A look back at the Irish style at the Met Gala last year
A look back at the Irish style at the Met Gala last year

IMAGE

Real Weddings: Robert and Megan’s medieval castle wedding in Co. Kildare
Real Weddings: Robert and Megan’s medieval castle wedding in Co. Kildare

Sarah Finnan

Beyond Flexible: Mother Pukka’s call for an ‘Inclusive’ work revolution
Beyond Flexible: Mother Pukka’s call for an ‘Inclusive’ work revolution

Dominique McMullan

Image / Style / Beauty
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STYLE

Will filter free images be a legacy of the pandemic?


by Rose Mary Roche
27th Jul 2021

Getty

"These impossibly perfect faces dominate social media platforms, striking not only for their homogeneity but also for their similarity to beautiful androids."

A renewed appetite for genuine imagery during Covid-19 (grey hair, stretch marks and curves) is to be welcomed but is it enough?

Wide empty eyes, pore-less skin, full pouting lips, button noses and impossible proportions are the typical hallmarks of an image edited with the Facetune app, which has now been downloaded over 50 million times globally. These impossibly perfect faces dominate social media platforms, striking not only for their homogeneity but also for their similarity to beautiful androids. Teeth-whitening, waist-whittling and skin-smoothing tools are all popular. In its infancy air-brushing was seen as a professional technical...

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