Where beauty meets brains.

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

Beauty Confidential Author Speaks Out on Body Image

While Nadine Haobsh (aka “Jolie in NYC“) has been seen as an example of how your personal blog can cost you your job, Nadine has become better known for the way she leveraged her blogging scandal into a successful career as a beauty consultant, blogger, and freelance writer for publications like Cosmo, Fashion Week Daily, Harper’s Bazaar Japan and the New York Daily News.

In addition, Nadine recently released her new book, Beauty Confidential.

Because of her insider experiences in the publishing industry and as a beauty writer, I asked Nadine to share her thoughts on how the beauty and publishing industries contribute to the pressure on women to conform to certain — and perhaps virtually impossible — standards of beauty.

I also asked her for her opinion on the ways in which these industries can help to empower women in terms of cultivating a positive body image.

Nadine was kind enough to share her answer and I’ve included her emailed reply below:

I love that Dove uses real women in their ads, runs the Campaign For Real Beauty, and promotes the message that what you see in most ads isn’t real—it’s all airbrushed and art directed—and that we should celebrate and appreciate our bodies.

Modern standards of beauty are a complex thing, and it’s easy to point a finger at the media and say, “You! It’s all you!” Of course, there are many factors. Parents play a part, peers play a part, boyfriends play a part.

But it’s irresponsible to downplay the media and fashion industry’s role in actively distributing and promoting these images. The old line that clothing simply looks better on skinny women is insulting and tired; if designers are making clothing that is most flattering to 1% of the population, they’re not doing their jobs correctly.

There’s absolutely no reason to continue photographing unhealthily skinny women and portraying it as “normal” and “ideal.” Yes, some women are naturally thin. But the fact that, “Hey, you’ve lost weight!” is perceived as a compliment is simply messed up. Our bodies are beautiful, strong, wonderful machines that should be celebrated; what they aren’t are accessories to be molded and prodded to fit trends—and to fit clothes.

I couldn’t agree more! A big thank you to Nadine for taking the time to share her opinion!

For some great beauty advice from Nadine, be sure to check out her new book, Beauty Confidential.

Categorized under: Beauty News

4 responses so far ↓

  • 1 image consultant // Nov 30, 2007 at 8:00 am

    I just read about Nadine losing her jobs because she blogged.
    Whilst I’m not terribly surprised by Ladies Home Journal took a negative stance to it, but Seventeen magazine - effectively taking a stance against blogging/individuality is very perplexing.
    I hope we get to read more about Seventeen magazine and it’s anti-blogger ways…
    PS I love what Dove has done!

  • 2 Jazmin // Nov 30, 2007 at 11:38 am

    Hi! Thanks so much for your comment!

    I don’t think it’s necessary fair to label Seventeen as “anti-blogger.” I read in this article, that the person who had hired Nadine directly was actually aware of her blog and cool with it. Instead, it was the HR department at Hearst (Seventeen’s parent publisher) who made the decision to rescind their job offer.

    And, yes, I love the Dove campaigns, too ; )

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  1. Jolie Nadine » Blog Archive » Beauty Network Q&A
  2. Jolie Nadine » Blog Archive » Appreciating our bodies, rejecting unrealistic “ideals”