Modern Era

The modern era-2016. In my mind I have an idea on what the "perfect" face, body, etc. looks like. What true beauty looks like, according to 2016, is extremely diverse. On one hand, there's the model industry's definition of beauty. On the other hand, there's those who say diversity is beautiful. So searching for one solid answer that would satisfy both sides would be rather difficult and nearly impossible.
The Model Industry-Body
Everyone and there mother has heard, and most likely argued about, the model industry. If you haven't then you've probably been living under a rock for the past decade. The model industry loves thin, they don't accept anything else. For instance, below is a picture of supermodel Cara Delevingne.

 Cara Delevingne is a body inspiration for many young girls who aspire to be as thin as she is.
Social Media-Body
While researching, I found social media, Instagram, twitter, etc., to be a great source of other desirable body types. The most common throughout social media hands down would have to be the hourglass figure. The image below is a chart of all the body types:

The first figure shown in the chart, the hourglass figure, resembles just as it sounds, an hourglass. The chest and hips are the most prominent, while the waist is kept slender.

Features

Genetics, according to the modern era, plays a huge role in beauty. For instance, eye color. While controversial, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude the most desirable eye color is either blue or green. Of course, nowadays there are colored contacts in case you weren't genetically blessed. As for teeth, the modern era has created a beauty standard for those unlike all the past generations. In the USA, straight, white teeth are EXTREMELY wanted. People of all ages are willing to glue metal to their teeth to straighten there teeth to the perfect alignment. After a few months, or years, the braces come off and the teeth are bleached to white perfection.

Go big or go home-the moto for every woman's face these days. In 2016, big lips. big hips, and big chests are seen as the most beautiful. Some women get plastic injected into specific parts of their body that the want enhanced. Here is a real life example of what the modern era has defined beauty as:

Cosmetics

Not genetically blessed? No problem, the $160 billion makeup industry has you covered. From foundation to eyebrow powder, this industry has everything you can imagine. Sparse eyebrows? Fill 'em in. Small lips? Make new ones. Stubby eyelashes? Add a coat of mascara, or two. The modern era has an idea of perfection that has women falling head over heels for.

Resources

Considering as I type I am living in the era I'm writing about, this one was hard to gather information for. I mostly used what I've seen over and over again on media. I found it quite interesting to take a step back from the beauty hype and look at what this society has defined beauty as.

Swingin' Sixties and Eighties

While researching beauty concepts throughout history, it definitely has been difficult to find credible websites. However the best site I have found is doing a project similar to mine, titled "Beauty by the Decade."

"Beauty by the Decade: The 1960s." College Fashion. 15 Feb. 2011. Web. 16 May 2016.

The website I used for the makeup:

The swingin' sixties brought color into beauty; fashion, hair, and makeup. Some of the most popular beauty fads were voluminous hair, lots of eyeliner, and the pixie-cut. The sixties focused on dramatic eyes and pale lips. The website I used even included a how-to guide on how to get the '60s Mod eye makeup.

 



1. After applying foundation and concealer to your face for a base, apply a matte white eyeshadow across your eyelids.
2. Apply a white eyeliner to your bottom waterline of your eyes. This makes your eyes appear brighter and bigger.
3. Outline your top eyelid with a black liquid eyeliner, drawing a thin line along your eyelashes.
4. Using the black liquid eyeliner, draw a half moon shape in the crease of your eyes above the white eyeshadow.
5. Use a black eyeliner pencil to line your bottom lid next to the white waterline.
6. Using the liquid eyeliner, "draw" a few extending bottom lashes. Be sure not to go too crazy with how long the lines are - keep them shorter.
7. After curling and applying mascara to your lashes, apply your fake eyelashes to your top lid. Add a few more sweeps of mascara to make the lashes blend in.
8. Use a brow pencil to define your eyebrows.
9. Apply a nude lipstick to finish off the look

  - Or you could just add a bit of drama to your eyeliner and opt for a nude lip.
Hair
The main style of the sixties was a short, sleek pixie cut, much like Twiggy and Mia Farrow.

