Original subtitles

All right.

-Hi. -How are you?

I'm scared.

Have you ever had any Botox or fillers? Okay.

Some common areas to get Botox,

where people start is, they do just a little bit of Botox.

I'm in the City of Angels, chasing that age old cliché,

eternal youth and beauty.

Do you want to do Botox today?

Good question.

This is such a loaded situation for me.

Why do I feel like I need to do this?

Well, we live in a world

where beauty can lead to success, fame and money.

When I saw these billboards of myself,

which were clearly photoshopped,

it probably messes with your head a little bit

'cause you're like, "Wait, I don't look like that at all."

And for too long, conventional attractiveness

has meant one homogenous thing,

razor-sharp cheekbones, a super slender body

and a face like thunder.

Oh, and whiteness.

So much whiteness.

I started getting bullied in school, in my community.

What's going on?

How did we get these beauty standards?

Can't I have both?

Have they become damaging?

And if so, how can we redefine right now

what's bonkerlicious and beautiful?

This is real modelling.

Beauty is such a fun thing to be able to play with,

but everyone should be able to play with it.

Everyone should be able to feel that.

Did you feel beautiful?

Oh, my God, I hate this one.

I know! As a child?

I... No, I didn't feel beautiful when I was young, no.

I felt very weird.

So, this is me and my family. These are my sisters.

Look how pretty and happy and lovely they look.

Just gorgeous. And then, what is that?

What is that?

God, you've got a bug on your windscreen.

Like, who is that? Why?

If that came out of you, you'd be scared, right?

That is my father's son. Look at that.

What is that? That is a boy.

I mean, looking at these photos, when I was younger,

I just felt more like I was out of place

and like wasn't... didn't belong.

So, just a lot of rejection when I thought of modelling

because I was too short or my eyebrows were too big.

They'd always try and bleach them or stick them down,

and they would just never stick down.

Eyebrows were not a thing back then.

You know, as a model, of course, there were parts of me...

of course, I felt beautiful sometimes or pretty,

but it was always through the eyes of other people.

I know that in this film,

I'll have to take a long, hard look at myself.

I'm white. I'm a size and shape that sells.

And despite those early rejections,

I've had an easy route into the fashion industry.

Today, I feel gross saying this,

I'm a pretty typical example of our contemporary beauty standard.

But times are beginning to change.

This is Nyakim Gatwech, aka "Queen of Dark,"

a model who's at the full front of an emerging beauty revolution.

But she's had to fight to the nail to get there.

Selfie 1C. A cam only. Take one. Marker.

-Would you do like a model face? -How do you do that?

-I look like a clown, look crazy. -You look crazy.

-That's what I do. -I love it.

I mean, I have so many questions, but first... tell me about yourself.

I was born in a refugee camp, not South Sudan.

Came to America when I was 15.

And, um... I started getting bullied in school, in my community,

-at the grocery store. -Why?

Because... just being different, just having this complexion.

People started calling me names.

I hated myself. I didn't think I was beautiful.

I didn't think I fitted in this beauty standard.

The Western world standard is not me. It didn't look like me.

-That standard of bullshit. -Yeah.

-It literally is bullshit. -It really is.

Like, when did you first start meeting agencies?

What was that feedback?

-What was that experience like? -Well...

I go see these agencies. That's when they was like,

"We already have a girl that looks like you."

Literally, they told me the name of the girl.

Like, how are they saying there's someone that looks like you?

There were too many white people!

Hello? There are so many people that look the same.

Are you serious? That makes no sense.

That made no sense. That was when I was like,

"If you really wanna do this, you have to create your own lane."

Yes.

Nyakim decided to bypass the fashion industry

and that old-school ideas of beauty, and do it alone,

collaborating with photographers to raise her profile

through self-funded shoots.

I got lucky enough for one buy on Instagram.

And then I was able to take that opportunity,

and I've been running with it ever since.

She's now got almost a million followers

and is starting campaigns for Rihanna's label,

Savage X Fenty, plus loads more.

