RAW. RIVETING. TRANSPARENT. A beautiful compilation of raw portraits featuring bloggers with no make-up and no retouching (you know we’re all about that!). Photographer Jordan Zobrist introduces us to eleven women, stripped of any facades, filters and foundation. While it’s great to look for inspiration from other women on social media it’s equally as important to remember they are humans too – perfectly imperfect.
Jordan on her inspiration for the project: “It is time for honesty and transparency in social media. Let’s stop defining beauty by a lack of flaws and start defining it by feeling comfortable and confident within our flaws. We all have them: physical, mental, and emotional. As a result, we all have something uniquely beautiful to offer the world. We have enough women pretending to be perfect. We need more women who are real and relatable; women who are not afraid of imperfection.”
Below are some highlights from the The Stripped Project.
Kristin Davis
www.wildoneforever.com
“I think that I wanted to do it because I am pretty self conscious. I wanted to do it because I just love the idea that you don’t need everything else to be pretty. All of my photos are pretty done up and I have fabulous outfits and this just seemed like something that would stand out. Everyone is beautiful for different reasons and everyone has flaws. I wanted to just be me.”
Karla Reed
Instablogger @karlareed
“I think it’s an important message about inner beauty that’s not talked about enough especially on social media. The trouble with outward beauty is it never ends. There’s always something more you can do to be more perfect. And the essence of inner beauty is coming to the realization that “I am enough”…and resting in that. There’s not enough pictures on social media of true rest and contentment. Also, I have a lot of pictures of myself all done up…I wanted pictures of how my kids see me and will remember me. The way I look when I greet them in the morning or when I’m kissing them for the millionth time before bed. These pictures are for my kids.”
Sarah Vaughn
www.brunchinginlipstick.com @sarahvaughn_
“I have never been out of the house without makeup and I wanted to challenge myself. Also I love the concept of this project and what it stands for women. I am all about empowering WOMEN.”
Jessica Cheesman
www.goldenswank.com @jesslincheesman
“In my opinion, the majority of being a successful blogger is tied to physical appearance. I’ll be the first to admit that fashion blogging is a very petty thing. That doesn’t make me love it any less though. (You can take that however you want.) But as sad as this seems, if your physical appearance is not up to par, chances of being a successful blogger are not that high. Women look at bloggers to be inspired by them. Who is inspired by someone who isn’t put together or offering something new and interesting? I’m certainly not. I think this is where the stigma that bloggers have “perfect lives” comes from. We’re all trying to keep up with each other and often times, I find myself planning out my next Instagram post or mulling over which photos to post for my next outfit post.”
Sadie Jane Sabin
www.simplysadiejane.com @simplysadiejane
“I’m not sure about my face but of course, being a fitness blogger, my fitness journey has made my blog “successful”, but I’m not sure I would use that term. I love that people, women, and moms have found my blog and have found a place to find answers to fitness questions that they’ve never known before. I also think putting myself out there and sharing all the raw and real that my physical appearance has, has made people be able to relate to me. It’s important to me to be genuine and show real life! It’s not smoke and mirrors for me. I mean, I model clothes and do photo shoots but at the end of the day I’m in my workout clothes with no makeup bribing my kids to eat grilled chicken and broccoli for dinner… And if they do, they get ice cream! It’s real life over hur!”
Athelia Woolley LeSueur
Founder and CEO of www.shabbyapple.com
“I think there is a difference between comparing and appreciating. I just did a photoshoot in LA last week. The models were all really, really lovely. I don’t look anything like any of them. I am not, nor could I ever be a model. That’s okay. I also know that I will never have exactly the same house, vacations or life that others on social media have. I try to appreciate others without feeling like I have to look or even be exactly the same. Not perfect at it, but I work at it.”
Jalynn Schroeder
www.theredclosetdiary.com
“I am pretty insecure about my physical appearance, but have come a long way since I started blogging. A lot of bloggers are very tiny and also shorter so when I am around them I have definitely been self conscious. I have been to photo shoots and just because I am a size 8 and 6’0 tall and everyone around me is a size 0-4 and 5’7 I look extra huge. I have definitely had to learn to have confidence in my own skin and love me for me and hope that people will love me for that too!
If you enjoyed this sneak peek visit www.thestrippedproject.com to see more photos and read the full interviews. You can enjoy more of Jordan’s work at www.jordanzobrist.com.
What a great way to promote the natural and beautiful imperfections every human is born with. As you’ve mentioned social media needs to take a new spin and with organisations as well as articles such as this “honesty and transparency” can be a start. I think with 1 in 4 teenagers admitting to being more influenced by celebrities than people they know, and the generation that will teach values to our next, there needs to be greater self acceptance than looking for inspiration on social media. If you check out my blog I have taken a similar approach and would love some support on teaching females as well as males that “they are enough”. Fantastic project!
What an amazing project! More love and appreciation for being unique and just being you needs to go around:)
Hi there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this
post reminds me of my previous room mate! He constantly kept talking about this.
I will forward this post to him. Quite sure he will
have a great read. Thank you for sharing!