Another popular style was the "flippy" hair, where the hair flipped up at the ends. This was simply obtained by curling the ends of the hair upwards with a curling iron.
The last hair trend is using a ribbon as a hair accessory. Girls would often tie ribbons in their hair, just like Ariana Grande's signature style. I find myself using a ribbon as an accessory as well.

Makeup
Eyes – eyeliner was the most important makeup tool. Instead of cats eye effect, liner was doubled up at the end of the lid.White eyeliner drawn down over upper lid to inner corner of eye.
Eye Shadow – the popular palette was blue,grey and white.
Eyelashes – placed on both top and bottom for a real retro ‘flapper’ effect.
Powder – Lots of powder in the early 1960s to just a dab of translucent by the end of the decade.
Lips – very pale pinks and reds outlined with a pencil
The image below is an advertisement from the sixties:

The 80s
Known for the perms and off-the-shoulder trend, the eighties was an era for crazy fashion fads. After searching through a few websites, it seemed as if the only fashion trends the internet remembered were the costume-looking ones. I decided to go to a person who actually lived through the 80s, my mother. My mother was 21 years old when she took a month trip to Europe in the mid-80s. The photo album she shared with me emphasized the key components that made up the 80s.
Body Type
The most common, and the most desirable according to my mother, was a thin frame. My mother was extremely skinny in all of the photos and so was her sister who was 16 at the time of the trip. The photo taken of my mother in the 80s.

Hair
The most reoccurring hair I saw in the photo albums were side pony tails and huge perms. The side-pony tail was in first, and was usually worn high on the head. The huge hair came in after the side-pony. Women had perms to achieve this look. According to my mother, this look was usually worn by teenagers, however not as an every day style. Another common hairstyle which I didn't find on the web, was using hair clips to pin the front two sections back. The clips were pinned in a way as to make the roots volumized. The photo below is of my aunt in the 80s.

Fashion
In the 80s, there were many crazy fashion fads occurring every minute. The first trend I picked up on, and seen in the picture above, was denim-on-denim. Typically, a dark blue denim jacket was worn on top with a lighter blue denim worn on bottom. Here is an example of this trend:

 

Another trend of the 80s was to wear long coats. This trend was worn by women of all ages, not just teenagers. Why? I was wondering the same thing. I thought maybe this was to accentuate long legs, and I was correct.

 

 

The only beauty concept I did not see throughout the album was makeup. Personally, I was wondering where in the world the popular bright eye shadow of the 80s trend came from. I guess the costume-like appearance magazines these days show was common amongst parties and clubs, however was not popular for everyday use. 













1. 

The Roaring Twenties & Fifties

The Roaring Twenties- who could forget? In this point in time, men had just came back from war and the desire for feminine power was in full force. Makeup products, fashion, and body ideals were advertised everywhere, as well as new makeup products arriving in each store.
The First cosmetic counter was seen in 1909, and by 1920 every department store in the WORLD had cosmetic counters. With these cosmetics, women used makeup to achieve a youthful look. The first makeup trend of the twenties was the cupids bow lip, created by Clara Bow. Metal lip tracers were used to create the perfect pout. This look was first seen in the image below, dark-eyes and bow-like red lips.

The major concept of cosmetics in the twenties' was to create an artificial-looking face. This look was achieved with heavy amounts of makeup. Cake mascara, cake powder, cake foundation, cake lipstick-everything.

The Roaring Twenties, as every other era, had an ideal body concept. The flapper look showcased this beauty ideal, along with many others. The flapper had a boyish thin figure, this was extremely desired.

The fifties idea of beauty is by far the most different from any other era that I have come across. This is the first propaganda picture I found:

If this advertisement was shown today-it'd be a joke. However in the fifties, curves were luscious and desirable. This was due to the men returning home from WWII and women ditching their work clothes for a need for feminine beauty. Advertisements to achieve a happier life were booming, like the one shown above. These advertisements are definitely humorous.

The hour-glass body ideal was highly desirable, and we have Marilyn Monroe to thank. Corsets made a come back and were a daily necessity to achieve an hour-glass figure.

In addition to an hour-glass figure, women also adored using cosmetics. The trend at the time was the "doe eye." Intense makeup was applied to the eyes, along with a flawless complexion and a bold lip. Hair was often teased, brushes, and sculpted into short, wavy styles.

