How Beauty Standards Are Programed Into Our Heads
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I believe it goes much further than that.
There are two kinds of people, who have two different mindsets. One are those who have an open mind towards beauty, these are they people who are able to see beauty in ruins. Others are those who have a set rate of beauty in their mind, anything that falls short of their expectations is considered “ugly” or “undesirable”.
The general conception of the mind is, that it’s free, it stores information, and acts on its own. However, there are a few things that shape us as human being. We have set a few concepts in our mind, you can call them standards. These standards are what set our vision. We might feel we are open minded individuals who are open to new thoughts and idea. Where that is technically true, we fail to see how untrue the statement is when it fails to meet our standards.
[pullquote] What is really ironic, is that fashion is all about thinking outside the box. [/pullquote]
Everyone has a unique personality, and what I deem beautiful, might be deemed ugly by the person standing on my right, or my left. The thing is, everyone has different opinions, but do we really know where these opinions come from?
Let’s take an example from the fashion industry. The entire industry runs on ideas that are unorthodox, and allow participants to use their imagination to its extreme. Where I as a fashion photographer might see beauty in creativity, you as a viewer might not be able to see the appeal. Bear in mind that it has nothing to do with me being a part of the industry. This is entirely about perception, I would be lying if I said there was never a time when I feel something was off. That was my personal opinion, and everyone is entitled to it.
Which brings us back to the point, that are beauty standards really programmed into our heads?
In my opinion, they are. No matter how much you feel you are open to different standards, you will never call something beautiful that does not sit well with you. It does not have to do with the image, or the thing itself. It’s more about what you are accustomed to viewing, what standards have been programed into your head. This has been done over time, and you might not realize it; because it’s your subconscious brain that is working on the matter.
[pullquote] those who have an open mind towards beauty, these are they people who are able to see beauty in ruins.[/pullquote]
During each era of fashion trends, there were things that were deemed beautiful, these were the things in fashion. Similarly, on the other hand there were things there were deemed ugly, which were things that were not part of that era of fashion. What is really ironic, is that fashion is all about thinking outside the box. It’s about bringing forward ideas that will blow your imagination, things that wouldn’t normally make any sense.
