How the ideals of female beauty changed in different eras, in different countries, in Western, Asian, African cultures, in Rus': photos, description

Poets glorified female beauty in their poems, men fought duels for the honor and dignity of their beautiful ladies, some rulers conquered states to gain the right to possess a captivating beauty, palaces and castles were built for other luxurious women.
It's all because of the enchanting female beauty. What is beauty and what is an attractive woman like? If for the Renaissance the famous curvaceous Rubensian woman was the standard of beauty, then in ancient Egypt a slender and tall girl with a boyish figure was considered attractive. In different eras, the standard of female beauty has changed greatly. A couple of decades ago, slender models with measurements of 90-60-90 were in fashion. The fit Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, and Kate Mocc ruled the fashion stage. In recent years, fashion has dictated its increasingly demanding conditions. In order to comply with fashion trends, girls were forced to go on debilitating diets. And today, anorexic young ladies are being replaced by plus-size models, girls with an hourglass figure or an athletic body. Nowadays, such plump stars as Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian, and Ashley Graham are at the peak of popularity. Moreover, some celebrities resort to plastic surgery in order to have even more magnificent breasts or butts.

Time does not stand still and now fashion trends are rapidly replacing each other. But it was not always so. In earlier times, ideas about female beauty could remain unchanged for several centuries. I invite you to plunge into history and trace how the standards of female beauty have changed in the process of human development.

The standard of beauty for an ancient woman

The Paleolithic Venus can rightfully be considered the very first standard of female beauty. This is a prehistoric figurine of a woman made by an ancient man. This is how the men of that time saw a beautiful woman - with wide hips, massive breasts hanging under their own weight and an immense belly. Apparently, ancient men looked at women simply, instinctively - they are large, which means there is enough food, they will not die of hunger, they will give birth to children and leave. This is not surprising, because the main occupation of that time was survival. As the quality of life improved, survival took a back seat. Society was divided into rich and poor, and some women had a lot of time and conditions to take care of their appearance.

Cleopatra was considered the standard of female beauty in Egypt. A thin, tall woman with narrow boyish hips, small breasts and a long swan neck - this was the woman who personified the ideal of beauty of ancient Egypt. The face of the ancient Egyptian beauty was thin with straight features, high prominent cheekbones and full lips. The lady's eyes were given an almond shape by drawing long arrows with black or green paint. To make their appearance noble, women bleached their skin to a light yellow hue. It was believed that an unemployed lady from high society could afford to be exposed to the scorching sun as little as possible. The Egyptians of that time walked barefoot, and to hide their black heels, ladies had to paint them over.

Beauty Ideals of Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece (500-300 BC)

Aristotle called the female forms of that time “deformable male forms.” Indeed, Ancient Greece was very masculine-oriented.

The ancient Greeks were more focused on the ideal male physique than the ideal female physique, meaning that during this time period it was the stronger sex who were expected to achieve high standards of physical perfection.

For this reason, women were ashamed of their forms, since they were unlike men's. The female body was treated as a “failed copy of a man.”

Nudity was an integral part of ancient Greek society. Despite this trend, sculptures and paintings of nude women were often covered. The first important female nude sculpture in classical Greece was Aphrodite of Cnidus, which showed that beauty in ancient Greece meant the following:

- Tendency to be overweight

The standard of female beauty of the Middle Ages

In the era of the abstinent Middle Ages, fashion for ideals of female beauty, like everything else of that time, was dictated by the church. Christianity required a woman to be faded, modest and shapeless. Bright and beautiful girls of that time were mistaken for witches and burned. Thin, thin, with missing breasts, pale and submissive - this is the ideal of a medieval woman.

The girls wore shapeless dresses that hid their assets. The large breasts were pulled in tightly. The standard of female beauty is a small belly, as a symbol of pregnancy. The girls hid their bright blush under whitewash. A high forehead was considered beautiful, and fashion-conscious ladies shaved off the hair above the forehead and eyebrows. This gave the face greater openness and humility. To lengthen the neck, the hair on the back of the head was also shaved. From the paintings of that era, pale, meek girls and women in wide, shapeless dresses look at us - this is the standard of beauty of the Middle Ages.

Hollywood beauty standard

Hollywood's Golden Age lasted from the 1930s to the 1950s. During this time, the Hays Code was in effect, establishing moral standards for what could or could not be said, shown, or implied in a film. The code limited the types of roles women could play, creating an idealized image of the lady that spread throughout the world. Movie stars of the time, such as Marilyn Monroe, showed off her curvy figure with a thin waist .

