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JUNE 2021
Women have been at the centre of the idea of Beauty. Ever since we have learnt to illustrate, read, write, and sing, it is at the forefront of human imagination.
Although there are umpteen classifications of Beauty in different parts of the world, influenced mainly by local cultures, there had been no clear definition of Beauty.
The matter is still subjective, even today in the age of precise measurements and statistical accuracy. Aesthetic principles are part of the broader concept of Beauty, and limiting to just sizing the face, is unfair.
In modern times, women Beauty is used as a tool to attract and sell products. It is misused and misrepresented to the extent of being exploited.
As an unregulated industry, it is intertwined with the marketing strategies of other industry sectors. From cars to houses, household items to fashion, women Beauty is used incessantly to carry out one message - Whatever looks good is good, so buy it.
Those women who are in the business of commercializing their face in this industry have used medical science to surgically redesign their looks.
Some may say – it’s freedom; the other will contest it with the real idea of Beauty as a holistic concept.
Aesthetics becomes Beauty
In ancient Greece, Phidias, the Greek sculptor and mathematician, used a ratio when designing his sculptures. According to him, when a line is divided in a ratio of 1:1.618, it creates an appealing proportion.
Thus, the golden ratio is called “Phi”. Subsequently, the artists in the Renaissance period started to use this golden ratio in their paintings.
The faces were aesthetically appealing, but the rest of the body was contemporary as there still exists no clear formula.
If you compare the women’s body proportions depicted in Renaissance paintings to what they are today, there is a stark difference.
While the beautiful faces continue to follow the golden proportion rule, the overall idea of Beauty has changed.
Unconsciously, facial Beauty is judged by proportions and symmetry. Closer the face comes to “phi”, the eye of the beholder perceives it as more beautiful.
It is a belief that this proportion is valid for all cultures and ethnicity. Factually, the number of faces in the range of the golden ratio is 1/3rd of the human population.
The others are either fall short or longer than the ‘phi’. In a way, the world has only a 3rd population who would fall in that club.
Beauty Today
The idea of Beauty today is mostly derived from the Miss World (https://www.missworld.com/#/) kind of beauty pageants.
If Miss World was the first beauty pageant, started in Britain, their cousins, the United States, cannot be left behind. Then, in 1952, came the Miss Universe beauty pageant.
Pacific Knitting Mills in California founded it. Interestingly, both these competitions were designed to promote swimsuits as it was a new concept then.
It was considered immodest, and society required a change in mindset. Initially, the pageant was Festival Bikini Contest as part of the Festival of Britain.
But due to popularity, the popular press termed it “Miss World”, and subsequently, the founder trademarked it. Pacific Knitting Mills was the manufacturers of Catalina Swimwear.
Now we understand that the “idea of beauty” and its commercialization have genesis from swimsuits.
Has it climbed the wrong ladder?
The first pageant in London had a more straightforward scoring system. The judges rated 50% by figure, 20% by facial Beauty, 20% by pose and 10% by the audience’s applause.
Now, no one knows the fundamentals of scoring undertaken in these competitions. Though the breakdown of the score is not shared these days, as the best guess, the contestants are judged on their appearance; looks in a swimsuit, catwalk, and evening gown.
They are also judged for answering questions, where the contestants profoundly proclaim Samaritanism, but never to follow later.
There are books and coaching available in plenty that these contestants use as a cheat sheet for answering questions in a beauty contest.
They are certainly not judged like athletes with a transparent and precise scoring system. Anyone on the contestant’s list could be a winner as the differentiating factors are close to none.
The contestants represent their country which itself is subjective. Even in the tiniest country like Jamaica, to large, diverse ones like India, picking up one girl as a representative of the country’s Beauty is ridiculous.
It translates to an assumption that all women in that country are alike. For example, there have been five (5) Miss World winners from India.
They are all from either Delhi or Mumbai, which are metropolises. The Beauty from other parts of the country remains unrepresented, giving a false image of Indian Beauty.
Subsequently, they all have chosen either modelling or movie acting as their career. The message is clear. The idea of Beauty is limited to those who are from that field or fit for these professions.
The notion of Beauty is not limited to the future careers of the contestants only. Race and colour play an important part in judgement too.
