“One of the things I appreciate most about female beauty is what’s commonly appreciated the least,” says Saam Farahmand of his ode to body hair that launches NOWNESS’ new five-part series #DefineBeauty. “I wanted to find something about women that was almost unanimously disliked.” The transformation of the female form from hairless ideal to glorious natural state is set to the rousing score of Minnie Riperton’s “Les Fleurs.” “There was something so affecting about Minnie Riperton’s ability to breathe her gender—she speaks to female sexuality in a way that seems to exclude male consideration,” says the London-based filmmaker, known for his collaborations with The xx, Soulwax and Alexander McQueen. “It was important to immerse the viewer in the female form, an overwhelming landscape where the smallest shifts are amplified,” he adds, inspired by iconic nudes of Madonna by American photographer Lee Friedlander taken in 1979, the year he was born. The topic coincidentally reverberated across social media throughout the duration of the film’s development, from Madonna’s untamed underarms to Canadian artist Petra Collins’ bikini-line censorship by Instagram. “I need to be clear that this film is in no way reactionary,” says Farahmand. “It’s possible the subject resonates as people are always looking for a way to distinguish themselves from commonalities. If there is a genuine renaissance of female body hair in London, New York or Berlin, then like the modern man’s neo-beard, it will be abandoned when the first tufts start creeping out of glamour models’ armpits on reality TV shows.”

The next #DefineBeauty film premieres Tuesday May 13.