I don't want another black girl

to go through the shit what I went through.

I want them to just be accepted

if they... if this is what they wanna do.

If they wanna be in fashion, I want them to just be accepted.

Modelling gives you a platform where you could use modelling

to inspire other people, to make a change.

I wanna be somehow a little bit, however tiny it is,

some change in this world.

-That's what I wanted. -But I didn't think... Yeah.

-That's what I want. -And you've done it already.

But you're still just at the beginning of all of that.

-Thank you. -No, don't thank me. Thank you.

Do you think you're beautiful now?

Exactly.

She is the epitome of a supermodel, of a superhuman,

of the type of person that is what a model should represent, okay?

How someone that sweet has gone through so much,

has been treated like that,

and ever thought the things that she did?

It's completely insane.

Nyakim's story is so inspiring,

but sadly familiar to anyone who doesn't fit

on narrow and exclusive ideas of what's beautiful.

But how did we get to a place

where she and others have had to fight so hard?

How did we get these so cold beauty standards

in the first place, and what exactly are they?

Stay. Yeah. Sit. Good boy.

What we find hot comes from our ancestors' search

for the healthiest partners to make the healthiest babies.

And we plant the physical signs of fitness and fertility

along the way.

Oh, no, that's not... I'm so confused.

Am I meant to kiss her hand? What am I to do?

Let's start again.

I'm not this.

In women, these include a young face,

with big eyes and bow lips,

a tiny waist and childbearing hips.

In men, height, broad shoulders and a strong jaw.

But what we find hot isn't just about genetics.

You've also got to throw in our culture and experiences as well.

So how much does this affect what we find beautiest?

-What a list of bachelors! -Yeah, I know!

Ah, where am I gonna find my perfect partner?

Oh, wait! This hairy little boho behind me.

Dr Carlota Batres explores the relationship

between who we find attractive and what culture we grew up in.

So I signed up to take one of her tests.

Should I be scared?

I'm gonna show you some faces today,

and I'm gonna ask you some questions

about how you feel about these faces.

I don't judge people very well, so let's see what happens.

Carlota takes computer-generated faces,

manipulates certain features, then asks people to rate them.

So, who do you find more attractive?

I would tend to usually go for the more masculine man.

You are right that we are manipulating masculinity here.

Traditionally, more masculine features

include bushy eyebrows, a wider nose and a stronger chin.

They got eyebrows, yeah.

Technically, I have a manly face.

You have masculine eyebrows, yes.

So, 65% of the participants in our sample

chose the more feminine faces more attractive.

But these were participants in the US.

If I would've run the study in my home country of El Salvador,

I would've found that the majority of participants

find the more masculine face attractive.

This is not because people in El Salvador

have a thang for bushy eyebrows.

Subconsciously, our brains

are making snap judgements about future partners.

So there's this link between masculine and health.

If you're in a country with higher health risks,

there's a stronger preference

for the more masculine healthier face.

But it's a trade-off.

You get top-notch genes, but less commitment,

or so the science says.

More masculine men are less likely to get married.

More masculine men have higher rates of infidelity.

And so, if you're looking for a long-term relationship,

-Marry a woman. -...you are...

No, I mean... God, humans are so simple.

-Let's do another one. -Which one is more attractive?

Oh, they're both very pretty. Can't I have both?

Someone has a wider face, and someone has a smaller face.

I don't know. What are their personalities like?

That one.

The majority of the US participants,

like you, found this face as more attractive.

But, again, if we run this study in my home country,

we find that this face is more attractive.

In developing economies,

a fuller face implied more access to food

and therefore, better health.

I don't know. This makes me annoyed, this game.

But in the US, it's the opposite.

What in the US

leads to viewing malnourishment as maybe more attractive.

-Modelling. Fashion. -Yeah. So social media, Internet...

-Social media, yes. -Exactly.

So the faces that you're exposed to

lead to your preference of them.

Whoa. Stop the sequence, please, editors.

This feels like a massive idea that nearly got away.

