t real. It’s real, but
it is a social construct of our own imagination. In relation to the fashion industry,
models act as a medium to convey these messages, where the continuous
exposure of these models would result in a specific standard of beauty to be
implemented. It brings certain effects towards teenagers, one of them involving
insecurity from not being able to achieve such unrealistic standards (where they
would go through great measures to reach them ) which weren’t even meant for
them in the first place, as beauty in reality itself, is diverse. Other results from
my data is that models aren’t living the luxurious life people think they are.
Within the industry itself, models are being degraded, where they are forced to
work hard to maintain their physical appearance and do certain concepts, where
photographers would always tell them to show more skin. Former model, Nicole
Weider herself even claimed that she felt as if she was ‘stripped of her own
dignity’. Therefore, fashion is no longer just an art form or a means of
expression, but more of how we expose ourself towards the society by trying to
satisfy as what the media constructs as ‘beautiful’.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction …………………………….. 4
2. Theoretical Frameowork ………………. 5
3. Data Collection Methodology ………….. 6
4. Data Analaysis ………………………….. 7
5. Conclusion ………………………………..13
6. Evaluation ………………………………..14
7. References…………………………….......15
2. Introduction

Before going into depth regarding the topic of this research, we shall understand the
meaning behind the title. First of all is ‘Dark Side’. The ‘dark side’ involves the
negative aspect or part of someone or something. Now regarding beauty, its definition
could either be involved regarding the physical qualities of someone. This is closely
related to the definition of beauty based on the Oxford Dictionary : “ A combination
of qualities, such as shape, color or form that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially
the sight. Now the second definition is different, but has more relation towards the
theory that I am trying to implement which is beauty as something that we see in the
media or by popular culture and trends. As humans, we have three basic needs in
order to ensure our survival. One of those needs are clothes. Coincidently, the fashion
industry is a medium of providing that basic need. The fashion industry itself consists
of 3 different layers, which are the production of goods, the sale of goods and lastly is
the marketing or advertising of goods, which is the aspect that this paper is going to
focus on. Therefore, the industry isn’t just about the production and sale of clothes,
and so the role of this research is to dig deeper regarding the nature of the industry,
more specifically the beauty implemented within it.

So as some may know, when it comes to the sale of goods and businesses, the main
step to attract the attention of the general public is through advertisement. The
advertisement itself involves the media where they provide certain images for certain
issues for the general public, where each person may decided to interpret that message
in their own way. Through these images, it may result in the existence of social
construction, which will be explained further in the theoretical framework. One of the
results social construction is the existence of standardized beauty, which may result
affect social acceptance and perception. Social acceptance involves whether or not
one would be accepted into the society based upon their appearance while regarding
perception, ones view regarding what beauty was, might shift, in accordance to the
image provided by the media.

Regarding the existence of standardized beauty, everyone definitely has their own
perception of what they consider as ‘beautiful’. Then again, beauty lies on the eyes of
the beholder. So what we find as beautiful, people might find ‘less appealing to the
eye’. Therefore, it can’t be expected that our perceptions of beauty are to be
categorized into one specific standard that the media has continuously tried to
implement for years. Each and our definition of what ‘true beauty’ is are different
from each other, and also the fact that there can’t be a specific standard that people
are trying to achieve, as not only are people born different from one another, but is
also the fact that there is beauty in diversity.

And regarding fashion, it can also be defined in several ways. Fashion based on the
Oxford Dictionary is “ a popular or the latest style of clothing, hair, decoration or
behavior. For others however, they would define fashion as an art form and also as a
medium of expressions. One thing for sure is that fashion constantly changes. Trends
would always change from time to time as those within the industry could be inspired
by a number of things, including movies or music. Famous examples include how
back in the 1950s, every single teenager would always want to dress up as Elvis
Presley and how the sales of Ray-Ban sunglasses shot through the roof once the Men
in Black movies came out. Hence, trends have a huge effect regarding the sales of
items within the industry.

So first of all, why did I choose this topic? The first reason is that I have always been
interested in working within the fashion industry, and that I have realized that there
has been an increase in the amount of attention placed towards certain events that are
have occurred within the fashion industry. Second is the aim of this research. The first
aim of this research is to understand more on how the fashion industry has effected
the lives of teenagers and young adults alike, while the second aim is to prove that the
fashion industry’s method of advertisement involves the implementation of a specific
standard of beauty.

