Eye-Opening Photos That Show How The "Ideal" Woman Has Evolved Over The Decades

But spare a thought for those poor women who were born in the decades before you. Ladies of both the near and distant past have had to do all sorts of crazy things — covering themselves in toxic products, dying their hair with urine — to try to look pretty. Maybe it’s best to just appreciate that beauty comes from within?

The look: Round figure, pale skin, red hair, dark eyes

Plenty happened in Ancient Greece that set the foundations for the modern day. But beauty standards were very different back then. We know from statues and drawings that the Greek goddess of beauty, Aphrodite, was presented as a large and full-figured woman. Women of that era had to suffer to look like Aphrodite, though.

Greek women were so desperate for pale skin that they used a paste called “ceruse,” but we know now that it was toxic and wouldn’t have done them much good at all. And you can argue that the Greeks’ whole perception of beauty was toxic. They believed that physical attractiveness was proof of goodness, so if you were ugly you were plain out of luck.

The look: Round figure, rosy cheeks, blonde hair

The Renaissance formed beauty standards for women that still echo in the world today. But, unlike the modern age, the people of that era didn’t value thinness. Their ideal female figure was, yep, one with lots of flesh on her. Some of the things they did value, though, led to big trouble.

Women of the era used all sorts of dangerous things to achieve the ideal of pale white skin and red rosy cheeks. One of these was… leeches. Yep, they put leeches on their faces to draw the blood out and make them super pale. Yeeesh. And while they were doing that, they’d sometimes also dye their hair with sulfur and the rays of the sun.

The look: Plump, pale, and perfect skin, light hair

Some wild things happened with female beauty standards during the time of Queen Elizabeth I. The ideal woman of that period was “Rubenesque,” with unblemished light skin and hair. But in an era before even indoor plumbing existed, good looks were pretty hard to attain — to say the least.

Even Queen Elizabeth herself couldn’t live up to the standards of the time — unable to achieve a pale complexion, she slathered her face in white makeup instead. Alas, what she used was most likely toxic, which would’ve made her face look worse. And other women of the time went to ridiculous lengths to get that idealized light blonde hair. What was in their hair dye? Urine.

The look: Plump body and face, dimples, pale skin, curly hair

Jane Austen wrote many of her novels during the Regency period. And thanks to her and other writers of the time, we have a pretty good idea of how a Regency lady was expected to look and act. If you hoped to find a husband, then you ideally needed a plump and healthy body — in those days a sign that you were wealthy.

Pale-faced ladies also denoted prosperity, because only people who had to labor outdoors gained suntans. And then there was the hair. If your hair was healthy, that was surely a sign that you were, too. And this was just what a potential suitor was looking for... especially since you’d probably have to bear children. Yeah, this was far from the days of Tinder.

The look: Round-bodied, cinched waist, bright eyes, pale skin

Queen Victoria was a mere 18 years old when she took the throne in 1837, and as monarch she presented the ideal that other women were meant to emulate. She was pretty by the standards of the era, too. When Victoria was still a kid, her uncle’s mistress reportedly described her as “fresh and round like a red rosebud, with flying curls and large luminous eyes.”

And those “large luminous eyes” were a mark of beauty in early Victorian times — something women went to ridiculous lengths to get. Some opted to apply a toxic eye-drop concoction known as “belladonna” to make their peepers shine, even though it ruined their vision. Very pale skin was also fetishized, with ladies even drawing veins on their skin to make it seem more translucent.

The look: Large busts, bell-shaped figure, covered head, no makeup

The Victorian era lasted a long time, and the ideal of the perfect woman changed as the years went by. Soon, women were seeking a “bell” figure with a large bust, and dresses that accentuated said features became popular. But there were also strict societal rules concerning women’s attire — for example, it was scandalous for a lady to be out in public without a hat.

Religion also played a strong part in what was seen as “proper” for a Victorian woman. A lady deemed to be wearing excessive makeup would be frowned upon, because she was seen as trying to hide her “God-given” natural beauty. That being said, there were good reasons not to wear makeup — many products had nasty stuff such as mercury and lead in them.

