The standards of beauty in America are pretty different from 50 years ago. Back then, our idea of beauty was a Barbie doll -- a tall and busty blond Caucasian with a pointy little nose. And people used to line up for plastic surgery -- including rhinoplasty -- to achieve that look. But race and beauty standards in America have changed. And that was the topic of discussion at the annual plastic surgeon's conference in Houston last week.
"Lemme get a gander at that there schnozzle under your Stetson, partner" might have been heard during Rodeo Rhinoplasty, four days of physician training on every aspect of the nose job.
Houston's racial and ethnic diversity -- providing an international range of noses -- makes the city an ideal location for a seminar exploring surgical techniques and modern beauty standards, said Dr. Russell Kridel, a Houston plastic surgeon who founded the annual conference last year.
"What we think is beautiful is changing," he said. "We have to know that so we can achieve what that beauty is. You can't think that everyone wants to have a long, thin nose."
Even in international, medically relevant sessions about the art and science of rhinoplasty, a Houston-bred icon's name emerges: Beyonce.
And so did her face and nose, projected beside likenesses of actress Lucy Liu and entertainer Jennifer Lopez during a talk Thursday morning by Dr. Peter Adamson, a renowned Canadian plastic surgeon.
A new aging study reveals that a woman's beauty peaks at the age of 29, begins to show signs of aging at 41, stop looking "sexy" at 53 and are "old" at 55.
The latest study of 2,000 people across the U.S. also put men under the aging magnifying glass. The study revealed that men were considered to reach their peak at age 34, start showing signs of aging at 43, stop looking "sexy" at 58 and are "old" at 59.
A survey conducted by Allure magazine wanted to see how U.S. men and women feel about the changing looks of both sexes. They found that there was a discrepancy between men and women about when a woman looks best. While men believed women to be most beautiful at age 29, women themselves thought their best age was 31. However, both men and women agree that 30 is the most seductive age for a woman.
The survey revealed that 34 percent of men worried about the physical signs of aging compared to 56 percent of women. Researchers also found that both men and women generally start using anti-aging products at the 37, while 42 percent of women and 18 percent of women report they would consider anti-aging injections or plastic surgery."In the past it (the ideal age) may have been a little bit younger. Anti-ageing is such a huge topic now and people want to look younger for longer. You see celebrities who are looking amazing into their fifties," Deputy editor of Allure magazine, Jillian Mackenzie, told The Daily Telegraph.
"Across the board the ages for men were quite a bit older than for women and it's interesting that men get an extra four years," she said.
The survey also revealed that grey hair represented different things on different sexes. On men, the top answer used to describe grey hair was "distinguished" but on women it was "old". However, the survey revealed that more men than women color their hair to look young, with 63 percent of men opting for dyes to cover their grays compared to only 36 percent of women.
For a long time, the pursuit of beauty seemed like women's work; we're more apt to describe men as "handsome" or "attractive" rather than "beautiful." Yet the same beauty industries that sell countless products to women are starting to realize that men might have the same insecurities about their looks. In 1997, $2.4 billion was spent on men's grooming products; by 2009, that number was $4.8 billion [source: Newman]. Men, it seems, are becoming more interested in products such as concealer and moisturizers that will keep them looking their best.
And some men shun makeup, but think nothing of going under the knife. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, men underwent 1.1 million cosmetic procedures in 2010, an increase of 2 percent over the previous year [source: Hendrick]. The most common procedure for men: facelifts. Most cosmetic surgeries are still performed on women, but now the ladies may have some male company as they wait in their plastic surgeon's office.
2: Plastic Surgery Gains Acceptance
A few decades ago, plastic surgery was considered the domain of vain socialites, movie stars and centerfold wannabes. But trends show that cosmetic surgery is becoming increasingly sought after and accepted by the general public. In 2010, we spent $10.1 billion on cosmetic procedures, which represented a 1.2 percent increase over the previous year [source:Hendrick]. And for many years now, surveys have not only shown a rise in the number of procedures performed, but also growth in the percentage of people who approve of such procedures [source: Rosen].
Originally, plastic surgery was a medical procedure reserved for soldiers injured in war or people born with severe birth defects. Now, our society is becoming OK with using surgery as a way to transform parts of our bodies that we don't like. While this article deals with beauty trends that change over time, there are certain qualities that will probably always stay ideal -- no one wants to age, for example, and sizeable breasts are almost always in vogue. Plastic surgery allows people to meet those beauty standards, at prices that are becoming lower all the time and in surgeries that are becoming easier to perform and recover from. While some critics bemoan the extreme method of surgery to improve appearance, Botox, facelifts and liposuction will probably be a growing trend for a while.
