A naked body is displayed in 30 sectors of the metropolis and on the platforms of the beauty house SELV Rituel, on the occasion of the launch of its Everyday Well-being campaign. “Fat, dangling flesh and stretch marks”, describes the brand’s CEO, Sarah Laroche, who embodies her company’s values of transparency and authenticity in all possible ways by revealing herself in her simplest nature. : 100% naked, 100% true and 100% accepted!
The beauty industry still generates a plethora of images that format our ideals. Silhouettes and faces worked for a long time by the machine. Seeing a voluptuous body show up there, without artifice, has something refreshing. From the order of the snub to an unattainable “perfection”, based on very relative criteria… “of those who come to us from who knows where and who knows who”, notes Sarah Laroche.
“I never understood why women agree to be told whether they are beautiful or not, and how they should be. I want the media and people to open up to images that correspond to reality. The fictitious bodies, I am more capable! »
This statement joins other voices in a movement to promote plural beauty. However, SELV’s advertising strikes by its rarity and the status of its subject. What CEO has the audacity to embody his message until he reveals himself in his simplest device? None. ” I have nothing to hide. My body, I find it sublime with her drooping breasts and her rolls,” says Sarah Laroche, pointing out the hypocrisy of companies that play the card of authenticity while retouching their images.
To date, SELV’s campaign has been enthusiastically received and messages of encouragement abound on the company’s platforms. All positive, except one, written by a woman who kindly wishes him…a heart attack. “We worked so hard to get people to understand the message. It’s not “long live fat”, but “long live who you are”. Point. I am 46 years old, I weigh 220 pounds. I train, I eat well, I have energy. I am a healthy person in a fat body. Stop thinking it’s ugly. »
No false promises
The words “slimming”, “sculpting” or “anti-aging” will never appear on the labels of SELV beauty treatments, promises its founder.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Sarah Laroche, founder of the beauty brand SELV
I feel people are sick of consuming out of guilt. Personally, I’m tired of making money on the backs of women by making them miserable. We don’t want to sell a product to a woman so that she improves physically, but for her pleasure and her desire.
Sarah Laroche, founder of SELV Ritual
SELV prides itself on offering wellness products. The brand offers an elaborate range of body and face care products, to which are added a collection for the home as well as products to drink and even to smoke! All completely natural and vegan. On the issue of beauty care, Sarah Laroche says she has no objection to choosing non-natural means to feel beautiful…as long as the gesture is assumed. Transposing a false image into her private life amounts to encouraging irrational criteria of beauty: very little for her!
You will not see more false promises than retouched photos at SELV, a principle that applies to both products and humans. Sarah Laroche adopts the idea to the point of refusing the intervention of make-up artists and hairdressers during her media appearances. “When you go to the grocery store, you see people like me. I have pimples, wrinkles, large pores, discoloration… And I consider myself completely normal. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SELV
The SELV Surprise Box, including five to eight skincare products
Beauty: a matter of choice
“Beauty is a matter of choice,” says the ambassador of the slow living with enviable assurance. I could feed on fresh water and train two hours a day, but I look like this and it’s perfect. When she was young, she was bullied because of her size. She made it her strength by refusing to be diminished by contemptuous looks.
Later, during her career as a fashion designer – busty among models – she was often the only one to say she was satisfied with her appearance… serves us. I have a circle of people who can influence me. The others, I take what they tell me with as much neutrality as possible. »
She dreams of a world without “body shaming”. A society that relies on being rather than appearance, and where appearance is not a criterion of success. “I would like that we get up in the morning wanting to distribute compliments around us, starting with ourselves. This benevolence is not, however, infallible… “I have a little voice in my head that comes back on occasion to crush me. I am extremely vulgar towards her, warns Sarah Laroche, revealing her secret. When she shows up, I send her for a walk on the spot! »
SELV products are sold in 455 outlets and online.