In an effort to explore varying beauty standards from around the globe, an online doctor service based in the U.K. asked 18 graphic designers to alter a woman’s body to reflect their country’s ideal woman.
The project was inspired by Esther Honig’s experiment earlier this year, which asked 25 expert and amateur graphic designers from different countries to “make [her] beautiful.” The results were pretty interesting, but they were nowhere near as drastic as what this study produced.
As you can see in the images below, the alterations range from fairly subtle to almost unrecognizable. Everything from the model’s hair to her hips to her clothes were changed—proving that there is no universal beauty standards for women; however, it also proves that no culture is immune from the pressures to look “attractive.”
“Widely held perceptions of beauty and perfection can have a deep and lasting cultural impact on both women and men,” the doctor service, Superdrug, told Buzzfeed. “The goal of this project is to better understand potentially unrealistic standards of beauty and to see how such pressures vary around the world.”
The study also focused on female graphic designers, as it wanted a woman’s perspective about her culture’s idea of beauty, as well as get some insight to what pressures they face. Only four men contributed to the project, but were asked seek input from women and apply those suggestions to their image.
You can check out the study's results below. To learn more about the project, go to Superdrug’s website.
