{"id":6526,"date":"2015-12-06T07:00:18","date_gmt":"2015-12-06T07:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=6526"},"modified":"2015-12-06T07:00:18","modified_gmt":"2015-12-06T07:00:18","slug":"defining-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=6526","title":{"rendered":"Defining beauty"},"content":{"rendered":"

On\u00a0a recent museum trip \u2013 I saw images from the Qajar dynasty in Persia \u2013 the period from 1795 -1925. The display focused on the women of that period.<\/p>\n

My attention was caught by description of the beautiful women of the Qajar court \u2013 paragons of beauty with a thick monobrow and moustache.<\/p>\n

\"There<\/a>
There are paintings and a few very rare photographs of the Qajar women showing very different ideas of beauty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today\u2019s women use cosmetics to highlight curved lips or long lashes. The Qajar women would paint on a moustache if they were not lucky enough to possess one naturally.<\/p>\n

This got me to thinking about how things change \u2013 and particularly how our perception of beauty changes.<\/p>\n

On other museum visits, I have seen\u00a0images of two famed classic Egyptian beauties \u2013 Nefertiti and Cleopatra. Cleopatra in particular was renowned as a great beauty \u2013 even in ancient times.<\/p>\n

Of course, when you are an Egyptian queen with the power of life of death over people, I don\u2019t image anyone is going to accuse you of having a bad hair day.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The famous bust of Nefertiti tells us she was beautiful – but images of Cleopatra are less informative – so in my mind, she wears the face of Elizabeth Taylor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think our images of the famed beauties of the past are defined by the actresses who played them in films. Which of course got me to thinking about beautiful actresses \u2013 and how our image of beauty has changed there over time.<\/p>\n

Clara Bow was a silent screen beauty \u2013 feted as a sex symbol in the 1920s. No one could accuse her of having a monobrow or moustache.<\/p>\n

\"Ultra<\/a>
Ultra thin eyebrows were a feature in the golden era of Hollywood.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 1930s saw the rise of the icy blondes May West, Marlene Dietrich, Jean Harlow. There was nothing girl next door about these cinema queens. I think a part of their appeal was that they came across as unattainable- as something more than we mere mortals.<\/p>\n

As society changed, so too did the icons \u2013 and buy the 50s beauty was becoming more overtly sexual \u2013 and topping the list here, the great Marilyn.<\/p>\n

\"Amazing<\/a>
Amazing to think that by todays standard, Marilyn was a tad.. well… chubby<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By contrast \u2013 from the 60s onwards, many models and celebrities have been stick thin \u2013 starting with Twiggy in the 1960s and continuing for a very long time.<\/p>\n

\"Twiggy<\/a>
Twiggy then and now – I think she looks far more beautiful now.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In recent years, our ideals of beauty have changed for the better – the women who top the most beautiful list often tend to be those who are strong, independent and intelligent women \u2013 with more on their mind that just being beautiful. Women who are more than just a face.<\/p>\n

But when it comes right down to it \u2013 who do I think of when I think of great beauty\u2026.<\/p>\n

\"Audrey<\/a>
Audrey Hepburn because she was different, always true to herself and left Hollywod to help others. Liz Taylor because she was strong and passionate and didn’t take rubbish from anyone. And Katherine Hepburn – who paved the way for women to run their own careers in a man’s world. And all three just happened to have beautiful faces as well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Which leaves us, or course, with the standard of beauty \u2013 yes beauty \u2013 in men. I might have to spend some time wandering around the internet thinking about that one. What a pleasant way to spend a rainy day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On\u00a0a recent museum trip \u2013 I saw images from the Qajar dynasty in Persia \u2013 the period from 1795 -1925. The display focused on the women of that period. My attention was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-history"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7g6jm-1Hg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6526\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/janetgover.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}