Melanie Vieira-Vrolijk

For my final project I decided to take the theme of imperfection and reconstruct it by analysing on a deeper depth what it means from my personal standpoint. Before starting my make-up breakdown project, I perceived imperfection to have negative connotation with failure and the undesirable. However, throughout my project I have learnt to view imperfection in a much positive manner, defining it as a journey to self-improvement, propelling creativity. These ideas significantly inspired my final project where I explored the idea of imperfection from a beauty and make-up viewpoint. After analysing these ideas, I came to my own conclusion that the definition of beauty is in itself imperfect and thus needs improvement. Thus, it led to my final project title called ‘Beauty is nothing more than just abstract’.

Abstract can be defined as ‘existing in thought or as an idea but not having a physical or concreate existence’ this to me defines why beauty abstract. In actuality beauty cannot be defined and is subjective, in particular to the society and culture you were raised in. Therfore, because I redefined beauty as abstract, I decided for my final project to take inspiration from abstract art and turn it into a makeup look.

In this look, the black outline is filled in with makeup, such as foundation, contour, bigger lips smaller face frame etc. all ideas that society has defined as ‘beauty’. Thus, it is supposed to represent societies ideals on beauty.

The white section of the face is left in blank and is drawn around the natural features of the face. This represents beauty as natural.

The story behind the look is to show two very polar-opposite ideas of beauty thus emphasizing why beauty is abstract. The black and white outlines are drawn in an abstract paint like manner to help suggest this further. The puzzle pieces in the model’s hair were particularly placed there – near the brain – to represent her thoughts. It suggests that beauty is a confusing and a puzzling concept that has no real definition and no two beauty ideals can fit together perfectly as they are so differnt to different people. Finally, the gems on her face were placed on top of blemishes to symbolise one’s ability to see beauty in imperfection. Beauty is just a concept that can easily be modified to someone’s taste.

Imperfection, a concept that is often looked down upon by society carrying negative connotations, however, is alternatively one that I learned to embrace through my make-up breakdown class. Instead of looking as imperfection as a flaw within your creative work, I learned to embrace the flaws within my work and look at it as a pathway to something greater.

 A key example of how imperfection has been defined as perfection is the Najavo Weavers, where they purposefully add imperfections to their weaving suggesting that ‘reaching perfection has its consequences; if it’s attained there is nowhere left to go, no work left to be done’. When applying this philosophy into my make up designs, it has allowed me to accept the imperfections and flaws within my work and use it as a source of motivation for improvement for my next creative projects. Therefore, learning about the beauty within imperfection has changed how I think about my work and the creative works of others. It has propelled me into wanting to create more creative projects in the future without the fear of imperfection but instead looking forward to identifying my flaws as a journey into continuing and improving my creative pathway.

However, although I have learnt to embrace my imperfections, society still often does not hold this view. An ideal society would not hold unrealistic beauty standards such as the ones we hold today. It has definitely made me want to challenge the ideals of beauty especially within the fashion industry. As a fashion journalism student, when examining magazine covers and looking into the fashion industry, there is no doubt that there is an extremely narrow definition of beauty, and imperfection is not one of them. However, upon learning about the beauty within imperfection, it has definitely changed the way I would want to work in the future in the fashion industry. For starters, I would take great inspiration from the works of Kintsugi, an ancient Japanese art form to repair cracked ceramics. Its key aim is to revive the beauty of a broken object, embracing and emphasizing its damaged history. Translating this into the fashion industry, it would mean redefining what beauty is. Therefore, from a make-up artist perspective it would change how I do my work drastically. I would opt for more natural – skin models where their imperfections can be shown and not hidden. This way, I aim to redefine beauty ideals as ‘perfect’ and instead show the beauty withing imperfection instead of trying to hide them. From a fashion journalistic perspective, using images is also another way in which I would change my work. Being cautious not to use photo-shopped images that hide imperfects and flaws but instead including them in my work would be another vital step forward for the fashion and beauty community.

Although it was never undeniable to me that the fashion industry was flawed with inequality and unfairness, attending these lectures had not only reassured me, but left me with disbelief of the large measure of inequality within the industry that I had not been aware of. In particular, Julia Crew’s lecture on Power coupled with Anna Fitzpatrick’s lecture on sustainability, really opened my mind to the injustice that prevails within the fashion industry particularly concerning the powers within it and its views toward sustainability.

Upon attending Crew’s lecture it became clear to me that the fashion industry was a system of imbalanced powers and structures that ultimately leads to social and enviourmental inequality. While I do agree with this perception of the industry, I also believe that fashion itself is a source of creativity and community but is being exploited by economic powers and factors. Crew’s lecture made this extremely apparent as she pointed out that the apparel industry has helped several individuals become extremely wealthy. However, it was this aspect of the fashion industry along with its ability to allow for self-expression and creativity that drew me into wanting a future within the industry, thus, I merely considered it as being a negative feature of the fashion industry unlike how Crew presented it. However, as the lecture went on, I began to become more aware of the inequality that this brings. Not only is wealth maldistributed but there is also a sense of discrimination as few minorities actually make it to such a level of success. I further learned that a CEO in the US takes just four days to earn what a Bangladesh factory worker will earn in a year. This made me re-evaluate the extent to which I had perceived the fashion industry as unfair and in fact was much larger than what I had expected. However, learning these disturbing facts made me want to pursue working within fashion even more, with the aim to challenge this and create a more equal and balanced industry. A keyway in which I believe fashion can be used to create better lives is firstly to try and eliminate its discriminative aspect. Although we are now seeing more models of colour and of different ethnicities, this is not to say the fashion industry is making a change for inequality. Although it’s a step forward, behind the scenes, within corporations such as CEO, Chairman’s etc. there is still a lack of ethnicity. Thus, a way in which fashion can help to create better lives is to create equal opportunities for all backgrounds. In addition, the distribution of wealth and power is significant to the impact fashion has on sustainability. Fashion can help create better lives for people living in poorer conditions just by simply scrutinising where our clothes comes from and boycotting brands that exploit workers. Anna Fitzpatrick explained how consumerism is a powerful ideology where if we avoid fast fashion and push for a more sustainable way of making clothes, brands will be forced to listen to their consumer and in the long term we will be creating better lives for third-world factory works and the enviourment and the people within it.