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[title]“NOT real life — took over 100 in similar poses trying to make my stomach look good. Would have hardly eaten that day. Would have yelled at my little sister to keep taking them until I was somewhat proud of this,” reads the caption next to a photo of 18-year-old Essena O'Neill in a neon colored bikini top and bright red bottom posing at a beach. O'Neill was an Instagram star with 700,000 followers, but after a year as an Internet celebrity she confessed in front of camera: she had wished to be like the “perfect girls” on the Internet, and when she finally achieved the goal, she was completely unhappy.
Such “perfection fatigue” is a relatable symptom — pursuing made-up perfection is, for the millennials, too tiring and also simply, boring. What they instead desire is character; according to JWT’s research, 85 percent of the Gen Y considers flaws as unique and endearing elements that make each individual special. They take something “imperfect” and go onto transform it into a trend, as well. They wear untraditional features with pride, as seen with top plus-size models Naomi Shimada, Robyn Lawley and Korea’s Kim Ji-yang who has launched a plus-size fashion magazine on top of her modeling career. Underwear brand Aerie’s “The girl in this photo has not been retouched” campaign has been met with positive responses, generating extensive sales. And now, this ‘perfectly imperfect’ trend is on a large part not a mater of choice anymore for popular brands.
Several supermodels in identical sizes and shapes. The slogan marked on the image reads, “the perfect body.” With this unrealistic campaign, Victoria Secret received so much backlash — from more than 27,000 people who signed a petition, to be exact —it had to alter the entire advertisement including the slogan ((to “a body for everybody”). So, no, a definitive article can’t be placed before word ‘perfect’ anymore. And we’d say, it’s the right way.