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Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
Just So You Know, Cindy McCain's Jacket Does Not Indicate Support For Red Menace/Red China/Red Guards

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esthergreenwood
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
Except that they're WEARING MAKEUP. Just because it's not sparkly eye and lipstuffs doesn't mean it's not there. Ugh. Stabby.
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Nancy Sin
04/16/09

@EstherGreenwood: Yeah, I have been driving myself insane wondering if the pretty lady in the above photo has the most naturally dark upper eyelashes, or, GASP, a gentle stripe of eyeliner. That could be my jealously speaking, though.
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Hana Maru
04/16/09

@del_ruby: That's what my eyes look like without makeup. When you have naturally thick, black lashes, it looks like eyeliner. Actually, it's the natural phenomenon eyeliner is supposed to mimic.
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electriklights
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
He continues:

That's where I stopped reading.
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Rooo sez BISH PLZ
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
"The fact remains that we are living in an incredibly visual culture" and that's because no one can read.
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linnyt is a walking cliché
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
there's photography as an art there the photographer has a vision and uses tools to achieve it.

there's also photography as snapshots that capture a moment in time. they are not the same thing and some people blur the lines and it is easy to do with both being very similar. even this issue seems to try to sound like candids or maybe some people are interpreting it that way. it is still photography as art achieving some vision, makeup or not.
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Rabenstolz
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
The first thing I noticed is that this lady without makeup looks almost exactly like an older version of me without makeup. I didn't realize it was Monica Bellucci until I read it. So no, this did not make me feel worse than altered images.
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SarahMC
04/16/09

@Rabenstolz: *blink*
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opalmarie
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
The crux of this argument, and actually any argument about beauty in the media, is that all viewers will compare themselves to the images they see. Sure, maybe I'll look at these woman and think - Hey, I don't look as good without makeup. But after that, don't most of us just move on? Why is there a general assumption that not being beautiful, or thinking of ourselves as beautiful, makes women depressed or crazy? Most of us aren't gorgeous the way models and actresses are. Also, most of us aren't as good at singing as professional singers or as good at sports as professional actors. But most of us don't compare our abilities to professionals. So why does the media always act like the average woman is comparing her ass to Giselle's or her skin to a French actresses? I'm not, my friend's aren't. Normal people know that they're normal, and thus have flaws. I hate this idea that women are so weak and have so little confidence that physical perfection is an actual goal for most of us. It's really not.
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SarahMC
04/16/09

@opalmarie: It does make some women depressed, because we are told our beauty is our most prized possession from the day we're born. We are not appreciated for our singing or soccer playing nearly as much as we are for our faces and bodies.
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opalmarie
04/16/09

@SarahMC: This just simply isn't true for enough women that we should make that generalization.
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SarahMC
04/16/09

@opalmarie: I am not generalizing the entire female population. But it IS a problem.
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stealthird
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
We'd adapt. We'd get used to seeing people unretouched and without makeup, and then we'd see old magazines with "hyperreal" images and they would be a novelty. All I care about is that my Saveur food porn continues to look glossy, perfect and unattainable.
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Rooo sez BISH PLZ
04/16/09

@stealthird: I haz a jellus. My cheese souffles always fall when I try to put the dill garnish on them.
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freestylewalker
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
I get what's he's saying, but I think you're right. Some people don't know about photoshop, and even the ones that do, don't see celebrities without makeup/touch-ups ever, so they don't know how inaccurate the perfect images they see really are. And any celebration of natural beauty can only be positive.

That said, this magazine is saying "without makeup" not without any correction. the flyaway hairs on her face have been eliminated, her brows have prob been corrected somehow, maybe the lips from a different shot were moved onto this one, etc. So much is done just to make every magazine picture more presentable, that we're never going to get that snapshot feel from them - and I think that's okay. An artistic photograph is not the same as a Polaroid.
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debo matar la zombi goldberry83
04/16/09

@freestylewalker: Actually, it does say "Sans Retouche" - without retouching. And yeah, I buy it - she's got great skin to start with, and if you pair that with a really good photographer, brilliant lighting, a little moisturizer, then you can get something that looks like these pictures.
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mommy_dearest
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
I'm not so quick to dismiss what he is saying. My first thought when I first saw these covers yesterday was, "God, now we have to look perfect WITHOUT makeup, too?"

It is sort of like the false "empowerment" of being beautiful while pregnant. It isn't saying, "look, being pregnant can be beautiful." It's saying, "look, you better be beautiful while you are pregnant."

I can definitely see how this could be a step backward. In fact, I see this as more of a step forward for beauty products that promise you will look beautiful without makeup- lucky Neutrogena just gets to make more money off women desperately trying to look perfect without any "help." Blurg.
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Merkin
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
I really wonder about our standards of "beauty", honestly. How did we get here?

I wish I lived in the UK. I just watched Death at a Funeral, and was startled, as always when I watch British film/TV, by how ordinary all the actors look. Sure, some of them are attractive, but even Rupert Graves (who is described in the commentary track as "unbelievably gorgeous") is not anything like the Chiclet-toothed cyborgs we call leading men around here.

The standards are more than unrealistic, they're plastic. Not only is it cruel and unfair to hold up the normal person on the street to those levels (without a multi-million-dollar budget for "work" and trainers and what-all) but it hurts our arts, when performers are expected first and foremost to be perfect, rather than, you know, to have talent and skill and all the rest of it.

