Female beauty is a very abstract concept, given the different preferences and canons that existed in different eras among different nationalities, so what was considered perfection for some could be perceived as ugliness for others. Find out what beauties were like at one time or another among representatives of numerous nationalities.

1. Ancient Egypt

Slender women with graceful facial features were considered the standard of beauty in Ancient Egypt. Plump lips and almond-shaped green eyes were in fashion. To make the pupils appear large (which was also considered an attribute of female beauty), Egyptian women dropped special juice extracted from the “sleeping stupor” plant into their eyes. They also used green paint to outline the eyes and color the nails.

2. Ancient China

The main standard of female beauty for the Chinese was tiny feet. For this reason, from childhood, women's legs were tightly bandaged to stop the growth of their feet. Women with large or medium sized feet had no chance of getting married. By the way, long thick hair was considered the standard of beauty for men.

3. Ancient Greece

The Greeks had a developed cult of a trained body, so there were very strict requirements for women according to clearly defined standards. A clear example of the ancient Greek canons of beauty can be considered the statue of Aphrodite. Large eyes and a straight nose (Greek profile) were in fashion. As for the sizes, it was the chest - 86 cm, hips - 93 cm, waist - 69 cm with a height of 164 cm.

4. Ancient Rome

The ancient Romans especially revered blonde hair and fair skin. In order to comply with these canons, women desperately bleached their hair in the sun, after smearing it with goat's milk and beech tree ash.

5. Europe

The Renaissance dictated its terms to women regarding their appearance. Back then, a pale complexion, a long neck and a high forehead were revered. It was difficult to meet the physical criteria, so the ladies resorted to tricks: they shaved the backs of their heads and the front hair, and also plucked their eyebrows.

Today it is difficult to say unequivocally which type of female beauty is considered the most iconic, but experts in the history of fashion already predict that our century will subsequently become famous for the time of ultra-short hairstyles and abnormal thinness, bordering on anorexia. Who said that being a beauty is easy?

Poets glorified female beauty in their poems, men fought duels for the honor and dignity of their beautiful ladies, some rulers conquered states to gain the right to possess a captivating beauty, and palaces and castles were built for other luxurious women. It's all because of the enchanting female beauty. What is beauty and what is an attractive woman like? If for the Renaissance the famous curvaceous Rubensian woman was the standard of beauty, then in ancient Egypt a slender and tall girl with a boyish figure was considered attractive. In different eras, the standard of female beauty has changed greatly.

A couple of decades ago, slender models with measurements of 90-60-90 were in fashion. The fit Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, and Kate Mocc ruled the fashion stage. In recent years, fashion has dictated its increasingly demanding conditions. In order to comply with fashion trends, girls were forced to go on debilitating diets. And today, anorexic young ladies are being replaced by plus-size models, girls with an hourglass figure or an athletic body. Nowadays, such plump stars as Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian, and Ashley Graham are at the peak of popularity. Moreover, some celebrities resort to plastic surgery in order to have even more magnificent breasts or butts.

Time does not stand still and now fashion trends are rapidly replacing each other. But it wasn't always like this. In earlier times, ideas about female beauty could remain unchanged for several centuries. I invite you to plunge into history and trace how the standards of female beauty have changed in the process of human development.

The standard of beauty for an ancient woman

The Paleolithic Venus can rightfully be considered the very first standard of female beauty. This is a prehistoric figurine of a woman made by an ancient man. This is how the men of that time saw a beautiful woman - with wide hips, massive breasts hanging under their own weight and an immense belly. Apparently, ancient men looked at women simply, instinctively - they are large, which means there is enough food, they will not die of hunger, they will give birth to children and leave. This is not surprising, because the main occupation of that time was survival. As the quality of life improved, survival took a back seat. Society was divided into rich and poor, and some women had a lot of time and conditions to take care of their appearance.

Cleopatra was considered the standard of female beauty in Egypt. A thin, tall woman with narrow boyish hips, small breasts and a long swan neck - this was the woman who personified the ideal of beauty of ancient Egypt. The face of the ancient Egyptian beauty was thin with straight features, high prominent cheekbones and full lips. The lady's eyes were given an almond shape by drawing long arrows with black or green paint. To make their appearance noble, women bleached their skin to a light yellow hue. It was believed that an unemployed lady from high society could afford to be exposed to the scorching sun as little as possible. The Egyptians of that time walked barefoot, and to hide their black heels, ladies had to paint them over.

