French Elle’s No-Makeup Issue
Posted by: Catherine Strawn
Filed in:
style
3:00PM, Monday April 13th 2009
Magazine editors seem to have noticed (at last!) that women need to see models and actresses in a truer form, without the work of makeup artists and retouchers to mask their pores, cellulite, and wrinkles. The upcoming issue of French Elle, which hits newsstands this weekend, features Eva Herzigova, Monica Bellucci, Sophie Marceau, Charlotte Rampling, and four other females sans fards, which is a French idiom that literally means “without rouge/makeup,” but implies “openness.”
We’re totally psyched to see beautiful women in a more natural, albeit still extremely flattering light. Photographer Peter Lindbergh snapped the women, so they’re not anything like the horribly unattractive candids our friends take of us around 1 a.m. after we’ve ingested a few cocktails, but they’re the closest a fashion magazine is going to get.
Like Italian Vogue‘s black issue, this month’s French Elle is a step in the right direction for magazines, but once a year isn’t enough. Shouldn’t we be able to see celebs looking more like themselves every month? I don’t mean in unattractive photos like the ones tabloids shoot, showing stars’ boogers and dry skin. Natural can be beautiful and at home in a glossy magazine. In this month’s Glamour, there’s a swimsuit story that features a curvy model, and everyone at The Frisky gushed over the model’s hot bod. But the headline reads: “Not a dental-floss-thing kind of girl? Then you’ll love the new old-school Hollywood trend, meant to flatter goddesses of every shape and size.” Why can’t we just integrate natural, more realistic beauty on a regular basis, without calling out the content: This is for all of our non-skinny readers!!!
It is rather wonderful, though, that unlike U.S. magazines that show celebs without makeup, these French Elle photographs make the natural look seem like a good thing. Look how good these women look, even when they let their imperfections show! Our tabloids, on the other hand, only draw attention to stars’ flaws, rather than their innate beauty. [via Girl With A Satchel]
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Little Lamb
wrote on April 13 2009 @ 03:09 pm: [report]
This model is still completely gorgeous. Barf.
I think I need a lighting technician to come hook my bedroom up.
chloe
wrote on April 13 2009 @ 03:39 pm: [report]
so her lips are that pink without anything on them?
mikeyellenlee
wrote on April 13 2009 @ 04:11 pm: [report]
My lips are pink without anything on them…I think she’s pretty.
retro chic
wrote on April 13 2009 @ 07:03 pm: [report]
Haha, Little Lamb… That would be most of us!
...
I’ve noticed, tho, that Europeans embrace natural beauty anyway… don’t know if that’ll work here with the mostly plasticized attitudes of the US. Might be too much of a shock, and with nothing to shine thru.
Katrina
wrote on April 14 2009 @ 07:59 am: [report]
I think this is a great idea. However, I’m kind of glad that the women in it are still models, which is great because why would anyone pay $3-$4 for what would pretty much be pictures you could take at home?
And if a woman can’t wear lip gloss even on a “makeup free” shoot, there’s something wrong with the world. No one likes chapped lips
bamr
wrote on April 14 2009 @ 06:33 pm: [report]
I think European women are even more into hair and make-up! After living there for years I can say that the average woman wears more makeup and fancy clothes to go to the grocery than I do on a Friday night out!
Marcharino
wrote on April 15 2009 @ 01:25 am: [report]
We are living in an artificial world with women that are always veneered with make-up. It is just plain odd that the female feels they she can’t be seen in public without “putting on their face.” The American male feeds this preposterous mentality with an insatiable desire for the fashion supermodel and her hideous amount of gaudy make-up. Women have ingredients that go into beauty—and make-up can’t create it—a natural beauty that far outshines the made-up and plastered look anyway!
GossipLicious
wrote on April 15 2009 @ 02:58 am: [report]
Right…
And Herzigova has those pink almost fuscia lips naturally.
I bet the models has a “nude sans makeup-makeup” on it, with a perfect light, photographed by one of the best and with a really taked care of “carefree” attitude.
skully
wrote on April 15 2009 @ 11:12 am: [report]
I think it’s a great idea to do a no make-up issue. We are so caught up in our looks that we forget what really makes a person beautiful. Even if they do have natural looking make-up on that’s ok too. It shows women it’s ok to be yourself. God made us the way we are and we should embrace it.
