Confident In Your Own Skin: The campaign that encourages women to embrace their real beauty

The Confident In Your Own Skin Campaign was created by the photographer Alba Duque for ModelManagement.com to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Photographer: Alba Duque
Models: Alicia, Ana, Haeun
Makeup: Alba Moya
Styling: Elena Cano

The campaign has two main purposes. Firstly, we want to give visibility to the female photographers who are usually behind the camera working hard to make sure that everything looks perfect. At ModelManagement.com we believe that their work deserves more acknowledgement and we support all they do. 

Secondly, we want to send a powerful message to all women out there who compare themselves to the image of “perfection” that this industry usually produces. We all are beautiful, no matter our size, height, skin color or background. Diversity is beautiful, we need to embrace our uniqueness, and being confident in your own skin is the first step to take towards this.

The Campaign Concept

Alba Duque, the Photographer

Alba Duque is a recognized female photographer from Spain who is always involved in Women Empowerment projects. She has worked with the Spanish actress Itziar Castro and the influencer couple Devermut.

Alba created the concept behind this campaign. “I wanted to represent the perfection of models and that behind that perfection we see, there are real women. We all are the same without clothes. We started the shooting with this perfect top model look and step by step, the models are taking off their clothes, showing that they are still beautiful without all of those garments.”

This year, International Women’s Day is also different because of the pandemic, which has also been an inspiration for the concept. “Social distancing has been a big deal this year and we wanted to show that still with Covid-19, it is important that women support each other. Despite the social distancing and lockdown, we need to stay together. In this photo series, you can see how the models get closer to each other.”

Elena Cano, the Stylist

Styling plays a very important role in the whole meaning of the campaign. In the beginning, we found very sophisticated looks playing with different colors. “As you know, purple is the color of women and feminism and we wanted to use it as a sign. Especially the lavender tone, which represents freshness, purity, silence, and calm. So we also included it in the makeup. We wanted to respect the models’ style in every moment, so we could represent who they are,” explains Elena Cano, the stylist.

In the middle of the series, we have incomplete looks, that show the process of taking the clothes off and in the end, the models appear truly confident in their own skin, embracing their real beauty.

The Models: Alicia, Ana, and Haeun

For the campaign, it was also important to show diversity and include strong women. “I would have loved to create a shooting with more women and show more diversity, but due to the whole situation with the pandemic, we just selected three models,” explains Alba Duque.

Alicia Durán is a curvy woman who combines modeling with studies and work. She is also a fashion stylist and a community manager. “When I found out about this project I did not hesitate. Without a doubt, the shooting exceeded my expectations. I was surrounded by incredible women who were betting on a very needed message. Women who are free, diverse, and united for the same reason. I think there is no better way to define it.”

Ana Balde also combines modeling with work. Ana survived an incident that left her with burnt and scarred skin, however, Ana has embraced this and believes these marks are what make her unique.

Haeun Lee is a model from Korea based in Spain. She is studying Interior Design and combines it with modeling as a part-time job. She is also a mother of two little children. “It was a good project to represent many women in modern times. It was a team of different ethnicities, cultures, and languages, but it was a time to empathize and understand each other because of the commonality of being women. Personally, throughout this project, I came to think about women’s rights in Korea and Spain. In Korea, it is still a difficult society for women who have married and worked very hard. In Spain, the celebration of Women’s Day itself shows that many people are striving for positive change.”

The Communications Manager at ModelManagement.com explains that “as a company that stands for diversity and inclusion, it was very important to include three strong women with different backgrounds, looks, and sizes, to show that we all are beautiful. I think that, because of the perfection we’ve seen in media, most of us women feel pressured to fit in some molds that the fashion industry has told us to, but even models have insecurities. Beauty is not perfect and seeing a model getting naked and being vulnerable, can encourage other women who don’t feel enough to start being confident in their own skin. That’s how we came up with the name of the campaign.” 

We don’t want to encourage self-confidence and women empowerment only for International Women’s Day. It should be something we present every day, so we can start to make a real difference. We hope this campaign inspires you and helps all women to embrace their own confidence and beauty. Because we are all beautiful, we just have to appreciate it.

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