There has been a poignant video being posted all over social media this week.  By now, you’ve probably seen the Dove Real Beauty Sketches on YouTube.  In it, we are confronted with the disparity between the way others see us and how we perceive ourselves.  As I was watching it this week, it brought to mind these portraits by German artist Olaf Hajek.

In these portraits, we see women of African descent adorned in the extravagant style of Marie Antoinette, the standard of beauty and opulence in her day.  These women look every bit as refined and elegant as Antoinette ever did, yet there is a discomfort and sadness about them.

To put on the trappings of another person’s beauty is to not embrace what is truly beautiful about ourselves.  We all buy into the lies being told that we need to look a certain way to be considered attractive.  Do the birds in all their glory worry about the way their feathers are arranged?

We are constantly in search of the next fashion trend, face cream or make-up that will transform us into the beauty we hope to be.  But instead, why don’t we embrace our beauty for what it is?  We are each uniquely lovely in a way that no other person in the world could be.

To see more of Olaf Hajek’s work, please visit his website.  For a laugh, check out this parody of the Dove Real Beauty Sketches.  😉

Images via the artist’s website.