If you are worried that your figure is not perfect, do not needlessly be upset. The canons of beauty have changed so often throughout the history of mankind that it is at least naive to speak of any real ideal. Let’s see what features of the figure were in fashion at different times and why.
Are you one of those 80% of people who cannot look at themselves naked for a long time without grief? Or to those 40% who have sex without fully undressing or only in the dark?
We worry about every “imperfection” of appearance, we exhaust ourselves with diets and complex. Social and cultural pressure is too great – advertising, manufacturers and many others dictate to women how to look.
But we have climbed too far in pursuit of everything ideal and have forgotten a simple truth: we are not obliged to anyone to be beautiful and correspond to someone else’s ideas about beauty. Moreover, these representations are inconsistent.
Fertility and motherhood
Over the past few centuries, curvaceous forms, then harmony have been in fashion. And there is a certain pattern in this.
The most ancient female figurines, carved from bone and soft rocks, as a rule, demonstrate large breasts, a rounded (not at all flat!) Belly and an outstanding buttocks. The figures of ancient Venus personified the ability of the female body to bear and give birth to children. It is believed that they are associated with the cult of fertility.
Serious shocks, such as global wars, epidemics, severe famine, and others, led to a sharp decrease in the number of people. The threat of extinction of the species led to the need for reproduction. Therefore, after wars and pandemics, female figures with magnificent forms, suggestive of motherhood, came into fashion.
These periods were replaced by others, when there was no need for an active increase in the number of the human race. And then less “suitable” for childbearing (from a biological point of view) female figures were considered sexy – slender, with small breasts. So, the thinned, spiritualized, painful ideal of beauty is characteristic of the aesthetics of the Middle Ages, European decadence, and our time.
By the beginning of the 7st century, the world’s population exceeded XNUMX billion people. We live crowded, the level of background noise is too high – such conditions do not contribute to an increase in the birth rate, active procreation. This is probably why outwardly female and male bodies are becoming more and more similar.
Small breasts vs curvaceous
- In ancient egypt the entire population was located on a narrow strip of land along the Nile River, large cities were overpopulated. The surviving paintings of the Egyptian pyramids show us women who look like boys: tall, with narrow hips, flat chest, long legs.
- In ancient Greece the townspeople lived in small policies, most of the population peasantry outside the cities. The female statues that have come down to us – slender, with a moderate roundness – are full of health.
- In medieval Europe by the middle of the XIV century there were about 100 million people. This led to chronic hunger, monstrous discomfort and extreme crowding of people in their homes. And as a result, thin beauties came into fashion.
- By the beginning of the XNUMXth century epidemics, famine, wars mowed down cities and villages. The European population has been reduced by at least half. With such a decline in the population, of course, it was impossible to continue to worship the pale thin Madonnas. Beauty began to be seen only in very magnificent figures, which is noticeable in the paintings of Rubens or the works of Michelangelo.
- In the XIX century population density in Europe gradually reached pre-crisis levels, and the ladies again began to turn pale, thinner and smaller. Short women with a baby face and a feminine figure, exaggerated by a corset and crinoline, as well as with tiny arms and legs, were considered beauties.
- After the war 1812 of the year in the second half of the XNUMXth century, women with wide hips, full and strong breasts, capable of giving birth and feeding children, were considered beauties.
- In the XNUMXth century due to two world wars and economic crises, the ideals of female beauty jumped from morbidly anorexic thinness to soft fullness.
- In 1912 year archaeologists dug up a bust of Nefertiti – and the world froze with delight. Here she is – a perfect fragile beauty! If it had been discovered in the materialistic XNUMXth century, they would not have found anything beautiful in it, they would have broken it and not regretted it. And at the beginning of the last century, she looked absolutely appropriate, while the full ladies of Rubens did not.
In the XNUMXth century, the “pendulum” swung even faster. Fashion for different female images has changed every decade.
“Girls Like Boys”
Today, masculinity and femininity have intermingled, giving rise to images of feminine men and masculine women. To see this, just look at the latest collections presented by famous fashion houses.
In the modeling business, feminine boys and girls with a boyish figure are in demand. The modern ideal of beauty has become a tall, long-legged androgyne with a flat chest, narrow hips and an impartial face.
The largest and most respectable department stores in Europe and America have opened departments with clothes without a clear gender orientation, perfumes and beauty care suitable for both sexes. And this is not like the unisex of the 1990s: it’s not about universality, but about removing labels – both from people and from things. It’s the right to be yourself. Freedom, individuality, the rejection of frames – all this is perfectly combined with the new canons of beauty on the catwalks, and with a new perception of gender.
Even fewer stereotypes
Once upon a time, the first women who put on trousers instead of a skirt made a revolution in the public mind. Today, people continue to reject the stereotypes of “female” and “male” beauty.
Jared Leto performs in kilts and women’s skirts from Gucci. Will Smith’s son Jaden is a rapper and has given up pants because they make him “hot”. Another rapper, Kanye West, has repeatedly appeared in front of the public in a leather skirt.
The mixing of feminine and masculine in the beauty industry reflects a general ideological trend. Biological sex should not be a reason for discrimination and artificial restrictions. Anyone who wants to be beautiful can choose any interpretation of beauty that he likes. This will not mean that he is no longer a man or a woman.
It is impossible to predict where the pendulum will swing and what female images will be in fashion in 20 and 50 years. Yes, and not so important. The main thing is to discard stereotypes and stay true to yourself. Any female figure was, is and will be someone’s ideal of beauty.
The article is based on the book by Inessa Trubetskova and Natalia Naidenskaya “The Appearance Code. From head to toes” (AST, 2021).