WHAT IS “BEAUTY”?

Who defines it?

What is beauty?

Does “beauty” change?Or is it always the

same?

What is it that makes these women beautiful?

BEAUTY THROUGH THE AGES

The changing concept of “beauty”

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”

- Margaret Wolfe Hungerford

Can you name these Hollywood icons?

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

- Confucius (1878)

• At this point in history, slenderness was becoming more fashionable.

• The invention of the bra.

• A ‘Gibson Girl’–the feminine ideal of beauty portrayed in the illustrations of Charles Dana Gibson.

• Women idolized Clifford’s hourglass figure and towering hair.

Camille Cliff ord (Gibson Girl)

1900S

• Women abandoned traditional notions of femininity, binding their breasts to achieve a ‘washboard’ figure.

• Traded in corsets for looser fitting outfits with a ‘boyish’ feel.

• Comfortable.• Flapper dresses & ‘short’

skirts that showed off and accentuated long legs.

• Cropped haircuts were the norm (symbol of freedom of expression).Clara Bow

(fi lm star)

1920S

• Sexual & in full femininity – curves, breasts, full makeup, glamour pin-up style hair.

• Idolized women who were sexy, full figured, hourglass shaped & glamorous both day and night.

• Flawless – perfection was key.

• Monroe was perceived as the epitome of beauty in the 50s.

Marilyn Monroe(Model , actress & singer)

1950S

• 1960s saw the biggest change in ideals of beauty in 20th Century.

• Super slim, boyish frames.• Short pixie hair cuts & heavy eye

make-up.

Twiggy• In 1966, Twiggy was named ‘The

Face of 1966’ and voted British Woman of the Year.

• Personified the swinging 60s mod culture in London.

• Known for her androgynous look, large eyes and short hair.Twiggy

(Model)

1960S

• Ideal of slim and slender still in effect.

• Women began to revolt against ‘beauty’ in the 70s.

• Natural beauty.• Blown-out waves (‘bed-head’

hair) and natural makeup – the ‘unkempt look’.

• Mixture of hippy ideals of beauty and the early disco trends (e.g. voluminous clothing).

Farrah Fawcett(Hollywood actress)

1970S

• Careerism & power-dressing (e.g. shoulder pads, mini-skirts).

• Between overdone and unkempt.

• Strong brows and big hair were the norm.

• Natural makeup was nowhere to be seen – bright and bulky eye shadows, blush, mascara and lipstick.

Brooke Shields(Actress & model)

1980S

Two main ideals

1. “Glamazon” models (Moss)

2. Athletic but curvaceous figures (Crawford)

• Toned, muscled, slender bodies.

• Healthy look.

• Plastic surgery started to become popular as women searched to have ‘body perfection’.

Cindy Crawford & Kate Moss

(Models)

1990S

PRESENT & FUTURE

What does ‘beauty’ look like now? How do we define it today?

What will ‘beauty’ look like in the future?

“The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express.”

- Francis Bacon

“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart.”

- Helen Keller

What does Ellen have to say about beauty?

FINAL THOUGHTS…