I'd rather watch or hear a really good performer who might not be pinup-worthy, than any number of hot babes posing like cardboard in front of a camera or on a stage.
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Mafalda para Presidente
04/16/09

@Merkin: "Chiclet-toothed" is a pretty accurate description for all those freakishly-white orthodontically-treated dentures I see in most shows here. Nothing wrong with orthodontics, but sometimes the white is so blinding that it looks unnatural.
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oh.geez.
04/16/09

@Merkin: I believe you feel this way, bc of other things you've said on Jezebel. But, while many other Americans express your same sentiments- when movies come out with the "hot" people, those are invariably the blockbusters. I think that while we logically want to give people a shot based on pure talent, there must be some reality to the theory of people getting a rush from neurons in the pleasure centers of their brains (something like that), when they view beautiful people. When Mr. & Mrs. Smith came out, people from my job went to see this movie in droves (some went twice). Most of them didn't know the plot going in, and didn't give a damn- they wanted to see two hot people, blown up to a huge size, on a huge screen (yes,they said it,..too many fucking times). I don't think any of us can ever underestimate the power of sexual response within people, especially when they don't realize that's what's being played upon. I really believe this is what gets the big dollars into Hollywood's pockets, & the formula's probably not going anywhere.
Also, maybe American audiences are more into going to movies to fantasize & escape, rather than be challenged. If you hate your job, and your family life is "meh", you probably don't want your entertainment to feel like homework. You probably want it as shiny, pretty, and loud as possible. I wonder if British folks lifestyles (& life experience) plays into what they're willing to support on the big screen.
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Merkin
04/16/09

@oh.geez.: *grin* And that's the kind of thing that cues my horrible tendency to intellectual snobbery, you know. I try to believe the best of people in the mass, but then there's stuff like this (and reality shows) arguing against that noble impulse.
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oh.geez.
04/16/09

@Merkin: You're not a snob- you actually THINK about things. This is important. I don't get to see many foreign films (many films at all), bc I work A LOT. But, Americans also like to know what's going to happen before the movie even ends- as in, if Tom Cruise is the star, we all know when we buy the ticket that he definitely won't be dying. I think foreign films are more of a free-for-all. Yes, they will let grandma kill a 4 yr. old & laugh about it, and the credits will roll and the murderer gets away with it. American audiences shit their pants over stuff like that. But, I like the unexpected. That makes a movie good:)...I agree with you, too. Actors talent should come first. But, I guess your looks are also a kind of shorthand for who you are, too. I think it's difficult to separate the two in some ways, bc your appearance helps to shape who a person/ character is, due to how the world responds to you throughout a lifetime. So, in some ways, it can be important. Ponder, ponder....My brain wants to go to the beach:)
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Rooo sez BISH PLZ
04/16/09

@oh.geez.: Pleeeze let braynz go to the beach.

You know I love what you write, but Roger just lost (badly, to Stan, and Rafa didn't play that well yesterday), the rest of the Monte Carlo tournament is on rain delay ... you're harshing what's left of my mellow with your accurate theories, GURL.
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Everything MidnightBikeRide does is a balloon.
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
At least they're not trying to sell makeup... wait, what are they selling? Surely something.
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Rooo sez BISH PLZ
04/16/09

@Everything MidnightBikeRide does is a balloon.: The look, the look!!

You do not love fashion! You fail!

Just kidding.
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gobblegirl
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
In answer to your question, Dodai, I would love to see this sort of thing across the board, photoshopwise.

I like a good makeup job, especially in high fashion where it gets crazy to match the clothes. But if it were up to me, photoshopping covers would be illegal. Not only is it lies (without any defence of 'artistry' to back it up), but it's ugly and boring.
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oh.geez.
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
People being unaware of retouching, and then turning those expectations on themselves is a problem. However, I would not buy magazines that feature people I can see for free on the street. I do pay to see beautiful images of beautiful people. I grew up during the time of C. Crawford, L. Evangelista, etc., and I probably have damn near every image of Iman ever shot. That's what I'm paying to see (along with beautiful clothes).I have actually seen some publications at Borders & B.& Noble, that feature what look like regular people to me- and no, I don't buy them. I don't like the pictures, & why would I pay for something that I can see on the street (and a lot of times, I wish I hadn't seen it)?
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la.donna.pietra
04/16/09

@oh.geez.: I think some of it is also just amazing photography--Dorothea Lange's pictures of Dust Bowl survivors are definitely of non-model people, but they're incredibly compelling.
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gobblegirl
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
Even if we grant Yglesias his premise that everybody understands that cover photos aren't just photos-which, for the record, I do not-how does this make it a step back?

Isn't this just reinforcing what we apparently already know?
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BiBiVirtue
04/16/09

In reply to Stars Without Makeup!!! Is The New French Elle A "Step Back"?
I think to assume that people don't know about Photoshop is to underestimate a vast section of society. Whether knowing that images are not real and still letting it bother you is the actual issue.
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marshmallory
04/16/09

@BiBiVirtue: I think the issue is not that people don't know about Photoshop, but that they don't know how extensive the Photoshopping really is. If you showed the average magazine reader a straight-from-the-camera photo next to the photo that gets printed, I guarantee she would be shocked.
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Everything MidnightBikeRide does is a balloon.
04/16/09

@BiBiVirtue: One of my pet peeves is the "average ignorant American" that comes up in all these discussions. Like during the elections, it's all "Sure Obama sounds smart to us but to people in Missouri he's utterly incomprehensible!" dude. I live in Missouri. And sorry, we're not the spectacular crazy-eyed illiterate rednecks you've been led to believe. We even know about photoshop. So STFU.
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