Overall, I found the twenties and fifties ideal beauty concepts to be very intriguing.

 

Works Cited:

                            "1920s Beauty." Glamour Days. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2016.                                                  

 

                            "Beauty Ideal Over The Decades." IdealistStyle. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2016.                                                  

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

The Victorian Era

When people think of The Victorian Era, most people think of the famous figure-hugging corset and beautiful large dresses. Other than that, I realistically had no clue what beauty concepts were desirable, prior to researching.
I discovered soon that during the Victorian Era, "lady-like" clothing was in fashion rather than "rational" clothing. Hence the enormous fluffy dresses and corsets. As for the figures of these women, an ample bust, tiny waist, and wide hips was the most desirable. However, unlike the modern era, the bust and hips were not the center of male attention. Instead, women's legs remained the terra incognita of erotica. To achieve this preferable body, the use of corsets begun during the pre-pubescent times in a women's life, called reform corsets. Historians believe these corsets ranged from 21-80 pounds of pressure per square inch. This obviously had a large impact and created many healthy problems before the corset was soon protested against years later.

 

Women of this era, similar to most eras I've researched, desired pale skin. They painted their faces and used poisonous creams just as the other eras did so. However the women of The Victorian Era took this a step further and ingested poisonous materials, such as chalk, to achieve the a pale complexion.

As for makeup, the women refrained from wearing large amounts of makeup, as most women wore only cream, rouge, and powder. The youth, however, were encouraged to enhance their natural beauty, not through cosmetics, but through face masks instead.

The most beautiful aspect of a women during The Victorian Era was certainly her mind; wit and individuality. Now that is the best aspect of a women beauty ideal I have yet to find.



 

Works Cited

 



                            L, Caitlin. "On Beauty, Bathing & Being A Victorian Era Women." Xovain. Instyle, 24 Jan. 2015. Web. 09 May 2016.                                                  

                            "Fashion." Off the Pedestal: Images of Women in Victorian Broadsides, Ephemera and Fast Literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 May 2016.                                                  

 

 

 

 

 



 



Pre-French Revolution

The Pre-French Revolution, my personal favorite. This era might be overlooked in some scenarios, however in the terms of beauty it is one of the most influential eras of our time. Most of these beauty concepts were derived from paintings and clothing worn in the eighteenth century.

These paintings, like the one shown above, display women all dolled up - this wasn't all the time. Select women dressed up, called toilette, as a daily ceremony in front of an audience. This ceremony was originally created by Louis XIV, meant for royalty, however members of aristocracy and even the bourgeois classes put on their own ceremonies.
As for their beauty standards, hair, makeup, and fashion play a big part in completing the look. Women of the 18th century had either black, brown, or blonde hair; never red as it was considered unfashionable. This hair trend was especially in fashion during Marie Antoinette's reign. The black, brown, or blonde hair was typically worn in waves or curls. As for wigs, women refrained from wearing them, this was more of a male trend. Instead, women added false hair to their natural hair. This could be where the idea of extensions came in. Powdering the hair, both male and female, was also extremely in style and common. The article I found went on and on about what was used for specific hairstyles. Nonetheless I found that part of the article to be rather boring.
Just like both men and women wore false hair, both men and women wore cosmetics. Makeup was usually worn by people of higher ranking, and was intended to not look natural, instead more like paint. Women usually wore heavy amounts of white paint, large streaks of rouge, and beauty patches (mouches). Over the years, cosmetics declined in price and became more available to the middle class. The middle class usually did not wear large amounts of rouge and paint, as the higher class did. Instead of red tones, the middleclass preferred pink tones. The makeup look mainly consisted of pale skin, large rouge circles on the cheeks, darkened brows, and red lips.
Overall, I discovered the look to be extremely artificial, but I guess that was the goal. The first article I found was extremely informative and detailed.

"Women’s Hairstyles & Cosmetics of the 18th Century: France & England, 1750-1790." Dmod RSS. Web. 07 May 2016. <http://demodecouture.com/hairstyles-cosmetics-18th-century/>.

