DIvErSITY Of BEAuTY
SEPHORA is having its Beauty ReWritten campaign, a Southeast Asia project to spark conversation around the pre-conceived notions of beauty, breaking barriers and what success means to women.
Pretty much going along the Dove route the brand that celebrates diverse colours and shapes in its advertisements — Sephora wants to celebrate the diversity of beauty beyond what meets the eye.
Sephora Malaysia country general manager Valerie Foong says the brands wants to demonstrate that beauty should be celebrated beyond face value.
“It has become our mission to drive dialogue among women to challenge society’s preconceived notion of beauty and also to bring fearless women into the spotlight with the hopes of meeting others.”
The campaign features eight women of different ages, ethnicities and backgrounds including two from Malaysia — Nadira Yussof and Sandhya Manoj.
Nadira, with six businesses under her belt, sees her biggest achievement as being a mother of six.
“Beauty to me, is my strength. For being able to stand up for myself and to be where I am today.”
Meanwhile, Sandhya Manoj, an accomplished yoga master and Odissi dancer, sees how superficial society’s definition of beauty can be.
The mother of two daughters, she has been invited to perform all over Malaysia and India and has often questioned what makes women beautiful.
“I find that when I identify myself to my job or motherhood, people have such a compartmentalised definition of me,” says Sandhya.
“People do not see me as who I am internally which is much more important. And that’s what beauty is to me. External beauty is a portrayal of beauty within.”
Beauty ReWritten also features six other women from the region including Thailand, Singapore and Australia.