Hypocrisy in the world of Beauty

 Young minds are enchanted by the world of glamour. Young boys and girls feel that the shortcut to fulfill and materialize their dreams is by getting a place in the world of fashion or beauty. Everybody wants to look like the model on the cover of the magazine. But has anybody thought that what all problems do these faishonistas or beauty queens have to face to achieve stardom and then maintain it?



Be it beauty pageants or fashion shows, glamour dolls are everywhere. Their life seems picture perfect to us. They have talent, beauty, riches and popularity. What else do they need? But behind the glamorous appearance, they have a lot of struggle, criticism, competition and stress. Their shelf-life is very short and their popularity is short lived so they go to any extent to maintain their beauty and vitality for as long as they can.

Many of them follow rigorous diets and excessive physical training to shape up their body. Some are naturally beautiful but others have to put in a lot of hard work, self discipline and focus to achieve the results. They are continuously compared and criticized on the basis of their looks. Many of these glam maidens become bulimic and anorexic. Skipping meals or deliberately vomiting after a meal is a few of the psychological disorders which this business leads them to. Many become highly stressed out and depressed. They are always self-conscious on how they move, walk, talk, eat or look as they are under continuous scrutiny. They don’t have any privacy and their personal lives become live feed for the gossip columns.

They have to always look good when making a public appearance. They cannot make a mistake of appearing without make-up or fashionable clothes. The chemical reaction of the make-up takes its toll on the skin and hair making it dry, frizzy and dull. Many of them take steroids to maintain the agility of their muscles and camouflage the effects of ageing. Celebrities and models cannot repeat their clothes and accessories lest being commented on or pictured by the paparazzi.

At times they have to bear with inhuman conditions for e.g. extremely tight fitted clothes that it becomes difficult to breathe naturally. The best example is of ‘Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza, Miss Universe 2006, who succumbed to faulty dressing just after she won the prestigious title. She fainted because of lack of proper oxygen due to uneven respiration. Her evening gown was too tight for her to breathe properly. But she had to carry that off for the entire evening for the sake of the beauty paegeant. ‘All that glitters is not gold’, aptly fits on their lives. From outside they look glamorous, but inside they all are frightened and insecure beings who struggle to look beautiful all the time.

This article is not meant to discourage you if you are planning take up a career in the fashion world. But it is just another perspective. Every career path is filled with initial struggle and in the long run a few compromises. But the rosy picture everyone holds of the glamour world needs to be seen with a light of reality. Persistence and hard work is required to excel in every field. Just believe in your self and in your dreams, then work towards it to achieve your goal.


Parimita Chakravorty