Beauty standards have a tendency to go in and out of style.
What was considered attractive a hundred years ago might be considered positively revolting by today’s standards.
For better or worse, these ideals of beauty shaped the lives of women across the ages.
To the ancient Greeks, nothing was more attractive than a woman with just one eyebrow.
Inclassical Greece, which began in the 5th century B.C., Spartan beauty standards had changed a bit.
Beautiful nails were also a must.
Women of the upper classes were expected to have rounded, well-kept nails.
Even among the men in ancient Ireland, nail grooming was considered mandatory.
It was considered to be shameful for men of the upper classes to have unkempt nails.
In the 14th century, fashion-forward women began topluck their hair to raise the hairline.
By the Renaissance period, women weretaking drastic measuresto achieve a high forehead.
Women also removed most of their eyebrows, making their foreheads appear even larger.
The trend is thought to make women more approachable by making their smiles less perfect.
To accomplish this, false teeth are attached to a woman’s original teeth.
This isn’t the first time that Japanese women have altered theirteethfor the sake of beauty.
Before yaeba,blackened teethwere long considered to be attractive.
Bones dating back to that time show evidence of tooth blackening.
Pale skin and prominent veins were essential during the Renaissance
Forget tanning.
Women during the Renaissance wereall about pale skin.
Others, including Queen Elizabeth I herself, would apply a powder made of lead to their faces.
This had the effect of lightening the skin, but also slowlypoisoned the wearer.
The perfect skin tone was not just pale, but practically translucent.
The more clearly the veins could be seen through the skin, the better.
The process was cripplingly painful literally.
The process was not only excruciating, but also dangerous.
Women could easily lose toes to infection.
The practice of foot binding went on for centuries.
It waspermanently banned in 1912after the Chinese Revolution toppled the Qing dynasty and created a republic.
Today, the wordRubenesqueis still used to refer to voluptuous women.
During the Renaissance, larger women were considered particularly beautiful.
Limping ladies were the height of fashion in Victorian England
Victorian England was quite the interesting place.
One of its greatest trendsetters wasAlexandra of Denmark, wife to the Prince of Wales.
Renowned for her beauty, people were eager to follow Alexandra’s example.
When rheumatic fever left her with a limp, women were quick to copy it.
“It is as painful as it is idiotic and ludicrous.”
This gave rise to shopkeepers selling shoes with mismatched heels.
When the fashion finally died out, it was replaced with something equally crippling:the hobble skirt.
Mustached women were prized in 19th century Iran
Many ladies fight a constant battle against facial hair.
“The culture is defining what’s attractive, and it’s not more accepting,” said Lin.
“Now women can feel bad if they don’t have the right muscle tone.”