The look: Tiny waist, round body, natural face, big hair

The ideal woman of the 1910s had a name: the Gibson Girl. We get that title from illustrator Charles Dana Gibson, whose magazine images of the era’s “new woman” created a stir and caused ladies all over America to seek out the ideal he portrayed. Gibson Girls had curvy busts and hips but a small waist — a perfect S shape, in other words.

As for the face, the ideal Gibson Girl was pale and almost make-up-free, using perhaps only a small bit of rouge on the cheeks and red on the lips. In between tending to her looks, she’d ideally participate in athletics, play musical instruments, or shop for the latest fashions. She was more independent than some of the women who came before her… but not too independent.

The look: Androgynous figure, short hair, dainty lips

Come the era known as the Roaring Twenties, a more tomboyish figure was the desirable standard. The most fashionable ladies of the time were known as “flappers,” and you’ve probably seen them in countless Hollywood movies. They had a flat-chested and boyish body shape, delicate facial features — and that iconic short-bobbed hairstyle.

By this era, the concept of the “movie star” was coming into being, and that had an influence on makeup. Some women chose to make their facial features more dramatic when they went out on the town. And the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922 spurred numerous American females to take an interest in what was perceived as an “Egyptian” look.

The look: Big eyes, thin eyebrows, curves, hips

By the 1930s, the flapper look was out of fashion. Now a blonde, glacial appearance was all the rage. And even though the Great Depression came to define most of that decade, women still wanted to look good, so lipstick sales shot up. They also wanted to look like the Hollywood icons of the time — the likes of Jean Harlow and Greta Garbo, in particular.

Women were still expected to spend a long time at the makeup table, though. Eyebrows were supposed to be thin, so every lady needed a pair of tweezers in her bag. Mascara, eyeliner, and eyeshadow were used to amplify eyes, and contouring started coming into vogue. It all took a lot of work, but for many it was totally worth it.

The look: Broad shoulders, sharp angles, long legs, homemade cosmetics

The specter of World War Two hung over the 1940s and massively influenced the beauty standards of the time. Suddenly fashion had a military aesthetic, and the ideal body shape for a woman reflected that. It was all sharp angles and long legs — especially the legs. Betty Grable’s were particularly admired.

Because of the war, makeup was hard to get hold of. A lot of the usual products contained glycerol, which needed to be used for weaponry instead. So women improvised. If there wasn’t any lipstick, they used beetroot juice to tint their lips. And once mascara was gone, they used burnt cork.

The look: Lots of curves, simple makeup, natural skin tones

After World War Two, luxury fashions and cosmetics gradually started to come back with a vengeance. And now there was a new player in the game of promoting desirable body images — television. The ideal woman as presented on TV was curvy, smiley, flirtatious, and the sort of girl whom men would apparently want to look at every day.

Marilyn Monroe is, of course, the best-known example of the blonde bombshells so popular in this era. Her poster was on a lot of walls. She reportedly once said, “I think that sexuality is only attractive when it’s natural and spontaneous,” which perhaps flies in the face of the general idea of what womanhood was during the 1950s.

The look: Young-looking, skinny, long legs, dramatic makeup

Things changed in the 1960s. It’s arguably the beginning of what we’d call “modern” fashion — and the start of the idea that to be beautiful one had to be super-skinny. It was no more true then than it is now, of course, but plenty of women surely dieted to fit into the skirts and pants that the Swinging Sixties brought.

Everything was colorful — colorful makeup, colorful hair, colorful clothes. And suddenly women were finding themselves with many more options for what they wore in everyday life. Previously, society dictated they dress conservatively, but now they were to free to show skin in the new creation called “the miniskirt.”

The look: Big hair, thin physique, little makeup

The 1970s took what’d been created in the 1960s and added to it. In terms of fashion, hemlines were still short and models were still skinny, but women were starting to demand the right to set their own beauty standards — and much more. Some women turned their backs on beauty products altogether, while others opted for “barely there” makeup.

