Western Standards of Beauty: An Illustrated Timeline
82When Thin Wasn't In
Hard to believe as it seems, thin wasn't always in. There are centuries of documentation of female beauty, and except for ours, the trend is fairly consistant: beautiful women are shapely, soft, and rounded. What a contrast is that idea to our current ideal - the waif-like figure introduced by Twiggy and popularized by the likes of Kate Moss!
This timeline is an illustrated journey through the last 600 years, from the portraits of the European Renaissance to red-carpet photos of modern celebrities. Take time to study each picture as you scroll. What would our society today say to these women about their bodies? And, perhaps more importantly, what would these women have to say to us?
Renaissance - 15th Century
Elizabethan Era - 16th Century
Rococo - 18th Century
The Portrait: Women as Art
Before the invention of the photograph, the only way to capture your likeness was to sit for a portrait. Some of the most respected works of art by the great masters are paintings of women: the da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, Botticelli's Birth of Venus, Frieda Kahlo's amazing self-portraits.
Modern art has moved away from the realistic portrait, and you hardly ever see one used in home decorating, but for hundreds of years, the female body, in all its voluptuous glory, was the epitome of art - the ultimate subject - beauty itself. These women were curvy, full, and solid. They seem to occupy space in a way foreign to us. We are so intent on making less of ourselves.
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Turn of the Century - 1890-1910
The Jazz Age - 1920's
Post Depression - 1930's
The "New Woman" Emerges
The turn of the century was a pivotal time for women. Magazine covers echoed the shift that was occuring, showing small men against large, powerful women. Feminism was in the air. The famed Gibson Girl drawings were buxom by our standards, s-shaped, and aloof, their hair piled high upon their heads - but for the times, girls like Camille Clifford (one of the original models) were considered slender. Women compensated for their growing intellectual prowess by restraining their bodies in corsets.
The next generation went further, rejecting the modest advances of their predecessors, donning baggy, short dresses and bobbing their hair. These "flappers" flaunted their new-found freedom in a way their mothers would never have dreamed, going dancing, listening to jazz music and smoking cigarettes. Though currently portrayed in film as delicate and petite, flappers were not waifs. Some did bind their breasts down, but not to look thinner, but rather to appear more boyish. They were out to prove that they were every bit as good as their male counterparts, which initially manifested itself as imitation.
Later, women would regain their curves as, feeling more secure in their rights, they began to flaunt their femininity.
The War Years - 1940's
Recovery - 1950's
Social Upheaval - 1960's
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Claiming Our Space
Women found sexuality a new source of power. Clothing became skimpier in the 1940's, until World War II broke out. Feeling the "American tradition" threatened, families reverted to more conservative values, but the pin-up remained a staple of popular culture.
The 1960's saw civil rights campaigns, as well as a new wave of feminism, throwing off the domesticity of the 50's. As women sought to distance themselves from the role of wife and mother, the androgynous ideal once again surfaced in Twiggy, a stick-thin model made popular overnight by a single photo shoot.
Sexual Revolution - 1970's
Prosperity - 1980's
Globalization - 1990's
From Liberation to Objectification
The Sexual Revolution brought breasts and hips back into the picture, before the fitness craze of the 1980's swept the West. Struggling to find bodies that might fit with their identities as liberated women, a generation was born obsessed with having "buns of steel" and "rock-hard abs."
Body-building gave way to weight-losing with the rise of heroin chic. The new "power" women used to define themselves was the power to resist: the discipline to deprive oneself. Waif-like icon Kate Moss led the movement as Calvin Klein spokesmodel. When her drug use was uncovered, she was quickly disavowed by the company and the fashion industry alike, but was a working model once again within six months.
Present - 2000's Onward
Where We're Left
...with worth determined by weight, compulsively counting calories and pounds, deconstructing ourselves into imperfect parts. We trumpet our gains in the professional and political sphere, while we pare away our bodies as penance.
Finishing my work on this piece, I scroll through the pictures one more time, pausing at the knowing smile of Mona Lisa. Countless songs and poems have wondered at what secret she keeps behind her smirking lips. Her smile is so much a part of her. It seems to come from the very core of her identity. She feels that sense of entitlement so elusive to the diet-obsessed mass of mothers, daughters, and sisters, forever afraid of wanting too much, eating too much being too much. I wonder, if she lived here and now, would she be just another one of us, perpetually putting herself down, or is her power so deep-rooted she would manage to rise above it? I'd like to think we all have that power, ingrained in us somewhere... that deep down inside, we possess that kernal of knowledge that has the potential to free us, if we could only access it; the knowledge that we are art, by our very nature.
600 Years of Women In Art
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Comments
Excellent presentation! ... very informative!
Hi Maddie, nice post! :)
Physical beauty can be deceiving. For me. the real beauty is not measured only through physical aspects. It's in the attitude/character of a person making her sexier. You may have the perfect or beautiful body, but if you have the ugliest attitude, then it's worthless. ;)
The information you provide is compelling and informative, but I have to say that for a study in body type, you sure have a bunch of pictures that only show a portion of the body...
