The ideal of beauty in different eras. Ideals of female beauty How the image of a woman has changed over the centuries

Faceless Paleolithic Venus

In the late Paleolithic era, the salvation of the human race was in vogue. This is evidenced by all the signs found in the images of prehistoric figurines - "Paleolithic Venuses". They are pregnant women with wide hips, large breasts and bulging bellies. But one question still remains unanswered - why are "Venuses" depicted without a face? Were women of that time not treated as individuals?

The beauties of ancient Egypt

With the onset of the next era, the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bfemale beauty has changed radically. The Egyptians depicted in the frescoes no longer had magnificent forms and signs of pregnancy. Inspirers of the Pharaoh, on the contrary, had a slender body, long legs, broad shoulders and narrow hips. The idea of ​​“ideal facial features” also appeared: plump lips, thick black eyebrows and large almond-shaped eyes, which were emphasized by the first natural cosmetics - soot.

Goddesses of Beauty of Ancient Greece and Rome

The era of harmony and aesthetics left its mark on the "standard female beauty". The most beautiful girls of that time were short - 164 cm and had parameters similar to the ideal of the 21st century - 86-69-93. Particular attention was paid to facial symmetry and precise proportions. For example, the lips had to be one and a half times larger than the eyes. The hair of the girls was collected in a knot or bun. No loose hairstyles or bright Egyptian makeup, only natural beauty and naturalness.

Enchantress of the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, girls with a pale and thin body were considered the standard of beauty. With a complete absence of any cosmetics and hair wrapped in a headdress. However, enchantresses had to pay for such beauty. They dressed in several layers of clothing, and spent all their time in fasting and prayer. Otherwise, the painted beauties were waiting for the fire of the holy Inquisition only because their appearance prompted virtuous Christians to “shameful” thoughts.

Renaissance Guria

In the 14th century, barbarism finally ended, and beautiful girls were able to feel safe again. Virgins with a blush on their cheeks, a swan neck, blond curly hair and seductive roundness were considered the standard of perfection. Over time, burst into fashion plump women, and closer to the Enlightenment - they gained the highest popularity.

Stately Baroque lady

With the collapse of the ideals of beauty of the Renaissance came a mania for unnaturalness, stateliness and grandeur. Lush ladies in complex costumes and with unimaginable hairstyles have become the standard of female perfection. It was a real protest against strict forms and classicism. The girls wore corsets, wigs and hundreds of fine jewelry. Every detail gave the image individuality and idleness, without which not a single fashionista of the 16th century could do.

Lovely Shepherds Rococo

Finally came the era of gallantry and melancholy grace. Girls dress in pastoral colors and emphasize their natural perfection. not in fashion big breasts, a pretty face with a blush, reminiscent of a porcelain cupid and sloping shoulders.

Virgins of the Age of Enlightenment

By the end of the XVIII century, the standards of the Middle Ages returned to fashion. Skinny and ephemerally pale beauties once again excite the hearts of men. However, this time no one burns them at the stake and does not force them to spend all their free time in prayer. Virgos exhausted themselves with literature in order to gain a subtle spiritual structure. Otherwise, how to get emotional and shed a tear from an exciting poem by a fan.

Socialites of the 20th century

At the beginning of the 20th century, the standard of female beauty absorbed the images of the ancient Egyptians with their abundantly made up eyes, narrow hips and broad shoulders. The angular features of the languid seductresses were perfectly combined with a look full of tragedy and mystery. Closer to the 50s, ladies with an hourglass figure came into fashion, and from the 70s to the 2000s, love for skinny girls returned again.

Beauty these days

In the 21st century, girls have finally moved away from the desire to have an androgynous appearance and an anorexic figure. Naturalness and simplicity are back in fashion. Girls of the 21st century are increasingly choosing a sports lifestyle in order to develop muscles and maintain health for procreation. Evolution takes its toll in any era, and if there has been a decline somewhere, growth will follow. A bright future awaits us!

If you ever catch yourself thinking that you want to have the same waist as the next Hollywood actress, or legs like your favorite singer, remember: the media concept of the ideal female body is not static. Lists of the "most beautiful people of the year" are just the epitome of what has accumulated on the surface of pop culture.

