As a ‘butterface’, I have become painfully aware of these traits that I can’t ever hope to possess. I have a hooked nose, genetically yellow teeth, and my chin doubles when I look down or to the side. Sometimes I’ll just catch myself holding my head wrong, looking like a total 120 lb fatass. I have a perfect hourglass figure (36-26-36) but it’s easily ignored because I’m not “pretty”.
A site that I love, is Ugly Talent because they have an incredible range of models. They have wrinkles, they have yellow teeth, they have scars.

I can’t give you a definition of ‘Alt’ models, because most people who consider themselves “Alt” are still facially ‘pretty’, and if put in different clothes and makeup would be considered attractive to the mainstream.

Thanks so much for the thoughtful and insightful commentary on this post. Some notes:

MMM: An obsession with beauty is the hallmark of every culture, failing or not. From the bust of Nefertiti to The Discus Thrower to Michaelangelo’s David to The Birth of Venus, idealized beauty has always been one of the great focal points of humanity’s image-making. Attraction to beauty is a natural, biological urge that has to do finding a mate and reproducing. What’s unhealthy about modern culture’s obsession with beauty is that the beauty industry has extrapolated on certain urges in order to sell products, impressing culture with beauty ideals that are far more narrow than what we’d be naturally attracted to.

OP Minded: We always made sure we credited the ice cream (Baskin-Robbins!) but actually if anything the image was made to show off the work of the clothing designer, Mother of London.

Parapluie: Believe me, he’s very sexy without his steampunk garb, too. Many times I’ve asked him to just do a regular portrait, but he only wants to be photographed in a context that shows off his creations (like this shot, in which he sewed the jacket himself and made the hair). So, as a direct counter-argument to what MMM wrote, he doesn’t want to be recognized primarily for his looks, but for his ability to style himself into character.

Michael Faris, Rock Elle: I agree with what you guys wrote. In terms of where Authenticity fits in… I think it’s so nebulous and difficult to pinpoint. A lot of it has to do with the intentions of the model. What were they thinking the moment the picture got snapped? Why did they go into the shoot? In many instances, it’s a mystery; and that’s probably this unknown factor that prevents a perfect definition of alt modeling, at least for me.

So, can there be any “liberation” in any modeling? As you note, each of these images seem to promote a certain version of beauty that still conforms with society’s (strictly enforced) conceptions of beauty in some way.

Perhaps, in regards to Viktoria, we might draw on Robert McRuer’s concepts of virtually disabled and severely disabled in Crip Theory: Cultural Signs of Queerness and Disability. He himself is drawing from Judith Butler’s concepts of “virtually queer” and “critically queer.” A performance that is “virtually disabled” or “virtually queer,” like Biko Beauttah’s or Vicktoria’s, respectfully, approximate the norm.

In contrast, a performance that is severely disabled or critically queer doesn’t approximate the norm; instead, these performances would disturb the norm. Which, perhaps, makes them impossible performances for mainstream modeling, and probably even “alt modeling,” which perhaps we might just call “virtually alternative.”

Anyway, obviously Anachronaut’s picture is nothing like the others mainly in intent. It’s not to push a particular beauty ideal, but to showcase a particular subculture’s fashion aesthetic, just like runway models do. So, to me, they’re no different in that regard, but most of the modeling going on in the steampunk world is about the clothes, not the person wearing them (which can’t really be said about mainstream fashion modeling) since I’ve seen steampunk pictures of people of all shapes and sizes.

MMM, say what you want about the sociology of the ads, but to say that none of them is attractive is pushing it a bit too far.

The one with the ice cream cone is sexy. Is there anything wrong with that?

Let me guess, if she was a performance artist protesting the war she would be a hero, but since she’s selling something (ice cream?) she is a harbinger of the end of our civilization?

So, the arts – music, painting, theater, etc – are part of a failing society? I’d argue they are part of a successful one.

Or I’m misunderstanding your use of the word ‘beauty’. Am I to believe that ‘beauty’ is an inherit negative; that all things pretty are useless ephemera?

I think we confuse an unhealthy obsession with the pursuit of being beautiful with the concept of beauty itself. All of the models here seem beautiful to me in a variety of different ways. I have no idea what level of obsession these models exhibit and how healthy or unhealthy that pursuit is too their life and its fulfillment.

Maybe its because I’m an artist and the pursuit of beauty is core to my existence. To me, “You must be beautiful to have worth” is an equivalent statement to “you are beautiful, therefore you are worthless”

The models, whether fat or thin, male or female, white or black, still promote unattainable goals: to be recognized for their “beauty” and put onto billboards. I don’t find any of these models attractive and wouldn’t buy any of the products they’re peddling.

A failing society puts emphasis on beauty. That’s what “America” is doing: putting emphasis on beauty because we are a failing society.