The standard of female beauty of the Middle Ages

In the era of the abstinent Middle Ages, fashion for ideals of female beauty, like everything else of that time, was dictated by the church. Christianity required a woman to be faded, modest and shapeless. Bright and beautiful girls of that time were mistaken for witches and burned. Thin, thin, with missing breasts, pale and submissive - this is the ideal of a medieval woman.

The girls wore shapeless dresses that hid their assets. The large breasts were pulled in tightly. The standard of female beauty is a small belly, as a symbol of pregnancy. The girls hid their bright blush under whitewash. A high forehead was considered beautiful, and fashion-conscious ladies shaved off the hair above the forehead and eyebrows. This gave the face greater openness and humility. To lengthen the neck, the hair on the back of the head was also shaved. From the paintings of that era, pale, meek girls and women in wide, shapeless dresses look at us - this is the standard of beauty of the Middle Ages.

The standard of beauty of the Renaissance

Fortunately, the times of the ascetic Middle Ages have been replaced by an era of cultural revival and a curvy, healthy female body is coming into fashion. Thinness and pallor are considered signs of illness. The standard of beauty of the Renaissance is the Rubensian woman - tall, plump, with broad sloping shoulders, small breasts and a prominent belly, powerful thighs and calves, narrow ankles and small legs. The skin is pink and radiant with health. The hair is light, thick, long.

19th century beauty standard

The end of the 19th century was marked by a technical revolution. Progress comes not only to industry, but also to other areas, including influencing the standard of a woman’s beauty. Girls become more liberated, fight for their rights, and begin to work on an equal basis with men. A figure with pleasing curves and a thin waist becomes attractive. Ladies of the 19th century made great sacrifices to achieve the standard of female beauty of that time - a waist of 55 centimeters.

20th century - the golden age of fashion and style

Since the beginning of the twentieth century, with the advent of cinema, standards of female beauty have changed like pictures in movies. In the 10-20s. last century, a languid, tragic woman with mysterious eyes looked at the audience from a black and white screen and set the tone for the fashion for female beauty. In the 20-30s, ladies began to try on the male role, the reason for which was equality. Women boldly master short haircuts, trousers, shirts, and men's professions. The standard of female beauty is an androgynous girl who mixes the feminine with the masculine in her image.

In the 50s, the fashion for appearance was dictated by Marilyn Monroe - the first American standard of female beauty. Monroe created the image of a classic blonde - attractive, naive and stupid, which remains popular to this day. And it was she who allowed women to be sexy. The standard of beauty for a woman is platinum blonde with scarlet lips. Girls with smooth hips, narrow waists and rounded breasts have come back into fashion. In the 60s, interest returned to the neotenic type of appearance. One of the popular models of the time, Twiggy was thin with long legs, a teenage body and a naive face.

Beauty these days

Over the past 30 years, the standard of female beauty has changed several more times. From the athletic and slender bodies of the supermodels of the 90s, to the asthenic models of the 2010s and today's plus-size models. Nowadays, the standards of female beauty are universal. Girls of all sizes and shapes walk side by side on the catwalk. For every taste, as they say. This is probably logical. Sadly, in the age of high technology and fast consumption, the audience must have a lot of choice, otherwise they will soon lose interest.

However, there is a big plus in this - a woman of any build has a chance to be in trend. A curvy lady does not need to exhaust herself with diets, and a skinny lady does not need to gain weight or exercise until she sweats. Today, any figure is fashionable and the beauty possibilities are endless. If you are a lady with a body, then you don’t have to worry anymore and emphasize your breasts, sloping hips or convex buttocks. And if you don’t like your figure and want to be slim without playing sports, then you can get liposuction. With the advent of plastic surgery, women have the opportunity to radically change their appearance. And there is even an unspoken fashion for plastic surgery.

At the very beginning of the popularization of plastic surgery, it was fashionable to have more of everything. If breasts, then the maximum possible size. If the lips are plump. And technology and materials provided, of course, fewer opportunities. Therefore, for the last 10 years, artificial appearance has been relevant and in demand - pumped lips with blurred contours, large breasts, an unnaturally thin waist.