And lastly, my hypothesis for this research is that in my opinion through the use of
advertisements, the fashion industry would convey seduction in order to attract the
attention of the general public, which eventually results in the exploitation of women
as well as the existence of standardized beauty. Through this research, I am going to
prove the validity of this hypothesis.

3. Theoretical Framework

In the introduction, I have stated that the media generates images for the certain issues
which unconsciously may result in the occurrence of social construction. Through
those images, it allows us to have a connection during the discussions we would have
towards writers within the postmodernist era whom had two definitions regarding the
word ‘images’. In one hand, it is a result of reproduction while in the other, images
are considered as a picture stored mentally within our minds regarding whether
something is real or not. The media has a very powerful authority regarding what they
message they decide to convey towards the general public. They eventually play the
roles as our ‘teachers’ of values through the messages they convey certain regarding
values and beliefs. However, the general public itself may interpret that message
differently from one another. Therefore, the media is able to frame our world, as
provide us with a certain reality which we all define differently from each other.

Now, regarding social construction of reality. This theory was found by Thomas
Luckmann and P.Berger. Social construction of reality does not imply that the world
we live in right now is not real. In fact, it is very much real, its just that it is a form of
our social construct. This is backed up with the fact that things around us only exist
because we give them reality or value through social agreement. An example is how
money is just paper and are only valuable when we give them value. Our own selves
can only be considered as a social construct, where our own identities are constructed
based upon our interactions with other people within the society, as well as how we
react towards the society’s expectations.

Social construction can be divided into two main categories, weak social
constructionism and strong social constructionism. Weak social constructionism states
that social constructs rely on the existence of just brute facts, where in accordance to
the philosophical perspective, are facts which cannot be explained, where if one were
to deny a brute fact, then according to them, everything in this world can be
explained. Then there is the existence of institutional facts, which are created by units
of the society and are also reliable towards other facts (unlike brute facts). For strong
social constructionism, they theorize that reality of the world in which we live in is
instead based upon language and social habits, every all the knowledge we know are a
form of social construct and that there are no such thing as brute facts. There are
several criticisms towards the concept of social construction. First of all is that it does
not acknowledge the fact that there are such things as natural phenomena
as social constructionism focuses on explaining reality based on the thoughts of
human, rather than the use of brute facts.

4 .Data Collection Methodology

For this thesis and to prove the validity of my hypothesis, I am going to be collecting
through 2 main ways. The first method is through primary data, where I interviewed
several models or ex models within the industry in Indonesia. The questions I asked
included regarding the specific requirements needed to become a model and whether
or not affected their success within the industry (a.k.a the amount of jobs booked).
The results of the interview would be discussed in the next part of the thesis.

Aside from that, I also carried out a questionnaire for teens ranging from ages 13-18,
regarding their view on standardized beauty and the exploitations of models within
the industry itself. Other sources of information include research papers (focusing
more on media and social constructionism of reality), which would be connected
towards the data analysis made with the other sources of information including videos
and other websites.

The video that I would be analysis circulates and focuses more on towards the
Victoria’s Secret Angel as the epitome of beauty within the industry, and how that as
well as the industry itself, affected the lives of those models, and hence its effect
towards the general public, focusing more on its affected towards teenagers and
young adults (hence proving the validity of my hypothesis). Other websites included
confessions of other models as well.

5. Data Analysis

To start things off, when it comes to the modeling industry, the epitome of beauty (as
said in the data collection methodology) within the fashion industry are the Victoria’s
Secret Models.
The pictures above are obtained from a video showing the casting process for the
Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2017. As you read the subtitles shown below the
picture, it shows the models saying how becoming a Victoria’s Secret Model is such
an important deal for all them, and career wise, by being a Victoria’s Secret Model
itself, it could literally jumpstart a model’s career, resulting in them to book more jobs
and hence become more successful. These models would work really hard to win a
spot in the fashion show, one of them stating they have “practiced and worked out
really hard”. One model who actually got casted the previous year was so elated that
she even related being able to walk in the show as if she’s “falling in love again for
the first time”.

