Renaissance(beginning of the 14th - last quarter of the 16th century), forgive the tautology, revived ladies' interest in expressing their femininity. This was the era of the awakening of femininity. Freeing her from the shackles of the church.
Representatives of the fairer sex are starting to paint their eyes, eyelashes and eyebrows again. Lips and nails become bright red. Some people even tinted their nipples pink. And the breasts were now proudly displayed!
Blonde time
In fashion, the healthiest type of lady is a blonde with curvy and round shapes, a healthy pink skin color and plump lips. A mandatory element of the Renaissance seductress was golden hair color: letting thick, long, well-groomed blond hair loose over the shoulders is a new chic. What should brunettes do, you ask? Yes, it's a problem. There were no dyes, and to lighten their hair, women soaked it in a mixture of saffron and lemon.
The procedure, frankly speaking, is not useful. And after soaking in this vigorous brine, you still had to sit in the scorching sun - otherwise there would be no radical effect. Well, the hair is okay, the problem can be solved. But what about the nose? A long, straight nose is in fashion. Where can snub-nosed girls get it from? Are your teeth white as snow? Given the level of dentistry at that time?
A high forehead and small feet were also necessary. Strict, in general, canons! And if you knew how to make string eyebrows back in Egypt, then you certainly won’t get Cinderella’s legs if your parents awarded you size 39. Or 40, like Uma Thurman. She would have had little to gain in Renaissance Europe. But you could have small breasts.
True, the aesthetes of that time preferred... um, how would it be... wide chests. That is, formed and even mature. The ideal is the breasts of a lady who has known the joy of motherhood, but not saggy. And the most beautiful legs are long, with strong calves and thin ankles. Broad, rounded shoulders were welcomed. And God forbid you to appear on the street at that time without rouge on your cheeks!
Pink Death
Women of the Renaissance, like our sister of all times, had to hide imperfections in their facial skin. But as? This is a chilling story! Imagine lead white or antimony rouge. Deadly number! Arsenic and slaked lime were used to remove hair. You can imagine what health consequences awaited fashionistas!
That's why average age those beauties are 40 years old. Face masks were made from oatmeal, lemon juice and egg white. Well, everything is fine here. And if they painted over gray hair, then with peel walnut. It's also not fatal. But it was allowed to brush your teeth with such substances that any modern dentist would faint.
Yet oral hygiene was noticeably better than during the Middle Ages. And applying makeup was elevated to the rank of an art that almost every woman mastered perfectly. And whoever did not own it was forced to spend a lot of money on a maid trained in high skill. Entire books about cosmetics and beauty recipes were written for them. The woman's plasticity, her manner of standing, walking, sitting, falling into arms - all her movements were different than today.
Or rather, completely different from those of men. We are now in the time of unisex models. And in that era, it was necessary to emphasize with all your might that you were a woman, so that the gentleman would not find in you a single trait characteristic of a man. Pregnant ladies were especially respected. This is reflected in fashion—even for those women who have never given birth.
Everyone sewed dresses with gathers above the waist and their bellies seemed to stick out. Of course, in different parts of Europe the ideals of beauties varied slightly, as did their costumes, but to Simon Vespucci, or Lucretia Borgia, or Diane de Poitiers would be recognized as beauties in any country, their appearance and grace were considered a divine gift. And this is already out of fashion and out of taste...
Inna SHEVCHENKO
Throughout human history, female beauty has been one of the most powerful sources of inspiration for people of art. However, even generally accepted and replicated standards of beauty with an unbiased approach are unlikely to delight many of our contemporaries. The famous Nefertiti may seem stooped and awkward to some, Rubens's beauties may seem too plump, and others will find Mona Lisa's high forehead and shaved eyebrows unattractive...
So what were the canons of beauty in different periods development of our society?
Actually, the first works of art were female figurines. Archaeologists nicknamed them "Paleolithic Venus". Of course, with a fair amount of jokes, because these “Venuses” look extremely unattractive by our standards. The face, arms and legs, as a rule, were not even outlined, but the primitive artist richly endowed the figures with exaggerated female characteristics - sagging breasts, a sharply defined belly hanging down to the knees and large hips.
However, it is unlikely that these figures were canons of beauty. When making “Venuses,” the artist was motivated not so much by erotic as by cult motives: here he showed respect for a mature woman, a kind of “vessel” for pregnancy. Considering that the life of Paleolithic people was difficult and dangerous, such “fertile” women who lived to maturity were at a great price.
Based on later cave paintings, primitive women were slender, muscular and not much different from men.
Beauties of Egypt and Crete
Looking at ancient Egyptian images, it is easy to see that nudity in those days was not perceived in Egypt as something reprehensible. The clothes of Egyptian women are thin and translucent, practically not hiding the lines of the body, and the dancers usually performed topless.
