BSc (Hons) Psychology of Fashion student Eduarda Gasparini Ribeiro talks about her project, “Beauty and Awe in Fashion,” exploring what influences our perceptions of beauty and fashion, and staying optimistic as she transitions into life after graduation.
For all BSc (Hons) Psychology of Fashion students, the final project had to involve quantitative or qualitative research on people in relation to fashion and psychology. Eduarda knew from the beginning that she wanted to focus on transcribing people's thoughts and understanding what they desire from the world. "Initially, I was not sure what to do, but then I realised I was interested in researching beauty," she says. "Not in the sense of makeup or the beauty industry, but rather our perceptions of beauty and what makes someone think that something is beautiful.”
Eduarda talks comments on the ongoing conversation about how beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, emphasising that everything can be beautiful when we are the ones who socially decide what is and is not. "If you take people from different sides of the globe and show them various images, most would unconsciously choose the same images as the most beautiful, regardless of where they're from," Eduarda explains. So, she wanted to further explore what exactly influences how people perceive and experience beauty.
What intrigued her the most was delving deep into how people express their beauty through fashion. "Some people say, 'Oh, I don't care about fashion,' but then dressing as if not caring about fashion tells a lot about yourself, too," Eduarda notes. She believes that there is a narrative behind everything people choose to wear.
Eduarda’s exploration was guided by Dr. Young-Jin Hur, the course leader of the MSc in Applied Psychology in Fashion. His statistical research into how the brain perceives beauty encouraged her to delve deeper into the very experience of the sublime—the feeling of awe.
Eduarda’s plan to move to London to study was slightly delayed by the pandemic, but she always knew it was the ultimate destination for studying anything fashion-related. Born and raised in Brazil, she had studied fashion design for two years and became certain that fashion is the right industry for her, but her interests extended beyond mere design. "It was about seeing beautiful things, thinking about them, and putting them together to create a story," Eduarda says.
For her, fashion and beauty expressions are always deeper than what appears on the surface. Eduarda emphasises that the key message in her project is to highlight how our beauty and fashion choices all tell a story and demonstrate ideas and aspects that each of us resonates with. She hopes that it will contribute to the never-ending debate about whether fashion is art. "People can say it's not, but it's a way that you adorn your body with things you're trying to express," she says. "So, it makes me wonder if it is fashion and beauty that is superficial, or is it their vision of fashion and beauty that is lacking depth?”
When thinking about her next steps after graduation, Eduarda admits that the quest to find a job does seem a little bit scary, but she remains optimistic nonetheless. "I do think I will find something amazing in London now, and things come if you're open and if you're going for them," she says. Now that her life is in the palm of her own hands, she feels more energised than ever to find the things she loves to do. "I'm still a little bit lost," Eduarda says, "but I am trying my best to take baby steps, apply for things, and just hope for the best.”
Written by LCF Newsroom Content Creator, Una Lote Andzane, BA (Hons) Fashion Journalism and Content Creation, 2024 graduate.