Perfection is overrated. And intensely boring. Think about it: though physically gorgeous, would Angelina Jolie have the career she has if she weren't intriguing on the inside as well as the outside? Nope — she'd just be another pretty face who played someone's girlfriend in some movie and never acted again.
We continue to be bombarded with images of flawless celebs who have had plastic surgery, never seem to age, and whose images are photoshopped practically beyond recognition. But a former fashion editor and her daughter are determined to prove to the world that beautiful women come in all shapes, sizes, skin tones, and hair textures with an amazing new effort called "The What's Underneath Project."
In each "body positive" video — one of which features Demi Moore and Bruce Willis' daughter Tallulah Willis giving a candid and chilling interview about suffering from body dysmorphia — women remove their clothes and reveal their true selves.
Elsa Goodkind and her daughter Lily Mandelbaum are the forces behind StyleLikeU, a super-cool website that celebrates fashionable gals who look just as great as Kate Moss because they look like themselves.
They say their goal is to break down our notions of what is beautiful and prove that we needn't change ourselves to fit in. Their amazingly inspirational interview subjects include this woman — a model named Melanie Gaydos, who has had between 30 to 40 surgeries because she was born with a genetic disorder called ectodermal dysplasia, which affects her skin, hair, teeth and nails:
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdvaTzWvbPA
And, of course, Tallulah, who delivers a simple but effective line that has stuck with me all day: "Like yourself … and not just the way you look but like YOURSELF." How often do we make the mistake of liking who we are with what our bodies look like that day? I know I'm guilty of doing it. These positive messages from gorgeous women remind me of how I'm selling myself short by focusing on an appearance that I'm borrowing — that is constantly changing and won't look the same tomorrow, never mind 40 years from now.
Their idea may not be new, but it's necessary. And it will continue to be necessary until we all get the message — and live the message — that beauty really does come from within.
Here's Tallulah:
Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP2N6Ms0rS8
Do you feel like you focus too much on your body and how it compares with those you see in magazines?
Image via stylelikeu.com
