Why Beauty Standards Changed Again (And Who Profits)
Essays by Lérraje
115,152 views
From Ariana Grande to Jenna Ortega and almost everyone else in Hollywood, the celebrity beauty landscape has been looking pretty strange lately.
The more I noticed it, the clearer the pattern became: beauty standards don’t simply change. They swing from one extreme to another, often just when we’ve finally learned how to fit the previous ideal.
So, I decided to research it more deeply. What I found was that the faces and bodies we celebrate are never shaped by taste alone.
They are influenced by psychology, status, media, capitalism, and an industry that profits from keeping beauty permanently out of reach.
In this video essay, we break down the dark psychology and sociology behind celebrity beauty standards: how body types become trends, how the halo effect shapes the way we perceive others, how aesthetic hierarchies are manufactured, and who profits every time the “ideal” changes.
From Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of bodily capital and the “beauty premium” to Ozempic culture, thinness, and the return of Y2K minimalism, we explore how beauty has become a form of social currency.
Why do beauty standards shift just when we begin to feel comfortable?
Why are certain faces and bodies rewarded more than others?
And what happens when the appearance you worked so hard to achieve suddenly goes out of fashion?
This isn’t really about Ariana Grande or Jenna Ortega. It’s about all of us and the hidden system teaching us what beauty is supposed to look like.
Because when it comes to beauty, culture, status, and power, everything is, in fact, that deep.
0:00 What Do You Feel When You Look at This?
1:44 This Isn't About Ariana Grande
2:07 What Is a Beauty Standard?
4:45 Is Beauty Just Biology?
6:45 Culture, Economy, Politics, Technology
9:09 The Filter Test
11:01 Beauty Is Power
12:42 The Halo Effect
14:18 The Beauty Premium
16:08 Bourdieu and Bodily Capital
17:13 The Panopticon
18:44 How a Standard Gets Into Your Head
21:09 Comparison and the Top 0.01%
22:42 "Beauty Is Pain"
24:33 Beauty Is Money
25:32 The Moving Target
28:38 Inventing New Flaws
30:31 Ozempic and the Aesthetic Market
31:36 Creators and the Attention Economy
33:47 In the Eye of the Beholder
36:02 So What Do We Actually Do?
38:35 This Is About All of Us
39:23 Thank You
For full academic references, citations, and reading lists, see the pinned comment below.
A video essay written and directed by Lérraje.
#beautystandards #arianagrande #videoessay #culturalcommentary #sociology
20 Comments
Its hard to actually comprehend.
The only reason I hate something about myself is because I'm so used to seeing others than myself
Also, amazing video!!!
For the insecurity part—probably body hair when I was as young as 7.
As girls we are shamed for body hair, even by girls in my class in the same age lol.
Views and numbers are great, of course, but more than anything, I want this channel to provide real value and become a table we can gather around for open, honest and thought-provoking conversations.
So, which part of this conversation should we unpack next: beauty and gender, cosmetic procedures, body neutrality, the idea of “natural” beauty or something else entirely?
Thank you for your work.
Why Beauty Standards Changed Again (And Who Profits)
Essays by Lérraje
115,152 views
From Ariana Grande to Jenna Ortega and almost everyone else in Hollywood, the celebrity beauty landscape has been looking pretty strange lately.
The more I noticed it, the clearer the pattern became: beauty standards don’t simply change. They swing from one extreme to another, often just when we’ve finally learned how to fit the previous ideal.
So, I decided to research it more deeply. What I found was that the faces and bodies we celebrate are never shaped by taste alone.
They are influenced by psychology, status, media, capitalism, and an industry that profits from keeping beauty permanently out of reach.
In this video essay, we break down the dark psychology and sociology behind celebrity beauty standards: how body types become trends, how the halo effect shapes the way we perceive others, how aesthetic hierarchies are manufactured, and who profits every time the “ideal” changes.
From Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of bodily capital and the “beauty premium” to Ozempic culture, thinness, and the return of Y2K minimalism, we explore how beauty has become a form of social currency.
Why do beauty standards shift just when we begin to feel comfortable?
Why are certain faces and bodies rewarded more than others?
And what happens when the appearance you worked so hard to achieve suddenly goes out of fashion?
This isn’t really about Ariana Grande or Jenna Ortega. It’s about all of us and the hidden system teaching us what beauty is supposed to look like.
Because when it comes to beauty, culture, status, and power, everything is, in fact, that deep.
0:00 What Do You Feel When You Look at This?
1:44 This Isn't About Ariana Grande
2:07 What Is a Beauty Standard?
4:45 Is Beauty Just Biology?
6:45 Culture, Economy, Politics, Technology
9:09 The Filter Test
11:01 Beauty Is Power
12:42 The Halo Effect
14:18 The Beauty Premium
16:08 Bourdieu and Bodily Capital
17:13 The Panopticon
18:44 How a Standard Gets Into Your Head
21:09 Comparison and the Top 0.01%
22:42 "Beauty Is Pain"
24:33 Beauty Is Money
25:32 The Moving Target
28:38 Inventing New Flaws
30:31 Ozempic and the Aesthetic Market
31:36 Creators and the Attention Economy
33:47 In the Eye of the Beholder
36:02 So What Do We Actually Do?
38:35 This Is About All of Us
39:23 Thank You
For full academic references, citations, and reading lists, see the pinned comment below.
A video essay written and directed by Lérraje.
#beautystandards #arianagrande #videoessay #culturalcommentary #sociology
For the past few days, I’ve been researching and reading for my next video essay, and this topic has been getting more interesting the deeper I go.
The next essay is titled: Why Society Fears Older Bodies and the Illusion of Eternal Youth
So i want to ask and attempt to understand, when exactly did looking your age become something we were supposed to prevent?
We praise aging gracefully, yet so much of our culture seems to be built around making aging as invisible as possible: anti-aging products, cosmetic procedures, filters, celebrity transformations, preventative Botox…
And I want to explore what that says about the way we value bodies, beauty, desirability, and even mortality ?
So this essay will be very existential and much more philosophical:
But before I finish writing it, I want to hear from you:
What was the first moment you remember becoming afraid of looking older?
Or, if you’re not afraid of aging: what do you think made you resist that fear?
I’ll be reading your answers and Sharing them on my next Essay 👀