For those who have lost part of the controversy, let’s start by saying that everything was born from an elusive list drawn up by the brand Gucci on the sexiest and most beautiful women in the world, including, obviously as rumours say, the Armenian model Armine Harutyunyan, already face for several seasons of the collections and fashion shows of the Alessandro Michele brand. Assuming that this list, not only because it is completely contrary to Gucci ethics and aesthetics, but above all because it is completely senseless, has never really been drawn up; the question that arises is: do we really live in a society that needs to invent fake news to talk about beauty standards and do free hating?
The problem, which we could define social, was precisely this: a few hours after the news of this list, the Instagramaccount of the model Armine was flooded with hatred, criticism, insults and comments to say the least derogatory on her aesthetic appearance, from part of those who, behind a keyboard, think they have the right to give their own judgment on the canons of beauty. Here we have arrived at the great myth: beauty standards. Let’s start from the abc since it seems to be more than necessary: what is a canon of beauty. The canon of beauty is defined as the aesthetic ideal concerning the body which is recognized by society, closely linked to the era and the cultural, economic and social situation of a people and which collects the best and most desirable characteristics of physical beauty. As can be clearly deduced, the canons of beauty have changed and changed over the years, just like our society. With the difference, however, that today, good morning we are in 2020, we live in an era in which no canon is respected, but rather those who go against them, unfortunately we often also talk about ethical standards, are almost considered a hero. Well, but why in a society that now lives by communicating with an Instagram story is one able to become so summarily retrograde when it comes to physical appearance?
Let’s be clear, we are not here to expose an aesthetic judgment on a girl who may or may not respect these phantom and obsolete beauty standards, as it is hoped that it is finally commonly established that everyone should be able to see her in his own way; but to make you reflect on this: who asked you to give a judgment? Without transcending the right to free speech, let’s start by exercising the right to mutual respect. In various eras or in different countries of the world, each of us could be criticized for being the most distant from the established beauty standards, are you aware of that? Here would you like to be ferociously insulted for something that mother nature has decided and over which you have no power except to love and accept yourself for who you are?
Freedom requires everyone to have their own subjective judgments and consider beautiful what another might consider ugly and vice versa, but these clothes of the devil’s advocate that our society enjoys wearing, harm freedom itself when it is used to hurt someone else. Do we really feel like better people believing that we can offend a girl just because “she is a Gucci model”? It is absurd to see that shots of Armine doing the Roman salute under the Altare Della Patria have been photoshopped, only to increase the hatred towards a person who according to the defenders of beauty does not deserve to be on a list that does not even exist. How far have we arrived?