Paolo Roversi presents six visions of European beauty, largely grounded in individuality and artistic personalities, lensed for Vogue Italia’s January 2011 issue.

Beauty has always enjoyed a larger platform in Europe than America, where copying the current ‘in girl’ is our idea of fashion independence.

These women don’t universally capture the visual definition we seek of ‘handsome beauty’, a look that is emerging strongly in recent editorials. A ‘handsome beauty, as Lagerfeld called new Vogue Paris editor Emmanuelle Alt, is well-proportioned with an imposing appearance, one suggestive of strength and powerful convictions.

It’s the opposite of Sarah Jessica Parker’s feminine fragility or the young femmes of ‘Black Swan’.

Six Women | Roxane Mesquida, Isild Le Besco, Chiara Muti, Alyson Le Borges, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Caterina Ravaglia

Roxane Mesquida (born October 1, 1981) is a French actress, born in Marseille, France. Mesquida says she is fiercely opposed to the idea of ever becoming financially dependent on the cinema and would rather babysit than accept money for acting in a movie she didn’t like.

The actress told French Elle in February 2006: “I have extremely classic features so I can rapidly look romantico-boring even if deep inside I’m really rock ‘n roll.”

Isild Le Besco (born November 22, 1982 in Paris, France) is a French actress and the daughter of Catherine Belkhodja. She is of mixed Breton, Vietnamese, French and Algerian descent.