Without photoshop getting in the way, we can see just how similar these young women look without retouching. So, is plastic surgery or just a pervasive culture of conformity to blame?
These 20 women became a viral sensation recently when their promotional headshots for the Miss Korea 2013 beauty pageant revealed their strikingly similar appearances.
Your standard internet everycritic blamed their, well, overlapping appearances on plastic surgery.
In a 2009 survey, one in five women in Seoul between the ages of 19 and 49 said they had had some type of cosmetic surgery. From the photos alone, it's difficult to tell how much photoshop might have assimilated the pageant contestants' appearances. But now that the pageant has happened we can begin to answer that question. Photos from the event suggest both photoshop along with a very specific cultural ideal of beauty contributed to the contestants' very similar physical appearances in these photos.
The pageant included a swimsuit contest, where the contestants performed light synchronized dancing while all wearing the same one-piece and heels.
Already this is WAY more conservative than your standard U.S. beauty pageant.
Via: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images
They changed into dresses the color of seafoam and sang, choir-style.
Via: Chung Sung-Jun / Getty Images
