How do we determine what makes a woman beautiful?
The "perfect" body and the standard of beauty has changed over the years, even though the
foundation of the female form has stayed the same.
So next time you feel like your own body might be less than perfect, just remember that "perfection"
is always to changing and transforming — looking stunningly different from one generation to
the next.
The Venus of Willendorf
One of the earliest examples of art that's ever been discovered is also a primitive symbol
of an idealized woman.
And she doesn't look at all like the models of today.
In an essay by Dr. Bryan Zygmont, he talks about The Venus of Willendorf — a statue
crafted over 20,000 years ago — as a paradigm of fertility.
This girl goes way beyond curvy.
In fact, she's a little on the heavy side.
Featuring a large busom, large hips and a healthy stomach, it's clear that a good body
equaled one that could bear many children.
The model has no face.
A big healthy body was all that mattered because you were your own method of survival.
You couldn't bat your long lashes at a mountain lion to make it go away, you had to be strong!
As a piece of art, it's likely that this figure is greatly exaggerated from what the women
of the era actually looked like, but that further proves that "voluptuous and well-nourished"
was the ideal 25,000 years ago.
Ancient Greece
By 500 BCE, fuller figures were still in favor — especially redheads with pale skin, according
to a BBC news story.
What's interesting was that men's beauty was much more celebrated.
According to Hesiod, an 8th century BCE author, a woman was "the beautiful-evil thing."
Ancient statues show us artists' idealized female forms, which featured largish hips,
a full chest, and a not-quite-flat stomach.
But the Greeks paid much more attention to the face and developed the idea that symmetry
of facial features is beautiful.
Plato gets the credit for originally endorsing the Greek-born "golden ratio" as the bar by
which all beauty is subconsciously judged.
But it was Pythagoras who came up with the ratio for beauty in the first place.
If that name sounds familiar, here's a quick reminder:
"The square root of the hypotenuse of a right angle triangle is equal to the sum of the
squares of the other two sides."
"Thank you, Elizabeth!"
Plato thought of beauty as a mix of symmetry and harmony, which led him to develop the
"golden proportion" for faces.
An article in Evoscience, explains the theory in which, "the ideal face width was considered
as representing two-thirds of its length, and the face must be perfectly symmetrical."
Symmetrical faces continue to be regarded as more beautiful today, but it's obviously
far from the final word in beauty these days.
The early Renaissance era
The artists of the Renaissance wanted to move away from the modesty and strict religious
values of the Middle Ages.
They again began to appreciate pleasure, fertility, and youth.
The idealized women of artists like Raphael were commonly curvy, with pale but slightly
flushed cheeks, and soft, round faces.
An article published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology reveals Raphael's admission that
most of his paintings were not based on real models — simply his imaginings of what a
beautiful woman would look like.
This was the beginning of a transition from simply considering women to be objects of
fertility to objects of lust and beauty.
Queen Elizabeth
Crowned in 1558, Queen Elizabeth I ushered in the era of makeup.
The 25-year-old queen liberally slapped on the face paint — and that signature red
lip.
This trending makeup routine quickly became a symbol of class at the time.
The paler you were, the higher your status.
Elizabeth painted her face with a thick coat of white lead-based powder, and lip rouge.
Members of high society followed suit, and beauty during that time period was a whiter
shade of pale.
Not one to bail on her own brand, Elizabeth died reportedly wearing "a half-inch of lip
rouge" on her pout.
Let them eat cake!
According to the book The Complete Make-up Artist, after the French rebelled against
the aristocracy during the French Revolution in 1789, the people wanted to distance themselves
from their disgraced royalty.
Makeup became much simpler and the ornate gowns of the very rich were paired down.
Before the revolution, makeup was worn equally by men and women.
The book Selling Beauty tells us that, as the idea of "artifice" found disfavor in society,
both sexes opted for more natural looks.
But as memories of the revolution began to fade, and the country entered the 19th century,
makeup for women in court gained popularity again.
The Victorian era
By the time Queen Victoria arrived in 1837, the West had reverted to the idea that women
should dress modestly and without personal expression.
Women's roles were now clearly defined.
According to this BBC account of Victorian Britain,
"A woman's place was in the home, as domesticity and motherhood were considered by society
at large to be a sufficient emotional fulfillment for females."
In other words, ladies were getting in formation:
"Okay now let's get in formation, because I say..."
The pale, frail, weak look was all the rage.
No particular body part was emphasized — just so long as a women didn't look too hearty
or strong.
According to artist and researcher Alexis Karl, "Consumptives were thought to be very
beautiful."
Who knew that dying of tuberculosis would make you the hot chick?
The turn of the century
The 1890s brought about the Gibson girl, a series of illustrations by Charles Gibson
that defined a beautiful woman of the age.
