Beauty can be timeless, but trends and beauty ideals… Not so much!

Beauty is said to be in the eye of the beholder. So it’s only natural that as we as a society change, our perception of beauty changes. You can see this very clearly by looking at old paintings. Whereas today, it’s trendy to be slim and toned, this wasn’t always the case. Back in the middle ages, having some extra pounds meant you had the money to splurge on food. This made you someone who was highly in-demand.

You don’t need to go back 700 years in order to witness the evolution of beauty ideals. Today, we’ll show you what the ‘perfect woman’ in every decade from 1900’s to the 2010’s looked like. Continue on to the next page to start off with the first decade in the list: The 1900’s!

The 1900’s: the S-Bend

Starting off, we have the 1900’s. This decade is marked by classy dresses for women and stylish suits for men. Women wore blouses decorated with lace and ribbons, complimented by large wide-brimmed hats.

They would part their hair in the center and make it look fuller with extensions. But what was really typical for this decade were the S-Bend corsets women wore underneath their dresses. This shape pushed their chest forward and curved their back, accentuating the curve of their backsides. At the same time, it minimized the size of the waist.

The 1910’s: Even tighter corsets

If you thought the S-Bend corsets already looked quite uncomfortable to wear, imagine wearing the one you see above. The 1910’s favored a really thin waist, creating what some referred to as a wasp waist or hourglass figure.

You needed a really strong corset to keep this shape in place, so they were made out of whalebone. The corsets were so tight, that they could damage the internal organs of the woman wearing them. Besides, they made it very hard to breathe. Imagine taking that off at the end of the day. Oh the sweet relief.