How has Social Media reshaped the Beauty and Fashion Industries?

CAIRO - 22 July 2017: It's pretty safe to say that the internet has contributed significant changes in the world throughout the past 10 years. With the rise of the World Wide Web and its ease of access came the rise of social media sites.

The first social media site on the internet was “SixDegrees” in 1997, named after the theory of "six degrees of separation". By the end of the 20th century blogging sites took over the platform and created a buzz all over the internet which has lasted to this day.

As social media and blogging platforms became more popular, people utilized their presence to speak out about cultural issues that affect them, such as beauty products and society's irrational beauty standards, which placed a heavy burden on their shoulders. Accordingly, women of color spoke out about the discrimination in beauty products such as 'Foundations', with concealers tailor towards those with lighter skin marginalizing those with darker skin, reinforcing racism and colorism.


Similarly, plus size women have criticized the fashion industry over customized trendier clothes for slimmer women disregarding the large number of women who do not belong to that category, which later strengthened the negative image perception of plus size women.

Companies in the Fashion and Beauty industry have realized that the Internet (social media sites specifically) are a platform for endless information on consumer trends, with data collection becoming the ideal method for mapping out the target demographics.

Eventually these companies became more inclusive by introducing new shades of foundations and other beauty products and expanding their trendier clothing lines to trailer towards plus size women.

By bringing up these injustices, the Internet combats the ideal beauty standards that were set by the industry that later realized that a great number of their target segment does not fall under these irrational criteria. This has sparked something of a renaissance in the industry.

Beauty and fashion gurus on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Youtube began a movement of self love and acceptance to help young girls feel comfortable in their own skin, regardless of their size and color.

They became ambassadors for change and helped millions of young women grow to love themselves and thereby, fight the insidious beauty standards that were fed to them throughout their entire lives.