These days, fashion trends gravitate more towards naturalness. Fortunately, the possibilities of modern plastic surgery make it possible to get rid of a defect in appearance in such a way that the intervention will not be noticeable to someone else’s eye. Looking at a photograph of a star, it is sometimes difficult to say whether the media personality has undergone plastic surgery. Today's standard of female beauty is a girl with plump, unpumped lips, a straight, even nose, eyebrows of natural width, high cheekbones and thin, slightly sunken cheeks. Facial symmetry is also important.

At all times, humanity has strived for beauty and harmony, but the understanding of this very beauty has undergone significant changes over the centuries. And if the modern “Miss World,” for example, were in the Renaissance, they would hardly pay attention to her at all. The ideal of beauty is not the invention of one person, but a creation of time that meets its main needs, the political and social structure of society and even... the climate.

The ideal of beauty in Ancient Egypt was a slender and graceful woman with full lips and huge almond-shaped eyes. To dilate the pupils and add shine to the eyes, juice from the “sleepy stupor” plant was dripped into them. Green was considered the most beautiful eye color. But this is a rare color. Enterprising Egyptian women outlined their eyes with green paint made from copper carbon dioxide. To complete the look, they painted their fingernails and toes green.


Mayan women painted their bodies with red ointment, to which they added a very sticky and odorous resin. After this procedure, they became elegant and perfumed. Various paints were also applied to the face.


The ideal of beauty in Ancient China was a small, fragile woman with tiny legs. No decent Chinese man would marry a girl with large feet. To keep the leg small, the girls' feet were tightly bandaged, and it stopped growing. By the way, the main advantage of a man in China was considered to be long hair, which was braided into fancy braids.

In Ancient Greece there was a cult of a trained body. The sculpture of Aphrodite became the standard for a beautiful body among the Greeks: height - 164 cm, chest circumference - 86 cm, waist - 69 cm, hips 93 cm. According to the canons of Greek beauty, a beautiful face combined a straight nose and large eyes.

In Ancient Rome, the cult of fair skin and blond hair dominated. It was the Romans who were the first to master the secret of hair bleaching. They were rubbed with a sponge soaked in goat's milk butter and beechwood ash, and then bleached in the sun.

In the Middle Ages, earthly beauty was considered sinful, and enjoyment of it was prohibited. Blonding hair was declared an unholy activity. The figure was hidden under a layer of heavy fabrics, and the hair was hidden under a cap. Now the ideal of a medieval woman was the Blessed Virgin Mary - an elongated oval face, huge eyes and a small mouth.

At the beginning of the 13th century, the cult of worship of the “beautiful lady” began. A woman is now compared to a rose - she is tender, fragile and graceful. By the way, for this reason small breasts are in fashion.


During the Renaissance, a pale complexion, a slender “swan neck” and a high, clean forehead were considered beautiful. To lengthen the oval face, ladies shaved the hair in the front and plucked their eyebrows, and in order to make the neck appear as long as possible, they shaved the back of their heads.

In the Rococo era, the main emphasis was on hairstyle; this was a time of miracles in hairdressing. They tried to preserve the expensive pleasure for as long as possible: they did not comb their hair or wash their hair for weeks. Queen Isabella of Castile of Spain once admitted that she washed only twice in her entire life - at birth and on her wedding day.

XX-XXI century, our days. Life has changed. However, fashion historians agree that in the future it will be possible to define the 21st century as the century of short women's hairstyles and the cult of dystrophy. Nevertheless, they wash and shave much more often...


Throughout the history of competitions, beauty standards have changed more than once. As soon as a new star - an actress or singer - appeared in the sky, millions of women around the world immediately copied her image.
The return of femininity was the 50s, and their symbol was Marilyn Monroe. The legendary actress had a feminine figure with high breasts and a narrow waist, lush blond hair and magnetic charm.

Almost simultaneously with Monroe, another Hollywood actress shone on the screen, whose appearance was the complete opposite of Marilyn - Audrey Hepburn. The former ballerina, whose childhood was spent under Nazi occupation, had a very fragile figure, for which she was often compared to a weightless elf.


Meanwhile, a completely new standard of beauty appeared in England - painful thinness. Supermodel Twiggy managed to approve it. With a height of 169 cm, she weighed about 48 kg, and her proportions were surprising - 80-55-80. The model's figure has become a role model for millions.

In the 80s, another trendsetter appeared in the UK - the bright and unpredictable Louise Ciccone, known throughout the world as Madonna. Madonna owes her popularity largely to her scandalous image as a sex bomb.

