Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? Well, Illamasqua certainly aren’t! They are an independent British makeup brand who has been causing controversy this month over their Christmas advert. Their advert has the tagline “I’m not dreaming of a white Christmas” and features a model in two separate images. In one, the model is painted white with slight hints of blusher and lipstick; in the other, the same model is painted black with the same small hints of makeup. Illamasqua have said these mirrored images are about the use of colour ON skin and not the colour OF skin. But whatever it is they meant, people are angry claiming that the advert is racist, some have even viewed it as the model “blacking up”.
This isn’t the first time the beauty industry has come under fire for being “racist”. In 2008 L’Oreal featured a very photo shopped picture of a rather fair skinned Beyoncé. This caused anger amongst equal rights campaigners, who claimed that the company were hinting toward the notion that fairer skin is more attractive. With the rise of ‘western surgery’ it’s no wonder these sorts of images anger consumers.
In Asian countries women have started going to surgeons asking them to make their eyes wider, their noses thinner and their lips fuller; just so they can fit the western idea of beauty. A quick search on eBay leads you to ‘eyelid tape’ which promises to widen your eyes whilst being comfortable to wear and discrete. Really? I doubt taping your eyelid up is very comfortable.
So can we blame the beauty industry for this obsession with western beauty? Makeup artists use tricks such as contouring and highlighting to give models high cheekbones, narrow noses and unnaturally full lips. Personally I don’t believe that these models really look like they do in the photos… This seems to be why we are obsessed by photos of celebrities without makeup; we love the idea that without all the products and cosmetics they look just like the rest of us. They might have smoother skin and no dark circles under their eyes; but they’ve got millions to spend on looking good, and don’t have to spend the entire day writing an essay after a night at Timepiece!
On YouTube there are lots of videos to be found of Asian girls demonstrating tips and tricks on looking like other people. One beauty blogger turns herself into Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston and Megan Fox; all with the help of makeup (and a couple of wigs). I find it quite upsetting that different cultures ideas of beauty and individuality are being lost, and this Barbie-esque image is taking its place. Sure, the beauty industry is to blame; it’s hard to ignore the giant adverts showing ‘perfect’ models smiling back at us. I do think however, that we shouldn’t let ourselves lose track of what real beauty is; and what different cultures see as ‘beautiful’.
Going back to the Illamasqua advert, I really don’t believe that what they created was an act of racism. A lot of people are sharing the ‘blacked up’ image of the model on social networks, and a quick search on Google images doesn’t even show the model with white makeup on. The two images together aren’t racist; rather they let you see the power of makeup and the juxtaposition between the black and white colours. However, when you see the black image on its own it really does make you raise an eyebrow!
Photo credits : http://joeychong.com/2012/11/21/illamasqua-imdreamingof-competition/