"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is a saying that is, unfortunately, highly misleading. In a place where society rules, it is society itself that is the beholder, society that decides what is beautiful and what is not. Over history, fashions have changed to dictate society on how they must look- each method more dangerous than the last. From the iron corsets of the 1600's to the beginning of cosmetic surgeries of the early 1900's, this is not the end, but merely one time span in the history of humanity. People are prone to prefer good looks, according to whatever society has in mind for the time, to good health. This research paper will seek to prove that it is the ignorance and n ...view middle of the document...
This practice can be attributed to women's obvious self-awareness; their need to create something somewhat larger than life on themselves, in hopes of overshadowing the fact there was nothing that large within them.The deceit women created from their own insecurities went much further than that. Thanks to scurvy and other diseases, women were left without their real teeth, thus creating a large market for false sets. Women also created false breasts and calves by wearing what has been fondly titled the "bum roll" to create a more "bell" shaped physique. How can surprise arise at the stereotype of sensitive women developed over the years? They had not the physical strength to even walk because of their stylish attire.The nineteenth came with slow change. Style began go move from monstrously large to demure. The arms were usually slimmer fitting for day dresses, something that constricted their arm movement to create a more evident demureness about the women, so that she can get the high honour of marriage. In the beginning of the century Grecian-like dresses, which were little more than sheer nightgowns were adopted, leaving women without much keeping them warm. To create a higher level of immobility, women, on average, wore approximately 14 pounds of underwear, and with the heavy, long dresses they wore, it was no surprise that many accidents happened during athletic activities such as cycling.Athletic activity though, was discouraged, as women were perceived as fragile. They attempted to make their skin look as translucent as possible through things such as avoiding the sun and fresh air, drinking vinegar, and painting on thin blue lines creating a faux look of see through veins.In the 20th century, World Wars had brought on a change. Make up was brought back into style as the deteriorating faces of Edwardian hostesses needed concealing. Some women had make up tattooed to their face permanently, and some shaved off their eyebrows, to have them never grow back again. Dresses became shorter and more efficient, and women were even beginning to wear pants, though this trend will not catch on for decades. Women suffered the great pains of the emerging style of the boyish figure of the 1920's, many women going into the, then experimental, cosmetic surgery, to decrease the size of their bosoms. In the 1930's, voluptuous breasts were back in style, as women horded back in to get their breasts enlarged.CorsetsCorsetry has been around for centuries, and have always had one main purpose- the forcible reshaping of a young woman, or more rarely- men's, body to the standard of beauty of the time.Greeks corseted their girls and women with a leather band style corset to accent the figure. This form of restriction was forced on children from their very birth to keep their limbs straight, and then to keep them slim through puberty.The iron corsets of the 16th century were worn to create a straighter stomach line and a smaller waist.The Stays corsets of the1...