With the advent of the 90s, the “ala Monroe” image was replaced by another stage of the passion for thinness. The personification of the new standard was the British supermodel Kate Moss, whose extraordinary thinness coupled with an unhealthy lifestyle caused a wave of criticism.

In the 21st century, the role model has become a controversial beauty with a turbulent past, and now a mother-heroine and goodwill ambassador - Angelina Jolie. Her parameters almost correspond to the generally accepted ones, her height exceeds 170 cm, and her bright features make her face memorable.

An ideal of beauty, a style icon, a standard of female beauty - how often such words, spoken from a TV screen or read in a women's magazine, spoil the mood. Looking at their reflection in the mirror, many women notice with horror that they do not correspond to the image that is the standard for today.

This is where it begins: sleepless nights, tears into the pillow, an insane desire to lose weight or undergo plastic surgery. Or maybe it’s worth thinking about how often fashion has changed, how the standards of female beauty have changed at different times?

Ancient eras, beauty standards

So, let's start with Ancient Egypt. Egyptian women took great care of their appearance and paid great attention to it. The ideal of beauty is the languid gaze of green eyes, this is what was especially valued among Egyptian men.

For the most part, Egyptian women were brown-eyed; in order to comply with the imposed canons, they had to subject their health to a painful procedure. Ladies put harmful substances in their eyes to change the color and create a drooping effect.

Women of Ancient China believed that the standard of beauty was tiny legs. And again suffering and torment. From early childhood, unfortunate Chinese women were forced to walk with tightly bandaged feet until they turned into tiny, deformed hooves.

A girl, painted like a doll, with hair arranged in a complex hairstyle, barely moving on tiny legs - this is the ideal of female beauty, sung by Chinese poets.

Antiquity, standards of female beauty

Ancient times brought ladies some respite. The women of Ancient Greece, depicted by sculptors of that time, had a pleasant appearance and a figure that bears little resemblance to the modern standard of beauty. Small breasts, full hips and a fairly wide waist - this is what the ideal lady of that time looked like.

In ancient Rome, blond hair and pale skin were considered the standard of femininity. To achieve perfection, Roman fashionistas had to lighten naturally dark hair using lime and wood ash. Aristocratic pallor was achieved in various ways, not very beneficial for the skin of the face.

Middle Ages, canons of that time

In the Middle Ages, beautiful women could be accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake as witches. In the Middle Ages, during the rampant Inquisition, the ideal of beauty was a pale, emaciated creature, little reminiscent of a woman. Women of that time did not have the right to expose their bodies and hair to the public. Shapeless, headdresses, lack of jewelry and cosmetics, this is how beauties looked in the Middle Ages.

During the Renaissance, the ideals of female beauty changed again. At these times, ladies with long necks are becoming fashionable. Once again, women are forced to conform. The unfortunate fashionistas of that era resorted to various tricks: they shaved the hair on the back of their heads, shaved their foreheads and eyebrows, making sure that their faces looked oval-shaped.

The time of the Renaissance again changed the standards of beauty. Luxurious shapes, huge busts, riot of flesh—it was these ladies who were considered the standard of femininity.

The ideal of beauty of the Rococo era was a lady who looked more like a fancy toy. Complex structures made of hair, straw, fruit, wire and decorations on the head, a tight corset that disfigures the figure, a white face with painted eyebrows and glued on spots. It was precisely these women who seemed beauties to the gentlemen of that period.

Only the approach of the twentieth century brought back naturalness to ladies. Normal female figures, full breasts and a fresh complexion are back in fashion.

Modern standards

Over the past hundred years, time has seemed to run at a gallop. Different fashions, standards and ideals change with enviable regularity. Modern women have a hard time keeping up with their recognized idols.

The forties of the last century placed the inimitable Marilyn Monroe on a pedestal. All the girls of that time dreamed of white hair, plump lips and a mole on their cheek. A thin waist and a noticeable bust were the ultimate dreams of every lady; the clothes of that time, very opportunely, favorably emphasized the dignity of the female figure, placing emphasis on the waist and chest.

No wonder the fashion of that time often comes back again. And the very image of a beautiful, but stupid and vicious girl won the hearts of all men of that period.

