Do not dwell on your outward beauty

Fashion magazines are an example of a current cultural medium that influences girls and women to present themselves in ways the culture deems beautiful. So many of us are looking for acceptance, and what’s “accepted” for women in our culture today heavily involves the way we look – the way our faces look, the way our bodies look, what clothing we wear and what make-up and products we use to express ourselves in the world. Fashion magazines promote this idea by encouraging women and girls to define beauty in this way.
Magazines such as Elle or Vogue highlight models with unrealistic body types and flawless complexions. On the front page, these magazines often display a model wearing fashionable and “sexy” clothes that are skin-tight and low-bloused. The new brand-name dress she is wearing complements her unrealistically thin body. Not everyone looking at her realizes  her image has been extremely edited and airbrushed to create the perfect made-up, blemish-free face.

Millions of women in the United States rely on current trends promoted in fashion magazines and online to determine their style. In fact, the best-selling fashion magazine, Cosmopolitan, reaches more than 18 million readers a month and Vogue had a total circulation of 1,242,282 in 2017. That’s a lot of consumers, and the number is much higher when you add all the other fashion magazines.

With so many people subscribing to these magazines, we must ask: what messages are these people receiving? Through the appearance of their models, the way they pose, what they wear and how their make-up is applied, the magazines convey the message that women who appear fashionable (through their perception of what the word means) portray a desirable sense of independence, beauty and power.

Models also wear brand-name clothes, communicating that you must be willing to pay more for your clothes if you want to be fashionable and socially accepted.
We often ask ourselves whether these things are acceptable by our standards, our families’ standards or the world’s standards, but we need to also look at what God has to say about these things. Are these messages, influences and beliefs acceptable by God’s standards? 1 Peter 3:3-4, says, “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” In other words, these verses tell us that we should not focus so much on our outward appearance, because to God it is of no worth compared to that of our inner self – our spirit.

Proverbs 31:30 states, “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Beauty will pass away, but our relationship with God will last.

God says in 1 Samuel 16:7, “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

In light of the above facts, it is obvious fashion magazines can have a negative influence on women. The messages that define beauty can cause women and girls to compare themselves to the images of the models they see and develop low self-esteem. The message of brand-name clothes equal beauty and acceptance can lead to another negative outcome, as women may spend more of their hard-earned money for brand-name clothes.

On the other hand, I believe there are positive aspects as well. The magazines keep people informed on the trends in fashion and the advances in beauty products. This can boost confidence for those who need guidance choosing matching clothes and attractive styles. For many girls and women, it also simply gives them something fun to talk about with friends who share the same interest.
Essentially, women need to be careful what messages they choose to accept from the world. We have to remember what God says about human worth: we should not dwell on outward beauty but rather on that which God deems more important – our inward person and character. Fashion magazines can benefit those who read them with these things in mind, but their messages are damaging when consumers rely on them to define who they are and their view of what beauty is.