The silhouette of the ideal woman is influenced by fashion, movies, music and even politics, and it changes year after year. That is why the physical qualities that we adopt today are often at odds with the ideals of previous generations. `And to prove it, we offer a look at the evolution of the female figure over the past 100 years.

1910s: The Gibson Girl

The personification of the 1900s was the "Gibson Girl". Illustrator Charles Gibson was America's most popular fashion photographer in the early twentieth century. His vision perfect figure and appearance was featured on the pages of LIFE, Collier's and Harper's fashion magazines around the world. The Gibson Girl in the 1900s looked like the popular contemporary singer Beyoncé.

Women tried by any means to copy a figure that, with its curves, resembled the number 8. To do this, the waist was pulled into a corset as much as possible so that the hips and chest seemed larger than they really were. It was not enough for the girls of that time to have a pretty face. A sexy figure obliged a woman to be mysterious, royally arrogant and proud.

1920s: Flapperboards

Girls in the 1920s said goodbye to stately figures, expressive curves and sexy outfits. Unlike the cold beauty of the previous decade, flappers are fun, open girls who are constantly on the move. The exaggerated curves of the ideal "Gibson figure" disappeared, and their place was taken by a small bust and boyishly narrow hips.

The standard of the female figure has undergone dramatic changes, and with it the style of clothing has changed. The waist line in the dress has moved a few centimeters below the navel, thereby justifying the fashion for narrow hips. Although the focus shifted down to the legs, where garters could playfully show from under the short knee-length hem, girls in the 1920s clearly lacked sex appeal.

1930s: Smooth curves

After the collapse of the stock market, the mood of the public fell down, and with it the hem of the women's dress fell, which began to be draped along the oblique line. A more fitted and not as angular silhouette as before has come into fashion. The natural line of the waist and shoulders returned to its place.

The flat-chested ideal of beauty, which was very popular in the 1920s, is being replaced by the miniature bra, the most important invention of this era. The media is starting to tout slightly curvier body shapes, making the decade a stepping stone from the asexual figure of the past decade to the smooth curves of the next generations.

1940s: Strength

The 1940s isn't "Goodbye Arms", it's "Goodbye to the smooth curves of the 30s". Thanks to the Second World War, military wide, square and aggressive shoulders became the trend of this decade. Angularity - is the personification of the ideal female figure. Even bras are beginning to be produced with pointed cups, which were called “bullet” and “torpedo”. The ideal physique still did not require women to exercise, but it was not the graceful and fragile girl of the 1930s that became attractive, but a tall woman, with long legs and a square silhouette. In addition to external changes, society demanded internal changes. Once sweet and sexy girls became more powerful, perhaps due to the fact that the entire burden of responsibility fell on their shoulders while the men were busy on the battlefield.

1950s: Hourglass

The 50s is the era of femininity. After the angular shapes of the last decade, the hourglass silhouette is back in fashion. The war is over, the men have returned home and the sexuality hidden behind the graceful forms is valued above all else. Thanks to movies and magazines that advertise round hips, slim waists, and raised breasts, skinny women are starting to take supplements to build up their sexy curves.

It was during this era that the iconic men's magazine Playboy and the world-famous Barbie doll were created, which had a very narrow waist and large breasts. It was thanks to the hourglass figure that dresses with a deep neckline and flared skirts came into fashion.

1960s: Skinny

The swinging 60s turned back the clock and set women back decades. In this era, rounded shapes are considered overweight, and unhealthy thinness turns into a trend of the decade. Fashion magazines actively advertise the image of a thin teenage girl, with rosy cheeks and an androgynous appearance. Models Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton represent the new ideal: doll-faced, super-slender and petite figure.

Fashion designers are happy to support this look, and short straight dresses are quickly replacing the flared silhouettes of the 50s. New styles require girls to have small breasts and narrow hips. Sounds familiar? In this era, women diet themselves to the point of being able to wear the petite clothes promoted by the icon of the 60s - Twiggy. By the way, it was in 1963 that the new service weight monitoring.

