TEENAGE GIRLS SPEAK OUT AGAINST AIRBRUSHED IMAGES
Over the past decades, the fashion world has suffered intense criticism for portraying woman of unrealistic, idealized proportions and complexions. Many models have spoken out against the industry, while the media has been the target of many protests. However, it was just recently that the scene was taken over by ordinary teenage girls, who, having become discouraged and outraged by the images inflicted upon them by the media, are fighting to scrap airbrushed photographs from their favourite fashion magazine, Teen Vogue.
Together, the two teenage girls, Carina Cruz, 17, and Emma Stydahar, 14, managed the incredible feat of acquiring a total of 28,000 signatures against Teen Vogue’s airbrushing practices. In order to present the petition, the girls also organised a protest fashion show in front of the Condé Nast building, the magazine’s headquarters, in Times Square. They walked up and down a runway, which consisted of a 15-foot long red carpet on Broadway. During the show, they held up signs, with such statements as ‘Let’s get real – all girls are beautiful’ written on them. Stydahar, who organised the action with the help of social media, particularly expressed her distaste for the images she sees in the media, stating that 75% of young girls get immediately depressed after three minutes of flicking through a fashion magazine. In my opinion, the same can be accounted for older women, who are constantly confronted to the pressure of perfectly juggling family life and a career. One must ask, whether this was the aim past feminists truly hand in mind.
Hopefully, the girls’ action points to the fact that younger girls are now no longer susceptible to the manipulations of the media. Targeting Teen Vogue represents a first step forwards, which one can only predict, will alert other fashion magazine editors to the dangers of their ways.
By Aurelia Clavien - Fashion Writer for A-SHU.CO.UK.
Together, the two teenage girls, Carina Cruz, 17, and Emma Stydahar, 14, managed the incredible feat of acquiring a total of 28,000 signatures against Teen Vogue’s airbrushing practices. In order to present the petition, the girls also organised a protest fashion show in front of the Condé Nast building, the magazine’s headquarters, in Times Square. They walked up and down a runway, which consisted of a 15-foot long red carpet on Broadway. During the show, they held up signs, with such statements as ‘Let’s get real – all girls are beautiful’ written on them. Stydahar, who organised the action with the help of social media, particularly expressed her distaste for the images she sees in the media, stating that 75% of young girls get immediately depressed after three minutes of flicking through a fashion magazine. In my opinion, the same can be accounted for older women, who are constantly confronted to the pressure of perfectly juggling family life and a career. One must ask, whether this was the aim past feminists truly hand in mind.
Hopefully, the girls’ action points to the fact that younger girls are now no longer susceptible to the manipulations of the media. Targeting Teen Vogue represents a first step forwards, which one can only predict, will alert other fashion magazine editors to the dangers of their ways.
By Aurelia Clavien - Fashion Writer for A-SHU.CO.UK.