Japanese Geisha

The Japanese Geisha isn't an extremely popular era that comes to mind when thinking of history. However the Japanese culture must have extremely different concepts of beauty than Rome, at least I'd imagine so.
First, I had to find out what a Geisha actually was. A Geisha is a traditional Japanese entertainer who act as hostesses and whose skills include performing various arts such as classical music, dance, games and conversation, mainly to entertain male customers, according to Google.
The Japanese Geisha is most popular for the makeup trends. One of the most widely-known concepts was, again, a pale face, with smooth skin. Smooth skin is a beauty concept of almost every culture and time era, however in addition Japan believes the lighter the skin the more beautiful a person is. Female entertainers wore white paint on their faces along with red lipstick, which is most likely where the beauty standard of today's age originated from. This beauty concept was achieved by painting on a heavy, white foundation. Which is painted on the face, and all around the neck revealing some skin on the back of the neck in a 'W' shape. I found this unique and quite interesting. I discovered the lips were painted on in the shape of a budding flower. As for the eyes, charcoal was used to line the lid, with red on the outside.

 

Even though makeup was most definitely the most popular beauty standard, body shape was also a big role in defining beauty. In the Japanese Geisha era, a thin, petite frame was all the rage. In fact, even today in Japan a thin, petite frame is most desirable.

Finding any other details on the beauty standards of this time era, other than makeup, was quite difficult and almost impossible.

 

                            Ash, Donald. "The 8 Standards Of Japanese Beauty." The Japan Guy. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2016.                                                  



Elizabethan Era

The Elizabethan era is certainly one of the most memorable eras in our history. With the pale faces and desirable large foreheads, it is one time era that has made an unforgettable impression on people.
During this time period, the person everyone looked up to, of course, was Queen Elizabeth.

Queen Elizabeth started to wear larger amounts of makeup as she aged to hid her wrinkles and small pox. This created a fashion trend, and soon all of the upper-class of nobility were following in her footsteps.

The ideal beauty concept all branched out from nobility and queen Elizabeth. Their idea of beauty consisted of a pale complexion combined with rosy cheeks and a red lip. The pale complexion, however, could only be achieved by the upper levels of society. Since the lower-class members were expected to work outdoors, and of course acquired a tan, disabling them from obtaining that ideal beauty. Thus, the white, pale face symbolized wealth and higher nobility.

You may be wondering, how did the upper-class obtain such pale skin? There were a few methods, obviously, since it has been shown humans will do anything to obtain beauty. One method was too combine white lead and vinegar, also known as ceruse. It was toxic. Women were also bled, yes you heard me correctly, bled, to achieve that desirable pale complexion. Face paint was also a method used to achieve a white face, by mixing certain plants and leaves.

To go a step further, some fashion-forward folks might even dye their hair yellow, or even darken their eyelashes with kohl to resemble the beautiful Queen Elizabeth. They also concealed their eyebrows to make their forehead appear larger.

 

Works Cited:

 

"Elizabethan Make-up." Elizabethan Make-up. Web. 30 Apr. 2016. <http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-make-up.htm>.

 

 



 



Beauty in Ancient Rome

When starting this little project of mine, I expected to find an exorbitant amount of information regarding cosmetics in history rather than the overall beauty expectations. As I have found, so far, I was correct. I have also come to find that many websites have a different idea of how historical beauty was created and emphasized.
In Ancient Rome, I found the Romans enhanced what the Greek created; cosmetics. In fact, most Roman women were not even considered pretty if they did not wear these cosmetics. These cosmetics covered not only the face, but all parts of the body, including their skin, eyes, nails, and even their teeth. Also, like nowadays, many counterfeit versions of expensive items were invented and used by most Roman women.
As for what the makeup did, the Romans had many of the same beliefs as the Greeks did. The Romans saw a pale face as beautiful, and that it represented wealth and high position. The Romans created methods to conceal freckles, blemishes, sun spots, skin flakes, and wrinkles. Eyes were painted in a way to make their eyelashes appear fuller and longer. As for their eyebrows, brows that met in the middle was considered attractive. This look was achieved by coloring in the parts with missing hairs. Of course, white teeth was the golden look. They even achieved making fake teeth with ivory and paste. However, when the Egyptians wore lipstick regularly, there is no evidence of the Romans ever doing the same. As for men, cosmetics were not worn, and if they were it was extremely rare.
I searched through many websites and found no trace of what their ideal body type was. Maybe there wasn't one, or maybe it wasn't as heavily embraced as it is nowadays.
The picture below visually represents beauty in Ancient Rome.