Ideal female beauty was considered a tall, slender brunette with broad shoulders, a flat chest, boyishly narrow hips and long legs. The ancient Egyptian woman's facial features were delicate, her eyes especially standing out. To give the eyes shine and dilate the pupils, belladonna juice was dripped into them, the so-called “sleepy stupor”.
The ideal eye shape was considered almond-shaped - it was emphasized by lining the eyes with green paint made from copper carbonate and lengthening the contour towards the temples. It was also considered beautiful to highlight the veins on the neck and temples with blue paint. Ancient Egypt already had all the main types of cosmetics: from powder and lipstick to nail paint and various ointments. There are even known written works on cosmetics, such as Cleopatra’s treatise “On Medicines for the Face.”
Egyptian women also loved bouffant hairstyles. True, instead of naturally To grow their hair, they did it simpler: they shaved their heads and put sheep's wool wigs on their heads. To enhance the hairstyle, one wig was often worn over another. Wigs were worn not only by noble people, but also simple people(though their wigs should have been “more modest”).
The Egyptians sought to ensure that their skin was smooth, without a single hair, so thousands of years ago they practiced wax epilation, which is also known to our contemporaries. After hair removal, the skin was anointed with oils and incense, and with the help of whitewash it was given a “fashionable” light yellow tint.
The clothes were transparent. At the same time, the skirts of noble ladies fit so tightly around their calves that their gait became slow and majestic. Egyptian women's breasts were often exposed, but were never specifically emphasized.
The naturalism of Ancient Egypt was restrained, which cannot be said about Cretan fashion. In the ancient culture of the island of Crete, apparently, it was the woman who was the center of special attention. In contrast to the elegant, majestic Egyptian woman, the Cretan woman was bright and liberated. She tried her best to highlight her charms. Frescoes and figurines depict female figure with a thin waist and raised chest, openly peeking out from the deep neckline of the vest. The hips were emphasized by a wide skirt that completely hid the legs.
The animated, snub-nosed faces of the Cretan women in the frescoes are heavily made up and have a flirtatious expression. It is not without reason that the images of Cretan beauties made researchers think about their contemporaries (one of the frescoes was even dubbed “The Parisian Woman”).
Antique sample
Here, for example, are the “model” parameters of Aphrodite of Knidos, performed by the famous Praxiteles: height -164 cm, chest - 86, waist - 69, hips - 93.
From the statues you can get an idea of the ideal facial features of an ancient Greek woman: large eyes with a wide, centuries-old slit, a small mouth and a classic “Greek” nose, straight and actually continuing the line of the forehead. Greek women, like Egyptian women, used cosmetics with all their might: they tinted their eyes and eyebrows, and blushed their cheeks. The most popular hairstyle of those times is also very familiar to us: it is a Greek “korymbos” knot tied at the back of the head. Black Greek women preferred to bleach their hair with alkaline soap and sunlight.
The Greek canons of beauty passed on to the Romans with some amendments. The ideal Roman woman was required to be stately, portly, and in no case thin. However, the required fullness was not at all loose; the figure had to remain graceful and slim. For Roman women, whose skeletons were genetically thinner than those of Greek women, this condition was not easy to fulfill. They actively engaged in physical exercises and also tightly bandaged their chests and thighs.
The desire to become blondes passed from the Greeks to the Romans along with other canons of beauty. It was blond, blond, red hair that was especially valued in Ancient Rome. Prostitutes were simply obliged to have yellow or white hair.
The skin of Roman women was also bleached, and also in a rather dangerous way - with lead white, which often led to poisoning. There were other, less dangerous “recipes”: for example, cream from bread crumb and milk, soap from goat fat and beech tree ash. And the Roman Empress Poppaea was accompanied on all her trips by a caravan of five hundred donkeys, in whose milk she bathed daily.
Women of China and Japan
It seems that beauty was nowhere as artificial as in the countries Far East. No wonder one Chinese sage wrote: “It is better to admire a beauty at her morning toilet after she has powdered her face.”
And indeed, the faces of Chinese and Japanese women were heavily made up: such a large layer of white was applied to the face that it resembled a porcelain mask. According to the canon, the beauty’s face should have looked as impassive as possible. The forehead should be as high as possible, for which the hair on the forehead was shaved, and the forehead itself along the edge of the hair was outlined with mascara. The result was the desired elongated oval. Japanese women even shaved off their eyebrows, and instead of them, they drew short, thick lines as high as possible.
The mouth should look small (lips like a bow). Showing your teeth has always been considered bad manners, which is why Chinese women still cover their mouths with their palms when laughing. Japanese women have been blackening their teeth for many centuries from the age of 12-14.