The ideal woman in the Hollywood era

The standard of beauty of the Renaissance

Fortunately, the times of the ascetic Middle Ages have been replaced by an era of cultural revival and a curvy, healthy female body is coming into fashion. Thinness and pallor are considered signs of illness. The standard of beauty of the Renaissance is the Rubensian woman - tall, plump, with broad sloping shoulders, small breasts and a prominent belly, powerful thighs and calves, narrow ankles and small legs. The skin is pink and radiant with health. The hair is light, thick, long.

1940: Rita Hayworth and Ingrid Bergman

Despite all the hardships of wartime, all classes of society are beginning to use cosmetics. Lush eyelashes and pink blush are indispensable attributes of every girl, no matter where she is. The fashion for “slicked-back” hairstyles is fading: girls are no longer achieving the “hair-to-hair” effect, preferring more voluminous and natural hairstyles. Rita Hayworth and Ingrid Bergman are considered standards of beauty.

19th century beauty standard

The end of the 19th century was marked by a technical revolution. Progress comes not only to industry, but also to other areas, including influencing the standard of a woman’s beauty. Girls become more liberated, fight for their rights, and begin to work on an equal basis with men. A figure with pleasing curves and a thin waist becomes attractive. Ladies of the 19th century made great sacrifices to achieve the standard of female beauty of that time - a waist of 55 centimeters.

Shadows in red tones

Bright burgundy smokey eyes, glamorous pink eyeliner, light cherry haze - this year we all heartily ate all the shades of red before our eyes. Every self-respecting cosmetics brand has released at least one palette in these colors, and many have 4-5 options at once.

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There's no denying that reddish eyeshadow is truly stunning. Especially on green-eyed girls, since according to the rule of the color wheel, these shades contradict each other, and therefore are emphasized even more. A fatal smokey eye with a red tint is truly bold and beautiful. But it's still time to get some rest.

Everything suggests that next year we will be trying on steel-gray and cool-toned makeup. The first “swallows” have already appeared - cosmetic brands are starting to produce palettes that go beyond the already traditional beige-red range.

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Beauty these days

Over the past 30 years, the standard of female beauty has changed several more times. From the athletic and slender bodies of the supermodels of the 90s, to the asthenic models of the 2010s and today's plus-size models. Nowadays, the standards of female beauty are universal. Girls of all sizes and shapes walk side by side on the catwalk. For every taste, as they say. This is probably logical. Sadly, in the age of high technology and fast consumption, the audience must have a lot of choice, otherwise they will soon lose interest.

However, there is a big plus in this - a woman of any body type has a chance to be in trend. A curvy lady does not need to exhaust herself with diets, and a skinny lady does not need to gain weight or exercise until she sweats. Today, any figure is fashionable and the beauty possibilities are endless. If you are a lady with a body, then you don’t have to worry anymore and emphasize your breasts, sloping hips or convex buttocks. And if you don’t like your figure and want to be slim without playing sports, then you can get liposuction. With the advent of plastic surgery, women have the opportunity to radically change their appearance. And there is even an unspoken fashion for plastic surgery.

At the very beginning of the popularization of plastic surgery, it was fashionable to have more of everything. If breasts, then the maximum possible size. If the lips are plump. And technology and materials provided, of course, fewer opportunities. Therefore, for the last 10 years, artificial appearance has been relevant and in demand - pumped lips with blurred contours, large breasts, an unnaturally thin waist.

These days, fashion trends gravitate more towards naturalness. Fortunately, the possibilities of modern plastic surgery make it possible to get rid of a defect in appearance in such a way that the intervention will not be noticeable to someone else’s eye. Looking at a photograph of a star, it is sometimes difficult to say whether the media personality has undergone plastic surgery. Today's standard of female beauty is a girl with plump, unpumped lips, a straight, even nose, eyebrows of natural width, high cheekbones and thin, slightly sunken cheeks. Facial symmetry is also important.

The standards of female beauty at different times were very different from each other. But thanks to the capabilities of the modern woman, she has never had as much potential to be beautiful as she does today.

2018-01-18

Author: Svetlana Sergienko

Red lips

Scarlet lips are no longer a trend in 2020?!
Yes it is! Although red lipstick is an ageless classic, completely matte bloody lips will no longer be fashionable, although in 2020 we were all crazy about them. Save from makeupramona.riquisimo.ruCopyright Question59Verónica ZeaEyes

In 2020, youth, freshness and carelessness come into fashion for makeup. Therefore, you can put the contour pencil aside; you definitely won’t need it this year. But the effect of “kissed” lips in red is just what you need.

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Achieving the most fashionable effect in 2020 is actually very simple. To do this, you need to apply a creamy, not matte, lipstick to the tip of your finger (preferably your ring finger, it is softer) and gently massage the product into the skin of your lips from the center to the periphery. Let the color fade towards the edges of your lips. This effect imitates natural plump lips with a reddish tint, like those of very young people.