How beauty trends predicted Trump's second win

One of the women in the book, she was a young Black girl in the U.K. She described beauty to me as a negotiation of power, about using the tools that you have and the resources you have available to you to kind of negotiate opportunity and visibility and success and safety.

So many women and girls, whilst I was researching for Pixel Flesh , were telling me how empowered they were. When you dig deeper into that, you realize they can't quite tell you why or how. The actual feeling underlying that isn't one that really feels good, it kind of feels a bit uneasy. There's kind of an undercurrent of anxiety, but they've lear... See more

You do you, boo,” when it comes to your face, and “As long as you're happy, everyone's happy” when it comes to filler and cosmetic surgery and body modification, whilst in the background, they're kind of pulling away at bodily autonomy, trans rights, reproductive rights.

I was then looking at my friends, and there were belly rolls folded over a laptop keyboard. There was cellulite and body hair and razor burn and everyone was a bit sweaty and sticky and red. It’s just so beautiful to me. And I realized in that moment how desensitized I’ve become from what women look like, what women’s bodies have always looked like... See more

To have really obvious hair extensions or to have really obvious lip filler or obvious fake tan, to have beauty work that's really legible and visible is a sign of your labor.

And I think it's really interesting to think about how there is a population of people who have crafted an identity and an aesthetic to work in a digital space, but not necessarily in a physical space.