3: Beauty Is in the Nose of the Beholder
Beauty might seem like a visual aesthetic, but odors and scents also play a big role in the beauty ideal. If a supermodel didn't shower for months at a time, would we still consider her a supermodel? If she showed up at your door smelling like garbage, would you still find her beautiful?
Cleanliness has been compared to godliness, and somewhere along the way, it became an important prerequisite for beauty as well, which would certainly surprise the generations of people who never bathed. People worried that bathing could lead to serious illness, like the plague, or they were concerned that nakedness was sinful and the devil would catch them during their bath. And though perfume has been used throughout history, it became aggressively marketed in the 20th century as an important part of a beautiful person's regimen. Ditto deodorant -- the idea of "body odor" was one cooked up by advertising men who wanted more people to buy deodorant and antiperspirants [source: George Mason University]. Now, most of us crinkle our noses at the idea of letting our natural scents shine through; to be truly beautiful, we try to smell like baby powder, flowers and fruits.
4: The Hair Down There
The idea that women should shave their underarms and legs came about because of fashion that exposed more skin than ever before. Well, clothes kept getting smaller, and now full female nudity is more common than ever in our society. From skimpy bikinis to the rise of Internet porn to the vast number of movies and television shows that take place in strip clubs, it's no longer very shocking to see lots of skin. And some critics argue that these factors have led to a new standard, in which women remove most or all of their pubic hair. Surveys of Playboy centerfolds reveal that there was plenty of pubic hair in the 1970s and 1980s, but it's been missing in action since the 1990s [source: Featherstone]. Now, for many women, a bikini or Brazilian wax is a necessary beauty expense, though critics debate the virtue of this new standard. Do men who prefer a hairless look down there have a thing for pre-pubescent girls? Should women duplicate a trend that was first observed in pornography, and will it affect their love lives for the better? How young is too young for a bikini wax? No matter your conclusions on these matters, pubic hair seems to have joined the list of types of body hair that most women are desperate to remove.
5: Who Wears Short Shorts? Gals With Shaved Legs
While there's evidence that ancient cultures removed their body hair, it wasn't a must-be-done beauty habit until the beginning of the 20th century, simply because women's fashion until that point didn't reveal any skin. But in the early 1900s, sleeveless evening gowns became popular and razor manufacturers realized they needed more customers than just men. Ads began appearing in women's magazines urging ladies to make their underarms as smooth as their face if they really wanted to dazzle in those new sleeveless dresses. The content of the ads was very instructional, indicating that marketers had to educate women on how and why they needed to do this; it took several years before the ads became competitive, pitching one type of razor over another [source: Hansen]. The campaign to get women to shave their legs followed the one about underarms by a few years. In this case, razor manufacturers were aided by the rising hem lines that were coming into style, coupled with a nylon shortage following World War I.
What was a novel idea -- shaving one's legs and armpits -- is now a rite of passage for many young girls going through puberty. But body hair deserves more than one spot on our list, so read on to find out about other hair removal trends.
6: The Ever-changing Head of Hair
What constitutes beautiful hair is perhaps the most oft-changing beauty definition in history. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the masses would pluck their hairlines, as their monarch did, and employ massive headdresses. Since then, we've seen trends that included short, bobbed hair to long flowing tresses. We'll crimp or perm our hair to get some waves or curls, then go to great lengths to straighten it. Our hair has been piled high in a beehive, bejeweled, braided, teased, spiked, dyed and highlighted. We'll spend hours trying to look like we just fell out of bed, or we'll spend hours on an elaborate style worthy of prom or a wedding. Certain hair colors will go in and out of fashion (though gray tends to remain on the outs, as we fear looking older). Beautiful hair has been a particularly tricky issue for black women. Though some black women opt for hairstyles such as the Afro out of ethnic pride and unity, others have spent thousands of hours and dollars pursuing straightening treatments or weaves.
7: Bye-bye, Blue-eyed Blonde
In 1991, Allure magazine conducted a survey of men and women living in the United States about what constituted beauty. Respondents claimed that the U.S. beauty ideal was a woman like Christie Brinkley -- a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, fair-skinned model. Twenty years later, in 2011, Allure conducted the same survey, but times had clearly changed: Angeline Jolie, with her dark hair and voluptuous lips was now ranked as the pinnacle of beauty. And when respondents were asked to rank the beauty of anonymous models, both men and women picked non-white models as the most attractive.
