Three United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Indian students have launched a magazine aimed at defying stereotypical beauty standards, a media report said on Saturday.

Shuchita Bahl, a Grade 12 student at the IB2 GEMS Modern Academy, founder and photographer of the 'Newsstand' magazine, launched the initiative with two of her friends, Anoushka Kapur, writer and layout creator and Kevin Philip, graphic designer, the Gulf News report said.

"This initiative aims to defy the stereotypical beauty standards portrayed by mass media, the notion that all that there is to a woman is her looks and only conventionally 'beautiful' women deserve to be on the cover page of a magazine," Shuchita told Gulf News.

The two-month long project involved photoshoots, interviews of the girls by Shuchita, editing transcripts and layout creation by Anoushka and graphic designing of the covers by Kevin.

"Once we got the covers ready, Anoushka worked on creating a virtual exhibition for the launch of these cover shoots which is now open for all," Shuchita told Gulf News.

The 18-year-old student said a woman should not be defined by her looks, adding that "there is so much more to her, like her talents and her ambitions, which makes her the girl she is today and the woman she will turn into tomorrow".

(IANS)