While anxiously waiting for my show to turn back on during a commercial break, one shot specifically caught my eye. It starting out with a blonde-haired woman, standing proud with a noticeable scar down her nose. As they flip to some clips of a diverse set of women, a powerful voice begins to speak. The first line immediately took hold of my attention.

"Beautiful, one word that holds the weight of thousands. We collect false promises, contorting ourselves to fit inside those letters"

Find Your Beautiful | Macy's Spring Fashion 2019 www.youtube.com

The commercial captures a diverse set of women as they confidently exemplify their own beauty in a day to day setting. In doing so, they are encouraging individuals to redefine what beauty really is, in this case, through appearance. By going beyond the boundaries that are socially installed our expectations are expanded, Macy's is sending the message to their buyers that their products provide individuals the opportunity to express themselves in whatever way they want with their new spring collection .

As silly as it sounds, the Macy's advertisement made me think. It made me think of the concept of beauty, and how we perceive it.

Beauty to us is a social construct. You scroll through your feed of bronzed, tall and thin figures and you are fed to think that they are the one and only form of beauty worth striving for. You look in the mirror and pick out your flaws and imperfections thinking that it lessens your beauty. We are taught to believe that beautiful has one meaning and that definition cannot stray from the cover of a magazine.

But in reality, beauty is fluid. It is what you want it to be. It is an appearance. It is a perception. It is imperfect.