So the faces you see most often

influence your concept of what's hot?

Dr Carlota, spell it out.

Yeah, so familiarity is a big influence

on what it is that we find attractive.

So the faces around us, the way that those faces look,

is what we end up finding attractive.

And the way that the faces around us look

is influenced by culture.

Okay, so here's where I think we are.

Beauty is the mix of ancient fertility signals

and specific cultural preferences.

These then spread through the media

to become the template we all aspire to.

No longer is beauty about basic bonkability,

now it's also about elite, status, power and some big benefits.

And the stakes are high for the ones

who are judged the world's most beautiful.

Fame, riches, and possible motion-picture fame

are the prizes.

Welcome to the concept of beauty bias,

aka pretty privilege.

Women on trial are 35% less likely to be convicted

if they're beautiful.

People judged attractive

earn on average 10% more than their colleagues.

And in the US and Europe,

conventionally handsome politicians attract around 20% more votes.

So it's no wonder

that people take extreme measures in the pursuit of beauty.

Colombia, hottest women in the world.

So say the tourists at the least.

Here the relationship between beauty and success

is especially obvious.

Meet Diana.

She was once a Colombian beauty queen.

But natural looks were not enough.

I decided to have surgery because I had a self-esteem issue.

I wasn't pleased with my body.

Once I took the decision, my life changed.

I've had breast enlargement,

liposuction and a butt augmentation.

I also had lip fillers

and a nose job.

Diana surgically-enhanced body

is known in Colombia as the "narco aesthetic."

It's understood that narco aesthetic

comes from the gangsters and Colombian narcos.

One of their works of art is the construction of their women.

Women are part of the full narco macho package.

And what the narco started, the country copied.

Colombia is now eighth in the world for plastic surgeries per person.

Men want to make a lot of money to get the prettiest women.

For them it's like a prize.

It's men that take women to the plastic surgeon

and ask the surgeon to enlarge the breasts.

They ask for a bottom this size, and it's like they're making dolls.

Women have been designated as the object for show

the luxury item

and the construction of the silicone filled body.

It's big business in Colombia,

and the narcos were the pioneers of it.

You might think,

"Why would women go along with this?"

Well, in a fiercely patriarchal society,

it's a way for some women to get ahead.

I can say that my life had a 180 degree turn.

I went from being a nobody to becoming an empowered woman.

And there's also been a financial change

because I've had new opportunities for publicity campaigns.

In Colombia, only 20% of the population

go on to higher education.

So women have found that being objectified

is a way to climb and achieve a type of life.

For me, plastic surgery and beauty is not about vanity now,

it's a way of life.

Today plastic surgery is big business all over the world.

In South Korea, a tide of women in their late 20s,

have had a cosmetic procedure.

Most to make their eyes look bigger.

Brazil boasts nearly 80,000 bum enhancements each year.

And the US?

Well, in 2021, more than 11 million people

had some sort of cosmetic procedure.

Boob jobs and liposuction, the most common operations.

You'd think that those who already conform

the so-called beauty standard

might be immune to this, but we are almost the worst.

It's so crazy because most models

are the most "beautiful seeming people,"

but the most insecure.

Sometimes judgemental,

sometimes just very judgemental about themselves,

so paranoid, like, worry about their body

and what they look like all the time.

It's exhausting.

I feel so much admiration

for people who have so much confidence in themselves.

And I do, sometimes, or at least I pretend I do.

But otherwise, in my mind, it's always this old...

this old story that I told myself,

like, "I am not enough," or I think in some way...

Here's the thing. The pressure to look a certain way

gets to me too.

How could I not consider some way to alter myself, like Botox?

I don't know. Don't add me.

Everyone around me does it.

And it's starting to feel weird that I don't.

That's why you find me here,

entering a Beverly Hills doctor's office.

Yeah, you should get your boobs done too.

Why would you do that?

-What do you want to say? -Nothing.

...like a normal person. Geez.

I thought it would be full of older ladies, but no.

-You look gorgeous. -Thank you. So do you.

