Beauty Standards

One can imagine the woman in Unconscious Beauty sweeping about in her long skirts, smiling at everyone she meets. She belongs in a ballroom, dancing with a quick, light step, laughing demurely at something her partner said; or in a garden with a book across her lap, putting out a hand to catch the spray of the fountain beside her. One can almost hear the rustle of her dress or the giggle of her laugh. With her ivory skin, doe eyes, and soft lips, this woman demonstrates beauty standards during the early twentieth century. To obtain the “unconscious beauty” in this pictured image, women were expected to be both outwardly and inwardly pure, which was attained through care of the body and of the mind.

Twentieth-century women had exacting standards of beauty for their lips, eyes, and skin. The ideal mouth was neither large nor small, neither thick nor thin, and had a “graceful, firm outline.”[1] As for its color, women favored “the pearly look with pink lip color”[2] rather than the darker shades of later decades. Regarding the eyes, women believed that their beauty depended more on their “size and elongation”[3] than on their color. They applied lemon-colored paste to their eyelids[4] and used products to promote the growth of their eyebrows.[5] Concerning the skin, a perfect complexion was clear, with a “delicate tint and texture.”[6] To obtain the desired pale skin, women applied lemon juice,[7] rice powder,[8] or whitening creams to their faces. One can picture these women standing before their mirrors, dusting powder onto their cheeks and tilting their heads to assess the results. With their powder puffs, jars of cream, and homemade pastes, they strove to live up to the demanding standards of beauty.

[1] Ella Adelia Fletcher, The Woman Beautiful (New York: Brentano’s Publishers, 1901) 347.

[2] “Vintage Makeup Guides,” Glamour Daze, accessed November 8, 2016, http://vintagemakeupguide.com/edwardian-look/.

[3] Fletcher, The Woman Beautiful, 381.

[4] Stevie McGlinchey, “History of Make-up – 1900 to 1919,” Glamour Daze, accessed November 8, 2016, http://glamourdaze.com/history-of-makeup/1900-1919.

[5] Fletcher, The Woman Beautiful, 387.

[6] Ibid.,132.

[7] “History of Make-up – 1900 to 1919.”

[8] “Vintage Makeup Guides.”