Models Without Makeup: Cindy Crawford and Friends Go Bare in Harper's Bazaar

 

The September issue of Harper's Bazaar (on stands Aug. 18)  features several iconic models baring naked faces. Kristen McMenamy, Shalom Harlow, Cindy Crawford, Tatian Patitz, Amber Valetta, Helena Christiansen, Nadia Auerman, and Claudia Schiffer all went before the camera without any cosmetic help─and since they're models, they all look freaking gorgeous. (The superb lighting and semigrainy black-and-white footage seems to take care of whatever flaws genetics missed.)

Any time magazines try something like this, where they willfully defy the very standards of beauty they create/reinforce every day, you can expect a healthy backlash. For example, the very astute Tom and Lorenzo of Project Runway take a strong stand against this kind of magazine stunt:

What are we, as readers, supposed to take away from a stunt like this? That they all have great bone structure? We knew that already. Is this supposed to make the average woman identify with them somehow? If so, FAIL. They're all still amazingly beautiful women even when the artifice is stripped away ...

Nothing will change and the industry will go right back to presenting impossibly beautiful women day after day, month after month. And we're not even saying there's anything wrong with that. It's called the beauty industry for a reason, after all. All we're saying is that it's a stunt and like all stunts it's interesting for a moment or two, but after that it fades away into meaninglessness. Don't pretend to be something you're not, beauty industry. It's insulting.

And one could complain that glamorizing a makeup-free look only makes it harder for the nonsupermodels, who may need a little base and mascara to look even remotely like this:

 

(Say what you will about the mean-spirited "Stars Without Makeup" features in tabloid mags. At least they give the rest of America confirmation that many celebrities aren't a class of perfect, glowing superhumans, but instead just talented people with access to good hair and makeup teams.)

Then, of course, there's the fact none of these middle-aged models without makeup made it on the cover, and even the coverline is a little too coy. ("Fabulous at Any Age" doesn't really indicate that one can be fabulous at any age sans undereye concealer): 

But really? It almost seems too easy to hate on a fashion mag for not accurately reflecting how women really look. I can say with absolute certainty that these photos will not kick off a national trend of idealizing all women (not just supermodels) exactly as they look first thing in the morning. So let's enjoy the photos for what they are—pretty shots of pretty people—and hope that at the very least, they inspire readers to invest in some good SPF moisturizer.