By the way, the kimono was tied so cleverly that undressing the “doll” woman became an art in itself. The Japanese experienced no less pleasure from this ritual than from the sexual contact itself. By the way, the Japanese treated nudity completely calmly and did not give it a special erotic context.
Sultry woman of the East
The idea of female beauty among the Caucasian peoples of Asia (be it Arabs or Indians) is very similar. This should be the “scorching” oriental beauty of Scheherazade from “1000 and One Nights”: large black eyes with a wet cloud (“like a gazelle”), teeth “like pearls”, hair and eyebrows - thick and black “as pitch”, breasts - like “two hills crowned with scarlet cherries, full hips and at the same time thin fingers and ankles.
Completeness was generally highly valued by Asian peoples. Suffice it to recall the compliments of the Indians, which are dubious for our women: “beautiful as a cow” and “graceful as an elephant.”
The beauty's belly is usually compared to many scrolls stacked on top of each other. Ideally, it should have three deep folds and “project nicely.”
In this regard, I would like to note that the recipes of the ancient Indian love treatise “Kama Sutra”, widely advertised in the West, are not always suitable for slender European women. For example, love bites that give pleasure to a plump Indian woman can leave painful bruises on the skin of a European “ideal.”
Beautiful Lady of the Middle Ages.
The satiated antiquity was replaced by the ascetic and harsh era of Christianity. Nudity and, in general, everything bodily was denied as “earthly” and “sinful.” The women's bodies are hidden under loose, shapeless clothes; their heads are covered with a cape. In fashion - paleness, complete absence of makeup, purity and innocence.
However, when in the High Middle Ages (XII-XIII centuries) people's lives improved and morals became softer, the European world again remembered female beauty. She came from the world of art. It was among the Provençal troubadours that the cult of the Beautiful Lady was born, which is the earthly continuation of the cult of the Madonna. The knight had to faithfully serve his chosen Lady, “who knows no leniency.” When going into battle, warriors often took with them some part of their Beloved’s clothing, sometimes even wearing her shirt over their armor. Manifestations of devotion to the Lady sometimes reached the point of insanity: one gentleman proudly declared that he constantly drinks the water in which his Lady washes her hands, another dressed in skin and pranced in front of the “object of desire”, like a faithful dog.
The appearance of the “Beautiful Lady” should have the following advantages. Firstly, a thin and flexible body, preferably an S-shaped silhouette. The hips should be narrow, the chest should be neat and small. This was emphasized by long, tight clothes. A high waist and a slightly protruding belly (as a symbol of pregnancy) were also valued.
Thinness and pallor continued to remain “fashionable,” but the ideal Lady’s cheeks must have a glow on their cheeks, and their eyes must be “clear and cheerful.” Despite the fact that Archbishop Anselm of Canterbury publicly proclaimed blond hair an unholy practice, hair in the Middle Ages was again valued when it was blond and, preferably, curly. True, they could only be seen unraveled at unmarried girls. Married ladies hid their curls under bedspreads, hats, or put them in a net. In this regard, a high forehead acquires special value.
Revival of the body
Gradually the church lost its comprehensive power in Europe. Social life is gaining more and more weight and is increasingly invading art. Italian humanists are rediscovering the canons of ancient beauty for Europe. Art Ancient Greece becomes a model for artists and sculptors. Along with it comes the return of attention to human body as such. Nudity is increasingly appearing in secular paintings.
The masters of the Early Renaissance were not yet too far removed from the medieval ideal of beauty: Botticelli’s “Venus” has a familiar fragile figure with sloping shoulders. However, with the advent of the so-called “titans of the Renaissance” - da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael - the ideal female figure is transformed. Now she is a stately, full-blooded, “bodily” tall woman with broad shoulders, lush breasts, wide hips, with full hands and legs. From afar, it’s easy to confuse the powerful torsos of Michelangelo’s women with men’s. We see the same thing in the paintings of da Vinci, Titian and other masters. The celebration of bodily fullness reaches its climax in the paintings of Rubens.
The tight Gothic dress is also replaced by a voluminous one, the waist takes a natural position. Wide sleeves and skirt, heavy fabrics (satin and velvet) add weight to the female figure. It was at this time that a new word “grandezza” appeared, meaning a majestic, noble appearance.
The fashion for a high forehead remains from the Middle Ages, the smooth lines of which should not be disturbed even by the eyebrows (they were often shaved). The hair is “released” to freedom. Now they must be clearly visible - long, curly, golden.
Baroque and Rococo women
In the Baroque era (late 16th-17th centuries), naturalness again went out of fashion. It is being replaced by stylization and theatricality. The heyday of the Baroque came during the reign of the French “Sun King” Louis XIV. From then on, the French court began to dictate fashion throughout Europe (the so-called “Versailles dictate”). The nobility adopted it from the king's mistresses and spread it further.
