Through the Eyes of Beauty: An Examination of Classic Beauty in the United States in the 1920's to the Present

Abstract

Beauty is a key element of culture. Every culture has its own ideas and views of what is considered beautiful. These ideas come from inspirational figures of the time or what is portrayed in art or in the media as idealistic. In the United States, trends in beauty are always changing, but history always repeats itself. Elements of cosmetics become trendy, lose their edge and are reborn into the industry decades later. Often we see looks from the past becoming a part of trend again. How do elements of classic beauty continue to reoccur in trend? How can these classic trends be kept original, yet altered? As an artist, this matters because to understand current trends in beauty, you need to understand the past. This project is an examination of looks in makeup trend from the 1920's to the present. Different cosmetic mediums were used to create looks that define the standard for what the ideal of beauty was in trend. Each decade will be examined closely to see what specifically stood out. There will be a series of 10 photographs that showcase makeup that has features of each decade, but would be trendy and wearable for the average woman today. These serve as examples of how classic looks can be replicated to create current trends for everyday wear and show what elements of beauty from vintage looks remain a part of our culture.