Question

Leaving aside Western conceptions of what is considered ‘highly attractive’ identify Indian and Chinese attributes of female beauty, as they typically appear in Indian and Chinese advertising. Does this have implications for global fashion brand advertising?

Answer 1

The image of women throughout history has been influenced by several forces in media and society. Emerging trends in beauty target women using historical ideals. Therefore, though society has seen some uplifting changes in the perception of women, advertising still focuses on outdated concepts of beauty. Because beauty advertisements present such idealized and unrealistic expectations, women experience increasing anxiety about their bodies.

The definition of beauty has continued to expand, making room for women of color, obese women, women with vitiligo, bald women, women with gray hair and wrinkles. We are moving toward a culture of big-tent beauty. One in which everyone is welcome. Everyone is beautiful. Everyone’s idealized version can be seen in the pages of magazines or on the runways of Paris.

Women have become conditioned to believing in the unrealistic standards of beauty set by society. Their self-worth is so very often decided by others' perception of them. Being dark skinned shouldn't give anyone an inferiority complex, and being fair doesn't make anyone more beautiful. All skin colours and tones are attractive in their own way.

The periods of American history from the 1800s to the 1960s witnessed a succession of dominant singular ideals of beauty. For example, to appear very pale and delicate was fashionable in the mid-1800s. This ideal evolved over time into the voluptuous, lusty woman idealized in the 1890s, and then the small, boyish flapper of the 1920s

Additionally, though American beauty was once characterized by the classic Nordic complexion, more ethnically diverse portrayals of beauty, including African, Asian, and Hispanic, have started to gain popularity, though the ideal remains predominantly white.

Although society has influenced beauty advertisements through movements and ideologies, society, itself, has also been influenced significantly by advertising.

The main purpose of advertising is making money by selling the images of perfection to its perspective consumers and that perfect images most of the time are women; who believe to have good brand recall value, to grab the attention and provide “desirable” images for the advertisements, irrespective of their relevance to the advertisements or products starting from alcohol to automobiles. Women are mostly shown as sex objects, physically beautiful and subordinate to men, in advertising. They were most often portrayed in home settings and for household products.

Fashion is seen as both knowledges that inform the selection and wearing of clothing and also as something that emerges through novel or repeated clothing assemblages. Fashion here is, therefore, understood as everyday practices of wearing and selection of clothing, rather than as externally defined or imposed

In India, the image of women image has been casted and moulded by years of male dominance and female-subservience. Women’s bodies, eating behaviour, style of dress, and the way women are expected to communicate with others, all represent the culture. Traditionally, the role of women has been viewed as homemakers, devoted wives—loyal, caring, and modest to the dominant husband. The body of women was morphed in accordance to the accepted social ideals of the time and not with their individual will. Every change in body shape was for the sole aim of attracting male attention and generating male approval.

India has a very rich and long history regarding the tradition of art and sculpture representing the images of women. Here, an attempt is made to discuss these briefly, before moving to the beauty concept of the contemporary Indian women. The most primitive images of the female figure in India belong to the Mauryan Period. They are a representation of the symbols of fertility or mother goddess

The new Indian woman has a greater sense of empowerment and economic freedom, which is reflected in her changing patterns of consumption. Previously, Indian women concentrated mainly on purchases that were based on family needs and wants; but now, their criteria have been modified by increased exposure to various new ideas and information, and by women’s new roles as career women. There is a need within her to look presentable and beautiful.

In the contemporary urban Indian context, the media-driven consumer culture mirrors western ideals of the perfect body—perfectly shaped, toned and exercised. Advertisements take advantage of the Indian craze for fair skin, especially for girls. Young girls have become the target of various skin lightening creams, encouraged to become fair to either attract a husband or to get a job. It seems that fair skin is the only ticket to success and all other qualifications and qualities are irrelevant. The redefined, idealized notion of Indian feminine beauty represents a toned, slim, fair-skinned, and tall woman who can relate with western notion of beauty and blend easily among these ideals. The entry of models and heroines of Indian origin in western fashion and entertainment industries are also partly responsible for this huge change.