1970s: Disco diva

Disco! Overalls! High platforms! This decade has been one hell of a party. But the "party girl of the day" still had to maintain a slim and athletic figure in order to be able to show off all the crazy outfits of the era on the dance floor. As it turns out, synthetic fabrics like polyester and spandex are much brighter but much more demanding on the silhouette than fabrics from the past. The general ideal of the figure remains thin, but slight curves are starting to come back into fashion.

As in the 1930s, this decade took a positive step forward from the non-sexual image of the 60s. During this period, the “black pride” and “black is beautiful” movement was born, and Beverly Johnson became the first black woman to grace the cover of Vogue magazine.

1980s: Supermodel

In the 1980s, the world was dominated by supermodels. These tall, long-legged women became the epitome of a new female ideal. Models like Elle MacPherson, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista are stepping off the runways and invading the heart of pop culture: film and music.

The 1980s is also the era of fitness, aerobics, and jogging, thanks to TV lessons from Jane Fonda. For the first time, the presence of tightened and embossed muscles becomes acceptable and desirable for a woman.

1990s: Heroin chic

Supermodels still rule the world, only they have shrunk in size. The thin, exhausted and petite figure of Kate Moss has become the standard of the whole decade. Skeptics called her silhouette “heroin chic,” which was incompatible with the luxurious and regal image of supermodels of the 80s. Baggy jeans, an oversized sweater and a unisex fragrance are all fashion trends created specifically to emphasize the androgynous look of girls.

Hollywood did not stand aside and picked up the fashion for thin women. The personification of this era in the cinema was the actress Winona Ryder. She was so petite that comedian Ben Stiller once said, "She's like a little figurine on a coffee table!"

2000s: Fit Girl

Supermodel Gisele Bundchen, according to the fashion magazine Vogue, returned to fashion sexuality. It is she who is credited with the end of the era of "heroin chic". Gone was the pale, emaciated and thin image of the 90s. In the 2000s, we entered the era of natural light curves, medium-sized breasts, flat stomachs and bronzed tans.

Giselle has long been considered "the most beautiful girl in the world", graced the covers of the most famous magazines and defiled on the red carpet with Leonardo DiCaprio arm in arm. Hollywood actresses hired teams of fitness trainers, nutritionists, and layered self-tanners during awards season in an attempt to reach the benchmark of the decade.

2010s: Big Curves

Two words: appetizing forms. This is the benchmark for this decade. Nicki Minaj and J. Lo praise the Lord in their songs for the fact that he rewarded them with delicious forms. In 2010, tight and petite dresses, short shorts and deep cleavage are the most appropriate clothes that best emphasize the dignity of the figure. If in the 50s women took dietary supplements to add curves to a leaner figure, then modern women are not shy about pads on the buttocks and even plastic surgery to increase that very fifth point. But a modern woman is not enough just to have a great figure. In 2010, she must exude sexuality, be self-confident, daring and outspoken.

Models of the female figure, like everything else in pop culture, are just a fashion trend. As comedian Tina Fey wrote in her book: “Now every girl should have blue Caucasian eyes, full lips like a Spanish woman, a snub nose, smooth Asian skin with a California tan, a booty like a Jamaican dancer, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, hips of a nine-year-old boy, arms like a Michelle Obama, and doll breasts". Instead of chasing these ridiculous, media-imposed ideals of beauty, take pride in what nature has given you.

I wonder what awaits us in the 2020s?

Since ancient times, people began to turn to the concept the beauty with some uncertainty. I propose to consider the beauty of man. Someone subdivided this word into two components: beauty external and internal. And some combined this concept into one whole. Not so long ago, a survey was conducted on social networks. It consisted in the fact that a group of people from 12 to 45 years old was asked the same question: “What is beauty?”. And they were asked to answer this question in just a few sentences.

After such a survey, all the collected materials were processed and this is what happened. The age category from 12 to 18 years old, in its total mass, answered that beauty is the appearance of a person. Category from 19 to 30 years old, that beauty is the relationship of internal and external data of a person, and people from 30 to 45 years old, that beauty is internal qualities. Moreover, in the third group there were, in total, married and married people.