Now before digging deeper, I would like to explain regarding the system within
Victoria’s Secret. The brand itself differentiates regarding Victoria’s Secret Angels
and Victoria’s Secret Models. If you were a model, you would still have to go through
the casting process in order to get in. Hence if they were on the 2016 show, there is no
guarantee that they’ll be on the show for the following year. This is even established
for models of the brand who have worked with them for years but has never walked
on their runway. Now the ‘real deal’ as you might say is being a Victoria’s Secret
Angel, where if you were good enough, the models would acquire their ‘wings’
making them officially an ‘ Angel ‘. Not only are they guaranteed a spot on the show
every year, but by establishing that ‘Angel’ status, their careers would jumpstart at an
alarming rate. The reason behind this is due to the fact that in the modeling industry,
being an ‘Angel’ is the premium status. Famous models such as Tyra Banks, Naomi
Campbell and Gisele Bundchen were all Victoria’s Secret models whom eventually
became successful.

Therefore, it could be said that being a Victoria’s Secret Angel involves a lot of
requirements. When I did some research, the requirements needed to become a model
of the brand were quite specific which included :

Height : 5,8 - 6 ft
Weight : 115 - 125 pounds
Bust : 34 inch
Waist : 24 inch
Hips : 34 inch
Age : 18 - 22 ( above this are considered old)
Beauty : facial features ( full lips, striking eyes, high cheek bones, beautiful hair)
After doing research regarding this, I was curious and then decided to find out
regarding the requirements to be a model within the local ( meaning : Indonesian )
fashion industry. The requirements to be a model in Indonesia are as follows :

Catalog : Under 170 cm is acceptable

Runway : >175 cm
Ideal body proportion
Confidence and Hygiene
Other factors :
Skin Color
Hijab
Character

So if you were to put these requirements side by side, you can see that the
requirements to be a model, whether internationally or nationally, are actually similar
to one another. Hence, this proves that within the industry itself, unconsciously there
has been a construction regarding the uniform standard of what makes one a ‘suitable
model’.

The implementation of these ‘standards’ would definitely have an effect towards the
models, one of the main effects are them being degraded within the industry. This is
due to the fact that models are forced to go through certain measures just to maintain
their physical shape. An example included Victoria’s Secret Models, Adrianna Lima
and Martha Hunt who would carefully plan out their food schedules, where they
would accommodate it with their rigorous work out schedule everyday. The amount
of rules would be intensified if they had a fashion show coming up, such as how they
would eat less carbs (bread,etc) and sugars. Another form of how models within the
industry are degraded is how they are forced to carry out certain concepts which they
might not be comfortable to do, such as over-revealing pictures.

For these two effects, I have two confessions of ex-models within the industry whom
decided to ‘spill the beans’ as you would say.
The picture shown above is of an former model now actress, Cara Delevingne. Within
the modeling industry, Cara has always been categorized as a short model, which
eventually resulted in her to actually feel sexually harassed and discriminated
regarding her physical appearance. Her departure from the industry was due to her not
wanting to be in an industry where she actually felt belittled, continued by her saying
that if you “hate yourself and how you looked, it just gets worse and worse”. A best
selling author Michael Gross supported these claims by stating that models actually
feel pressured, especially due to the fact that if they were to say anything regarding
the industry, they wouldn’t book any jobs nor get paid, hence jeopardize their careers.

Another confession originated from another former model Nicole Weider, who like
Cara Delevingne actually shot with famous campaigns and both even walked once in
a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. In the case of Nicole Weider, she has always been
more of a curvier model, resulting in her to do less high fashion modeling than she
hoped she would. Her turning point was when her manager assigned her to a specific
photoshoot where as time of the photo shoot went by, the photographer asked her to
‘take off’ more and more, starting from her taking pictures with transparent clothing
to the photographer asking her to ‘strip down’ and instead take pictures of her
covering her chest with just her hands. In that point on, she felt completely degraded
and decided to leave the industry for good. Eventually for her, she became a writer
and also had her own website where she writes her past experiences within the
industry.

