Undress me

why are glossy magazine covers capture women and men so differently?

It seems that women are being undressed for the visual pleasure of others on glossy magazine covers, while the men get to keep their clothes on. To dress or to undress is not even a question, most definitely undress seem to think editorial teams of glossies. And whoever advises Sabrina Carpenter, who thinks this David Lachapelle editorial is a response to societal psyche.

Model, mother and muse Jerry Hall for me exemplifies the type of woman who stays true to herself, while moving through life gracefully and on her own terms, no matter the storms raging or the events in her personal life that try to unbalance her. Head held high, her unmistakable mane of hair still as alluring as when she was a young model dating Bryan Ferry. I saw her on stage in a play a few years ago and her magnetism was unmistakable, in the same way that men were drawn to see Kristen Scott Thomas on stage, rather than Lily James (no disrespect here to the young actress who also has a wide fan base) in “The Lioness”. Neither dresses too provocatively, yet their sexiness and allure are unmistakably appealing. Then and now. I was reflecting on this, as I saw some of the David Bailey images from the exhibition that Marta Ortega Perez and her MOP foundation are currently hosting in A Coruna.

Looking at the image above made me wonder about the confidence of the younger generations of women who either intentionally choose or are ‘guided’ to pose in their underwear on glossy magazine covers - men mostly get to keep their clothes on, why do women need to shed them? For what purpose?

Personally I prefer Due Lipa’s images from inside the July edition of British Vogue to the cover. Compare it with this cover of The Rake….

or British GQ…

with this…

Yes, female body is exquisite, but isn’t it sexier to dress it and stoke desire rather than not leave much to imagination? This is something I often ponder when travelling on the tube between work meetings, seeing more and more women in sqimpy gym clothes that leave nothing to the imagination. We speak of it as a sign of growing body confidence, yet the number of people taking Ozempic or it’s dupes are exponentially growing internationally.

As Arianna Huffington wrote in her book “Thrive”, “ours is a generation bloated with information and starved for wisdom.” So maybe, just maybe, we need to trust our gut more? Being on the beach, in the skimpy bikini, a kaftan or naked - whatever is your preference and zone of comfort - is blissful. Sun on the skin, sand between the toes, heat radiating from the inside - hardly anything makes us feel sexier, but even then, after a few days, you get used even to the most beautiful naked bodies. Sweating on the dance floor, letting the rhythms take control and shedding inhibitions and layers is blissfully wonderful - but seeing increased nakedness around us on a day to day basis, does it make us appreciate and worship the bodies in the way that Romans did?

I observed the chemistry between BoF founder Imran Amed and Vyrao founder Yasmine Sewell on the second day of Business of Beauty Global Summit via the international Live Stream - Yasmine wearing a long, floating dress and tall boots, yet looking ravishingly sexy, Imran unmistakably responding to her natural chemistry. So you don’t need to be semi-naked to draw admiring glances….Just stop copying the others or following trends spread like wild fires via TikTok. Stop letting the press & glossies influencing us. Just do our own thing, containing some of the female mystique rather than overwhelming with it at a first glance.

I also remember designer Clare Waight Keller, then working for Chloe, giving an interview to Porter magazine (at the time when it was a print version, with brilliantly memorable editorials) and saying that “concealing is sexier than revealing. I always think it’s not what you reveal, but what you don’t reveal is sexier. Here, you sense the essence of the body; the clothes moving with it and around it adding mystery, and make you want to find out more. There is sensuality to covering up that is natural and effortless.” I nodded my head then, I nodded it even more enthusiastically now, but would love to hear your take on this - clothes off or on, what makes us more desirable, confident and carefree? Do we need to shed clothes for editorials, appearances on red carpets or at glamorous events in order to make our presence more visible or noteworthy ?