Virtual beauty

11:00 Fri 04 January 2008

It seems beauty isn’t as subjective as we thought. Sure, we all find different people attractive, but a new computer model suggests that beautiful people all have a certain something in common – the face of a supermodel.

The software was developed using pictures of 215 women of different ages and races. The pictures were then given to 50 volunteers who rated the women between 1 and 10 for their attractiveness. The faces of the 215 women were then compared to Claudia Schiffer, Kate Moss and Catherine Zeta Jones as a standard of beauty (those poor women!). It turned out that the women who got the highest scores, although different in age and skin colour, had similar features and facial proportions.

The developers hope that the program will help people who want to undergo plastic surgery, allowing them to see if the procedure will add to their overall attractiveness. However psychiatrists also argue that it could have a negative effect on those already insecure about their bodies, if they do not match up to the ideal.

And if the guys think they are getting off lightly with this cyber-scrutiny, think again. The software is now being developed for the male face, with the likes of David Beckham and George Clooney being entered as examples of male beauty. Worried? Yup…

(Image: from YouTube)