Story 25. Written by Jim Waitlord

In the world, men stand at the top of beauty without any effort. Women are desperate to get them noticed. The born perfection of men is such that even the most neglected, dirtiest man overshines the most groomed woman. The beauty of men is self-evident. That's why they don't care about their appearance.

Lena spends hours a day getting rid of her "baseline condition" in the morning. The natural skin color, the hair that is said to have been "ripped by wild dogs", and the smell that even cats can smell across the street.

Lena accidentally meets Armand, the most beautiful man in the area. Armand is unshaven, has not showered for a week, and he has a spot on his pants that Lena would instinctively be disgusted with - if his face were not like the gods themselves carved from marble. Armand is so beautiful that Lena can't believe it's real.

When she finally has the courage to speak to him, he takes a "Hi" from one shoulder and goes on with utter indifference. Lena then realizes that men never notice what women do because they simply don't care. Why should they be interested when all women are desperately competing to get at least one look?

One day, Lena confronts her best friend, Violetta. Violetta is about to spend a month's salary on a new serum. It is said to "suppress natural body odors and emit an artificial rose smell while sweating". Léna says it out loud first:

- What if these drugs don't matter? What if the men don't notice?

Violetta said in a low voice, Shocked.

- Then why do we do it?

Lena begins to observe the men. Every day she realizes that even the most beautiful women hardly attract attention among men. Recognition is both liberating and outrageous: men do not appreciate at all the enormous effort that women make because they simply do not care. Lena decides to start a revolution. It encourages women to abandon their expectations of the beauty industry and to stop spending money on makeup, clothes and fragrances. The name of the movement is Natural Self. Anyway, they're not listening to us.

The first real challenge for Lena is to step out into the street without makeup and perfume. Morning is unusually short. No 3-hour face paint, and 15 layers of fragrance. His first steps are uncertain and he feels as if everyone is looking at him - when the truth is, nobody is looking at him. An old man walks by, his stubble is full of crumbs, and he's probably been wearing the same dress for weeks. Lena would expect him to comment on her natural appearance, but he yawns a great deal and then moves on. Lena clenched her teeth. Maybe it'll be different in the store.

When you enter a shop of luxury perfumes, the store manager - a pretty dressed woman - immediately grimaces.

- Excuse me, ma'am, can I help you with something?

Lena nods.

- Yeah, I just wanted to look around.

The driver's eyes unwittingly glide towards perfumes.

- A small sample of the "Flowering Dawn" fragrance? he asks, taking a discreet step backward.

Lena knows that the manager can't stand her natural "smell". And that gives him the courage.

- No, thank you. My own smell suits me better, he says proudly, and quits the shop. Behind him, the manager is stunned.

The movement is spreading rapidly, and the social order is being overturned. Men are getting more and more embarrassed. Women in makeup and perfume, who have been used to women until then, suddenly disappear - although they still do not bother to look at them more closely.

A women's magazine is going bankrupt. The titles of their articles, such as "5 steps to make you look less natural", are no longer of interest to anyone. A man complains that he sees "creatures in strange shades of gray" on the street. And his friend shrugged.

- They're women, man.

An advertisement for a women's perfume factory called "Smell for Yourself Now" - which nobody buys. A man completely indifferent to the women's revolution, notes:

- I don't understand what's changed. I just realized that you women are even here.

Two men are sitting in a cafe looking out over the street. One of them, Bertrand, notes:

- You, dude, it's like something's changed in the world.

The other one, Lucien, doesn't even look up from his coffee.

- What do you mean?

- I don't know... something weird. It was as if there were less roses and glitter in the streets.

Lucien sips a bored sip of coffee.

- The smell of roses? I didn't know there was one.

Bertrand nods.

- Always had. But now it's so... different.

Lucien finally looks up, frowns, then shrugs.

- It doesn't matter. At least they're not giving me a headache right now.

At one point in the story, men eventually notice something - but not whether women are without makeup or natural. It means that their natural "smell" (which is actually a stench) has begun to spread throughout the city.

Armand, the most beautiful man who really cares nothing, one day he takes a deep breath of air, and his face is distorted.

- What's this? That smell... it's like... it's something alive. It's like instead of the pasteurized urban milk, I'm suddenly smelling the real smell of the cow!

Men's society is becoming more and more confused. They are already used to artificial roses and vanilla fragrances and are now unable to process the fact that women in their natural state "smell differently". One of the men complains:

- This naturalness... is too... natural.

The women are free. They are no longer ashamed of their own scent, and they make a joke of it. A women's company is laughing together at one of them saying:

- Today I'm going to crab some garlic to blow the wind even more.

Lena and her movement are getting so big that she's on the news. In a television show, they are confronted with how indifferent they are. The host asks a man what he thinks about women quitting beauty care. He shrugged.

- Well, I think the world is pretty. We are here, arent we?

This phrase both outrages and makes women laugh, and Lena realizes: men never change, but women can break this vicious circle.

Men and women meet in a television debate program. Women tell us that from now on they will spend no more on makeup, fragrances and beauty treatments. The reaction of men is completely chaotic:

A man, Henri, asks in confusion:

- Wait... so you've been artificial?

The women laugh and nod.

- Sure. Everything you admired about us was a work! Our hair color, our scent, our skin. None of them natural.

Henri's totally crashing.

But I thought... you guys were like...

One of the women interrupts:

- Like you? Of course they're beautiful? No, Henri. We were just trying to reach the level that was inborn to you.

The male audience begins to fidget. Another man, Jean-Pierre, leans over to Henry and says in a whisper:

They could bring the perfume back.

At the end of the story, Lena and her friends live happily ever after, without any further desire for recognition from men. A small group of men meanwhile begin to notice that natural women are actually much more interesting and exciting. Of course, this change does not affect all men, but the world slowly begins to turn in another direction.

Towards the end of the story, a group of women begins a new fashion wave: they directly emphasize their natural state. One of them keeps a sign on the street that says, "I sweat, so I am." Another female company sprays herself around with a spray of fish and garlic to "regain the essence of their nature."

Most men simply do not understand why this is happening, but in the end, somehow, everyone lives with the new world order - where no one feels that either side should reach the other's 'level'.

Kings of Beauty