Beauty Ideals

Abstract

If 10 people would answer the question “What falls into the category grooming and what is beautification?” there would be 10 different answers. For some, grooming does not go beyond taking a shower and brushing your teeth. But what about shaving? Or make-up? And a question that arose during quarantine: how important are hairdressers? Most people agree that cosmetic surgery does not belong in the realm of grooming anymore, but how about using injectables? This is where the discussion gets interesting. In this thesis the focus lies on the twilight zone of beautification, meaning on minor surgeries, injectables and trends that normalize enhancing your beauty in a way, that technically can be considered surgery, but are not perceived as such by the public.

Firstly, the phenomenon Beauty Ideals was explored. While thoroughly researching this phenomenon, the Vision in Product Design was used to create six clusters, or overarching themes. Three of these clusters were chosen to design for. In order to create design for debate and awareness, critical design theory was applied to create three designs. For each design a dystopia was written, and a prototype was built and a scenario photo was made. The combination of these three, show three problems that could arise when we choose to beautify to an extent to which we can no longer return to natural.

First of all, the Wishbone is a face jewel that reflects how beautification affects our metal health. Often we beautify ourselves because we want to become happier, but research shows, that rarely ever this is the case. Short term happiness is achieved, but on the long run, on average, people become more discontent with themselves and the way they look. The design of the Wishbone reflects how we limit ourselves in the way we feel and express ourselves. Taking the current developments, such as preventive Botox, to an extreme, people will physically be unable to move their faces in a way that is healthy for both the brain and the body.

Secondly, the Tulip is a chair that reflects how beautification affects our relationships. The way we want to make ourselves look better, stands in the way of pleasant touch and how we perceive touch. Again, taken to an extreme, we see that an extremely important part of human connection is limited, muted or avoided all together.

Lastly, the Cloud is a ‘My-First-Botox-Kit’ that reflects how beautification affects our daughters and the generations to come. Having small amounts of Botox and fillers injected seems innocent, but young children, are vulnerable and susceptible to everything they see around them. Especially when it comes to their direct environment. Using injectables as a mother, aunt, teacher or other type of role model, gives off a signal to the younger generation that they are not good enough the way they are.