-What are you in for today? -I came about getting some Botox.

-How old are you? -28, turning 29 this week.

-Okay, we're the same age. -Okay.

You know, it's just... It's time.

-It's time. -You're right.

-Are you thinking about it? -I mean, I was...

No... I don't know. I'll wait a little bit

cause it does feel you get to that "age"

you're like, "This is when people start getting this stuff done."

And all your friends get it done, and you're like, "Maybe I should."

Do you feel like there are celebrities that get stuff done

-that don't talk about it? -Absolutely. That's still very...

-the normal right now... -Yeah.

I think, you know, we... at least for me,

I feel like we advocate, I advocate towards being more open and honest.

And so I think transparency in terms...

Transparency is key, and, like, no judgement.

That's why I wanted to do this. I was like,

"If I decided to get stuff done, I'll do it on camera."

Definitely.

All right.

Have you ever had any Botox or fillers?

Okay, all right. So, um... I'm not here to twist people's arms.

Does anything actually bother you?

Yeah. I look in the mirror and if there's something...

I'll find something to feel bad about.

I would ask, when someone was photoshopping my body or face,

"Whoa, were they photoshopping and why?"

It's unrealistic standards in terms of the fashion industry.

But yes, can you do something about it? Absolutely.

All right, so I'll put this blue screen down.

And we'll go ahead, and we'll get a few photos.

I guess now's not the time to pull a model face, is it?

Great. Perfect.

Okay, cool. Let's go right over here.

Everyone, this is not okay.

-You look beautiful. -There are a lot of bags there.

I mean, you know, some common areas you get Botox,

you know, the forehead, the brow, the sides of the eyes.

Where people start is, they do just a little bit of Botox.

-Yeah, just right there. -But look at these, doctor.

You know, I was looking at some footage of you

while you were getting some makeup done.

Without makeup, I do see some hollowing you have.

I'll tell you two things my patients always tell me.

It was easier than they thought. They shouldn't have waited so long.

If you look in the mirror every single day,

and a single thing bothers you for more than six months,

if you could do something about it, just do something about it.

I can't lie. It is tempting.

Do you want to do Botox today?

-Not today. -Okay.

Not today, but we'll see. I'll keep checking in.

-But I think I'm good. -Good.

-Thanks for coming by. -Thank you for everything.

I appreciate all the interesting bits and pieces you gave me.

My pleasure. Yes.

You never know. I will see you around.

-Thank you, doctor. -Come back anytime.

I don't know what I took away from that

apart from "I'm scared." I'm terrified for the future

and what's being normalised in terms of the way people look.

If I imagine the future, I see all these white leaders

who've had Botox since their teens. Is that weird?

So I just feel like "fixing" all these things,

is it really fixing what we need to fix,

which is the void within us

to wanna be better, wanna, like, change things about ourselves?

The problem for me is that people aren't as honest as they should be

about what they get done.

And I don't know, and I'm not saying

anyone in particular,

but I do wish someone would stand up and say,

"Look, I've had this done, and this is why."

You don't even have to go into what it is you have done,

but at least people are not selling this idea

that they are that perfect with nothing.

'Cause it's not fair.

I just think with the rise in popularity of plastic surgery,

and how popular Instagram is,

and how many people think, you know, one in three girls,

feel worse about themselves

because of Instagram or social media. It's not okay.

The desire to change ourselves in pursuit of beauty

is growing and growing.

And a lot of fingers are pointing at social media.

It's rife with filters that can make us all look beautiful.

Virtually. And it's enough faces all the time.

But is social media bad for us? Or can it be a force for good?

Dr Jolanda Veldhuis and Dr Mara van der Meulen

are studying whether social media affects what we find attractive.

And like all good brain scientists,

they're gonna stick their subjects in a scanner.

Today it's Lotte's turn.

I'll just slowly move your bed into the scanner.

-Okay, see you. -Hey, Lotte. Are you ready?

Yes.

Lotte's task is to look at pictures of bodies

and rate if she finds them normal

or too thin.