Since 1951, there have been just four (4) black African girls crowned as Miss World. Ruling out racism (if), the trend these white and coloured winners bring to black women’s Beauty is questionable.
Though inertia already created in the beauty industry is gigantic, more than enough to remain unchanged, still, we question to prevent cookie cutting the idea of Beauty.
It is not the first time; someone has written extensively about this topic. However, time and again, critics do question the idea of Beauty.
The first time someone opposed the new concept of Beauty was in 1951 itself when the beauty contest formally started. Many countries with different religious traditions threatened to withdraw from the contest.
Pope Venerable Pius XII, too, was not far behind in condemning the bikini contest.
What is driving the universal idea of Beauty?
The need for defining Beauty came to the forefront with the commercialization of women looks. Products that enhanced looks, covered flaws, altered skin tone needfully entered our daily life.
For those companies in the business of selling these, they gave a new idea of Beauty. The purpose was to unify the global market of women.
Beauty, as formulated by marketing strategy, became the podium spot for all women to pursue. Now women can see for themselves through the advertised models the result of using the product.
Companies use models in their advertisements with faces closest to “Phi”. Whatever that looks good is also good is the mind game behind ads.
It has started the beauty war and the market for competing products.
Multinationals entered the beauty market with gigantic research and advertising budget. They seem to be the culprit for bringing the unifying idea of Beauty.
Unfortunately, the consequence of this approach has been damaging to the diversity of the idea of Beauty.
If you observe the advertisements of beauty products across the countries, they are alike, though the models used in the advertisements are local to the country.
These supermodels often designated as brand ambassadors are quite similar or made to look so, often, they can confuse the viewers with their country of origin.
In effect, these advertisements creepily guide the generation of the country in a direction to look in a particular way that is universal.
Similarly, if you pick up those international beauty magazines published in any country, though the models change, but they look alike.
Also, the design of jewellery, dresses, footwear, hats, and other accessories are universal. There is negligible localization. The manipulation of consumer behaviour is seen as a cunning exercise of unifying a market.
There are only a few types of products to sell in the so-called beauty market. It must cater to all countries, regions, races, colours, and types of face.
The unifying strategy adopted by marketers is commercially working well. As a result, a European cosmetic will sell in Asia, America, and Africa without significant modification.
On the other hand, if the beauty product companies must adapt their products for the taste and preferences of those 194 countries, it would be a mammoth task.
The manufacturing and marketing will be expensive, cumbersome and impractical, if not impossible.
So, what is the idea of Beauty?
Is it as broadcasted by these beauty pageants? Shouldn’t the concept of Beauty be left open to society in general? Can the beauty pageant be held with plain women, is another argument put forward?
Why has the world yet not seen a pageant winner with spectacles, short height or not skinny? There are examples from sub-Saharan countries which defy the glossy magazine’s idea of Beauty.
Similarly, the Chinese and Indian notion of Beauty is different from the American or European idea of Beauty.
Fairy tales in all cultures worldwide have defined Beauty not with looks but by feelings. Children have grown up with that concept of Beauty. Appearance stood secondary when describing Beauty in a children book. It changes entirely with adulthood.
The relevance of this topic has emerged again. The pandemic has dented the idea of skin-deep Beauty. Women used primary or no beauty products to enhance their appearance.
The true Beauty appeared. Behind the web camera, it was acceptable to be without cosmetics. It is when women are in a public place, those cosmetics mattered.
Now that the world has seen raw and cosmetic Beauty in play, will it redefine the use of those beauty products?
The interplay of facial proportionality with the sale of beauty products is questionable. Remove one from the equation, and the idea of Beauty fails to take off.
The future of beauty, lies with fixing the terminology first. Beauty products are not for Beauty. They are cosmetics, which is hiding the authentic idea of Beauty.
Additional Notes:
How do we use the golden ratio to measure the ideal facial proportions?
The distance from the top of the nose to the centre of the lips should be 1.618 times the distance from the centre of the lips to the chin.
The hairline to the upper eyelid should be 1.618 times the length of the top of the upper eyebrow to the lower eyelid.
The ideal ratio of upper to lower lip volume is 1:1.6 (the lower lip should have slightly more volume than the upper lip)
Photo Credit -
Evaluation of Facial Beauty Using Anthropometric Proportions
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
The Scientific World Journal
Volume 2014, Article ID 428250, 8 pages
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