The female body in the Baroque period, as before, should be “rich” with a “swan” neck, wide shoulders thrown back and curvy hips. But the waist should now be as thin as possible, and whalebone corsets are coming into fashion. In addition, the corset performs another function - it visually lifts the chest, usually almost open with a bold neckline.
The legs continue to be hidden under the skirt, which is held on by hoops and reaches a considerable width. Lush, frilly clothes have long become one of the main elements of female irresistibility. Parade appearance most clearly manifested in the widespread use of luxurious collars and wigs, which existed among the nobility for almost three centuries. Necessary accessories for ladies include gloves, fans, umbrellas, muffs and jewelry.
At the beginning of the 18th century. The Rococo era begins and the female silhouette changes again. Now the woman should resemble a fragile porcelain figurine. The solemn pomp of Baroque is replaced by grace, lightness and playfulness. At the same time, theatricality and unnaturalness do not go away - on the contrary, they reach their peak. Both men and women take on a doll-like appearance.
The Rococo beauty has narrow shoulders and a thin waist, a small bodice contrasting with a huge round skirt. The neckline increases, the skirt also shortens somewhat. In this regard, close attention is beginning to be paid to underwear. Stockings are in fashion, and the petticoat is richly decorated. The richness of underwear also becomes important thanks to the morning ladies' ceremonies, in which gentlemen also participated.
With all this, the dress hardly emphasizes the figure. Attention is focused on the neck, face, hands, which seemed fragile among the lace frills, ruffles and ribbons.
Gallant ladies put so much makeup on their faces that, they say, husbands often did not recognize their wives. And since powder in those days was made from flour, the excessive demands of fashionistas sometimes even caused a temporary shortage of this food product in the country.
In the Rococo era, wigs took on truly grotesque, bizarre shapes. On their heads they wear entire still lifes of flowers, feathers, boats with sails and even mills.
Special black silk patches called “flies” also came into fashion. They served as a kind of love symbolism, focusing the attention of gentlemen on certain parts female body. Due to this specificity, “flies” were often glued not only to open parts of the body, but also under clothing. Some believe that the appearance of "flies" was caused by a smallpox epidemic, and at first they hid the scars caused by this terrible disease.
Classicism and Empire style
When in 1734 the French ballerina Sale performed in a light transparent skirt, gathered according to an ancient model, the Parisian audience booed her. But in England her attire was appreciated. The fact is that while Rococo was rampant in France, in Foggy Albion they again began to rediscover “Greek taste and Roman spirit,” as the London Society of Lovers of Antiquity declared. Classicism began in fashion.
Even jewelry goes out of fashion for a while. It is believed that the more beautiful a woman is, the less she needs jewelry.
Imitation of ancient clothing (mainly the chiton and peplos) also changed the silhouette of a woman. The dress acquires clear proportions and smooth lines. The main clothing of fashionistas has become the snow-white shmiz - a linen shirt with a large neckline, short sleeves, narrowed in the front and loosely enveloping the figure below. The belt moved right under the chest. Since these dresses were made mainly from thin translucent muslin, fashionistas risked catching a cold on particularly cold days. Therefore, thanks to Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign, cashmere shawls came into fashion as an “addition” to shmiz, which were widely popularized by the emperor’s wife, Josephine.
IN 19th century fashion changed rapidly, crinolines replaced the ancient ideal, they themselves were replaced by bustles, which in turn underwent many changes and by the end of the century almost completely lost their position...
The height of beauty was “aristocratic beauty”: a wasp waist, a pale aristocratic face, excessive elegance of the body.
The ladies tormented themselves with diets and cleansing enemas, which personal healers recommended taking on the eve of the ball - “to increase the sparkle in the eyes.” Dark circles under the eyes were a sign of spirituality. Dumas the son wrote at that time that in Parisian drawing rooms tuberculosis was considered a disease of the intellectual elite. The most fashionable ladies did not use blush, but wore large bows around their necks. Everyone wanted to be like Violetta Valerie from "Lady of the Camellias."
At the end of the 19th century, women completely went crazy with a passion for thinness; Even expectant mothers were pulled into the corset, trying to reach the desired mark on the measuring tape - 55. This was precisely the waist size prescribed by the fashion of those times. In 1859, after a ball, a fashionista, 23 years old, died. An autopsy revealed that the overtightening of the corset had caused three ribs to penetrate her liver.
Much later, women discovered that the curvaceous Nana, Zola’s heroine, was much more attractive than the “Lady of the Camellias.” The most senior people began to blush and put on makeup, like the women on the panel, horrified at the thought that they might get tuberculosis. It has become much more popular to die from apoplexy.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries fashion is overly extravagant. She is ridiculed. This is how N.A. describes the “demonic woman” of this period. Teffi in the story of the same name:
“A demonic woman differs from an ordinary woman primarily in her manner of dressing. She wears a black velvet cassock, a chain on her forehead, a bracelet on her leg, a ring with a hole for potassium cyanide, which will certainly be brought to her next Tuesday.”
