When ugliness attracts

If it's easy to find a definition of beauty, what about ugliness? Sure, it's the antithesis of beauty, but what is objective ugliness? It would be complicated to describe. It always revolves around a lack of symmetry, out-of-the-ordinary features or a raw appearance that both disgusts and is impossible to forget. If the splendid borders on the divine, its opposite reminds us of our humanity.

Del Keens became an atypical muse for Calvin Klein back in the day. Today, he heads up a modeling agency that doesn't follow magazine canons at all, but is much closer to everyday reality.

Not every advertising or artistic project needs Apollos, as he points out. All the more so as certain features attributed to ugliness have been so for reasons of social class or even racial division. Hence the importance of questioning them. This is happening more and more with contemporary fashion, which is more interested in diversity. A temporary interest, according to Del Keens, who will continue to promote these atypical beauties.

Ugly fashion" is becoming much more commonplace. Designers play with codes to create clothes and shoes that, while not models of beauty, find their originality and comfort in their design.

Ugliness can also be a marketing element. Charleroi, Belgium, was named the ugliest city in the world by a Dutch newspaper. The agglomeration that once benefited from the coal and steel industries has quietly seen all these industrial infrastructures abandoned. As a result, the cultural milieu has decided to take possession of places and materials and use this bad image to show Charleroi's uniqueness.

Running time: 30 minutes