Rihanna’s Fenty line praised by fans for showing model’s unretouched facial scars

'As a girl with scars, this really touches my heart'

Sabrina Barr
Thursday 30 May 2019 09:29 EDT
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(AFP/Getty Images)

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Rihanna's Fenty fashion label has been commended by fans for featuring a model whose facial scars haven't been retouched.

After the singer's Fenty clothing collaboration launched on Wednesday, a close-up photograph of model Aweng Chuol which appears on the Fenty website was circulated on Twitter.

In the picture, in which Chuol models a pair of roped ear cuffs from the brand's jewellery range, scars are visible on her left cheek.

"I love that the images used on Fenty are not retouched, and that the model's skin is not perfect by societal standards," tweeted the person who shared the photograph on the social media platform.

The tweet has garnered more than 9,000 likes, and several praiseworthy comments.

"Wow! As a girl with scars, this really touches my heart," one person wrote.

"I've never had any reason to feel less terrible about my scars until seeing this."

Another person described the campaign shot as "acne scar representation".

In 2018, Chuol gave an interview with Dazed Digital in which she spoke about her facial scars.

"Sometimes I just want to shout at everyone: 'Look at me, I'm not just a scar, I'm a human'," the South Sudanese model said.

"But I get it, it's a curiosity. I know I'm different, I know my facial features are different, but to me that's beauty."

Last year saw "skin positivity" gain traction as a rising trend in the beauty world.

Some women posted makeup-free selfies on social media in order to send a message about not feeling ashamed of skin issues, while model Louisa Northcote launched a skin positivity campaign called "#FreeThePimple".

Earlier this month, Rihanna provided fans with a first look at her debut fashion label Fenty, which launched under French fashion conglomerate LVMH.

The release of the Fenty range marks the first label launched by LVMH since 1987, and the first time a black woman has lead a fashion house under its name.

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