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the ideal of female beauty in the West was approaching the Eastern ideal. The beauty looked like a chrysanthemum.
The graceful lady now looks like this: a small head with a high hairstyle goes into an elongated torso, compressed like a flower stalk by a corset; narrow sleeves and drooping shoulders resemble leaves; the narrow skirt is complemented by a bustle; high heels make a woman's gait uncertain, which imparts fragility to the entire figure.
IN XX century There is no single standard of female beauty, but judging by the fashion models, ladies in fashion are slender (at least 170 cm) with developed breasts, a narrow waist, wide hips and long legs.
The Art Nouveau style, which emerged at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, became the defining direction of the era - the feeling of decline, hopelessness, and tragedy led to the emergence of decadence, which marked the crisis of European culture. In their desire to resist generally accepted bourgeois morality, adherents of the movement made a cult out of beauty, even if it was a continuation of vice. Responding to the demands of the time, fashion dictates languor, pallor and emphasized tragedy. Ballet - one of the most refined and abstract forms of art - became a sign of the times and determined everything that became the aesthetic fetish of an entire generation: secular salons adopted all its stage discoveries - motifs of the East, a dramatic image emphasized with makeup, the rejection of corsets and loose silhouettes.
The phenomenal success of Diaghilev’s “Russian Seasons” in Paris gave rise to admiration for Russian ballerinas - the name of the legendary Anna Pavlova, the first performer of “The Dying Swan”, became famous long years standard of excellence. At that time, the concept of a “sex symbol” did not exist, and the aesthetics of modernism itself did not imply an appeal to the earthly and understandable - men of that time wanted to revere and bow. The fantastic success of the Russian ballerina gave the world the image of an airy and unearthly beauty, which was significant for the formation of the canons of beauty in the context of the era of decadence.
Greta Garbo in 20s also became a symbol of the aesthetics of decadence; the most sought-after actress of silent and then sound films of the early twentieth century, she was the embodiment of men's (and women's) dreams - a thin profile, huge sad eyes, theatrically spectacular detachment and incredible eroticism for that time. Contemporaries considered Garbo the real embodiment of sin - and this in an era of debauchery, the decline of traditional moral values and revolutions!
It was Garbo who became the founder of the androgynous type of female attractiveness, combining the image of a vague and ambiguous vamp woman and a masculine athlete girl in trousers and a wide-brimmed hat. This type of beauty and sexuality very quickly went out of fashion, but in that era Garbo did not and could not have any rivals - strict and seductive at the same time, she gave the world a new type, the erotic attraction of which was based on a feeling of coldness, mystery and unattainability. The screen image became so attached to the actress that, in an effort to remain an eternal mystery, she left cinema at the peak of her career.
30s The twentieth century is a short moment in world history between two great wars, when humanity turned to dazzling luxury in an effort to escape from reality. The Great Depression, wars and revolutions gave rise to a feeling of instability, and, as usual in times of crisis, society played for resistance - at the intersection of modernity and neoclassicism, that same classic glamor was born, when actresses were dazzlingly beautiful, fashion was truly elegant, and Hollywood was worried golden era impeccable glossy style.
A woman who went outside with unpainted lips was considered naked, and any manifestations of naturalness were considered bad manners. The icons of beauty and style of the time were striking in their grooming, sophistication and sophistication; they were almost desperately glamorous in their desire to live up to the high standards of the era.
IN 40s Hollywood has already become a full-fledged trendsetter in fashion for canonical beauties, but the country lived in anticipation of war, and therefore chic ladies in silks and fogs are temporarily leaving the screens. The imprint of the social position of mass art lay literally on everything - women tried not to be captivating and desirable, but active, decisive, equal to men in almost everything.
The fashion for blondes is becoming a thing of the past - at the peak of popularity, brown-haired women, naive facial expressions, doll-like hairstyles, small, sharply defined lips. A new social phenomenon of the “cover girl” is born thanks to the incredible popularity of Life magazine on August 11, 1941, with the image of the half-naked beauty Rita Hayworth, who adorned the atomic bomb dropped on Bikini Island. Thanks to this photo shoot, the concept of “sex bomb” comes into use, and the model girl overnight becomes an object of desire for all of America.