As for me, I prefer a moderately curvy figure like Farrah or Cindy.
And it's also unfortunate that the idealized body type has become so thin, especially as the greater population weighs more and more, but the people who decry the idealization of thin as "unrealistic" and say that everyone should be satisfied with their body, no matter what size they are, need to remember that overweight is unhealthy, and overweight shouldn't be promoted as A-OK.
Chubby isn't considered sexy for a reason, and women should work to become healthy--thin within reason.
In fact, overweight is not synonymous with unhealthy... check out the study I reported on in http://hubpages.com/hub/Crash_Diets
You can make significant improvements in your health without dropping a pound. And, in fact, weight is about as heritable as height, genetics have shown. We should definitely all attempt to be as healthy as we can, but I would object to linking health directly to thinness. That is exactly the kind of thinking that creates an environment where eating disorders thrive.
I wonder what your body type is. You seem to have a lot to say about women's bodies, but I see two possible scenarios: you are overweight, which makes you a hypocrite, or you are naturally slimmer, in which case I urge you to understand the genetic piece.
People with certain genetics often have trouble understanding why other people have such trouble maintaining a similar shape, but it really has very little to do with how much "discipline" you have or how "hard" you work.
In addition, most of the women in these paintings and pictures would be considered "chubby" or "plump" by today's standards, but there are hundreds of years of evidence that that has been the consistant standard of beauty for centuries, except for the last 50-odd years.
Thanks for reading.
Maddie
Interesting hub, I just wrote something on the same topic, and I'm in favor returning to curves. Im in favor of exercise and being trim and fit - toned, even.
But not emaciated, like Keira or Lindsey.
Kate Moss, however, I've never found too thin, it suits her, somehow. The rest of them see to be trying far, far too hard.
this is why i love hubpages. stumbling on the most random topics. i'd consider this a random topic just because i never thought about it. but its SO informative. instant bookmark for me. thanks for writing this up. i was trying to point out the most drastic change. i think its from the jazz era to the post depression era. cheers!
A very informative study - I like they way you ended with a question and a reference back to the first picture - Mona Lisa. Very Powerful!
You are amazing. So glad I found this page. Thanks for putting it together!
Interesting. Where is the Black woman?
Jada:
Good thought. This is a timeline of Western aesthetics, and so highlights the expectation of the white woman as part of the (unfair) standard.
I like your hub! Very nice, very interesting and very informative.
Thanks!
A beautiful and very important hub! Thank you so much for sharing the truth that women were not always stick-thin as "beautiful"!
Maddie,
What an incredible Hub, making a way through history with the beautiful women of the world. I love that fact that you have pointed out the different optimum weight of the corresponding time period. Personally, I love the beauty of the Gibson Girl, to me she portrays a beauty of innocence combined with prowess. I also agree that much of a persons body type is hereditary, this need for obsessive weight loss is not healthy in the least. Thanks for your insights on these beautiful women, and women in general.
Excellent Hub. I crossed this by browsing and I am glad I did. Thanks for this good information.
Interesting development
Great article and beautiful pictures.
Great hub Maddie. I always love that pin up of Betty Grable from World War II. She faced her back to the camera in that shot because she was pregnant and that was not considered sexy back in the forties. Now she would be showing off that beautiful belly.
Hips and boobs. You can't go wrong with them.
I agree with Isabella here, thanks for the article Maddie.
Mona Lisa is smiling because she lived in a day where, while the sexes were BOTH stuck with assigned gender roles (a trajectory of tens of thousands of years), she clearly hadn't been taught to hate herself for the cards that she was dealt. To me she's always had the look of a poker player who knows how to win with the hand she's got.
really amasing
The unusually large breasts on human females, as opposed to their chimpanzee counterparts, are due to our tendency toward monogamy. On average, human females have breasts that are much larger than what would be necessary to suckle young. Chimpanzee females have (relative to body size) smaller breasts, display sexual swellings during oestrus and are receptive to all males during ovulation. Because they are willing to share the same mates as other females, the competition is between sperm cells, and this accounts for the relatively larger scrotum of the adult chimpanzee male, compared to human males. Human females, in contrast to their chimp counterparts, compete with each other for choice males. This throws the choice of females back into the male domain; males have chosen the bigger busted females as being more attractive.
The current trend to prefer underweight people as more attractive than overweight people is due to our material culture. This preference crosses gender lines. We don't tend to think overweight men are attractive, either. In ancient times, and even in the relatively recent past, food was hard to come by. If you were overweight, chances were you were both healthy and wealthy. Only the wealthy could eat more than they needed, and only people not marked with disease were able to put on weight. Nowadays the inference goes the other way. Food is plentiful -- in terms of calories. Eating too much can lead to diabetes and other diseases. Only the wealthy can afford to eat high quality food (those containing the right blend of nutrients) that reduces the chances of dangerous weight gains).
So there is a reason for all this "unfairness". But ultimately it is up to the individual whether he or she takes someone else's aesthetic judgments seriously.