If you were to see from Nicole Weider’s confession, it could be seen like as if as a
model, she acted as a puppet where photographers would technically ‘bark orders’ at
her to do as they say or it would otherwise bring a horrible impact towards her career.
This was supported by her statement, saying that she felt as if she was “stripped off
her dignity”. Models hence act as medium through which the fashion industry would
convey their messages in order to increase sales, as said by writer Michael Gross, the
fashion industry is technically the “sale of women’s bodies in order to move
merchandise”.

Now, how does all of this result in the occurrence of standardized beauty? First of all,
we can all agree that the media plays a very important part in the fashion industry,
where through the use of models as a medium of conveying their messages, they
would try to advertise the goods that they provide to increase sales. Through this, it
would result in constant exposure of those models, especially since we see
advertisements on the television. The constant exposure of these models would
eventually result in the unconscious convey of a specific message. For instance, if we
were to watch an advert regarding a face cream where it would make your skin
lighter, this would result in a our perception regarding what beauty is to shift, where
in this case, being fair skinned is categorized as beautiful. Another example is if were
to watch the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, it would result in our perception to be
effected where by watching them, we would consider them the highest a.k.a epitome
of beauty. Eventually, this would result in us to go through certain measures to be like
them, which includes trying to be tall, to have a skinnier body and other standards that
were originally just to be satisfied by those models in order to maintain their careers
within the industry. Therefore the standard of beauty for models eventually shifts our
standards of beauty, gradually making it our standard as well.

The existence of the beauty standards eventually effects the lives of teenagers and
young adults alive. Since we were born, we were already taught the basic standards
that we have to satisfy based upon our gender. An example is how ever since we are
born, we are thought to be either ‘manly’ or ‘feminine’. This itself is a form of how
the media plays an important role in enforcing gender specific views. Therefore as
females, we are encouraged to be ‘more appealing’ by taking care of our physical
appearances and to dress up ‘appropriately’ or less no men would be attracted to us.
Its also the same case towards men whom are encourage to maintain a muscular
physique as that is considered ‘manly’ and will attract the opposite gender. The
pressures placed upon us to satisfy these gender specific standards result in cultural
based insecurity to occur since a young age. Eventually, due to the standards that the
media tried to convey, it results in further insecurity, where we all eventually try to
satisfy a specific standard which wasn’t even meant for us in the first place. This is
due to the fact that in reality, when forming a social construct within a society, there
has to be an agreement between all members of the society, where eventually the
specific standard set by the society accommodates the variety of beauty that exists
within the society through social agreement. Eventually, by trying to satisfy these
specific standards results in teenagers to go through certain measures to satisfy them /
in order to be ‘beautiful’. One of the common effects include eating disorders such as
anorexia and bullemia, where they would either not eat for days end, or would force
themselves to vomit all the food they ate in order to be skinny. These would create
such great risks towards the conditions of their bodies.

Regarding this, I decided to ask several questions towards teens ranging from 13 to 18
years of age regarding their take on a specific standard of beauty and these are the
range of answers.

Take On Standardized
Beauty

Agree Disagree

- to establish a - every person is

brand (models beautiful in their own
have to satisfy way
criterias) - it is not realistic to
- in order to appeal potray an ‘ideal’
and have a higher image
demand - it gives the insecurity
- all people have
different standards in
what they find
beautifiul
As seen from the chart above, it could be seen that when asked regarding the
existence of standardized beauty, some agreed while others disagreed. Those whom
disagreed regarding the existence of standardized beauty argue that every person is
beautiful in their own way, and that there is beauty in diversity, They also
acknowledge the fact that everyone has their own take on what they consider as
beautiful and it can be specified into just one single standard. Other answers that are
unstated in the diagram also claim that they think that the media is cruel and that all
women are beautiful. The opposite side argues that the existence of standardized
beauty is important especially for the modeling industry in order for them to appeal to
a higher demand. Another respondent answered with examples saying that “aren’t
models suppose to be the epitome of beauty?” and also stating that standards are
important to maintain their brand image, saying that people wont buy any Victoria’s
Secret lingerie if the models were plus sized.

