Every day we are inundated with thousands of messages telling us we aren’t good enough. We compare ourselves to photoshopped magazine covers, models and the perpetual stream of filtered, edited photos that pass by on our social media pages. We compare our behind-the-scenes to others’ highlight reels. The result; eating disorders, over-spending, anxiety, depression and above all a cap on our own potential happiness. It has become part of our psyche to believe that we will be better, more popular, successful & happier if we can meet the standard of beauty laid out for us by others. Smoother skin, bigger boobs, smaller thighs, rounder bum, longer lashes, nicer clothes, shinier hair, poutier lips, fewer freckles, more freckles the list goes on and on. Quite frankly…it’s exhausting trying to keep up. At RAW we are the first to agree that a little red lipstick can make the world seem better some days but we also know firsthand that it only brings a temporary and superficial level of happiness and confidence. True confidence comes when we accept and love ourselves in our most basic form. We are on a mission to help women find a deeper level of confidence, self love and acceptance. We are collecting portraits of women without make-up, photo editing, filters or expensive clothing and talk to them about their thoughts on beauty, confidence and self-love. We believe that if we can appreciate and celebrate the beauty of real women (inside and out) maybe it will be that much easier to see our own beauty and to truly love ourselves. We imagine a world where women are valued for their brains and their heart more than their appearance. We imagine a generation that doesn’t resort to plastic surgery to change their already perfect selves. We imagine redefining the word beautiful so that it can no longer be defined by terms such as weight, height or skin colour. We imagine our daughters feeling beautiful no matter what they look like so that they are confident enough to face the world head first and without fear. We imagine a world filled with a lot more self-love and subsequently a lot more love for one another. Because that is truly beautiful.