One of the most interesting statements about beauty was the publication of a 30-year-old girl with the nickname Alexa: “The attractiveness and beauty of a person are two different concepts. If you do not consider yourself attractive - this is only a huge plus for you. All the beautiful girls who studied in my group and who were surrounded by male attention from all sides lived a not very happy life, as they were constantly in the race for their beauty and were afraid to lose it. They were always so beautiful that they did not notice anything around and did not develop anything in themselves. With age, they only worked on how not to lose their youth and beauty. And if you are not very attractive on the outside, you are forced to develop an inner world within yourself. And your "highlight" can be your charm or your insight. If you are ugly, you have a huge number of chances to become attractive to yourself and the people around you. And if you are beautiful - often, you are just beautiful and that's it. Your inner world is empty and uninteresting."

So the girl under the nickname Alexa expressed her opinion. Her opinion for another person may be erroneous, but it has the right to exist. Based on the results of this study, we can conclude that beauty is an abstract definition. And each has its own beauty. And over the years, living conditions and internal perception of the surrounding world for a person, this concept changes repeatedly. Today you are a 12-year-old boy and your perception of the world around you includes brightness of tones, melancholy character and carelessness. And at this stage, all these components help you understand - the beauty whether it's beauty or not. With age, these concepts change and after a few decades, beauty appears to you in a different guise. In the guise of inner and outer harmony with yourself and the world around you.

Beauty external and internal.

Beauty, both internal and external, must be constantly developed. So for the development of external beauty in a person, one must adhere to the following rules:

• Proper nutrition is the key to good skin. We are what we eat. With the right use of the right food, the result will not be long in coming.
• Sports are our strength. In an athletic body, an athletic spirit. Sport is an integral part of a beautiful person. Heinrich Heine believed that in our life the definition the beauty It sounds exactly like this: "beauty is health." Namely, with the help of sports we can maintain our health.
• Well-groomed hair and nails - these elements are very important. Beauty requires care. And at the first eye contact with a person, these two elements (nails and hair) attract attention very much.
• Neatness in clothes. Clothes don't have to be the same style or expensive. But it must be clean and ironed.

To maintain external beauty, you need to follow your daily routine. First of all, behind the hours of sleep and wakefulness. Healthy and proper sleep is one of the components of external beauty. Nowadays, everyone is in a race for money. Because of this, we do not have time to eat on time, sleep is sometimes not included in our daily routine, and there is no opportunity to talk for sports at all. And when all these rules are omitted, then decorative cosmetics and cosmetic care products come to the rescue. One can get lost in the abundance of cosmetic companies. How to choose exactly those products that will emphasize natural beauty and help in solving problems.

The advertisement is engine of the trade. And it is through advertising that most women purchase this or that cosmetic product, but advertising does not always correspond to reality. The main tool in the selection of cosmetics for modern women is their own experience. Namely, after watching ads, women run to buy products in the nearest store. And if the product is right for you, then you recommend it to your friends and acquaintances. But your experience is not a panacea for all shortcomings. Just because something works for you doesn't mean it will work for everyone!

How to choose decorative cosmetics for yourself? With the advent of the Internet, we have facilitated and simplified the choice of anything to the maximum. There are many beauty blogs on the web. This is where you can find any information about a particular tool. If you doubt the veracity of this information, then there are ways to check it. You can contact the person who wrote this or that comment and ask him to try the tool that is discussed in the blog. And in this way, you do not have to buy an expensive product from advertising and hope that it will suit you. Otherwise, you will be wasting your money.

These basic rules must be observed for external beauty. But for the development of inner beauty, a little more is needed. No matter how strange it may sound, but these rules can be compared with the nine commandments of the Bible. If the development of external beauty may require some money, then it will not be required to improve your inner world.

The most optimal way of self-development is books. Depending on the genre of the book, you can find out about everything that interests you in it. Starting from the history of the development of planet Earth, and ending with etiquette in society. The main thing in self-education and self-development is desire. A person who wants to change himself can always do it. I think that everyone has had this when you meet a person who is not very handsome on the outside, maybe even disgusting. But when you start communicating with him, your opinion changes dramatically.

And it happens with accuracy and vice versa. When outwardly a person is gorgeous, but inside is empty. Then his external beauty "depreciates" and becomes unnecessary. And in the eyes of the interlocutor, a person who is beautiful only outwardly may not even become very attractive. Based on the above, a beautiful person must maintain a balance between the beauty of the external and internal.

