All it takes is one person to make a difference. These seven highly influential women are changing the world’s perspective on beauty standards. From shape and size to age and gender, these celebrities are encouraging others to love who they are and to own what they have.
Age: Iris Apfel
Noted as the world’s oldest fashion icon, with her witty quotes and oversized glasses she claims her wrinkles are a “badge of honour”. At the age of 96, Iris Apfel continues to wear bright and bold clothing, believing style has no age. Apfel has criticised the industry for being too “youth obsessed” and continued to defy ageism and beauty standards within the industry, proving that, although now in her 90s, she is still as young as she feels.
Bum: J-Lo
When it comes to Jenny from the block, she certainly knows how to embrace her biggest asset — her booty. Her 100% natural bootylicious bum became an iconic feature and encouraged women to stop wearing baggy jeans and start wearing tight ones. J-Lo’s famous, and healthy, derrière changed pop culture as she went against the Hollywood mould and embraced her natural-born booty.
Curves: Ashley Graham
Proving to the world that curves are sexy, Ashley Graham is redefining beauty standards and changing the way women look at their bodies. Encouraging women to love their bodies, no matter what their size, Graham has been a positive advocate for loving who you are and reminding people that you can look sexy no matter what.
Eyebrows: Cara Delevingne
Brows have become one of the most iconic facial features of the last decade. Cara Delevingne helped in changing the way the world viewed eyebrows – the bigger the better. Cara has embraced her prominent brows and has encouraged woman all over the world to love their own natural brows.
Gender: Andreja Pejić
Andreja Pejić was the first profiled transgender model to grace Vogue’s May 2015 edition cover and has recently become Ford’s first transgender model. Alongside changing the way the fashion industry views transgender models, Pejić shares her story in the hopes that it inspires others to encourage others to share their stories and to not be ashamed of who they are.
Lips: Angelina Jolie
Before the days of Kylie Jenner’s lip injections, there was Angelina Jolie’s prominent pout. Her naturally full lips have become an iconic part of her image, creating her aesthetic allure. Her luscious lips have created a craze that has continued today, with some women even going as far as to get lip injections to have the same plump look as Jolie.
Skin: Winnie Harlow
Winnie Harlow at the age of 23 has become an inspiration all over the world for people with skin conditions. Harlow is a model with vitiligo, a chronic skin condition that creates skin colour loss in patches. Harlow place 6th in cycle 21 of America”s Next Top Model and has now glossed the covers of Cosmopolitan, Dazed and Glamour, stared in campaigns for Diesel, Swarovski and Sprite and is a strong advocate for women having more self-confidence.
