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A Historic Look at Beauty and Fashion
Beauty, though quite abstract, has been highly sought after by women for millennia. Beauty has been seen as a vehicle to achievement throughout time. Most of the women who are considered icons of the past are mostly remembered for their looks. Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette and Marilyn Monroe, are to name but a few.
Over the centuries and depending on cultures and societies, concepts of looks have changed. In northern Europe through the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a beautiful woman should have pale white skin with rosy cheeks. This is how a young lady might naturally look during brisk cold weather. As a result of this perceived ideal, young ladies avoided the sun and carried parasols everywhere in an effort to stay gorgeous.
It is no longer pale skin that is considered beautiful. Rather, the reverse has become true with a suntan being a requisite for modern beauty. The sun tan lotion industry is booming as sunbathing is is now an important element of a woman's beauty regime. If the sun fails then there is always the tanning booth where the same effect can be achieved.
European ideals of beauty became Western ideals and very quickly got tied up with race and natural complexion. Black women were in the unenviable position of never being able to match up to the beauty standards. They would bleach their skins in order to look a little more white and a little more beautiful. The 'black beauty' movement of the 1970's challenged the pre-existing beauty norm and went a long way in changing the African-American concept of themselves and their beauty.
Today concepts of beauty are far less associated with skin tone or ethnicity. Some of the world's most celebrated stars are women of colour including Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks, Halle Berry and the first African-American First Lady, Michelle Obama. The beauty conscious are not concerned with trying to look lighter but with trying to look youthful and possess clear complexions devoid of blemishes, acne and age spots. Teeth must be perfectly white and cosmetics must be understated and natural looking.
A female can have the most amazing looking face in the world but if she's heavy then she is not considered beautiful. Since the days of corseted dresses women have sought to be slim or appear thinner than they are in order to achieve optimum beauty. Corsets were tied so tight that in some cased damaged the woman's structure permanently. Today, diet pills and weight loss programs have taken over where the corset left off.
Fashion has always been the partner of the beauty industry. Today, females are supposed to have flat toned abdomens and fashions that reflect this. Hip cut trousers and belly revealing tops can only be worn by those who fit the modern beauty ideal.
Age seems to have everything to do with the modern concept of beauty. In order to be attractive you must look young. This is one of the hardest things to keep up with for the beauty conscious individual. There are literally thousands of anti-aging skin care products that claim to help women restore their lost beauty through rejuvenation of young looking skin. Most simply don't work while others are marginally more effective. For girls for whom being pretty is everything, there is always the cosmetic surgery option.
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