She's been shown what other people her age,

her peer group, think.

As she does this, Jolanda and Mara watch closely

for what's happening inside her head.

Okay, here goes, Lotte. Let's play. First one.

So, there she scored it as being normal.

And now she will see the peer feedback.

And peer feedback stated that it is a too thin model.

Lotte's hit with 60 different images

and has three seconds to judge each one.

So now it's very interesting to see what is happening in Lotte's brain.

Dr Mara is particularly interested in how Lotte responds

when she and her peer group disagree.

When our participants thought that models looked normal,

but the peer feedback was, "No, this model is too thin,"

that was when we noticed

the strongest activation of these two regions.

Maybe making them think about

"Okay, but if what I consider normal is not actually normal,

then how should I view these models?"

Lotte's brain is forcing her to question her own judgements.

And the more you do that, the less comfortable you feel.

That's why social media, where peer feedback is everything,

is so influential.

Okay, there it goes.

We have the combination of being exposed to these ideal bodies,

to all these beautiful women and how amazing they look,

and we also know what our peers think of these bodies.

So that makes it very difficult

for adolescents to form their opinions themselves.

Because you know what your peers think,

you might start to wonder, "Okay, how should I think

about these ideal bodies?"

If you think people look too thin, but your peers all say "normal,"

you tend to fall into line and cherish skinny too.

But it works both ways.

If your friends prefer a curvier body shape,

then after a while, so will you.

Which means you really need to watch

where you place your likes, folks.

The user is not only the consumer of the media,

but is also the creator.

Social media offers also

a platform to discuss what we think is healthy,

what we think is normal,

but also what we think is like a realistic body image.

I use social media a lot,

and I try to promote individuality and self-acceptance.

But look at these images of me.

Despite the eyebrows and goofy faces,

I'm still that old-school beauty standard.

Do you feel like you're part of the problem?

I did feel part of the problem for so long,

and that's why I've tried to move away from it.

There's nothing wrong with beauty, but...

I personally have...

I've always had a bit of an issue with...

the industry which is fashion.

Okay, I can't go into this...

No, there's nothing wrong with beauty.

Beauty has been sold as this one thing,

about, like, being skinny and all these things,

and when you meet people whose lives have been destroyed by "beauty,"

it's horrifying,

especially when you're part of that industry. It's not okay.

People will destroy their lives over "trying to be beautiful."

Our craving for beauty is harming us.

It makes us spend money, seek surgery, and feel inadequate.

So what now?

Well, I believe there's a new beauty revolution

starting to happen,

and I want to be a part of it.

Let's go find the people who aren't changing themselves

but changing the world around them.

This is Johannesburg, South Africa,

where colonialism and apartheid

have deeply shaped ideas about who and what's beautiful.

Lesego makeup tutorials. Scene 8, slate 11, take 5.

Lesego Tlhabi is an award-winning satirist

using comedy to confront beauty standards.

Her most popular character is Coconut Kelz.

How is it, girls? And welcome to Coconut Kelz's makeup tutorial.

A lot of you have asked me,

"Kelz, how can I achieve your Caucasian glow?

And how can I make myself have makeup

that will take me far away from that Africanness?"

Eww. Anyway, so I bought four foundation shades.

We've got African Migrant, which we don't wanna use.

We've got Meghan and Harry's Baby.

We've got Oh, KKK.

The one that I'll be using today is White Privilege.

Growing up in an affluent suburb of Johannesburg,

Lesego noticed how small differences in skin tone

made a huge difference in how you got treated.

It's known as "colourism."

My formative years were very much me

being one of only three black girls in my class.

For me, that was the first time I realised

that anything close to blackness was not seen as beautiful.

Unfortunately, in a black-majority country

and Asian-majority countries, the closer you are to whiteness,

you get treated better.

You get thought of as more intelligent and beautiful,

and you get more opportunities.

Lesego also hosts a popular podcast.

This time as herself.

-Hi. -Hi.