The 2011 survey findings also revealed that women of mixed race were considered the most beautiful women in the U.S., leading Allure to claim that the blonde ideal had been "dethroned" [source: Peterson]. Participants in the survey believe that increased diversity in the U.S. has led to this change. Still, it will be interesting to see how these findings reverberate around the world. For a long time, "whiteness" has ruled as a beauty ideal, leading many men and women of different ethnicities to bleach their skin with lightening creams. Even in stories and films, white has become associated with good and black with evil. Will beauty standards continue to open up to embrace different races of women? Time will tell.
8: Go Golden, Girl
Pale skin ruled as a beauty standard for centuries. Both men and women applied ceruse, a lead-based white paint, to their skins in an effort to look fairer, and some people would paint delicate blue lines on their face to demonstrate their wealth and status, or their "blue blood." Suntans were for members of the lower classes, who had to spend their days outside, working in the fields.
At the turn of the 20th century, however, bronzed skin became the new fashion must-have. Coco Chanel famously got sunburn on a yachting trip, which spurred her acolytes to start spending more time in the sun. Doctors of the day began prescribing sun therapy, which was quickly adopted by the upper classes, as were outdoor sports (the poorer people had moved into factories, so spending time outdoors was no longer seen as déclassé). Even today, when we know about the dangers of the sun's rays and the risks of skin cancer, people continue to lounge in the sun or visit tanning salons in the hopes of achieving bronzed skin.
9: Makeup is a Must
Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans loved makeup -- archeologists have found evidence of cosmetics kits containing primitive versions of mascara, foundation and lipstick. However, these early civilizations were exceptions to the rule, as makeup was mostly shunned in the centuries following. If you saw a woman wearing lipstick in the 1800s, for example, you'd think she was either a prostitute or a stage actress (a profession that was usually considered as awful as prostitution). Queen Victoria went so far as to call all makeup vulgar in a public address, and modesty was the defining beauty trend for many years.
But makeup came back in a big way thanks to the introduction of motion pictures. Max Factor is often called the father of makeup because, not only did he formulate products that looked good on the big screen, but he also had the foresight to market them to everyday women. Today, makeup is a billion dollar industry that can adjust to whatever looks happen to be in style -- you can buy everything from bright, bold colors to products that make it look like you're not wearing any makeup at all!
10: Thin Is In
If you walk around an art museum, you're likely to see lots of curvy, plump female nudes among the models in the artwork. For many centuries, being thin meant that you were poor -- you didn't have enough food to eat and you spent your days burning off calories in the fields. Being a full-figured man or woman, on the other hand, was a symbol of wealth and beauty.
Beginning in the late 1800s, the word "diet" started to creep in to our vernacular, and at first, dieting advice was only aimed at men because women were expected to be voluptuous [source: Vester]. As the decades went on, a little extra flab became something to be ashamed of, and slender became the figure to strive for. While plenty of critics will point out that pictures of models and celebrities are airbrushed and Barbie has impossible-to-achieve proportions, both men and women seek to be thin, sometimes through extreme methods such as disordered eating, unhealthy amounts of exercise and plastic surgery.
Today, who do women have to aspire to as beauty icons? Whilst we still have the icons of old, we women require current idols to advise us on what is stylish, what hairstyles are fashionable and how to wear ourmake-up. I very strongly remember the influence that the Spice Girls had on me whenever I was hitting puberty, particularly the way they dressed and their makeup (it is a vast understatement to say that I was not fashion conscious as a young lady!)
However, our "style icons" of today are ridiculously influenced by the media. Most actresses go blonde at some point in their career as it's seen to be more attractive. We've all read the salacious magazine articles regarding the fluctuating weight of actresses and models and pop stars.
We hear of the "necessity" of airbrushing magazine covers and photoshoots - telling us subconsciously that these beauties are not attractive enough and could always look better. Which leads me neatly to the phenomenal rise in cosmetic surgery. It has become normalized, which I must be honest, horrifies me. Where does it end? Why must we change ourselves physically to such a dramatic extent? The women I listed earlier never had such dramatic surgeries. And we still regard them as beautiful regardless of this face.
Modern Beauty Conventions
One idle day, during a meeting of our Final Year English students, I was suddenly struck with the overwhelming majority of girls with long blonde hair (natural or otherwise - generally otherwise), that were all dressed in a similar vein (Jack Willis meets hobo, on whole) with glamorous make-up.
