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.
