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.

“The Wild Child of French Cinema” (The New York Times), is also a talented writer and painter.

See Isild Le Besco’s paintings and her interview plus photos in French Playboy at the Fashion Spot.

Actress Chiara Muti is the daughter of conductor Riccardo Multi. Recently she appeared in an artistic collaboration with Paolo Restani in the ‘The Kingdom of Rücken’ (Mozart): a dialogue between piano and words.

In 2008 Muti married classical pianist David Fray, 29, and is now living in Paris.

The sensually gorgeous Alyson Le Borges just caught our eye in a Feb. 2011 Elle Russia editorial.

Alyson Le Borges is the granddaughter of French actor Alain Delon. She is the daughter of Anthony Delon and Marie-Hélène Le Borges, a former dancer at the Crazy Horse in Paris.

Astrid Bergès-Frisbey (born 26 May 1986) is a Spanish-French actress, currently residing in France. In 2008 she made her feature debut in the film ‘Un barrage contre le Pacifique’. The actress will play the mermaid Syrena in the 4th installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Disney promises that they will deliver Astrid as a “beautiful and alluring mermaid”.