Oh, my goodness. How are you?

-I'm good. How are you? -Good.

Today with journalist Zanele Mji, she's tackling colourism head-on.

My romantic life at university was nonexistent.

Like, just nonexistent.

And now when I look back, only when I look back

to understand the role colourism played...

You know, there were just certain girls who were liked,

petite, with straight hair,

who, if they were around, you may as well be the wallpaper.

How did you deal with those social dilemmas

in terms of being the darker girl and having some of the conversations

maybe with your light-skinned friends?

It's like such a painful thing that divides us as friends

'cause we love to go out and spend time together,

but there's this constant thing that's happening,

that other people are injecting into our dynamic.

I've talked a lot about colourism with my dark-skinned friends,

and never discussed it with my light-skinned friends.

Why do you think colourism is the unspoken "ism"?

I think people get uncomfortable with admitting their privilege.

They just do...

I guess it must be tricky for black women

to admit their own privilege

because it's not a position they're put in... often.

But I think we're getting to a place

where, as black women, we actually need to start owning that stuff.

Lesego wants to bring issues around colourism

to the widest possible audience.

And by mixing authentic and impactful podcast

with Coconut Kelz' satire and humour,

she delivers a powerful double punch to white privilege.

So, tap, tap, tap.

As you can see, oh, my goodness, I'm already a different person.

They wouldn't follow me around the store

if I had this colour.

There we go. Got rid of any signs of Africanness.

Oh, that's beautiful.

Oh, my goodness, I look like Queen Elizabeth's daughter.

This is... beautiful.

And, voilà, ready for the covers of any fashion magazine.

Some choose to fight

particular forms of beauty discrimination.

But here in the US

I've come to hang out with a very special person

who wants to change our understanding

of beauty itself.

-No, I've never been to Saks before. -Really?

-Hi! -Hello!

-Welcome. -Thank you very much.

-Hi, Alfie. -A pleasure.

This is author, influencer, and activist Alok Vaid-Menon.

-So shoes... -These are functional.

-Those are stunning functional. -Yeah.

As a non-conforming transfeminine person,

Alok's been told they're ugly,

by fools, obviously.

But it's inspired them to rethink beauty

in a radical new way.

-Is this your house? -Yes, it's...

My living room is over here. This is my best friend.

I've been thinking posing back. This is all day.

We're playing dress-up at Saks Fifth Avenue.

For me, beauty is an everyday practice of freedom.

And yes, there are people who are sad about it

and say, "You should shave" or "You should do this."

Or "Life would be easier." And that's all irrelevant to me.

In fact, if anything, it sh...

it's testament to the power of this beauty.

Is the purpose of beauty to make people comfortable,

or is the purpose of beauty to be yourself?

I think it's about undefining beauty.

We have such limited images of the world,

of what it means to be beautiful that when I look at myself,

I'm like, "I've never seen anyone in the world look like this."

"Undefining beauty."

Why I have any definition whatsoever?

I agree with you, how much fun you can have with clothes,

especially when you don't stick to anyone's rules?

What is really bad is the fear of being seen.

I think most people are petrified with people looking at them.

And one of the luxuries of being gender non-conforming

is, from a very young age, I had to get over that fear

because if I lived my life

being concerned about other people looking at me,

I wouldn't exist.

It's so liberating because now I genuinely feel

like I'm only getting dressed for myself.

I've been in the fashion industry for a long time, and I...

It definitely redefined my idea of what beauty was

because for me I used to dress up constantly.

It has something to do with being in the public eye,

but that's why I love wearing black, 'cause I like to hide.

-Right. -I like to not stand out as much.

I like to kind of be... Yeah, more hidden, I suppose.

I think fame...

-It's a way of people's creativity. -Sure, a hundred percent.

Because you always have to be editing, pleasing.

People are gonna have issues about what I'm doing and saying,

who I am, what I look like?

So what? Like, I only look like what I wanna look like.

-And no one else really matters. -No.

-It's liberating. -That is beauty.

Beauty is such a fun thing to be able to play with.