With the end of the war, femininity naturally returns to fashion. The turning point in the world of “high fashion” is considered to be 1947, when Christian Dior presented the “New Look” collection. The silhouette of the new ideal of beauty now became as follows: round sloping shoulders, a fitted bodice emphasizing the chest, a thin waist, a small head and legs in light shoes. high heels. The dress lengthened to mid-calf and flared out. To enhance the impression of the rounded lines of the chest and waist, large amounts of fabric were draped below the waist, widening the hips. To create the “airiness” of the dress, a multi-layered petticoat was often removed. Corsets began to be used again (but mostly not rigid ones).
Discovered back in 1938, nylon stockings became generally available, eliminated longitudinal seams and won women’s hearts for a long time.
The ideal of beauty 1950s became Marilyn Monroe - a plump blonde with curled shoulder-length hair, “inviting” lips, lush breasts, hips and waist, for the sake of her diminutiveness, the movie star removed two lower ribs.
However, now the couturiers have acted wisely. Instead of promoting one type of beauty, they pioneered the introduction of multiple dress silhouettes. In 1958, Dior introduced the public to a “trapezoidal” line of clothing that expanded from the shoulders, as well as a wide “bag-shaped” line in which the waist “disappeared” completely. Fashion becomes, as they say, for every taste...
Mini and sexy, hippie and Twiggy (1960-70s)
The 1960s were marked by a youth and sexual revolution. The young and daring, probably for the first time in history, announced the creation of their own worldview, their own music and their own fashion.
One of the most striking achievements of fashion was the final “liberation” of women's legs, undertaken by British fashion designer Mary Quant. It was she who invented the miniskirt, for which she was even awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1966 (although the interpretation of the award was “for services to English exports”). Stockings are now becoming unnecessarily risky, and tights, especially opaque ones, are coming into fashion.
To advertise “mini”, a corresponding model was also needed. If previously the fame of “beauty idols” belonged to “formed” women, mainly actresses, now it has been won by the 16-year-old girl Twiggy (translated from English as “twig”, “twig”). The nickname was not given for nothing: with a height of 1m 65 cm, she weighed only 45 kg! The films also preserved the image of other “beauty ideals” of the 60s: the sexy and luxurious BB - Brigitte Bardot and the elegant and sophisticated Audrey Hepburn.
Late 1960s hippies, the so-called “flower children,” begin to dictate youth fashion. Ripped jeans, beaded jewelry, long hair, bright dresses in a flower, together with the preaching of free love and a return to nature, looked extreme and revolutionary at that time. Hippies deliberately opposed themselves to their “fathers” and embodied “anti-fashion”.
However, much of the radical hippie fashion 1970s, “stroked and combed” becomes “mainstream”. First of all, these are flared trousers, bright decor, colorful fabrics, knitted items - scarves, sweaters, turtlenecks. Skirts are lengthening again. Practicality and simplicity prevail in clothing. Women stop wearing bras. Synthetic, wrinkle-resistant fabrics are coming into fashion.
The ideal of female beauty is a fragile, tall, flat-chested blonde with big eyes, side bangs and thin eyebrows. For Soviet people The female standard of the 1970s is in many ways Barbara Brylska from the film “Enjoy Your Bath!”
In the 1980s, the capitalist world became rich and finally turned into a “consumer society.” Wealth and power, ostentatious chic and luxury became the main values of this era. A business-like, self-confident businesswoman and a vulgar, aggressively sexy girl - these are the two main female images 80s
A strict business suit made of expensive fabrics is again characterized by a wide shoulder line - the personification of the strength and power of feminist women. Pants are worn either straight or “banana” - tapered downwards. To confirm the high cost of things, many fashion brand labels are placed on the front side of clothes.
A woman strives in every way to appear impressive and liberated. Fitness and aerobics are in fashion, which means a slim, athletic body. For the lazy, again, there is silicone and plastic surgery.
Tight dresses, elastic bodysuits, leggings and other items made of lycra and stretch are designed to demonstrate the sexuality of curves. Thanks to the pop singer Madonna, underwear ceases to be something intimate and is brought out to the public for the first time. Cosmetics become bright and provocative, hairstyles become disheveled and multi-colored, jewelry becomes massive (in many ways this is a response to the next “anti-fashion” of punks that made a splash in the late 1970s).
It was in the 1980s that the era of “supermodels” began; now they are role models.
In the 1990s, the fashion pendulum swung again the opposite side. Luxury is replaced by minimalism, demonstrative sexuality by unisex, and plump models by skinny Kate Moss. A simple silhouette and lack of decoration are in fashion. The founder of unisex fashion, Calvin Klein, puts forward the slogan “Just be!” Elements of a men's suit penetrate into women's, and vice versa - men's clothing is modeled according to women's canons. Now boys and girls dress the same - T-shirts, baggy pants, thick platform boots. Secondary sexual characteristics are not emphasized in any way.
