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Articles
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Beauty in The Last 100
Years - What a Story!
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The Western ideal of beauty has changed regularly and
radically through the last 100 years and there are many
reasons for this; world events, developments in technology
and shifting priorities are obvious ones, coupled with
changes in society often triggered by economics and the need
to create new markets. Also, every so often appears a rare
genius, making something happen out of the blue, capturing
the imagination to such an extent that we realise it was
inevitable, so perfectly it sums up the spirit of the age.
Perceptions of beauty have changed radically from the last
century with various ideals oscillating back and forth.
This is the story of the development of markets, the
creative genius of hundreds of designers and manufacturers
and the gradual sophistication of the media and their
audience, of the technological advances of the 20th Century
and the people who bought and sold them, of society and its
concerns.
In times of hardship, fashion and beauty are often the first
to be affected, and yet are sorely needed symbols of morale.
Women have held the fort in troubled times; nursing the sick
and doing men's work in World War I, also as intelligence
and defence personnel in the Second, munitions works in both
and even as front line troops in the Gulf War. Increasingly
women have completed on a professional basis with men, and
these war-driven experiences were to influence how women
dressed generally, and the way designers and manufacturers
saw them. The forces of fashion affected the fashion of the
forces and vice versa.
Clothes, makeup and hair all reflect change in society,
acting as barometers of our expectations. Skirt lengths are
said to move up in good economic times and down in bad. The
shifting erogenous zone, a concept of fashion historian
James Laver, says each age emphasises a different facial and
body part. However, it is the whole look of each decade that
enables us to reassess 20th century beauty.
It is the story of the emancipation of women. For instance,
women in male attire for work; though shocking at first, the
sexual connotations of this were later exploited in films,
filtering through to fashion. The ideal became youthful,
sporty, boyish or natural in contrast to the full-blown
matronly Edwardian look. Dior once said 'As far as fashion
is concerned there are two ages, girlhood and womanhood'.
Mothers may have had the cash, but daughters had the
cultural cachet.
Today fashion has become its own history book as designers
like Westwood and Galliano take past styles and put a new
twist to them. The industry continually refers to trends,
and there is a dynamic at work allowing media, advertisers,
designers and artists to feed off each other to satisfy the
public's appetite for novelty.
Couture is increasingly street-led and more trends originate
from subculture and streetstyle. Gwen Stefani (the signer
with 90s band No Doubt) has a Marcel Wave, a sequin on her
forehead, midriff-baring sports vest, fatigues, trainers and
30s make-up, red lips and black eyebrow pencil. It is a
strong image, from everywhere and nowhere. 'Classic', since
the 20s, indicates something timeless and special; a Cartier
watch, 501s, Chanel No 5, a Kelly bag, trainers or a Louise
Brooks bob. In today's consumer mentality, these are
appreciated in a way incomprehensible to previous centuries.
As with many of the old fashion houses, Worth, the first
fashion designer since Rose Bertin, couturier to Marie
Antoinette, has long gone, but his scent 'Je Reviens'
remains, a legacy in itself.
Hollywood glamour has been paramount, as many trends began
with the power of celluloid. Film is a huge market for the
beautiful, sometimes dictating to the fashion industry who
is and who isn't.
Weddings symbolise the zenith of looking good for millions
of women, yet historically only the elite had wedding
dresses. The business really grew in the 50s and now,
despite informal celebrity weddings since the 60s, and fewer
traditional church nuptials, vast amounts are being spent in
the ritual of tying the knot.
Women's identity comes from experience or background and
choice and interest is expressed through image. previous
taboos are broken about what they may buy themselves, buying
their own scent, flowers, diamonds and cosmetic surgery with
impunity.
Hair has also established images, changing for practical
reasons, sheer defiance of the norm and morale boosting. And
the principle of looking after oneself has returned, rather
than a moral code that frowned upon vanity. Few dress so
show status, but aspirations, preferences or beliefs. We can
control what we want people to see of our age and
philosophy. Diana, Princess of Wales rarely dressed as a
'Royal', presenting a relaxed image of a wealthy, modern
woman - apace with the times and breaking the mould.
Clothing and morality are also linked: when underwear
becomes outerwear, bounds of acceptability are challenged.
Away from the beach or outside the boudoir, a bikini or
lingerie can look ridiculous, such are the confines of
occasion. Another function of fashion is to challenge,
react, copy and move on. Old looks lie low for an average of
seven years before reappearing for reappraisal.
Technology has benefited skincare and clothes with cheap,
easy-care fabrics, better cosmetics, hair products and
advances in science. Knowledge is power, and decisions about
diet, exercise and well-being ultimately affect appearance.
Ethics replace religion and morals; companies have
re-thought product methods in reaction to concern about
animal welfare for instance, changing both style and
advertising. The media is increasingly more accessible, it
and its users more sophisticated. Pluralistic images appear,
often with a sense of irony and humour. And those images are
now often controlled by women, for women, and about women.
Now at the start of not only a new century, but millennium,
we have come full circle. Chanel, originator of costume
jewellery makes real jewellery; therapies and treatments
favoured are often traditional rather than high-tech,
make-up comes in no-nonsense packaging as if prescribed, and
make-up artists receive their due, as in the days of Max
Factor and other pioneers.
There is both an elite and mass market. Individualism is
here to stay. Almost every image is borrowed from yesterday.
Each idea takes seconds to germinate, days to put into
practice, weeks to last and, once over, put into posterity
as history. The more we value it, the more it says about us.
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