Beauty in world history and the influence of beauty on its course.

From time immemorial, the classics of world literature have given their own definitions of beauty. Moreover, both the beauty of man and the world around. the beauty is a terrible force. With the help of this power, great things can be done and huge cities can be destroyed. So, for example, Wikipedia has this definition of beauty: “ the beauty- an aesthetic category denoting perfection, a harmonious combination of aspects of an object, in which the latter causes aesthetic pleasure for the observer. the beauty is one of the most important categories of culture. The opposite of beauty is ugliness. The following case from world history can serve as proof of the destructive forces of female beauty. In ancient Greek mythology, there is a mention of Elena the beautiful. Because of which the war broke out in Troy. Her the beauty, in this context, has become a destructive force. And thousands of innocent lives were laid on the altar of her beauty.

However, a few centuries later, another beauty appeared, which is admired even in our time - this is the beautiful Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt. With her beauty, she built her empire. Although, according to numerous sources of historians and art critics, Cleopatra was not distinguished by her external beauty. She had willpower, self-control and courage. These inner qualities gave her power over a vast kingdom.

As the popular saying sounds - "do not drink water from the face." This phrase means that the inner world of a person opens the real beauty without pathos. How many people, so many opinions. The definition of beauty can be made, but including all the components of this term, you will get a book in which each person will be able to make their own amendments as they read.

Changes in the ideals of beauty we can trace in the paintings of great artists. If in the Renaissance, Renaissance and Baroque the ideal of a woman was: plump, figureless, with long unkempt hair and short legs, a woman or girl. That has changed in our time. Models from the covers of glossy magazines have become the ideal of beauty for women all over the world. The type of these girls is very similar. They have a lean build, long legs and pronounced facial features.

Each era has its own understanding of beauty. In the Gothic era, gabled roofs of a bizarre, sometimes frightening shape were considered beauty. And in our time, most craftsmen and architects consider the Gothic style ugly and ridiculous. All these styles have changed under the influence of man. And, consequently, the beauty of the world around him depends on human beauty.

The beauty of a human being compared to the beauty of an animal.

Beauty, as such a definition, can be attributed to any subject. However, for each person beauty will be different. And there is nothing wrong with that. And it is a person who is the creature that can appreciate this quality. It is for a person in the definition of beauty that the shape, color, structure and many other number of components matter. Animals, for example, do not pay attention to beauty. They choose their partner according to smells and instincts. And some of them are color blind.

What is the beauty? Many scientists and ordinary people have tried to find the answer to this question. However, there is no unambiguous definition of this term. If we talk about the beauty of animals, then basically for a person they are all beautiful. But, at the same time, beauty in the animal world carries a danger. And often in the world of animals, the most dangerous are precisely the beautiful individuals.

Take, for example, the tiger. This is a member of the cat family. The cat is the animal that man tamed hundreds of centuries ago. Does this mean that tigers are not dangerous to humans? No, they are predators. And their bright colors should work as a deterrent, not as an attraction. Does this mean that beauty is dangerous?

If you delve into the history of the animal world, you can find out the following facts. In those times when people did not have information, all their learning took place by trial and error. People died in hundreds and thousands from animals. These were snakes, spiders, crocodiles and other individuals of the animal world. People, seeing the beautiful color of the animal, perceived predators as a toy, for which they sometimes paid with their lives. I wonder if it's the same among people?

A contact group survey was conducted, within which 20 people of unattractive appearance were selected. And they were asked to write a mini essay on the topic “How do I feel about beautiful people and are beautiful people a danger to society?”. After processing the data, opinions were divided. About 30% of respondents said that beautiful people bring goodness and beauty to the world, while the remaining 70% were sure that beauty is a destructive force.

As it was written in one of the works: beauty is a destructive force that can demolish everything in its path. And that it is precisely the people who possess this power that are greedy and soulless. And it is these people who bring evil and destruction to our world.” The dependence of the beauty of a woman and, for example, a tigress, is very pronounced. A beautiful person is beautiful in everything. A beautiful woman has both the intelligence and the skills of a predator. Therefore, the more beautiful a woman is, the more dangerous she is. But this is only if there is a threat to her or her loved ones. And if a beautiful woman is “stroked on the wool”, then her mind and beauty will be able to accomplish great things.