But already in the late 1990s, “unisex” and “heroin chic” were fading away. Humanity has once again fallen in love with curvy, healthy beauties. However, the fashion industry no longer seeks to commit itself to new models, constantly changing them. Fashion trends are also changing dizzyingly, most of them mixing and quoting past eras.
What's next for us? We'll wait and see :) But to be honest, I wouldn't like fashion to get hung up on any one "canon", we are all so different, it would be unforgivable to deprive us of our individuality, relying on the whims of designers.
In terms of its changeability, fashion is second only to the weather, although this is a controversial issue. Moreover, fashion is changing not only in clothes, styles or accessories, but also in women's beauty. A recognized beauty of one era, half a century later can be considered an ugly woman (but you and I know that there are no ugly women). At all times, artists responded very sensitively to the whims of fashion, since they always strived to depict the most beautiful women of their era.
Ancient Greece and Rome
Unfortunately, o feminine ideals Antiquity must be judged by frescoes and sculptures; no full-fledged works of painting have survived. In Ancient Greece, the goddess Aphrodite, a curvaceous lady with long thick red hair, was considered the standard of female beauty. This is exactly how she is depicted in the painting “The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli, although created already in 1485. In Ancient Rome, the beauty of a woman’s face was most valued, and the splendor of her form was in second place. For example, the painting “Proserpina” (1874) by Dante Rossetti was created with this in mind.
Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, one could be sent to the stake for praising female beauty, so there is no artistic evidence left. Showing off a woman's figure was strictly prohibited. Clothing had to completely hide the body, and hair was hidden under hats. The standard of female beauty were holy women who devoted themselves to serving God.
Renaissance
The Renaissance is so named due to the revival of interest in the ideals of Antiquity, including in matters of female beauty. Wide hips, plumpness, elongated face, healthy complexion - this is how the first beauty of the 15-16th centuries should have looked. This is exactly how women are depicted in the paintings of Sandro Botticelli, Raphael Santi and Michelangelo. The ideal of beauty of the Renaissance can be called the Italian Simonetta Vespucci, who is depicted in several paintings by Botticelli “Spring” (1478), “Birth of Venus” (1485), “Portrait of a Young Woman” (1485). During the Renaissance, high foreheads were in fashion, and to achieve this effect, fashionistas shaved their eyebrows and hairline. This is clearly visible in the famous painting “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo Da Vinci.
Baroque era
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the ideal of female beauty was white-skinned women (tanning was considered the lot of peasant women) with small breasts, tiny legs, a pale face, but with curvy hips. In addition, any aristocrat had to have a high, complex hairstyle. These fashion trends clearly visible in the portrait of Louis XIV's favorite Madame de Montespan (1670) by Pierre Mignard. It is from this period that Jan Vermeer’s famous work “Woman with a Pearl Earring” (1665) dates back.
Rococo era
If in the picture the woman looks more like a porcelain doll, surrounded by fans, umbrellas, muffs and gloves, then we can safely say that we are talking about the Rococo era. At the beginning of the 18th century, “mild anorexia” came into fashion: female beauty became fragile, with narrow hips, small breasts, and sunken cheeks. There is evidence that to achieve the effect of “sunken cheeks”, some ladies removed their side teeth, leaving only the front ones - beauty requires sacrifice. The canons of beauty of the Rococo era are perfectly illustrated by portraits of François Boucher, for example “Portrait of the Marquise de Pompadour” (1756).
Romantic era
Only in the second half of the 19th century did natural blush, healthy freshness and roundness of shape once again become the standards of female beauty. And the most attractive part of the female body is the rounded shoulders, which were simply necessary for any beauty to expose. It is precisely these women that are found in the paintings of Adolphe Bouguereau, such women were depicted by the first impressionists (“The Birth of Venus” by Bouguereau, “The Great Bathers” by Renoir, “The Blue Dancers” by Degas).
Early 20th century
“Russian Venus”, “Merchant's Wife at Tea”, “Girl on the Volga” by Boris Kustodiev perfectly illustrate the canons of beauty of the early 20th century. Everything that romanticism admired in a woman became even more magnificent and weighty. 20-40 years of the twentieth century
Mid-20th century
Marilyn Monroe became the ideal of female beauty in the middle of the last century. A short blonde, without any excesses in the direction of thinness or plumpness. The founder of pop art, Andy Warhol, willingly used her image in his works.
It is not worth talking about the further development of the ideals of female beauty, especially in their connection with painting. It is only necessary to note that history is developing in a circle, and thinness and sickness are coming back into fashion.
On World Beauty Day, it is customary to remember legends about the beauties of the past, to be surprised at the strange tastes of “wild” tribes that valued long necks and earlobes, or to be indignant at the “canons of beauty” imposed by the fashion industry. But what about the strong half of humanity? We don’t always value appearance in real men, but let’s not lie, and strong half humanity has its own canons of beauty. And these canons have undergone a number of changes over the centuries.
