Beauty in the Making
The Challenge
For the 2024 Young Ones One Show brief, Dove asked creatives to “create a fresh and bold campaign that broadens the definition of beauty for the next 20 years.” The brand’s legacy of championing real beauty has transformed cultural conversations — yet its work has largely centered around traditional ideas of womanhood. The next generation views beauty through a wider, more fluid lens. The challenge was to evolve Dove’s message for a world where gender and beauty are no longer fixed, but performed, explored, and self-defined.
The Solution
Beauty in the Making is a three-part interview series supported by two adlobs that reimagines beauty as an act of becoming. Each two-minute film builds on the next, featuring real voices reflecting on how identity, expression, and self-image intersect in a modern world.
By spotlighting individuals who see beauty not as a standard to meet but as a process to live, the campaign invites audiences to reconsider how gender and self-expression shape our collective understanding of what’s beautiful.
The Insight
Gen Z doesn’t see beauty as bound by binaries. Beauty is fluid, evolving, and deeply personal. While Dove has made remarkable progress in redefining beauty, the brand has yet to meaningfully represent LGBTQ+ experiences. Beauty in the Making bridges that gap, positioning beauty as liberation, something we’re all in the process of creating, together.
Credits:
Many thanks to the wonderful GiGi Gabor for being so generous with her time in allowing me to interview her for this project. You can follow her on Instagram @the_gigi_gabor or @curbsidequeens and you can learn more about her business Curbside Queens, New Englands #1 Traveling Drag show at www.curbsidequeens.com
Many thanks to my creative mentor Dave Rogan for his invaluable feedback, advice and guidance on this project, especially for showing me how to use the glow function in photoshop and encouraging me to cut the original 45 minute interview down to three two minute segments.