In a piece on i-D US in 2017, writer Alice Newell-Hanson wrote:
“Pimples are still, for the most part, a reality we try to reckon with in secrecy. We tend to them alone in our bedrooms. We apply creams and cover-up. We erase them with skin-smoothing app filters. And when they break out into public view we’re at best annoyed and, at worst, dangerously depressed.
To illustrate the point, here’s a young Claire Danes as Angela Chase in an episode of My So-Called Life titled, The Zit:
But, as Alice argues, things are changing:
“Thanks largely to a generation of young writers, artists and activists, public conversations about — and perceptions of — our bodies have begun to shift dramatically in recent years. Photographer Petra Collins kickstarted a movement to reframe female body hair as natural and beautiful. Models including Myla Dalbesio, Barbie Ferreira, Iskra Lawrence, and Charli Howard have fought for the representation of different shaped bodies in fashion campaigns and runway shows.” Now it’s time for the humble spot.
So, on this week’s i-D podcast, we’re talking pimple positivity. We’ll be discussing the Justin Bieber Insta story that highlighted the movement — the one in which he declared “pimples are cool”. We’ll be hearing from Peter DeVito, a 20-year-old photographer who, for the last year or so, has been sharing his unretouched portraits of people with acne. And we’ll be figuring out where this all fits within wider conversations about — and perceptions of — bodies within the fashion and beauty industries. Today I’m joined by i-D Features Editor Tish Weinstock.
You can listen to Fash-On Fash-Off on Acast, Apple or wherever it is you get your podcasts.