Beauty as a natural phenomenon

In beauty, only the beauty of nature can be compared with a woman. Each season of the year has its own beauty. In winter, these are patterns on the windows, the virgin purity of white snow and trees wrapped in “white fur coats”. In spring, nature pleases with the beauty of awakening. First, the return of the birds and the awakening of the animals. Summer has beauty and a variety of colors in everything. Summer is full of bright colors at every step. Well, autumn is full of gold leaves.

However, this is abstract beauty. It is this beauty that artists depict on canvases and poets sing in their works. But people don't always see weather conditions that way. Some do not see beauty even in the brightest and sunniest day, and for someone a rainy and overcast day is the most beautiful day of his life. It is this kind of weather that will allow him to create some kind of masterpiece that will be recognized as “beauty” by the viewer.

Being in the mountains, I think, few people can refute the fact that nature is beautiful there. Standing on top of the mountain, you enjoy the scenery around. On the right you can see a mountain stream, which spills with its streams in different directions, on the left a mighty forest of firs and pines has spread. A squirrel sits on a branch above and cheerfully nibbles on a nut. Would anyone call this view not beautiful? I think no. Since these landscapes will inspire even the most inveterate choleric and skeptic.

Nature is perhaps one of the common components in the concept of beauty. Since the bulk of people's preferences are similar in this area. Beauty is harmony with yourself and with the world around you. The beauty of man can be compared to the beauty of nature. The character of the girl, which is similar to the silence of a quiet river or lake, is admirable. Since it speaks of humility and self-control in any situation. Although this statement can be argued. Perhaps someone likes the character, like a stormy mountain river.
the beauty the spiritual is reflected in the sound of the wind, the rustle of leaves and the color of the rainbow. In how exactly a person perceives everything that surrounds him. And how he reflects his thoughts on others.

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Beauty is multifaceted and has no standards. Nevertheless, history knows people who, thanks to their external data, have become for us the personification of an entire era. We invite you to move back 100 years and look at the main ideals of beauty of the 20th century, from the “Gibson girls” to Kim Kardashian. And of course, we have not forgotten about men - from Ivan Poddubny to Robert Pattinson.

website decided to show who fashionistas and fashionistas have looked up to over the past 100 years. And at the end of the article we will tell you about 2018.

1910s

Women: Gibson girls are in fashion - beauties with a long neck, big eyes and wavy hair. The figure also had its own standards: the ideal woman had to be tall, slender, with an unnaturally thin waist, large breasts and wide hips.

Men: Mustache - the main attribute of a gentleman in the 1910s. They were carefully looked after, trimmed and shaped with wax. Tall men of strong physique are in fashion - boxers, circus performers and athletes.

1920s

Women: The era of flappers has begun short haircuts, with a lean, boyish build, thin eyebrows and Cupid's bow-shaped lips. Big eyes, like those of a fallow deer, are one of the main criteria for beauty.

Men: Perfect Look young man that time - the protagonist novel An American Tragedy. Jazz is in fashion, the desire for high society and luxury, as well as "sleek" hairstyles and a clean-shaven face. At this time, it was not physical strength that was valued, but the ability to captivate the interlocutor and dance well.

1930s

Women: Thanks to the luxurious divas of cinema, smooth feminine curves have returned to fashion. Regular facial features, Hollywood curls, long eyelashes, high cheekbones, arched eyebrows and deep-set eyes have become the canon of beauty.

Men: Men were also not spared Hollywood chic, and Clark Gable became the standard of male beauty. It was thanks to the "King of Hollywood" that the image of a "dear man" came into fashion - a neat mustache, smoothly combed hair, rye whiskey, cigars and pipes.

1940s

Women: The world of Hollywood luxury has crashed against the harsh reality of wartime. The women were still elegant, but the refined beauty of the previous decade was gone. She was replaced by the image of a strong woman and a fighting friend - a strong athletic figure with broad shoulders was valued.

