Can Beauty Be Constructed?

 

 

Nicolas Siino

Writing Skills Workshop

November 2, 2014

Professor Young

 

                                                            Creating Beauty

 

 

            Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and physical beauty is something that a person can create. People that are born beautiful seem to have won a genetic lottery. But those people that have to work at being beautiful can obtain help. Help can come in the form of cosmetic surgery, fake tanning, implants, and so much more. Physical beauty is something that can be constructed but a person's inner beauty is something that comes from the heart.

            Some people are born naturally beautiful.  These people are usually slender, tall, feminine and look young. However, some people can be constructed to look beautiful.  This is where makeup artist, hairstylist, designers and sometimes in extreme cases reconstructive surgery comes in.  These professionals can help construct someone into that perceived beautiful person that they want to be or need to be because of a job or other circumstances.  When someone alters their appearance they are trying to be someone they're not.  Once, the makeup and hairspray is washed away these people are still the same person they were before they began the process of becoming beautiful.

            As seen in the video "Ted Talks", Cameron Russell is a model who is naturally beautiful.  However, the pictures that are seen in magazines are not the true Cameron.  She was constructed to look older and sexy by using makeup, wearing high fashion clothes and having glamorous hair. One picture taken showed her having to run her hand through a young man's hair and arch her back seductively. This photograph happened before she got the chance to even experience having a boyfriend and made her feel uncomfortable. Cameron in this picture is a constructed beauty. She was constructed to look older and sexier because that's what the media thinks people want to look at and emulate.  Cameron has found it very difficult to find a true balance, she is insecure because she needs to think about how she looks every day.  Cameron knows it's not possible to reap the rewards that go along with modeling without making changes to her appearance. Image is powerful, it helps people get ahead in their careers, but it's also superficial. Society today are too concerned with beauty and how they are perceived, that just being their beautiful selves is lost in the shuffle.