This year’s standout beauty photo stories centred around body customisation – a shift away from last year’s favour of body optimisation. Whether it was the tattoos scattered across sweaty limbs and torsos in the club, or the body-painted garments crafted by SFX artists like Mab, readers gravitated to work that explored how we can adapt and alter what we already have. Here, we’ve rounded up seven of the best-performing beauty photo stories from 2025.

BODYWORK

Created by photographer Maxime Ballesteros with co-creative direction from Angel Velluto, this shoot reimagines rusted rally cars as living bodies. Ballet dancers, painted by Janina Zais, become peeled lacquer and twisted metal, collapsing the line between wreckage and flesh.

CYBERSIGILISM TATTOOS

This gallery offers a collection of designs from the digital-leaning edge of tattoo culture, spotlighting seven artists who are shaping the rise of cybersigilism – the polarising, post-human style which blends Y2K tribalism with biomech surrealism.

THE WEIGHT OF BECOMING

Lily West’s The Weight of Becoming steps inside the world of competitive bodybuilding. Through shots of gleaming muscles and sculpted forms mid-pose, West offers a look behind the curtain, with the accompanying story following athlete Neca as she reflects on the mental endurance the sport demands.

PONYBOY PARTYGOERS

The only thing better than being at the club is looking at pictures of other people at the club, at least according to the Dazed readers who loved our coverage of parties, raves and club nights this year. On this particular night, Ponyboy threw a NYE slumber party-themed spectacle, inviting guests to follow a “camp, sexy and queer” dress code. Think self-proclaimed pillow princesses, Hello Kitty plushies and a whole lot of lace.

AEROSOL COUTURE

Created by airbrush artist and Dazed Beauty Community member Mab, Aerosol Couture brought painted bodies to life in her New York live exhibit. The show celebrated Black beauty and the diversity of the human form through metallic full-body looks and glittered muscle contours.

THE HARDEST TATTOOS FROM THE WORLD’S CLUBS

This gallery searches through the strobe lights and smoky air to capture tattoos in the club. From fractured ornamental designs scattered across legs to post-ironic tattoos marking the napes of necks, we rounded up the best tattoos in motion spotted on dancefloors across the globe.

THE VASTNESS OF RED

Created by photographer Ana Marti and make-up artist Simone Gammino, this story uses the single colour red to chart the emotional extremes of the human experience.