Stealing Beauty: Pivot Point International v ... - UW Law School

2006:1067 Stealing Beauty 1097
To some people, this trend may imply that there is no universal
standard of beauty, because the representations of beauty have recently
been altered to accommodate different cultural variations. On the
surface, this analysis may be correct, but a closer look reveals that, on the
whole, the nonwhite models that become the most successful in society
are those that possess more European features—that is, the features
already prevalent in mass media. 180 Because the media often chooses to
showcase nonwhite models who possess white features, the media
arguably makes the standard of beauty even more uniform.
In sum, this uniformity shows that the media’s conceptualization of
beauty is quite narrow. Given the media’s central location within
modern society, the uniformity suggests that there is a universal idea of
beauty, regardless of whether individual members of society personally
buy into the standard, or are capable of adhering to it. It follows that any
attempts to express this standard of beauty would necessarily be the
same, because the expression of this standard cannot be disconnected
from the idea itself.
“beautiful” is rarely mentioned, replaced instead with the adjective “exotic,” or worse.
See, e.g., Jeryl Brunner et al., Model Homes, IN STYLE, Sept. 2003, at 518 (“Alek Wek
defies convention”) (emphasis added); Michael Astor, Behind the Lens: In a Rio Slum, a
Photographer Beholds Beauty, SAN DIEGO UNION TRIB., June 27, 2003, at E12
(“Modeling agencies are keen for exotic looks from the Third World. . . . Alek
Wek . . . was spotted at a London street fair.”). As a result, while some view Alek Wek
as a refreshing change in complexion of omnipresent runway models, some people
respond to models like Wek with contempt, as though the media is exploiting the beauty
of these women and writing it off as something other than beauty. See, e.g., Black
Beauty’s Many Shades, WASH. POST, May 4, 2001, at C2 (stating that many black
Americans do not find Wek beautiful because she possesses too many “stereotypical”
features that black Americans have been taught to dislike).
179. See Meera Selva, Falling Out of Fashion: Why African Models Are So Last
Year, INDEPENDENT (London), July 14, 2004, at 26-27 (explaining Elite Modeling
Agency’s decision to open an office in Nairobi, Kenya in hopes of finding new talent and
selling it to bigger agencies, only to find that bigger agencies are no longer interested in
such talent because they think they will sell more products with white models, even if
that assumption is false and outdated).
180. Although recent trends have exposed black models with traditionally
African features, three of the most successful nonwhite models in America (Naomi
Campbell, Tyra Banks, and Iman) are known for having traditionally European features.
See Marshall Hood, More Than Skin-Deep, COLUMBUS DISPATCH (Ohio), Feb. 27, 2001,
at 1D; Allison Samuels, Black Beauty’s New Face, NEWSWEEK, Nov. 24, 1997, at 68.
While these articles champion the few models like Alek Wek who go against this trend,
models like Wek are still very much considered the exception rather than the rule.