The Ever-changing Standard of Beauty
When will you go out of style?
It’s 1964, you’re taking a stroll through the streets of Manhattan when you catch a glimpse of a store window nearby. You lock eyes with that decade’s prime silhouette — a boxy cut mini-dress.
This gives us a stark contrast when placed next to the beauty ideals of 2019. Could you imagine social media influencers having a go at 60s mod dresses?
I’d pay to see it.
Whatever becomes big in fashion and mainstream media will dictate the standard of beauty and inevitably the types of bodies that we praise (and downplay) at a given time.
The Wheel of Fashion
Fashion trends are constantly being recycled. Just a few years before the looser clothing of the 60s, the ideal clothing silhouette was formfitting, and the desired body shape was that of an hourglass. What can we learn from this stark shift?
Well, for one, beauty trends and body ideals are fickle.
Just take a look at this interview of Twiggy — the face of the 60s, being asked if the reason she’s retiring from modeling is due to being unable to compete in the industry because ‘the bosom is back’.
This interview takes place in 1970, just four years after she was at the height of her career and the modeling industry.
Let that one marinate.
One day you’re in, the next day...
Being an unapologetic ‘skinny’ girl my entire life, I’ve often been asked how I’ve gotten so comfortable with showing my body.
I’ve been called things like ‘brave’, which I know comes from a good place but I can’t help but imagine that there’s an undertone of pity.
When I hear brave, my brain translates it to:
‘Oh wow, if I had your body I would never.’
I often think of the plans I made as a child for my adult body — things I’ve yet to execute. They mostly surrounded my appearance and what I would change if I had the chance to.
Thankfully, I shed those plans ages ago but for some people, those dreams tend to linger.
Since the beginning of the 2000s we’ve seen the rise of plastic surgery but it has progressed significantly in the 2010s.
Everything is now fixable.
In fact, it’s even encouraged and seen as a point of empowerment for women but, we tend to ignore where the urge to change usually comes from — the media.
I hadn’t noticed my flat chest until someone brought it to my attention by comparing me to my peers.
That’s just my story though, for some women it’s their lips, nose, hair or pretty much any other part of their body.
The beauty standards of the 2010s are so toxic that some people feel incomplete unless they can look as close as possible to the ideal body of our time.
With the rise of social media, it’s easy to see what the masses classify as beautiful.
This is concerning because people are changing their bodies permanently for a temporary ideal.
In the years to come, the highly exaggerated body proportions of 2019 will be just that — a reminder of last season’s fad.
Beauty is not singular.
The standard of Beauty will continue to change, and because of this, the way we’re viewed will remain in rotation.
Our bodies are more than a quick trend. We are born from nature and amongst many things, nature is timeless.
My art teacher once told our class that when painting scenes of nature, it is best to stray from symmetry. Nature will never be perfect, and we are no different.
There is beauty in the random assortment of our individual features, it makes us unique, it makes us human.