Men: In such a difficult time, there was no time for fashion, so the hair was no longer combed and fixed with gel, and elegant suits were replaced by military uniforms. Multifaceted people were valued, and it is not surprising that one of the sex symbols of that time was Jean Mare, who was not only an excellent actor, but also a writer, stuntman, sculptor, artist and decorator.

1950s

Women: The 50s brought back Hollywood divas and fashion for feminine forms - high breasts, narrow shoulders, slender legs, lush hips and a thin waist. The puppet look has become one of the most popular - porcelain skin, painted flies, bright glossy lips, a naive look, high hairstyles, bouffant and curls. And the most popular remedy in pharmacies was hydrogen peroxide, because "gentlemen preferred blondes."

Men: The companion of such a “doll” lady had to be strong, with large hands, a courageous chin, a nose with traces of fractures and at the same time with sensual and soft lips. Therefore, it was Marlon Brando, who played the roles of rude but insanely charming dorks, who became the main sex symbol of the decade.

1960s

Women: Twiggy made a real revolution in the fashion world. A couple of years ago, no one would have taken her image seriously: with a height of 166 cm and parameters of 81-56-81, the weight of the model was only 40 kg. It was with Twiggy that the era of weight loss products and diets began. The body was supposed to be thin, haircuts - short, lips - light, and eyes - huge.

Men: In the world of men's fashion, the 1960s were marked by French classics. Thanks to Alain Delon, representatives of the stronger sex with gray-blue eyes, thick black eyebrows and sensual lips became the most popular type. All attention was paid to the actor's signature look and his ironic grin. Delon's calling card, which many tried to copy, was the eyebrows drawn together at the bridge of the nose, creating the effect of a very fixed and hypnotizing look.

1970s

Women: First of all, self-care is valued - it is in this decade that cosmetics manufacturers begin to develop the first products with SPF (sun protection filters). Women strove for naturalness, but at the same time did not sacrifice sexuality - voluminous hairstyles, makeup in natural tones and short skirts.

Men: The fashionable image of a hippie demanded maximum naturalness - no haircuts and shaving. The less chemicals are applied to the hair and body, the better.

1980s

Women: The world has gone crazy for aerobics - sports uniforms, leggings and perm at the peak of popularity. The cult of the body required forms honed in the gym.

Men: But the men decided to return to elegance. They began to cut and shave again, combed their hair back, and styling products returned to their former popularity. I fell in love with the image of a "white collar" and the image of the main character of the film "The Wolf of Wall Street" - an ambitious adventurer, self-confident, energetic, witty and impossibly charming.

1990s

Women: In fashion "heroin chic" - very thin girls with thin arms and legs, tired and absent eyes, pale skin and protruding collarbones.

Each era of mankind differed in its own criteria for assessing the beauty of the fair sex, but the fashion for one or another body type, hair color, woman's eye shape continues to demonstrate its variability in recent history, dictating their terms depending on the country, social and even economic conditions.

Almost at all times, the fair sex had to make considerable sacrifices in order to bring themselves closer to the ideal of female beauty. The sacrifice of the foremother could be much more significant than the strict diet and exhausting workouts of modern young ladies. Yes, today we will talk about the standards of female beauty in different historical eras and periods.

In the prehistoric period, the cult of fertility was dominant, therefore, judging by the archaeological finds, in the Paleolithic era, the beauty of a woman was determined by the massiveness of her hips, abdomen and chest, which is explained by the main purpose of a woman - procreation.

Narrow hips and slenderness in the body of a woman were valued in ancient Egypt. To highlight the eyes and give them a special shine, the ancient Egyptians dripped poisonous belladonna juice into them, and formed an almond-shaped incision with green paint from copper carbonate. The skin was considered beautiful only if it was a light yellow tint, so the women of Ancient Egypt achieved the desired color with the help of white, before resorting to epilation, which is also relevant in the 21st century.

But in Crete they did not perceive the greatness inherent in the Egyptians, so local women emphasized the splendor of their forms whenever possible, and fashion experts say that the first corset, with which a wasp waist was formed and breasts were raised, was used in Crete.