Works Cited:

"Cosmetic in Roman Empire." Ancient Cosmetics. Web. 26 Apr. 2016. <http://www.historyofcosmetics.net/cosmetic-history/cosmetic-in-ancient-rome/>.

Ancient Greek Beauty

Ancient Greece; the next time era on my list of major historic eras to research. With a little research, I discovered the Ancient Greeks' are actually the ones we have to thank for thinking of the concept of beauty. They defined beauty, giving it the meaning that specific looks of physical features are considered more appealing to the eye than others.
The ancient Greeks' would not use makeup to camouflage their flaws, as most women do nowadays.  Instead they used makeup to enhance their natural beauty. For instance, the Greeks' often let their unibrows grow out. If they couldn't grow it naturally, animal hairs were glued on to imitate a natural-looking unibrow. For their makeup, beeswax was used as lipstick, charcoal was used as eyeliner, and chalk was used to etiolate the skin for an overall paler completion. This is most definitely different than nowadays, where girls usually turn to spray tans or tanning beds to achieve that golden glow.

The beauty standards didn't stop there, the ancient Greeks' had standards for their bodies, rather than just their faces. Their overall appearance even indicated their social ranking. Short hair meant you were a slave whereas long hair symbolized a free women, which was usually worn in a bun.
One of the most commonly known Greek beauty standard is the idea of symmetry. The Greeks believed symmetrical features on a woman/mans' face was hands-down the most visually appealing.
Overall, the ancient Greeks' developed the foundation for the beauty standards we have today.

                            "Ancient Greek's Concept on Beauty." Ancient Greek's Concept on Beauty. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.    
                             "Would You Be Beautiful in the Ancient World?" BBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2016.                                                                                                

Ancient Egypt

In this current day and era, beauty and fashion desires for women come out as often as fries do at McDonald's, everyday. These desired assets for women change progressively as time ticks on. This had me thinking: if beauty standards change as often as they do now, how often did, and what were, the beauty standards for women throughout history? Obviously the term 'history' could range from the dinosaur era to the swingin' sixties. I decided to narrow my research into twelve major time events; Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Elizabethan Era, Japanese Geisha, Pre-French Revolution, Victorian Era, Roarin' Twenties, Swingin' Sixties, Fifties, Eighties, and the Modern Era. I started at the beginning of it all; Ancient Egypt.
Egypt
Prior to typing my search into Google, I knew as much about Ancient Egyptian beauty as any another typical teenage girl. The one key concept I knew was that the Egyptians valued symmetry. Other than that, I had no clue on what to expect.
Body Image
Every era seems to have a desirable body for both men and women. In a buzz feed article, I discovered the ideal body for a woman in Ancient Egypt; boyish. Tall, slender, flat-chested, and broad-shouldered was the ultimate body goal. Practically the exact opposite of nowadays. The Ancient Egyptian society also valued a symmetrical face. Below is a picture of the ideal body type in Ancient Egypt.

Cosmetics
Egyptians, as women nowadays do, wore cosmetics. The most famous trend from this era, bold eyeliner, was actually used quit often. Several key components of their everyday look all followed the same goal; a symmetrical face. Here are a few:
-Oils: to moisturize skin due to hot air
-Black, white, and green were the most common colors used
-Henna was used to paint nails
Below is a visual representation of the most desirable face:

 I was surprised to find many similarities between the modern day beauty standards and the ancient Egyptian's idea of beauty. After all, I guess that is where the idea of beauty in general was created.

For the cosmetic section, I used the website below. This website was informative, however it wasn't as interesting as the other website I used.

                           "What Was the Ideal of Female Beauty in Ancient Egypt and Crete?" What Was the Ideal of Female Beauty in Ancient Egypt and Crete? N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2016.                                                 

I used this buzz feed article for the body image section. The article included a video, and was entertaining to look through.

                           Yang, Eugene Lee. "Women's Ideal Body Types Throughout History." BuzzFeed. N.p., 27 Jan. 2015. Web. 18 May 2016.