Looking through Elizabethan portraiture and photos from the era, it is clear that there was an ideal way that women wanted to look and be perceived. There was an 'Ideal' in the beauty world and women would go to any lengths to achieve this. New ingredients were constantly being created to find the best way of achieving this. Rich women including Queen Elizabeth were seen with pale, almost white faces. As achieving this was difficult if you did not have the money to afford the expensive cosmetics, a white face was seen as a symbol of being wealthy. It was also a sign of being healthy. Women were also seen with red lips and cheeks. Eyebrows were often not visible on the face as it gave the illusion that women had a larger forehead. As well as this women shaved their hairline to increase the size of their forehead as it was a symbol of intelligence.
Life for the poor was a lot different as they could not afford the expensive cosmetics. They would be seen wearing no make up as they spent their lives working outdoors. Their skin and hair would be in bad condition due to the lack of treatment it received. Workers were outside most of the time, therefore they often had a tan. This lead to damaged skin as they had no way of protecting it from the sun. Both the rich and the poor ended up with damaged skin to lack of treatment one received and the intense treatment the other received.
References
Schmidt, L. B. (2019) The times of the Tudors. Available at: http://timesoftudors.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-ideal-beauty.html (Accessed: 7 October 2015).
Arpita (2013) Beauty during the Elizabethan times. Available at: http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/beauty-during-the-elizabethan-times/ (Accessed: 11 December 2015).
No comments:
Post a Comment