Believe me, it's not easy to write this with my chimpanzee son and human daughter feuding in the background.
As much as I appreciate any article reflecting and analyzing women in culture and history, I felt that this article only represents the white standard of beauty. You failed to mention the early 2000's when Jennifer Lopez, a very full figured woman, became increasingly popular. She helped usher in an interest towards voluptuous and curvy women, almost completing a circle back to Venus de Milo. Then came Beyonce. Then came an exceptence and general enthusiasm for full figured women. Then came an unhealthy obsession, and the plastic surgery. It seems that no matter what the fad is for body types, it is always carried to an unhealthy extreme. There also seems to be a very extreme and polarized view on body types: either very thin or extra curvy around the traditional female parts (the hips and breasts). In history, I have yet to see a woman of average measurements considered a standard of beauty. Hopefully, in due time.
Thanks Maddie, for consolidating the female body history and making it accessible to everyone. I hope it inspires women to reconsider and prioritize their body issues accordingly. Love your body and your mind! They're the only things that'll consistantly stay with you until the day you die!
Polarization is a natural tendency. Once we discover a telling difference between two things, we tend to want to exaggerate it.
We also have this reaction to children's body types. Since infants tend to have larger heads and eyes relative to body size, we tend to think large-headed, big eyed infants and toddlers are more attractive. However, once they grow up, these individuals are no longer seen as that attractive. Hence the phenomenon of "cute child" -- not so attractive adult.
Loved the era titles and fascinated by the video! Great hub! Can't believe I'm just now stopping by to see it!
Good Hub. Rated
Personally I am not attracted to large breasts, and I am not wealthy but have no problem eating a good variety of quality food.
Question: Why would anyone compare humans to chimpanzees? How about comparing chimpanzees to cows or pigs?
bettie davis no 1 so preety
So you are saying that thin women aren't equal to full-figured women? Not everyone is born with a curvy, thick body, and the slender-figured girl should be as acclaimed as the fuller-bodied ones. Being thin or thick doesnt make someone beautiful.
Hi Harley:
I'm not sure where you got the idea that I am condemning a thinner body type. If you look at my other hubs on body image, you can see that I am a proponent of body acceptance--for people of all shapes and sizes. In this hub, I am merely pointing out that the current obsession with the waif-like female figure that is so damaging to so many women hasn't always been so popular, and shouldn't be the only standard of beauty by which we measure ourselves and those around us.
Thanks for reading!
This is a fantastic hub, I love looking at the changes of body shapes as well as the material aspect of these changes. I have to agree with Ladybot, I think the influences of Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce have had a very important role in the body shape women strive to have today. Even though these women admittedly spend huge amounts of time on their apperance, they have managed to convey that a healthy body can still be feminine-making the most of their curves that many modern women try to eradicate.
The body-shape fashions that this hub talks about are fascinating, yet depressing. From the first picture, right down to the last, we see females following a fashion to make themselves more like men. I say bring femininity back- one of the most powerful forces on the planet!
I like my body with all it's little flaws. And so does my boy friend. We agree that the 'Idealistic Thin' is WAY to thin.
It makes me sad that there's not a black, latino, or any other kind of minority in this mix of "standard beauties".
I found this very interesting. And just goes to show beauty really does come in all shapes and sizes!
Why are all of the women white? There are scores of beautiful women that are black, latina, asian, indian, etc. (Most of them are much more attractive than renee zellwegger...) This page is informative, but is premised on an essentialist notion of beauty = white.
KANSHEFLE:
This was actually addressed further up the comments. This timeline is illustrating a Western standard of beauty, which traditionally (and wrongly) has been primarily white.
Wonderful tribute. It's a shame that we place so much on physical beauty and not what is inside.
Very interesting and informative. Thanks.
A well-illustrated timeline with informative historical snippets.
The title is perfectly selected. Western standards have always tended toward white and still do, but discretion is awarded by the title here.
I think Mylinda Arons says it well; north, south, east, west, black, white, red, yellow, then, now, later---you can't go wrong with "hips and boobs"!
this is so interesting. im doing my 1st year beauty managment degree and was just browsing the internet for different opinions on where the idea of enhancing or changing ones apperance became 'popular' i have found that is has gone right back to egypitian times which again toyed with the idea that a woman should be 'skinny' to be beautiful. i would love to hear your opinions on this. x
Just thought I'd like to point out that the 'curvier' women painted back in the Renaissance was due to the fact that the richer upper classes had more money to pay the artists for their portraits, as artists didn't have the time or steady income to sit around and draw whatever they feel like and then sell it. Those portraits weren't drawn out of inspiration, they were drawn for profit, and they don't necessarily reflect the artist's views on beauty or whatever, they just painted what they had to. And thus, since the upper classes back then always had the money to pay and the luxury to sit around and get a little chub, you have portraits of the curvier, luckier ladies back in those days.
Of course, I'm not trying to out way your argument, because I like your points, just thought I should share that.
I found this a very inspirational hub. Thank you.
livelonger says:
2 years ago
Interesting visual study.