According to the Library of Congress, from the turn of the century to the beginning of
World War I, women everywhere tried to match the drawing.
She was pale, though not as powdered as previous years.
She had a larger bust.
And though it was still popular for girls to look a little soft and round, the trend
towards a thinner ideal was beginning.
The Gibson girl wasn't actually a real person, of course.
But Evelyn Nesbit, considered to be the world's first supermodel, was the closest match.
It was a case of yet another standard of beauty invented by a man's drawing, rather than inspired
by any existing woman.
The fabulous flappers
In 1920, women won the right to vote — and they weren't going to take the piled-up hair
and corsets anymore.
According to an article on "Women's Body Image and BMI," flappers brought about a complete
change in fashion and body type.
The article explains,
"Their appearance was one of boyishness and androgynous youth, with minimal curves, a
straight figure without any corseting, and shorter hair."
They were gaining a taste of men's power and it showed.
The curvy, fertile look was out.
Girls wanted to look thin with no curves, and they were chopping their hair off.
Skirt hemlines were hiked up higher than ever, allowing women to move, dance, and finally
have some fun.
The flip side of the flapper movement?
It's where our serious modern obsession with weight began.
Depression and recovery
Unfortunately for flappers, the '20s ended badly and the Great Depression made fashion
an afterthought.
Most women weren't able to worry about having a skinny figure and the perfect clothes, so
the ideal body type became slightly more full.
Because of a lack of resources, and then the rationing of World War II, women had to get
creative with their clothes.
They would rework men's suits into women's attire.
That brought about the padded shoulder look, creating a sharp hourglass figure.
Women were recovering from years of a terrible economy, along with food rations for the war,
and the ideal body type mirrored that.
Nobody wanted to look stick thin — it seemed too close to starving — but a voluptuous
figure was also unrealistic for the time.
Counterculture couture
The depression and World War II were history, and America was making a lot of money for
the first time in years.
People were in the mood to celebrate, and with that indulgence came a slightly fuller
figure.
The hourglass figure was sought after and having a large bust was strongly encouraged.
Interestingly, a lot of people think that the sex symbols of the '50s would be considered
plus sized now.
Though they're certainly heavier than the models of today, the era's movie stars were
still very thin — they just had boobs.
Most of the glamour girls of film had a BMI between 18.8 and 20.5, much lower than the
average woman's BMI of 23.6.
In this newsreel clip from the early '60s, a town holds a "Miss Fat and Beautiful" contest.
To modern ears, it's pretty shocking to hear a bunch of ladies being openly called "fatties."
And by today's standards, these women aren't very big!
Mrs. Wall was the winner, Britain's most glamorous fatty
By the '60s, the culture began to shift.
Women weren't happy just to have a house and car, sitting at home as housewives.
Young people rebelled against the constricting ways of '50s, and Twiggy became the most famous
model of the age.
The '70s saw greater freedom for women, but skinny was still the ideal.
Farrah Fawcett may have had a larger bust than Twiggy, but she was still rather petite.
Makeup and fashion tilted toward a more natural look.
Looks weren't as bold as the swinging '60s and hair was worn natural and very long.
The supermodel era
When the '80s rolled around, the Supermodel era began.
Women were meant to be tan, tall, thin, but slightly athletic.
Hips got much smaller, though a large bust was still the rage.
Women were influenced more by models than actors for fashion and body trends, while
models continued to be wildly thinner than the average person.
Just when it seemed like the ideal body couldn't get any thinner, in came the '90s.
Kate Moss gave Twiggy a run for "skinniest model of all time".
The British model with a BMI of 16 and that famous "heroin chic" look became popular.
Funny that both the '90s and the Victorian era modeled good looks after people who were
— quite literally — dying.
With waif models in vogue, the '90s presented the thinnest feminine ideal in history.
What is 'perfect'?
These days, we're stepping into an age where the media is beginning to celebrate diversity
of race and body type — though there's still a long way to go.
Before New York Fashion Week 2017, the Council of Fashion Designers of America sent out a
memo to remind designers to seek out healthy models and a wider range of types saying,
"New York Fashion Week is also a celebration of our city's diversity, which we hope to
see on the runways."
The thing to remember is that most of the historical standards of beauty were based
on a drawing or a painting of some guy's fantasy!
Nowadays, Photoshop and other editing software has the same effect, making already-petite
models look unattainably perfect.
You can't possibly live up to a fictional piece of art or a masterfully altered photograph.
Since standards have changed so much over history, it proves that these standards are
really just temporary ideals.
So what if your body isn't considered "perfect" today?
Who cares?
"Perfect" is an illusion that no one can attain.
So, be happy with the body you have and celebrate all the things that make up your gorgeous,
perfectly imperfect self.
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