We examine how beauty is defined and translated in various creative fields: from its widely-accepted (and as much: contested) standards in fashion, food, and design; its polarizing theories in architecture (would you bet on the beauty of Brutalism?); to its power and promise of healing and hope in body art, and so much more. Is beauty ideal? Or is it found when we overcome our imposed notions of order, perfection, and convention?

Cover image: Boston City Hall by Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles and Campbell, Aldrich & Nulty (1968), often counted as among the world’s ‘ugliest’ buildings. (We beg to differ!). Photo courtesy of Blue Crow Media