M.J._56
wrote on April 15 2009 @ 11:24 am: [report]
I think these women look great even without makeup. I have never had hot pink lips when not wearing makeup but hey, it could happen. Regardless, I think it was a good idea to do this issue and I think that America needs to get it together and do the same thing. Anorexia and Bolemia are a huge problem because of all this nonsense with models. I think that every woman is beautiful no matter what. I hardly ever wear makeup because it’s not necessary. Come on ladies, we’re all Goddesses in our own way!!!
bizzy
wrote on April 20 2009 @ 11:30 pm: [report]
No retouching? Really?
I’m pleasantly shocked. Bravo to the exec who decided to go with this theme.
Debbs4
wrote on April 25 2009 @ 10:51 pm: [report]
Personally, I am thankful for makeup! It covers many blemishes, redness and dark circles that just seem to get worse with the years. So girls, if the house needs painting, paint it! And, if you are blessed with beautiful skin and are happy with your complexion, don’t feel obligated to wear makeup, but then, don’t curse the girl who likes to/has to wear it!
MissPiss
wrote on April 25 2009 @ 11:06 pm: [report]
I love makeup, and learned from the jump that makeup was to “accentuate beauty”. It wasnt until later on that I learned that people use it to “hide” and “cover-up” and change their faces completely. Honestly I dont think there is absolutely anything wrong with ANY woman to begin with, without makeup. I think a woman should only wear makeup because they feel a personal desire to enhance their own beauty and make themselves look polished. Why society feels that a woman has to be perfect and dolled up 24/7 is beyond me.
opertacdyl
wrote on April 27 2009 @ 01:39 pm: [report]
My preference for women is for them to go easy on makeup. I don’t mind if it looks nice, and is not overdone. That said, these photos shown here are so fake. No woman has orchid or purple-pink lips, and they are so obviously wearing cosmetic contact lenses to enhance their eye color and depth. Maybe you should define “natural”? Please don’t expect us to be so stupid to believe that these women have skin this perfect, no signs of blemishes or wrinkles. Yeah right… sure… I would be less offended if they admitted that the women were using creams, color lenses, and sheer tints.
writergirl
wrote on April 27 2009 @ 01:47 pm: [report]
That’s not a natural lip color. No WAY that can be a natural lip color.
My guess would be, yes, her skin is that flawless, but she makes her money by her face and her skin, she HAS to keep it looking like that, so she has facials and treatments done pretty often to make sure it does look like that.
Look, super models are what they are because they have a face that the rest of the population can’t compete with. While I agree she is probably wearing contacts and lip color—the rest of it—the flawless skin, the enviable bone structure, the perfect symmetry of her face—is just natural. That’s why she gets paid to stand in front of the camera and we don’t. Makeup or not, her base is a better start than most of us have. It’s that simple.
Fifi1010
wrote on May 3 2009 @ 01:10 pm: [report]
Debbs4, no one has to use make-up anymore to hide bad skin, eye circles, or acne, because these things can be eliminated. Bad skin comes first and foremost from bad diet. Even people who think they eat healthy are still eating SOME chemicals/preservatives/hormones. Acne a lot of times comes from eating meat from animals raised with hormones. Also, a lot of people have food allergies they’re not aware of because the way they show themsleves is through bad skin! Finally, cleansing with the RIGHT products, and doing microdermabrasion or using glycolic acid at home twice a week works wonders. Not to mention that they are spa treatments that eliminate all these problems, not just acne and a dull complexion. My mother had a facial scar removed from an accident that happened when she was 19! Granted, I live in L.A., and there are a lot of options there! But I’m also French and determined to look good naturally instead of with paintings.
Fifi1010
wrote on May 3 2009 @ 01:15 pm: [report]
opertacdyl, you are wrong, I’m sorry to say. These women DO have good skin and that’s because they can afford all the treatments out there that minimize wrinkles and makes imperfections disappear. Come on! In this day and age, you seem unaware of what’s out there! Take a trip to L.A. and visit a few spas; you’ll have the shock of your life!
PinkRanger
wrote on May 3 2009 @ 01:46 pm: [report]
I’m a makeup artist, and people are sometimes shocked to see that I don’t wear makeup everyday, or will just smear on alittle mascara and lipgloss and go. I see makeup as something that can be artistic, self-expressive, and enhancing, but NOT a requirement to be beautiful! Not to mention how trashy it can look sometimes when you see someone wearing a complete mask of makeup just to go to the post office! Enhance, don’t hide, or don’t wear it at all. Its a personal choice, and some women are wasting their time because they just don’t need it! coming from someone who pays the bills this way, I hope that has some weight.