AT healthy body healthy spirit - the ancient Greeks said and tried this truth not only on the young men of Sparta, and on the representatives of the weaker sex, as evidenced by the proportions of the sculpture of Aphrodite - far from the modern canonized 90-60-90, but suitable for a healthy woman with a short physique, a large-boned figure with soft rounded shapes.

In ancient Greece, light skin was in fashion, which was bleached with donkey milk, the proportions of women's facial features were achieved with the help of makeup, and their hair was bleached with alkaline soap and sunlight.

The ancient Romans, in order to comply with the canons of beauty, dictated grace in the body, exhausted themselves exercise, tightly bandaged the chest and thighs, and the skin was bleached both with donkey milk and poisonous lead white.

The title of beauty could harm a woman during the Middle Ages, especially if she had red hair - these were called seductresses and witches, and during the heyday of the Inquisition they were publicly burned at the stake. From the X-XII centuries, asceticism was held in high esteem, as the Church demanded, so the femininity of the physique was hidden under spacious clothes. The owner of broad shoulders, thin waist, narrow hips, white skin was called a beauty, but everything in her image should have testified to her purity.

Customs and laws, which softened somewhat in the XII-XIII centuries, allowed the world to remember the beauty of a woman’s body, therefore, during the so-called High Middle Ages, women were allowed to emphasize the harmony and flexibility of their condition, neatness of forms and the contrast of pale skin with a blush on their cheeks.

Europe rediscovered the canons of ancient beauty, including female beauty, only when the power of the church ceased to be all-encompassing. The beauties of the Renaissance (XIV - XVI) are plump women with heavy breasts and hips, which testified to sensuality, and pale skin and golden-red hair were considered a sign of aristocracy.

The Rococo era (beginning of the 18th century) only increased the artificiality and theatricality of a woman's beauty, along with massive wigs, pallor of the face and an excessive amount of makeup on it. The ideals of beauty received certain changes in the era of classicism, naturalness and the Empire style were added to the canons of female beauty, which brought solemnity and coldness to the image of a woman.

Narrow waist, rounded shoulder line and lush breasts, as well as a significant contrast between them on a wide level, were used by women for beauty in 1815-1848, during the so-called Biedermeier period, and thanks to technological progress, more women from different social groups could afford to be beautiful. layers.

The era of romanticism that followed demanded a sickly look from women. lean, even emaciated, with an unhealthy pallor of skin and dark circles under the eyes, which were considered a sign of spirituality and a penchant for self-knowledge. A little health in a woman's body as a standard of beauty returns in the second half of the 19th century, when harmony in moderation and blush on the cheeks are allowed.

At the end of the XIX century. in the so-called era of positivism, the standard of female beauty lost its clear outlines, in addition, in Europe and America settled by European settlers, the splendor of female forms was revered, and the men of France and England looked after thin and slender female silhouettes.

A certain idealization can be seen in the ideas about the beauty of women in the Art Nouveau period at the end of the 19th century. — Early XX century. Then the grace of forms and long, strands of hair falling on the shoulders, eyelashes emphasized with crushed coal were revered. With the beginning of the 20th century, fashion, having made another round of rapid changes, turns into a continuous struggle of women with extra pounds and alternating short garcon-type hairstyles with medium-length hair and artificial color, although it should be noted that after the Second World War, thinness was considered a sign of malaise.

The break of the XX-XXI centuries was marked by continuous experiments of women in the struggle for the right to be called beautiful, and the film industry and fashion for the images of Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren, Liz Taylor, Gina Lollobrigida and others began to dictate the standards of female beauty to mankind.

The ideal of beauty of the 1950s with lush hips and breasts and bleached hair did not stay long in the minds, and the development of the fashion industry gave rise to the emergence of a special layer of female models and a whole army of followers of unnatural thinness, from which the leading fashion designers of the world are slowly disowning.

Interestingly, the canons of beauty are subject to both social and economic factors. It has been noticed that women corresponded to military and economic cataclysms with a thin figure and short hair, and puffy-bodied women were considered beauties in times of stability and prosperity. It is possible that in the future, men will make fun of the narrow hips and anorexia of catwalk queens, choosing as their ideal a woman with a body weight indexed to her height, a natural blush on her face and chubby cheeks.