Regarding that last statement, it further proves the fact that the media plays such an
important role regarding providing images for people regarding certain issues, where
in reality, how does a ‘fat model’ make those products less attractive to be purchased.
Hence it’s the media’s effects towards people’s perspective that models are suppose
to be skinny and those goods provided by the fashion industry would only be sold
well if the models satisfied those specific standards.

Therefore, it could be said that beauty standards are a form of social construct created
by the society where in reality, there were no specific norm regarding what true
beauty really is. Its just a concept constructed by people within the society which are
eventually given value through the existence of social agreement.

6. Conclusion

From the beginning, fashion was defined as a way people dress, or more towards it as
a medium of expression and art form, while beauty is itself is in the eyes of the
beholder, hence there is beauty in diversity, where everyone’s standards of beauty are
different from one another. However, the media which has the power of interpreting
certain images to explain certain issues towards the general public, has a very
important role in effecting that. This is also due to the reality that media itself plays
the role as our social teachers regarding cultures and beliefs. Therefore,
unconsciously, since at a young age, we have been following the specific standards
set by the media, more prominently the gender specific standards that have been
planted every since an early age. This could be seen through how at a young age, girls
are encouraged to dress appropriately and in kindergartens, they would play games
which involves them pretending to cook or play ‘day-care’, while for boys, they are
encouraged to play games such as toy cars, and if they were caught playing ‘girl
games’, they would be seen weirdly, or even teased at by their peers. And that itself
has resulted in the increased pressure placed among us in order to satisfy the
standards set by the media, resulting in, as I said previously, culture based insecurity.

Moreover, the media also plays an important role within the fashion industry, more
specifically the advertisement sector. And in order to advertise their goods, the
fashion industry would require the models as their medium of conveying these
messages. Within the industry itself, there has been proof that models feel
discriminated and belittled, where they are forced to maintain their physical
appearance (or else their careers would be at risk) and go to heavy measures to do so,
as well as the fact that they are forced to strip down and do more revealing concepts
when in reality some of them might be uncomfortable with the idea of having to show
more skin, just so that the pictures would gain more public attention. So aside from
the fact that they have to work hard to maintain their careers, they were to also satisfy
the specific standards to be an ‘ideal’ model.

Due to constant adverts and heavy exposure of these models, it would result in our
definitions of beauty to be effected. This plays a huge effect towards teenagers and
young adults, whom as people are still trying to find their role and identity in this
world. 9 out of 10 teenagers claim that they feel the pressure to be ‘skinny’ when due
to the fashion industry. This isn’t helped by the fact that influencial people within the
industry such as Karl Lagerfield, fellow designer of the high-end brand Chanel whom
promoted the use of skinny models for their advertisement, saying that “"These are
fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television, saying that
thin models are ugly" towards those whom said that skinny models are ugly.

Therefore due to the media, a certain message, a.k.a the specific standard of
beauty is enforced towards the general public, where eventually it results in
teenagers to have a shift in their perception of what they think is beauty, and
hence try to satisfy those standards, when in reality in the society, everyone is
different from one another, and that there is beauty in diversity. Hence in
conclusion , fashion is no longer just about how people dress up, but it is more of
an act of self exposure, through which they try to satisfy the (unrealistic)
standards set by the media.

7. Evaluation

As a human, we are to evaluate ourselves in order to become better in the future.

The things that I felt I should have improved on are :

1. I should have interviewed more models within the fashion industry in

order to gain more of their perspective regarding the fashion industry
2. I should have collected more information through questionnaires by asking
more specific questions relating to the topic of this thesis
8. References
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/media/the-way-fashion-world-affect-teenage-
girls-media-essay.php
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=road+to+victoria%27s+secret
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2083459
https://www1.udel.edu/comm245/readings/GenderedMedia.pdf
https://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/article/how-the-fashion-industry-affects-the-bodies-
of-young-women
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/media/the-way-fashion-world-affect-
teenage-girls-media-essay.php
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/segun-garubaokelarin/what-is-beauty-
_b_9820142.html
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/dark+side+of
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/society-and-culture/social-
structures/v/social-constructionism
https://www.slideshare.net/estrayer/the-social-construction-of-reality
https://youtu.be/QPbYM_lYgaU
https://youtu.be/IizXv6O-ZQE
https://www.britannica.com/topic/fashion-industry