Just twenty years later, in the 1960s, standards of attractiveness changed dramatically again. The whole world began to go crazy about a model girl named Twiggy. A thin, teenage figure, sharp elbows, thin shoulder blades, huge eyes on a childish face, this is exactly what the ideal woman became at that time. The girls tried to achieve him by any means.

Strange clothes designed to hide all existing feminine curves, short, straight dresses, more suitable for teenage girls, heavy with thick soles, this is exactly how fashionistas of that time dressed. It was at that time that a wide variety of diets, designed to help women lose weight as quickly as possible, became popular.

In the eighties, a new type of sports exercise called “aerobics” gained enormous popularity. Almost every girl of the eighties dreamed of looking slim and fit. Cindy Crawford, a famous model of that time, can be considered the ideal that millions of ladies dreamed of being like. Tall, full breasts, toned body, a smile on the lips - this is what the most attractive girls of those years looked like.

And since the nineties, tall, excessively thin, long-legged models with virtually no female forms began to rule the fashion industry. It was this type of female beauty that suddenly soared to the peak of popularity; supermodel Kate Moss can be considered a prominent representative of this period.

And again, millions of women felt flawed, many began to strive with all their might to resemble the new ideals, bringing their bodies with harsh diets and enormous physical activity to the last degree of thinness. Many ladies, in an effort to be no different from the girls from the catwalk, were ready to make numerous sacrifices: fasting or complex surgical operations designed to lengthen their legs or remove excess body volume.

A little about men

And now it’s worth talking about the strong half of humanity. Are there standards for male beauty, and how often do they change?

From ancient times to the present day, the standard of male beauty has remained virtually unchanged. In different centuries, ladies valued such qualities in men as: strength, valor, courage, brutality. It is strong charisma and natural sexuality that makes a man beautiful in the eyes of women.

Why is this happening? This may be due to the fact that men are less likely to pay attention to imposed stereotypes, preferring to remain as nature created them. They are less susceptible to the opinions of others; men's self-esteem is always at the proper height.

And again about women

The twenty-first century has radically changed the consciousness of many women. Increasingly, they are beginning to realize that beauty and attractiveness do not at all depend on similarity to certain ideals momentarily imposed by society. Every person from birth has a number of advantages, everyone has disadvantages.

The main thing in this life is to emphasize all your advantages and minimize your disadvantages. Any woman who has achieved such harmony is beautiful.

Let's start with the fact that the standard of female beauty is an almost mythical concept. It simply doesn't exist! And if there is a female standard, then there is more than one, because there are so many people – so many opinions that do not always coincide. No matter what surprises the changing fashion presents to us, no matter what beauty experts write about in popular glossies, all this has nothing in common with a single standard of a woman. Each new attempt to establish a certain standard in appearance or figure is a tool with the help of which designers, stylists, makeup artists, media owners and even plastic surgeons influence the psychology of the fair half of humanity. And the most amazing thing is that a woman who is trying in every possible way to get closer to the standard of fashion suddenly realizes that those around her do not perceive such beauty.

Beauty criteria

Naturalness has always been and will be one step ahead of artificiality. Skillfully extensions of hair and nails will never look as attractive as natural ones, but this does not mean that your natural gift does not need to be looked after. - this is, first of all, the health of her skin, nails, hair, and this can only be achieved if you follow the rules of nutrition, exercise, and take care of your body and face.

Fashion glossies often offer their readers collective images, passing them off as the standard of a woman’s beauty. Some “photo identikit” turn out to be successful, while others cause genuine surprise, because, according to the majority, ideal facial features create a strikingly repulsive image. Probably the secret is that the authors of such portraits do not always take into account the audience for which the female “ideal” is intended. Agree, it will be difficult for a Slavic man to appreciate the beauty of an African-American woman, and a Slavic woman is unlikely to slay a representative of the Land of the Rising Sun with her beauty.

By the way, celebrities who set the tone for fashion do not hesitate to admit that they have not followed certain trends for a long time, since they realized from personal experience that being natural is much more attractive. The main skill that you should master on the path to your own beauty is to correctly emphasize the advantages of your appearance and figure, and to properly hide the shortcomings. If you are happy, living your own life and enjoying every minute of it, then you are on the right track!

At different times, women and men were admired by the beauty of the fair sex, whose appearance was often mutually exclusive (blond-brunettes, skinny-plump, blue-eyed, brown-eyed, and so on). In our gallery you can see women who are universally recognized ideals of beauty.