Aerie Wants to See the “Real You”

Aerie, a chain of intimate apparel that is part of the popular teen fashion store, American Eagle, has recently launched a lingerie advertisement campaign called the “Aerie Real.” Instead of featuring thin, perfectly retouched women modeling their intimates, they have chosen to leave every photo untouched. Aerie is currently taking great strides towards embracing true natural beauty.

“The purpose of ‘Aerie Real’ is to communicate there is no need to retouch beauty, and to give young women of all shapes and sizes the chance to discover amazing styles that work best for them,” said Jennifer Foyle, aerie’s Chief Merchandising Officer. “We want to help empower young women to be confident in themselves and their bodies.”

According to some of their tweets, they don’t plan on stopping either. For future campaigns, they will continue to feature unretouched photos of their models.

I only hope that as they move forward, they continue to shed light on this redefined meaning of beauty. Through their campaign, they are challenging each of us to stop comparing ourselves to images of perfection and to accept that we all, indeed, are beautiful. Every one of our unique characteristics, or so-called “imperfections,” creates who we are and that is beautiful.

Sources: drjays.com, huffingtonpost.com, aerie.com

• Aerie