Western Beauty Standards Essay

Even though Western beauty standards have been considered the norm for many years, recent changes such as more diversified models being hired, more companies promoting self-appreciation, and advances in technology giving more people a platform to voice their opinions, indicate that beauty standards are slowly but surely becoming more diverse.

As more diverse looking models and actors gain popularity, people have started realising they do not have to follow Western standards to look beautiful. This can be seen in the Spring 2016 runway shows. As mentioned by BusinessWire (2016), 77.6% white models were reported in Spring 2016. While this number does seem pretty high, it is a slight improvement from Fall 2015 were 80% of the models were white.

However, eventually, companies will start looking into newer markets leading to minorities being given preference. Most of Asia remains overlooked by modelling agencies and casting directors, however should companies start to promote Asian beauty standards instead of Western, they end up pleasing a much wider consumer base, and eventually gaining larger profits. In addition, non-Western entertainment forms such as KPOP has also gained a lot of popularity. One of the most watched YouTube video is Gangnam Style, a song performed by Korean singer, Psy (Taylor, 2012). This exposes the Korean culture to people from all over the world. Other girl groups such as 2NE1 and Girls’ Generation promote Korean standards of beauty instead of Western standards.

In conclusion, as more people start realizing they do not have to conform to a specific standard of beauty due to more representation in the media, and more self-appreciation campaigns organized both by corporations and the general public, beauty standards will slowly but surely diversify. It took almost a hundred years to idealize Western features, hopefully it will not take another hundred years to appreciate beauty present in all