The history of beauty: putting it all in perspective

You've probably heard people say "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and other things along the same line of thought. In the last 40-50 years though, it seems that beauty has been in the eye of the editor, the designer, or the film and television studio. Today I want to remind everyone that this was not always the case.

Rembrandt's Bathsheba

Prior to the late 50s early 60s, to be thin was not a good thing. For thousands of years, the bigger you were, the more beautiful you were. In many primitive cultures, a thin woman was seen as an ineligible mate because her body did not show she was fit for child bearing, and was thus undesirable. In ancient Rome, a big woman was a symbol of sexiness, health, and wealth - the bigger you were the more money you had, the more food and better access to medicine you had, so the healthier you were. In Han dynasty China, big women were celebrated and adored, lusted over, and the ideal picture of beauty. Moving forward into the Renaissance, artists like Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Raphael, and Michelangelo all painted full figured women, finding beauty in their soft feminine curves. The Mona Lisa, if you look at her, would at least be a modern day size 14, and she is still recognised years later as a great beauty, same with the Venus in a Shell.

The dangerous curves of the late Jayne
Mansfield

Towards the turn of the 20th Century even, it was more about the shape of a woman than her size that dictated attractiveness. The curve of the waist, big child bearing hips and ample bosom - all accentuated by corsets of the time - were all markers of a sexy lady, whether she was a size 8, or a size 28. The 40s bought tailored suits for women, accentuating and creating curves in a more modern way, and by the 50s the emergence of the pin-up girl solidified the hourglass shape as being sexy, regardless of the size of the hourglass. 

The waif herself, Kate Moss

However it all began to turn in the 60s with the discovery of models like Twiggy, and suddenly thin was in.   It began with the designers and the fashion world, but soon because hip clothes were being made to look good on thinner frames, many women found themselves unable to keep up with the latest trends, starting the thought process that you had to be thin to be beautiful, to fit into the beautiful clothes that were coming out of Paris and Milan. This notion was reinforced again in the 90s with the waif look of Kate Moss taking catwalks by storm. Women had gained independence from men, and had made steps into becoming equal with men, but as soon as one battle was over another had begun - the battle of body image. With the growth of visual media women were being bombarded with images of thin being beautiful, desirable, the be all and end all of being woman. 

It is now inescapable. It is everywhere, billboards, TV, movies, magazines, catalogs, and of course the big bad web. Half the ads on the television are for diets, diet products, exercise machines and other weight loss aids, and many fashion looks are almost impossible for the everyday woman to pull off without some temporary nipping and tucking by their handy dandy shape wear.

What I want to point out here is that the ideal beach body now has only been the ideal for 50 years. 50 years, versus 5,000 years. I'm not saying thin isn't beautiful, I am saying that women are beautiful, no matter what their size. Historically speaking there is no reason why a size 18 woman should be regarded as any less beautiful than a size 8 woman, because for thousands of years she was beautiful already, so why should that have changed? I want the 21st century to fix the mistakes of the 20th, and remember that big women have always been beautiful, and realise that thin women are beautiful too. 

So ladies, next time you look in the mirror and question your body, criticise your body, or think you're not beautiful because of your size, remember that somewhere, at some point in time, no matter how big or small you are, there would have been someone at your feet begging to hit that!

xx