When it comes to beauty, there’s no one size that fits all. Thanks to the rise of the skin and body positive movements, more and more people are standing up to normative standards of beauty by embracing their true, natural and authentic selves both online and IRL. Skin is the final frontier to be embraced by the body positive movement. In our next beauty week video, we meet model and activist Louisa Northcote as she opens up about the realities of living with acne, and why she wants more people to embrace the skin they’re in.
She’s joined by Kat, Hannah and Iman, all women who’ve struggled with acne and are keen to challenge the stigma around it. Which is why they’ve taken part in a very personal project, Epidermis, by former acne-sufferer and photographer Sophie Harris-Taylor.
In our new film, we follow Sophie as she photographs the women for this project — a series of intimate portraits of the women, in all their natural, pimpled glory. We spoke to them about their experiences, and why it’s so important to change the perception of pimples. See Sophie’s final portraits below, and watch it unfold in our film above. Because unrealistic beauty standards are dead — it’s time to #freethepimple.
“Growing up I didn’t have people who I could talk to about acne. So now I’ve built this community by using this hashtag.” — Louisa Northcote on starting #freethepimple
“It was really cystic, and I couldn’t wash my face without it bleeding, and it would make me feel really distant and like I wouldn’t want to go out of the house or do anything. I think [this project] is a really good way of showcasing that not everyone’s acne is the same.” — Hannah
“I’ve actually never gone out in public without make-up on, so I feel vulnerable but in a beautiful way.” — Iman
“I’m very fortunate to have some strong, fantastic women in my life, who have a beautiful take on what it means to be a beautiful woman.” — Kat