Apollo
The name of Apollo, the golden-haired son of Zeus, in our times has become a household name for any handsome man. The cult of body beauty, which dominated in ancient Hellas, largely determined the canons of beauty in subsequent centuries. Strength, agility, beauty. Antique ideas about beauty are preserved by sculptures that have survived to this day: regular, large facial features, large expressive eyes and a straight nose. Growth was also important. Thus, Aristotle wrote: “In a large body there is beauty, but small ones may be graceful and well-proportioned, but not beautiful.”
Leohar. Apollo Belvedere. Roman copy
One of the embodiments of perfection was the sun god, patron of the arts and leader of the muses. The most famous sculptural image of Apollo was created by the court sculptor of Alexander the Great, Leocharus, in the first century BC - this is Apollo Belvedere. The bronze original of the statue has not survived, but its marble Roman copy is now in the Vatican in the Pius Clement Museum. However, archaeological excavations prove that the real ancient Greeks bore little resemblance to the statues that have survived to this day.
Gilgamesh
The peoples of Mesopotamia (Sumerians and Assyrians, and later the Persians) valued primarily courage and physical strength in a man. The bas-reliefs that have come down to us represent gods, kings and warriors as powerful men with bulging muscles, possessing indestructible strength and capable of going out alone against a lion. Judging by these images, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia were stocky, overweight men with a hooked nose, dark curly hair, and the same beard. In this case, individual strands of the beard were curled into tubes and laid in dense rows.
Noble men, and even more so rulers, wore rich, pompous clothes and jewelry that once amazed Alexander the Great. They put their hair in a net, secured it at the back of the head with a hairpin or tied it with colored ribbons, and their precious beard was often hidden in a special case. In addition, it was customary for the ancient Persians to blacken their eyebrows and blush, and some men wore false beards and wigs.
The most famous resident of Mesopotamia is the Sumerian king Gilgamesh, whose name has come to us through the centuries thanks to one of the oldest literary works in the world - the Epic of Gilgamesh.
"He is beautiful, he is strong, he is wise,
He is two-thirds deity, only one-third man,
His body is as bright as a big star,
But he knows no equal in the art of torment
Those people who are entrusted to the authorities."
Knight
IN medieval Europe the ideal man was a knight - a wonderful warrior, whose courageous appearance was combined not only with physical strength and courage, but also good manners and gallantry prescribed by the code of honor. An important part of the ideal male image During that period, clothing and, of course, armor became the most important part of a knight's costume. In the Middle Ages, the men's suit began to become shorter and shorter, and at the same time a “prototype” of pants appeared: shosse - narrow, tight-fitting pants-stockings made of elastic cloth.
Unknown German artist. Portrait of a knight. Around 1540 (Augsburg)
But the main thing for the knight was not physical beauty, but spiritual beauty. A knight is first and foremost a servant of his overlord, a protector of the weak, children and women. During this era, the cult of the “beautiful lady” arose, which influenced the attitude towards women of all subsequent generations.
Dandy
English dandies, whose style was later adopted in Europe and Russia, became a kind of counterbalance to the military. The founder of this style is considered to be George (“Bo”) Brummel.
It was he who introduced the fashion for a black men's suit with a tie, from which the modern version of the classic men's suit originated. Brummel proposed a new style to his friend the Prince Regent, the future King George IV, and, imitating the monarch, English gentlemen threw powdered wigs and “front sights” onto the mezzanine.
However, the plump Prince of Wales could not compare with Brummel’s friend, who was called “the Prime Minister of Elegance” behind his back. And he himself came up with the following axiom, which modern dandies follow: “If you want to be well dressed, you don’t have to wear what catches your eye.”
Being a dandy doesn't just mean dressing well. The exquisite suit was complemented by certain rules of behavior: for example, the hero of Stendhal’s novel “The Red and the Black,” Julien Sorel, deduces the main rules of a real dandy - “calm indifference and originality in everything”: “... Julien was now a real dandy and had completely mastered the art of living in Paris. He behaved with Mademoiselle de La Mole with exquisite coldness..."
“Like a London dandy is dressed,” Pushkin wrote about Eugene Onegin. Russian dandies of that time drew inspiration from another dandy - Lord Byron. The latter, in turn, singled out among his contemporaries only three great people: Napoleon, Brummell and himself.
Thomas Phillips. Lord Byron in Albanian costume. 1835
The twentieth century has not greatly changed the ideal of a man, which seems to have mixed: beauty and harmony from the ancient Greeks, strength and power from the Persians and Assyrians, chivalry from medieval heroes, intelligence and erudition of the Renaissance, gallantry of court gentlemen, cheerful disposition of hussars and sophistication dandy.
The material was prepared based on information from open sources