Throughout the 1970s, fashion became more androgynous, blurring lines about what ordinary women “should” wear. And big, natural hair became a symbol of independence. White women often wore their hair in a “feathered” style like Farrah Fawcett, while black women proudly sported afros. Times were changing, and image was everything.

The look: Svelte, tall, lots of makeup, dramatic cheekbones

This era saw the rise of the supermodel: tall, beautiful women who symbolized the ideal others should try to attain. Models such as Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, and Cindy Crawford were on every TV. And when they weren’t, pop stars filled the screens with bold new makeup looks.

In the 1980s bigger was better when it came to both makeup and hair. Spray, moose, eyeshadow, blush — all that and more was on the dresser of an average 1980s woman. But “imperfections” were also more celebrated than they’d been in the past. For example, people loved Madonna’s mole so much that they draw their own on with eyeliner pencil.

The look: Very thin, pale skin, fresh face

Many will tell you that the 1990s promoted some pretty unhealthy body ideals. The standard of beauty back then, as exemplified by models such as Kate Moss, was thinness taken to its highest extreme. Not only that, but pale skin and a generally disheveled appearance were popular. Some called it “homeless chic.”

But if you wanted to be beautiful in this era, you should only look unhealthy, rather than be unhealthy. Complexions had to be flawless, and make-up still had to be applied. Unless, of course, you decided to rebel — there were some out-of-the-ordinary looks in the 1990s as well, and tattoos and piercings began to take off.

The look: Washboard abs, exposed midriffs, glossy lips, fake tan

A lot of huge changes happened in the 2000s, including ones relating to body image and beauty. But generally things started off by building on what’d been established during the 1980s and 1990s. Fashion for girls and women was quite casual and fun— there was lip gloss and fake tan everywhere you looked.

But as time went on, a pushback started against thinness being promoted as the only standard of female beauty. Concerns were raised about the mental-health issues it could inflict on young actresses, not to mention the physical-health ones as well. Thankfully, things began to change as the scale of the problem became clear.

The look: Healthy curves, glowing skin, hair hairlights

By 2007 female celebrities had started speaking out about the impossible standards demanded of them, and magazines began promoting people who weren’t a size zero. Stars such as Jennifer Lopez, Tyra Banks, and Beyoncé were now being celebrated for the curves they had, not to mention all their other marks of beauty.

At the end of the 2000s, things were very different to how they’d been at the beginning. Clothing had gotten shorter and skimpier, and hair had changed, too. Teenagers often went through multiple different hairstyles and colors in just a few years, dying and highlighting whenever the mood took them.

The look: Curves but flat stomach, contoured face, smokey eyes

Another big societal change happened in the 2010s… the rise and rise of reality TV. For better or worse, stars of the medium became massive influences regarding what women wanted to look like. Many consider that Kim Kardashian’s body shape — big curves in the right places, but a perfectly flat stomach — is the ideal.

Of course, it’s worth bearing in mind that many of the celebs who have “perfect” bodies very possibly used plastic surgery at some point — which is nothing to be ashamed of, but just goes to show how unattainable “perfection” is. Even your favorite star’s makeup, such as Kim and her family’s famous contours, might’ve created by a professional.

The look: Accepting “imperfections,” neon makeup, face embellishments

The 2020s have only just started, and they’ve been a wild ride to say the least — but they’ve already spawned some fashion and beauty trends. For example, the Zendaya-starring TV show Euphoria is having a big influence on what women wear, including brightly colored makeup and adhesive jewels for the face.

And now society seems to be leaning more towards the idea of body acceptance — different from body positivity, this is the idea that you may not be 100 percent happy with the skin you’re in, but it’s good for your mental health to embrace it nevertheless. And you can dress it up however you please.

It’s impossible to know what beauty standards will be like in future — especially with surgical technology developing all the time —but hopefully the trend of body positivity and acceptance will continue. One thing’s for sure, we’ve all come a long way since the days of dripping poisonous belladonna into our eyes.