If you study the history of the Fashion industry, you will be able to find out the different images of a woman in different historical periods. The image of an ideal woman and the standard of beauty had been changing for many decades. They replaced each other at the end of time, and the women obediently followed them.

In the Middle Ages, the rules of beauty were dictated by the church. In those days, body beauty wasn't valued, but spiritual beauty. Therefore, any decoration of the body was considered a sin. Women had to be submissive and modest. To look suitable for these two definitions, women shaved off their eyebrows, and hair from the back of their heads and foreheads. It enabled women to look more peaceful. Since time, the razor hadn’t yet been invented, it had to be done with various solutions of harmful substances (arsenic, quicklime, blood of poisonous frogs). Also, women were forbidden to show their bodies. They had to wear long tunics that hid the whole body.

In the Baroque Era, the image of a woman changed again. A curvy body with a thin waist was the size of which often reached a disastrous 33 cm. It was fashionable. Women had to buy uncomfortable corsets and crinoline to achieve this result. However, the corset and crinoline weren’t only uncomfortable but also dangerous to health. The constant wearing of these wardrobe items led to unnatural compression of internal organs. as a result, poor digestion, improper blood circulation, and infertility.

Then, the standard of beauty changed again. Silhouette with a doll-like physique was fashionable: narrow shoulders, blonde curls, and a rouged face.

In every historical period, women followed these sometimes cruel and unrealistic standards of beauty, and those who didn’t follow them were subject to judgment from society.

So, how and when did these beauty standards originate? And what contributed to their appearance?

The first standards of beauty appeared in Primeval Times. The ideal was a woman with large breasts, a voluminous belly, and wide hips. This standard appeared because it was believed that only such a woman could survive in the harsh conditions of that life. The appearance of this standard was due to the need to survive.

If we talk about the Renaissance, at that time a plump body was also considered ideal. "If she is plump, she will give birth to many healthy children," the men believed. The key word is "men", no one asked if women like it. The female body of this type was depicted in paintings, sculptures, and the art in general. Art dictated to women what was beautiful and what wasn't, since it was the only mass media at that time.

Therefore, what was considered beautiful for sculptors and artists of that time was beautiful for the rest. Also, time and historical events had an enormous influence on the creation of standards.

But as someone said, people are a reflection of time, and time is a reflection of people.