Aerie’s “Real Me” Collection: Making More than Just a Statement
Think of the characteristics of the average modeling agency. They want thin to the bone models with perfect hair, perfect skin, and over an hour’s worth of Photoshop work before plastering images all over the internet, building walls, and in magazines. According to dosomething.org, approximately 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies. Aerie’s “Real Me” advertisement sets out to make a statement like never before, with untouched, real women. Advertisements such as this one brings awareness to an issue that many women face on a daily basis with body image related issues. This advertisement includes diverse women dressed in the new “Real Me” lingerie collection while happily …show more content…
As more brands and fashion magazines join the movement toward un-retouched beauty, photographers are also enjoying the experience. John Urbano, the photographer who shot the first three “Aerie Real” campaigns states “This movement of things not being retouched and [advertisers working with real people rather than professional models], whether it’s for lingerie or Craftsman tools, I think that it’s cool and the fact that the image is honest is refreshing to me” (51). Now that more and more photographers are also photographing real women, the level of anxiety to make pictures perfect has decreased for both the models and their photographers. The body positive movement is a huge and upcoming movement to show the world what natural beauty is and that pimples, stretch marks, and rolls are normal. The “All Woman Project” is a social media campaign by ten models of different shapes, sizes and skin colors. Iskra Lawrence, a popular Aerie model is one of theses ten models. Iskra Lawrence started her career at the age of thirteen being deemed too small for plus size modeling and too big for conventional modeling, in an interview she adds “I remember sitting at the agency at 13, 14, looking at the girls around me and thinking, ‘I am not as skinny as these girls. My body is just never gonna look like this” (53). After struggling with eating disorders to …show more content…
Aerie does make a strong statement with untouched, diverse women that has helped to lead multiple other companies and brands to join in on this new movement. Aerie has had a great success with the new collection of bras and underwear that the models are proudly wearing as they represent Aerie. Just like Iskra Lawerence proved, the “Real Me” collection shows that women of all sizes are able to become models. This makes the viewers feel welcomed to shop at Aerie and having the confidence to purchase their products knowing exactly how it will look on them. The future of untouched beauty has gained a tremendous amount of support through companies such as Rebdolls, Dear Kate, Lonely Label, Asos, ModCloth, and Neon Moon which are all upcoming clothing companies who participate in untouched advertisements. Looking towards the future, many more companies will come forward and begin taking the steps to join the body positive movement through
Think of the characteristics of the average modeling agency. They want thin to the bone models with perfect hair, perfect skin, and over an hour’s worth of Photoshop work before plastering images all over the internet, building walls, and in magazines. According to dosomething.org, approximately 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies. Aerie’s “Real Me” advertisement sets out to make a statement like never before, with untouched, real women. Advertisements such as this one brings awareness to an issue that many women face on a daily basis with body image related issues. This advertisement includes diverse women dressed in the new “Real Me” lingerie collection while happily …show more content…
As more brands and fashion magazines join the movement toward un-retouched beauty, photographers are also enjoying the experience. John Urbano, the photographer who shot the first three “Aerie Real” campaigns states “This movement of things not being retouched and [advertisers working with real people rather than professional models], whether it’s for lingerie or Craftsman tools, I think that it’s cool and the fact that the image is honest is refreshing to me” (51). Now that more and more photographers are also photographing real women, the level of anxiety to make pictures perfect has decreased for both the models and their photographers. The body positive movement is a huge and upcoming movement to show the world what natural beauty is and that pimples, stretch marks, and rolls are normal. The “All Woman Project” is a social media campaign by ten models of different shapes, sizes and skin colors. Iskra Lawrence, a popular Aerie model is one of theses ten models. Iskra Lawrence started her career at the age of thirteen being deemed too small for plus size modeling and too big for conventional modeling, in an interview she adds “I remember sitting at the agency at 13, 14, looking at the girls around me and thinking, ‘I am not as skinny as these girls. My body is just never gonna look like this” (53). After struggling with eating disorders to …show more content…
Aerie does make a strong statement with untouched, diverse women that has helped to lead multiple other companies and brands to join in on this new movement. Aerie has had a great success with the new collection of bras and underwear that the models are proudly wearing as they represent Aerie. Just like Iskra Lawerence proved, the “Real Me” collection shows that women of all sizes are able to become models. This makes the viewers feel welcomed to shop at Aerie and having the confidence to purchase their products knowing exactly how it will look on them. The future of untouched beauty has gained a tremendous amount of support through companies such as Rebdolls, Dear Kate, Lonely Label, Asos, ModCloth, and Neon Moon which are all upcoming clothing companies who participate in untouched advertisements. Looking towards the future, many more companies will come forward and begin taking the steps to join the body positive movement through