History of Beauty

Renaissance
In the 15th century:
*They plucked hairlines to make forehead look higher, and wore elaborate headdresses
*Blond hair was a sing of high class and beauty so men and women would dye hair blond



















Elizabethan
In the 16th century:
*Francis I of France accidentally burned his hair with a torch, men began to wear short hair and grew short beards and mustaches.
*Women copied queen Elizabeth naturally pale complexion and red hair, using white powder in great abundance, along with red wig.
*Inspired by Italian women, the Elizabethan lady would also give a healthy glow to her cheeks by using lead-based rouge colored with dye. She'd color in her eyebrows, lips and even blue veins with alabaster pencils. For the final touch, she'd apply a thin glaze of egg-white paste to hold it all together.



















18th Century
*They wore white-powdered wigs tied back into a long braid at the back of the neck and encased in a black silk bag, or tied with a black bow.
*Women had trim, crimped or curled heads, powdered and decorated with garlands or bows.
*1770s, coiffures built over horsehair pads or wire cages and powdered with starch were all the rage.












Victorian
*A modest, natural beauty, restrained and without makeup.
*Middle- and upper-class women used cosmetics less. Beyond face powders, more audacious colored makeup was reserved for prostitutes and actresses, who wore it only on stage.
*Beginning in the 1840s, women's heads were sleek the hair oiled and smoothed down over the temples with long sausage curls at the side and later with a heavy knot of curls or plaits in back.
*In the 19th century men tended to keep their hair relatively short, sometimes curled and dressed with macassar oil. Most men wore some variety of mustache, sideburns or beard.



















1920s
*Popular new short "bobbed," waved or shingled hairstyles symbolized the growing freedom of women.
*The heavy use of makeup also returned to fashion in this era.
*Fashion-conscious white men wore their hair parted in or near the center and slicked back with brilliantine — an oily, perfumed substance that added shine and kept hair in place.



















1940s
*Longer, more feminine hairstyles became popular again,. Veronica Lake created a sensation by wearing a lock of hair that covered one eye.
*The hairstyle that most symbolized the era, however, was parted on the side, with soft curls falling over the shoulder.
*Also, for the first time, tanned skin (for both men and women) began to be perceived as a symbol of high class.
*Men continued to wear their hair short and often slicked back with oil, and skinny, trimmed mustaches.



















1950s
*The glamorous woman at home, able to attend to all domestic chores without a hair out of place, became a popular image.
*The "doe eye," created with shadow on the lids, eyebrow pencil, mascara and heavy eyeliner; along with a pale complexion and intensely colored lips, became fashionable.
*Hair was teased, styled, sculpted and sprayed at the salon every week into a helmet of perfectly formed curls, waves.
*Hip white men wore their hair combing the hair back on the side of the head and holding it in place with hair grease coupled with long, thick sideburns.



















1960s
*opted for more practical short styles, or long, straight hair.
*dark eyes paired with pale lips (or, by the late '60s, no makeup at all).
*"mop tops" created a revolution in men's hairstyles — making long hair fashionable for the first time since the 18th century.



















1970s
*Hair became the symbol of the era in more ways than one, evolving into perhaps the most powerful means of projecting an image or making a statement. For most of the decade, men and women of all ethnicities wore their hair long, natural and above all free.
*Freely falling curls, bronzed skin and glossy lips created a short-and-sassy wedge cut.
*Men adapted "wingback" style into the center-parted, "feathered" hairstyles worn by teen idols such as Leif Garret and the Bee Gees.
*The Afro hairstyle remained popular and was also adopted by many white men and women, though a closer-cropped version,
*Punk look that included spiked hairdos dyed bright fluorescent colors, shaved and tattooed scalps, facial piercings and spectacular makeup.
















1980s
*The "age of excess" heavy makeup with vibrant neon colors and intentionally messed-up and off-colored hair.
*"Jheri Curl," sparkling and wet-looking,
*Punk-influenced spiked hairstyles, including a small braid at the back of the neck (the "rat tail").
*The "preppy" look was also in, popularizing traditional short hairstyles for men and women.



















1990s
*Extreme thinness, from the strung-out, emaciated appearance of the face and body.
*The "grunge" movement in rock music popularized an unkempt, natural style.
*Tongue, eyebrow and nose piercings (for both men and women).
*Shaving the head was a popular "hairstyle" for men of all races.
*Modern version of the '60s shag. The "Rachel" cut was sleeker, with longer layers and face-framing highlights.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

this was interesting to read :]
i really liked it;
but you should have done the 2000s =]
just a thought.
keep up the good work!

Anonymous said...

Do you have any specific sources to support your claims? I would like to consult the original sources.

Anonymous said...

you obviously selected the most ugliest images of people in those eras lol

beauty is universal. While there may be some anomalous exceptions to the rule, it is by no means cross-culturally fully determined.