The Concept of Beauty

Throughout history beauty has remained a prevalent and dominate role in society. People, especially women, have strived to replicate society’s ideas of utmost beauty. Although today might be considered the age of materialistic beauty every era each had its one definition of beauty and created products and accessories to adorn themselves with. Every age is impacted by the idealistic concept of beauty. During the periods of 5000 BCE and 1500 AD the concept of beauty evolved and changed within each region because of the evolving religions and social ideas. However, the ideas of conforming to the socially beautiful ways remained the same as women used new methods of makeup, clothing, and jewels.

Beauty has always played a role throughout the different eras, but the religions and social ideas that reinforced beauty changed and evolved. During the Paleolithic era, women were gathers and there was no social need to go through materialistic ways to be considered beautiful, but beauty did influence the desirability of women and increased the chance they would be married to an honorable man. Instead, the beauty they possessed was defined in their fertility, and their laborious work they endured.

In ancient Egypt during the appearance of the first civilizations, spirituality was very important within the society and women’s physical appearance reflected on the Gods and their future afterlife. It was during this era that makeup and accessories became popular and notable. Women began using drastic measures to create the perfect image of beauty. In Egyptian hieroglyphs there are images that represent women’s beauty and the makeup they applied. Egyptians valued cleanliness and used oils and creams to create a flawless clean complexion and u...

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...a is a prime example on how religion, men, and social standards can change and harm the concept of beauty.

Additionally, other cultures and religions influenced the classification of appearance. In the Islam region and religion beauty was not defined by the makeup, but rather by the modest their clothes bared. Physical beauty was made up of the traditional clothes they wore. Women who were considered beautiful were the most modest and their beauty was show through their hijabs. If they wore a hijab it symbolized that they were more respected and were considered more honorable. The women that didn’t wear the traditional headscarves were persecuted against because the lack of attire meant they had a dishonorable reputation such as being a mistress or prostitute. This idea of modesty continued out through many years and still plays a role in Muslim societies today.