China and Italy had the thinnest submissions, weighing in at an estimated 7.28 and 7.71 stones respectively. Spain had the heaviest submission at 10.93 stones, while China had the lightest (7.28 stones), which translates to an estimated BMI of 17. As noted above, according to the NHS, this qualifies as anorexic.
Study Details
Superdrug Online Doctors commissioned us (Fractl) to investigate perceptions of beauty around the world.
We contracted with 18 freelance designers and gave them the following general instructions:
Photoshop her form. The idea is to Photoshop and retouch this woman to make her more attractive to the citizens of your country. We are looking to explore how perceptions of beauty change across the world. Multiple designers are involved. You can modify clothing, but her form must be visible. No nudity. All other changes, including those to her shape and form, are up to you.
We focused on female designers, as we wanted a woman’s view of what her culture finds attractive and to understand more about the pressures they face. However, in order to get entries from more countries, we accepted contributions from four men with the caveat that they first seek input from women and base their design changes on this feedback.
We used three designers from international locales with whom we were already acquainted, but most of the artists featured were contracted via freelance job boards. We attempted to get as wide a spread as possible across the world, but many countries are poorly represented on these job boards, particularly when it comes to female designers. We also had issues finding interested artists in some countries due to the amount of skin shown on the model.
Designers Across the Globe
Since what is perceived as beautiful can vary substantially around the world, our study of the ideal body image attempted to compare as diverse opinions as possible. We located designers from 18 nations spanning five continents, including North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.