In the States, a tan is not hard to come by - which means starlets tend to have a healthy "glow" to their skin. Here in the UK, we're lucky to have sunlight long enough to buy t-shirt, nevermind get a tan. So girls apply a lot of fake tan to get that "healthy glow" (a move the goes tragically wrong a lot - but that is not for this hub!!) and it is seen as positively strange to not apply fake tan. It's become an expected beauty act to apply fake tan.
These are just a small portion of what appears to be expected of women today in order to be seen as attractive or beautiful.
It's Not All Bad Though!
Yes, not all women are being pressganged into these conventional ideas of beauty. There are some gorgeous female icons at the moment who are beautiful and curvyor beautiful and with dyed hair and tattoos or beautiful and slightly kooky/alternative.
Dita Von Teese is a gorgeous, curvy figure who screams back to old Hollywood glamour and the burlesque movement.
Christina Hendricks from AMC's "Mad Men" has a positively Monroe-esq figure and is being praised by a lot of magazines for not playing into the Hollywood diet fads.
Angelina Jolie is regularly on the "most gorgeous" women's lists but is covered in tattoos.
As long as we have these stunning women who return to the wide variety of silver-age beauty, I feel that society will be okay. Obviously a relaxing on the beauty standards by fashion publications would benefit the beauty ideals massively but I truly believe that society will eventually return to this recognition of beauty and the wide variety of examples that beauty comes in.
Something I've come to realise over my teenage years and into my 20s is that my personalideasof beauty have changed as I've progressed. Recently, as I was with my family at Christmas, my father pointed out an article in "The Sunday Times." The article wasn't earth-shaking but it did provoke thoughts within my mind. The article was about howsocietywas lacking because of our standardisation of societal ideas of beauty.
Who can disagree when such a thought unwinds in your mind? Think of the screen stars of the '30s, '40s and '50s. Consider all the icons of the silver screen. There was Bette Davis, Mae West, Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor, Greta Garbo and Vivien Leigh. Think of Marilyn Monroe. Such variety in their looks! Dark haired beauties, red-heads, blonde haired ladies - tall and elegant or curvy and busty women.
How Have Things Changed?
Consider the list of images posted alongside this text.
These women today wouldn't fit with the "Hollywood" look that seems so popular. It's a strange mix because women today are so fixated with a particular Barbie-esq, synthetic image but whilst admiring the iconic looks of these old Hollywood starlets. There is a fixation with the red carpet glamour that hearkens back to the "image" of these actresses.
How many women still list Audrey Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe as style icons?
Yet the rules for what is "attractive" and "beautiful" have become much stricter over the years. If they were actresers in the Hollywood community today, it's not beyond speculation that Marilyn Monroe's luscious size 14 frame would be the subject of subtle passive-aggressive comments on Monroe's eating habits or her cellulite. The distintive heavy-set eyebrows of Audrey Hepburn, Lauren Bacall and Elizabeth Taylor would not exist, instead being waxed to fine sculpted shapes. It's even conceivable that the heavy-eyed beauty of Marlene Dietrich's femme fatale look would be "unconventional" in modern day Hollywood.
"The quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit : loveliness" Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Whichever way you look at this phrase, it's very true. People tend to see beauty in something or someone that is pleasing to the eyes. The stereotype that Hollywood, or the organizers of the Miss Universe and Miss World, are setting, may not necessary be what other people considers as 'beautiful'. Think about it: that concept of judging, a handful of people setting the rules, and then claiming 'World's most beautiful Women', might just have a tad bit of falsity to it.
Regions around the world have different perceptions of what beauty is. What is beautiful to us in the US may not be accepted as beauty in Senegal. What is considered beauty in India, may not be considered to be beautiful by the people in Japan.
Japan: smooth skin, and straight black hair is very desirable.
The Padaung women of Southeast Asia puts metal rings around their necks from an early age to stretch their necks, this increases their desirability.
In India, on the other hand, sharp features, long nose, fair skin, long hair, and big eyes are perception of beauty. Out of all these characteristics, fair skin seem to have the highest preference.
In Iran they love small noses, and the plastic surgery that take place there just for nose jobs is phenomenal!
So, all these countries that send their women to the Miss World pageant, or Miss Universe contest, why are they all skinny, tan, long legged, tall girls like what America considers beautiful? Or should I say what Hollywood thinks beauty to be?
The answer is pretty simple, actually; these contests have set up certain criteria to enter, and they are based on..... You guessed it right, HOLLYWOOD, or the stereotypical American perception of beauty. Even Americans themselves all have different tastes, and find beauty in various features being prominent or refined. These general claims of "most beautiful" are just the collective, watered-down opinions that require the least thought to appreciate..
.