But everyone should be able to play with it,

and it shouldn't be this thing that...

that is only reached by a certain amount of people,

or, like, the way that people...

You know what I mean? Beauty should be universal,

and everyone should be able to feel that.

But how do we get to the promised land,

where we all feel beautiful?

Well, remember that science bit

about familiar faces being attractive?

It seems all you gotta do to love more faces

is see more faces.

The more different faces that we're exposed to,

the more different and varied what we find attractive is, right?

So one of the... positive things

that is happening right now on a lot of ad campaigns

is just seeing a greater diversity of people.

And that is going to influence

and start normalising more of a range of attractiveness.

So depending on your environment, the same person can change

what they find more attractive within just three days.

So let me get this right.

Just a few days of surrounding ourselves

with different faces and bodies

would change what you find attractive? Wow.

Diversity in our media, on our TVs, on our billboards,

that's the key to our beauty revolution right there.

People's attitudes are changing

and in fact I hope that with things like series like this,

that bring knowledge about these biases,

about "Well, why did I think this?" or "Why did I think that?"

that that can actually change the way that we perceive faces.

Knowledge is power.

So instead of saying, "These biases shouldn't exist,"

understanding that they're there so that we can combat that.

Now there's a group taking those ideas

out of ad campaigns and into the world...

loudly displaying an inclusive new vision

of what's hot and happening.

Line the models up there, so they're out of the way.

And then that gives this space to audience.

University student Astelia is in London's Trafalgar Square

to set up a groundbreaking alternative fashion show,

The Real Catwalk.

This is where the models enter from.

It's a yearly worldwide event

bringing body positivity to the street

to campaign for more diverse representation

in fashion and beauty.

For Astelia, though, it's also personal.

I've never been in a bikini before during The Real Catwalk, ever.

I never thought I was good enough or pretty enough.

Never thought I was skinny enough, have big enough boobs, everything.

I got bored of the way that I felt every time I looked in the mirror.

So I said, "I'm gonna switch up. I'm gonna change it."

Astelia hasn't looked back since.

Hundreds of other people are here too

with all sorts of body shapes and sizes.

Representing people as they are

and showing that everybody regardless how they are,

can be and is beautiful.

Beauty is an expression of the self, not an expression of the body.

We're torturing ourselves. We need to put our bodies out there

and show that we are real, we are normal, we are worthy,

no matter what you look like.

If everybody could meet over here. We're gonna get started.

It's not easy showing yourself off in public.

Yeah!

But it proves we're all hot despite what we're led to believe.

All bodies are beautiful no matter how different they are.

I just feel on cloud nine.

I told myself, "You're not good enough.

You're not normal. You don't fit into the beauty standards."

And you feel like that, you feel like...

I hide away. Hide my body, my lines, my chips.

And I should be, "No, I shouldn't hide.

You're beautiful. You're gorgeous just as you are."

The people that came today are so brave and so courageous.

They felt like they could do this, and bear all and be themselves.

You can all see how much representation is needed

'cause everyone is so bloody beautiful.

These are real people, and this is real modelling.

It's all about me, not about you.

So, the million-dollar question, maybe the billion-dollar question,

is beauty or what we find attractive

genuinely changing in our generation?

Is there a beauty revolution underway?

Well, it seems so.

And I wanna be a part of it.

So let's join together

and bring on a more inclusive future.

I have a moral obligation

because mothers would come up to me and say,

"My daughter wants to model because of you."

And I would go, "No. No, please, don't say that.

I will cry. Like, don't."

I just... I think beauty is far more if you're a good person or not.

I meet people who are so much more beautiful

because they're self-confident no matter what you look like,

skin, shape, hair, colour, whatever, where you're from.

That is beautiful. It's about what makes you happy.

It's about what makes you feel confident or sexy.

Not what about you turns other people on,

it's about what makes you turn yourself on about yourself.

That for me is the most interesting part.

-All right, that's the end! -Yes!

Subtitles: Lea Espector plint.com