A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

A Guide to All Creative Directors

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What is “meta face”?

The effects of AI on beauty standards

What is “meta face”? The effects of AI on beauty standards

It was in 2021 when Jessica Defino (beauty editor and reporter) coined the term "meta face" on her Substack. At the time, Mark Zuckerberg had just announced that Facebook Inc. would rebrand as Meta and that the technology magnate’s new mission was to make the metaverse accessible to everyone. Web 3.0 has left little to nothing behind, NFTs have exploded, and the metaverse has been sidelined, but that doesn’t mean progress has come to a halt. Perhaps it was precisely those early flops of the new age of technological progress that made the democratization of artificial intelligence possible in less than three years. Perhaps, however, it all happened too fast, considering that in just over two years, ChatGPT has become an essential tool in most lives and that some image-generation software is capable of creating what appears to be a photo taken with an analog camera. An acceleration that left no room for a real assimilation of the changes but that has almost imperceptibly redefined our relationship with images, leading to the birth of new aesthetic ideals increasingly influenced by technology. As stated by Defino in her newsletter, "meta face" is nothing more than "the real-life transposition of those unattainable facial features popularized by animated metaverse avatars."

At times, one might almost blame clairvoyance, but the signs of evolving beauty standards were clear – just think of all the AI models/influencers who, over the last ten years, have managed to achieve almost unprecedented levels of virality. Lil Miquela and Noonoouri were pioneers of a new kind of spokesperson in the world of fashion and luxury, even landing campaigns with Prada and Dior. The problem now is that generating new faces with AI has never been so easy, and while Noonoouri and Lil Miquela were intentionally created to retain that doll-like appearance — so as to avoid the trap of looking human — the situation is now completely different. According to Vogue Business, many critics argue that AI is not simply reshaping beauty but is distancing the general public from a sense of humanity, reinforcing unattainable ideals, and perpetuating exclusive aesthetic standards under the guise of technological progress. While some celebrate AI as a tool to democratize beauty, others warn that it could further entrench the industry's historical biases, offering an illusion of inclusivity while subtly reinforcing the same limiting ideals.

@justmeblue Naevis, our virtual queen! #naevis #done #naevisdebut #solodebut #debut #kpopdebut #kpop #kpopfyp #fyp #foryou #viral #aespa #CapCut Done - nævis

And it is precisely here that the ethical issue comes into play, increasingly central in contemporary debate. On one hand, the ease with which avatars, influencers, and campaigns can be created generates an allure that seems to attract both companies and the public. On the other hand, many observers highlight the risk of losing touch with human reality. As stated by several plastic surgeons and industry experts, this trend has grown exponentially in recent years, fueling demand for "imperceptible beauty": almost invisible cosmetic procedures capable of creating a hyper-perfect effect, increasingly similar to that of filters and computer-generated images. Lindsey Lohan and Christina Aguilera are striking examples of this new trend, having suddenly appeared to be in their twenties again by deflating all the fillers accumulated over the years. Meanwhile, more and more brands are experimenting with new methods for content creation. Diesel, for example, has drawn attention with its campaigns featuring elderly models, sculpted and perfect, entirely generated by artificial intelligence, raising doubts as to how much these choices might actually contribute to an inclusive vision of beauty. It was well known that grey models were in high demand, but was it really necessary to create them with AI? 

The question is not merely rhetorical. The use of artificial intelligence to create hyper-perfected elderly models only highlights a problem already known in the beauty industry: even when attempting to broaden representation, the imposed aesthetic standards remain the same. It is no longer a matter of age but of a smooth, symmetrical, and flawless aesthetic that exists solely in the digital realm. The paradox is that while the industry seeks to respond to a growing demand for diversity, it does so through simulacra that do not age, do not fall ill, and do not change over time. Beauty becomes an increasingly abstract construct, and technology only accelerates the process. If, even with the Instagram Face, the distortion of aesthetic perception had tangible consequences, the Meta Face represents its inevitable evolution. As Jessica Defino pointed out in her newsletter, the Instagram Face created a market in which the average user not only consumes content featuring unrealistic faces but actively tries to reproduce them on themselves through filters or aesthetic procedures. The same dynamic is occurring with AI: if patients previously went to surgeons with selfies retouched by Facetune, now they ask to resemble AI-enhanced versions of themselves. Digital hyper-perfection transforms into a benchmark, with no filter left between perception and reality.