Watch 3,000 Years of Beauty Standards in 3 Minutes
A few weeks back we introduced you to an infographic on body image that was going viral across the web. The infographic, designed by The Greatist, made it painfully obvious just how quickly and dramatically our beauty ideals have shifted over the past 100 years. Now it looks as though Buzzfeed has piggybacked on that concept with a video that covers not only the past 100 years of female body ideas, but the past 3,000.
The video starts off in 1292 B.C (the Egyptian Era) with a slender woman who has narrow shoulders and a high waist. We then move to Ancient Greece, where things get a whole lot curvier, with full-bodied hips and light skin. Then the video progresses into the Han Dynasty, which features a gal of much smaller proportions who has small feet and a slim waist. Because there obviously wasn’t photography during these eras, the beauty ideals featured from these periods have primarily been drawn from what we can conclude from art history.
After the Italian Renaissance we jump into the centuries we’re a little more familiar with: the Victorian Era, Roaring ’20s, Golden Age of Hollywood, etc. There we saw all the classic stick-figured flappers, curvy ’50s ladies and ’90s Heroin-chic ideals. The video sums up postmodern beauty (from the ’00s until today) as someone who displays a healthy sort of skinny, with flat abs, full breasts and a curvy bottom (pretty much Kim Kardashian).
We hope that after taking a look at this video and The Greatist‘s infographic, it’s become crystal clear that there is no one perfect body. While you might feel you’re a little bit short and stout now, that might be what everyone is longing for in ten year’s time. But really, who cares? Beauty ideals be damned, rock what your mama gave you and do it proudly.
What body type do you resemble most from history? Share with us in the comments below.
(h/t Buzzfeed)
