What’s Underneath Project was created in 2009 by Elisa Goodkind and Lily Mandelbaum, mom and daughter respectively, women with a NY-eye and passion for fashion and a true sense of ‘style’. Their interest in fashion is, completely of the schemes – it’s not about clothes and tendencies, even thought Elisa worked as a fashion journalist for decades. The project deals with personalities, storytelling, interviews… and not about what we put upon our bodies every day.
In 2009 Lily, who struggled with her chubby and funny-looking body since childhood, decided with the artistically gifted mom to found a non-profit association called StyleLikeU (stylelikeu.com). It all started as a photo-related project, but since the two started to post online videos – entitled “What’s Underneath” – the phenomenon became quickly viral through many channels and blogs. Nowadays we have new videos and interviews coming every week, during which a certain person tells his/her story in a unique way, following a personal path and letting himself/herself free of any kind of inhibitions.
One can detect the goal of the Youtube channel from the first glimpse: go straight deep, into the interviewee soul and definition of style. Question after question, Lily and Elsa ask to whom is talking to take off clothes – starting from shoes until bra and panties are the only thing left. This way the person that is telling his/her own stories is perceived, in a game of voices and insecurities, both insecure and strong at the same time. They are proud people, happy to show to their camera their imperfect bodies and parts of them with whom they probably have been struggling all their lives. They are not scared to talk about their past, their fights and wins inside the game to define themselves inside our judgmental society.
StyleLikeU is officially against beauty and cosmetics firms, fashion magazine and anything in pop culture that is directly related to a girl/woman sense of body and shape. It argues that statistically more than 8 million of people in the US suffer of eating disorders and 90% of this sample is female; more than 70% of the women that read fashion magazine has declared to feel uncomfortable and questioning about their own body after only 3 minutes of reading. While this great phenomena keep expanding, beauty companies and superfood weight-loss products are growing their incomes at the speed of +447%. No kidding.
This project is born and focused around New York, but why should and Italian girl be just as much as interested in it as an American one? Let’s think about all those television-specials we’re surrounded with in May and June and right after summer, about how to fix our body and putting it back into shape. Let’s think about how the online magazine “Io Donna” banned an outfit of a celebrity just because she “couldn’t really afford (physically)” to wear shorts, because her legs were way too chubby. Let’s think that for many Italian teenagers the true idols are plastic-made VIPs and women with super skinny legs and fake boobs.
We have to get out of this mental scheme. We should stop thinking that beauty standards are created elsewhere, that they are somehow external. No way, we are our own maker in terms of beauty standards – we are the standards. We are perfect even with our pimples, our big legs and our thin hair with look funny when we attempt to make a pony. That’s why “What’s Underneath Project” should be posted and spread as many Facebook boards as possible. We should tell different stories, unique and positive messages that are made of self love and courage.
C’mon, take a look at this amazing Youtube channel and stop with the body shaming – and do that starting by your own “style”.
