The Changing Face (and Body) of Beauty

Faces and bodies are subject to fashion as much as hair, clothing and makeup.

You might be aware of the scary light blue eyeshadow trend? 

Popular in both the 1950s and again in the 1970s, this is not generally a good look, although of course, the gorgeous Agnetha looked fantastic in anything.

Abba's Agnetha in blue eyeshadow

Even baby-blue eyeshadow. 

Despite that, it's a trend best forgotten swiftly, so let us move on rapidly.

Visiting Malta recently and the ancient Hypogeum, I realised how much beauty is in the eye of the beholder

The Sleeping Lady

Despite her girth The Sleeping Lady is tiny. Her rest was disturbed when she was removed from the Hypogeum. (Well worth a visit, but book many months in advance!)
She is now slumbering in a museum, but is easily missed as she is so little. 

She is very far removed from our current idea of beauty, though. We're not over keen on hips like that nowadays, and prefer a more athletic form, although this is a very modern trend.

Take Rubens, and his pneumatic ladies 

Dawn French once said: 

‘If I had been around when Rubens was painting, I would have been revered as a fabulous model. Kate Moss? Well, she would have been the paintbrush.’

Wealth is always attractive

Or it's thought to be. Rubens did paint some smaller women, but on the whole his subjects were anything but thin, in line with society. 

The people who could afford his paintings were rich, and larger ladies were on trend, as a status symbol - their generous size meant that their husbands could afford to feed them really well, so he must have lots of money. Poor women worked hard and had less to eat, so they were probably a lot thinner than their wealthy sisters. 

Being large was a status symbol

Also the people buying the pictures and painting were almost 100% men. And men generally like child bearing hips, even if their owners don't.

This trend was wiped out in the 1960s, when waif-like women became trendy.

Suddenly, everyone wanted to look like Twiggy. 

All eye lashes and no hips

This actually was a recap on the 1920s androgynous look when women bound their breasts to flatten them in an attempt to look more boyish. 

Dying to be thin

During the Renaissance, and in many other eras, thin women were not considered beautiful, but nowadays, wealthy people tend to be skinny. 

Despite most of us being lucky enough to have plenty of food, some girls are starving themselves in pursuit of a mythical ideal of thinness. But there's no point in being skinny, if you are anorexic and your hair starts falling out. Or you get so ill that you have to be force fed and hospitalised.

Although it must be said that not all thin girls have anorexia and will resent it, if you assume they do. Some people just really prefer salad to crisps. (I like both. But, crisps in moderation, salad not.) 

Naturally thin girls can have a hard time too (I know - I was one for decades!) 

People comment on your size and say things like 

"Ooh you're so thin. We must feed you up." 

Can you imagine if I'd said the same thing to them, but opposite - 

"Oh you're so chunky. We must put you on a diet!" 

It would have been unspeakably rude, so I never did. But I often felt like it...

Equally, if you're a curvy beauty, don't long to be skinny, but enjoy having your luscious curves. 

The Venus of Willendorf.
Possibly not a healthy eating role model.
More of a fertility goddess

If you're interested, most men prefer curves

The brain of the male of the species is programmed to notice fertility of prospective mates (that would ideally be most women) and what their brain looks for is curves:

Breasts that can nurture a baby, hips to store fat to feed that eventual baby, and a waist in between, so that they can see that the woman is not already pregnant. 

That might sound sexist, but Nature is pretty sexist, I've found.

The sanest way to look at body size and shape is probably to be happy in your own

It's the only one we'll get after all. At least this time round.

I really hope we are approaching an era of common sense where anyone, regardless of their size can feel and look beautiful. 

Because beauty should be a question of good health, not size

What we should all be aiming for, regardless of our size is a healthy diet, some pleasurable activity and exercise and acceptance of, and appreciation for, our own unique natural beauty. 

Picture by Shahab Yazdi from Unsplash

This time of year, as the seasons change and summer slides slowly, sullenly and soggily into autumn, your skin gets dehydrated like mad.

If you are dehydrated, your lips will let you know. They are an exceptionally efficient barometer of the rest of you.

The central heating, possibly, the coldness, then heat of the changeable weather, and the forgetting to drink enough water; all these take their toll.

Of your skin, of course, but your lips too, because lips, although they look like skin, are actually part of the digestive system: they're the nearest the internal bits get to the outside. (Except in horror films, obviously.)

Technically, the skin of the lips actually forms a border between the external skin on your face, and the interior (mucous membrane) of the mouth.

Lips are a transition layer between the outer and the inner, so they're a jolly good signal of what is going on with your health and hydration.

Now, the fullness of your lips is mainly controlled by the orbicularis oris muscle, the one which encircles the mouth, and enables you to smile, grimace and grin. Should you wish to do so. Keeping this muscle built up and strong will give fuller and firmer lips, so it's well worth getting stuck in to the old facial exercises. 

Obviously genetics play a part, as always, but you work with what you've got, don't you?

Lips, because they are lacking as many layers as the rest of the face, and contain no oil glands and considerably fewer melanocytes (that's the clever little chaps which produce melanin), tend to be dry. 

Photo by Luka Davitadze /Unsplash

Also, what you see as colour on lips - yours and other peoples is the blood vessels showing through that clear, thin skin. Less attractive, isn't it? (Except to vampires, probably.) 

So your lips really need your help to keep them moist and protected. 

Make sure you use an organic lip balm though, as some of it will inevitably get eaten!