THE JOY OF BEING IMPERFECT
Wabi-sabi is an ancient philosophy that prizes the less-than pristine. Now that’s a beauty ethos we can all get behind, says Alexandra Friend
How the ancient philosophy of wabi-sabi is changing the way we look at beauty today
Question: when is a pot of moisturiser not a pot of moisturiser? Answer: when it’s the embodiment of a Japanese concept so unfathomable even the Japanese claim not to fully grasp it. Channelling the fragile and deliberately chipped bowls used in 16th-century tea ceremonies to represent the impermanent and the imperfect, Shiseido’s latest cream comes in a pot that’s curved, textured and off-kilter, sitting as lightly in the palm of the hand as a delicate ceramic. It’s a quiet nod to wabi-sabi, an ancient philosophy that (in a nutshell) finds beauty in the broken and the worn in, and – we’re calling it – it could be the new sentiment for our times. Because
if ever we needed permission to be a little bit imperfect, it’s now... and the beauty industry is firmly on our side.
‘I’m so tired of everything being finessed to death,’ says New York-based make-up artist Dick Page – for him, wabi-sabi plays into an ‘anti-correction’ idea of beauty in an over-filtered and contoured age. ‘Does the absence of flaws make something beautiful? Sure, I’ll cover up a pimple but when it comes to using make-up to adjust your structural elements, or labouring endlessly over a ‘flawless’ look that leaves you looking like everybody else, that’s when you’ve absorbed an external idea of beauty. Wabi-sabi is a reminder that the face is not something to be fixed. To my mind, make-up is for decoration, not changing who you really are.’
A world away from the #makeupgoals of Instagram, the summer runways offer an alternative reality, and it’s one that’s beautiful and real – transparent foundation, muted toffee eye tones and real-life blush rubbed in with the fingers to let the light and life of the skin underneath show through (Chanel’s new Les Beiges Sheer Healthy Glow Tinted Moisturizer, £37, and Mac Studio Waterweight Concealer, £18.50, are perfect for finger painting). And where there’s decoration, it’s made fresh and modern by being slightly worn away – Topshop Unique demoed the prettiest way to wear glitter (it’s everywhere this season) by pressing it on to the sockets in delicately smudged thumbprints, against a minimally made-up face (Stila’s Glitter & Glow Liquid Eyeshadows, £23 each, are gossamer-light and surprisingly wearable). ‘It’s the suggestion of something being broken or imperfect that makes it cooler,’ says Terry Barber, director of make-up artistry at MAC. ‘Like pushing eyeliner into the skin until it feels like it’s part of it, or tapping a finger over a lip line so the colour looks as if it’s been there for a while. Breaking something isn’t about making it ugly, it’s a form of customisation that allows for more emotional connection.’
Stylist and John Frieda UK creative director Luke Hersheson agrees: ‘There’s nothing interesting about looking like you’ve tried too hard, but hair that just “exists” is convincing and alluring.’ For him, the appearance of artlessness is in invisible layers that allow the hair to fall softly into shape, or a ponytail that’s not too coiffed – the crown sitting flat, the sides quite tight, and the texture considered (in order to look not considered at all, of course). ‘A simple look can afford some polish but if there’s anything more intricate going on, you’ll need to be messier. Encourage the flyaways, they’re a good thing.’
Elsewhere, wabi-sabi’s elevation of the imperfect taps into a disenchantment with unobtainable beauty standards – a mood that savvy beauty brand Max Factor recently picked up on. In a global study that canvassed 26,000 women, only 4% felt that beauty advertising represented relatable women, while 88% believe that character is as much part of a woman’s beauty as external appearance – something that’s not reflected back to us as much as we might like. Change is coming, though, with Max Factor pledging a commitment to ‘beauty with depth’, and retouching on the wane. ‘Publications aren’t correcting nearly as much as they once were,’ says Subreena Jadhav of Premier Model Management. ‘And as society becomes less homogeneous, we’re scouting different types of models. Aleece Wilson, for example, is covered in amazing freckles, which definitely add to the beauty of her face.’
For Anna-marie Solowij of Beautymart, wabi-sabi is part of a larger conversation about sustainability. ‘We’ve reached “peak stuff”, so if we can take anything from wabi-sabi, it’s finding value in what we already have and appreciating our products in use. It’s in the sculptural way we wear down the bullet of a lipstick, or how those lovely aluminium tubes of hand cream crumple into new shapes as we use them. It’s a form of customisation that comes from our handling of an object, and makes something more than standard issue.’
It may be born out of an ancient tea ceremony, but a wabi-sabi mindset chimes with our own life philosophy. Finding grace in the scars that shape us, emotionally and physically. Recognising that the pursuit of flawless and pristine is not only exhausting but unnecessary – that, as Leonard Cohen said, ‘There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.’ We’ll drink tea to that.