Growing up, your mother always instilled the concept of “inner beauty” in you and that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Then she released you into the concrete jungle and the masses told you that “you always eat with our eyes first”, which set you into a state of confusion. To help you define beauty, here are the six celebrity faces that changed the way we see beauty.
ALEK WEK
South Sudanese alpha beauty Alek Wek has single-handedly redefined beauty – not just ‘black beauty’ – and paved the way for dark-skinned stars such as Lupita Nyong’o. With her quirky long limbs, breathtaking dark complexion, chiselled cheekbones, cropped nappy hair and tiny booty, Alek went against the norm to become one of the most prolific as well as successful models of the last two decades; and it all started when she was scouted by a top London modelling agency at the age of 19. In 1997, Alek become the first African model to grace the cover of ELLE magazine.
GRACE JONES
The word androgynous is synonymous with 70s/80s disco diva Grace Jones. Her tall height, square haircut, men-inspired tailored suits, shoulder pads and gender-bending antics set precedent for the 80s cross-dressing phenomenon. You can not look at pop culture today without seeing Grace Jones references; from Lady Gaga to Rihanna, not forgetting our very own Toya Delazy, and even luxury fashion brands as Versace.
JENNIFER LOPEZ
Marilyn Monroe might have paved the way, but Jenny from the Block started the cultural obsession with the big booty. Gone are the days of images of waif-like girls dominating magazines, like in the 90s. There is a new breed of women embracing their hour-glass shape, led by JLo and including other famous faces as Beyonce, Buhle Samuels, Iggy Azalea, Boity and Kim Kardashian. It all started when JLO showed up in a plugging-neck and derriere-hugging dress at the 2000 Grammy. From then on JLO’s butt turned her into an ageless sex symbol. Not surprising that the ‘Booty’ singer has a reportedly $27 million insurance policy on her butt.
JANET MOCK
Once you get passed how beautiful Janet Mock is you can begin to focus on her incredible story and achievements. This prolific transgender rights activist came out publicly as a trans woman in a 2011 Marie Claire article but took issue with how the author misgendered her by stating she was born, and raised, as a boy. Janet maintains that, “I was born in what doctors proclaim is a boy’s body. I had no choice in the assignment of my sex at birth… My genital reconstructive surgery did not make me a girl. I was always a girl.” You cannot help but admire her fighting spirit and the voice she’s carved for African-American and ALL the transgender community.
LUPITA NYONG’O
When it comes to hair, many Africans places Caucasian aesthetics as the standard. But celebrities, such as Lupita Nyong’o, who wear their natural afro-textured hair with pride, are slowly changing all of that. Lupita has proven that having 2-inch hair don’t have to be boring; you can switch it up by going bold with hair accessories, braids and cornrows.
RIHANNA
Rihanna has a new hairstyle almost every second day, and none of her funky ‘dos shy away from embracing her massive forehead. Rihanna has proven that you don’t have to wear your hair into sweeping bangs in order to hide your large forehead, rather flaunt it and use it as your most underrated beauty feature.
Written by Emmanuel Tjiya and originally posted on Sowetan
