The 1920's was the first time you saw women begin plucking their eyebrows. Eyebrows in the 20's were characteristically thin. Their eyebrows dipped all the way down towards their temples. Mascara was a new thing in the 1920's. Before it truly became popular women would mix petroleum jelly and dark powders to create a sort of dark mixture they used to darken their eyelashes. During the mid 1920's is when you see mascara come out in tube, wax, cake, and liquid form. In the 1920's the mascara wands looked more like toothbrushes than the modern mascara wand.
During the 1920's women tried to make their faces look as white as possible. The paler the better. The logic behind this is the contrast that is created off of a white background when the eyes are extremely dark and the lips are bright red. There were no bronzers, or anything that would intentionally darken skin tone. Before the 1920's women used elixir blushes, which were very messy and difficult to use. However, in the 1920's, rouges came out in the form of creams, liquids, powders, and even rouge papers. The invention of the makeup compact that is still used today was invented during this time. They desired to make their faces appear as round as possible, so they applied their blush in a circular motion which led them to their desired look.
Women had become obsessed with shaping their lips. A product called the Metal Lip Tracer was created to ensure a perfectly traced lip shape. During this time period, the mirrored lip container came out. The early 1920's popular lipstick colors include deep red, deep brownish red, plums or oranges. The end of the 1920's popularized raspberry shades and lighter reds. A big lip technique that was widely used was the cupids bow. This meant to draw the lip outline smaller than the lip actually was, especially in the center of the lips. This was popularised by many figures, especially actress Clara Bow.
Overall the movement in makeup during the 1920's was popularized by flapper girls, making it a household item rather than a shameful products to own and utilize.
Keren -- I thought this was a very interesting post, especially as an individual who is fascinated by the world of make up. Growing up, I had always been taught that paler skin was ideal, that thinner yet noticeable eyebrows made the women which contrasted the media's portrayal of tanned thick haired models. Beauty ideals and the way that make up is advertised varies across countries because they are intended to appeal to appeal to their audience and their various cultural values. It was interesting to see how we once thought pale skin was ideal when now tanned, sun kissed arms are preferred. I still think that make up has some shameful stigma surrounding it though. While arguably not associated with the idea of prostitution, more flamboyant make up is still seen with "hookers" or viewed as "slutty" because we have built it in our minds that make up is a cover up. Girls are taught that make up can be used to make them appear more confident and beautiful yet shamed for using too much or too little. In fact, boys in the US are discouraged and mocked for using make up. It's interesting to see how essential make up is to American history and how reflective it is of culture.
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https://www.elle.com/culture/news/a26870/atlas-of-beauty-photos/
Great post Keren! I was interested in what was kind of the turning point from the ideal of pale skin and thin eyebrows which are in today's beauty standards not really sought after. I found that today so many people, including political candidates try tog et a tan since it's supposed to "make people look healthy and relaxed.” Tanning became more popular in the late 19th century through medical movements that focused on the sun as a healing agent. Sun exposure was used as a treatment for a number of ailments: most notably tuberculosis. It was the medical establishment that really made tanning fashionable.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-being-pale-became-passe
Keren, this post really shows how women thought of beauty at this time!
ReplyDeletePetroleum jelly seems like a really harmful substance to use on your face, especially near the eye. Turns out, the jelly was just a Vaseline-like product. However, there were some dangers to this product. The mixture could trigger allergies or infections on the skin. Additionally, I read that Maybelline's founder had observed his sister mixing the jelly with burnt cork, which seems pretty harmful. Many makeup brands today still use chemicals like parabens and phthalates. These incidents really show how women, from 100 years ago to now, risked potential dangers for beauty.
http://cosmeticsandskin.com/bcb/lash-brow-ine.php
Keren, I thought that your post was really interesting (as someone that loves makeup too!). The hairstyle of bobbed hair with finger waves became especially popular in the 1920s. Louise Brookes, Clara Bow, and Marion Davies, (the "it girls" of their time), were all pioneers of this look. Many of the hairdressers refused to chop off their hair into that blunt, just below the ears style, and some didn't know how to do it because they've only ever used shears on long hair. Often, women waved off the rejections and headed to the barbershop for the do. Eventually, seeing that the trend was there to stay, the hairdressers finally relented and began cutting the cropped style. The industry boomed, and a 1925 story from the Washington Post headlined "Economic Effects of Bobbing" describes how bobbed hair did wonders fro the beauty industry. Now, bobs are seen as a playful, gender-bending signature of the Jazz Age.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-history-of-the-flapper-part-4-emboldened-by-the-bob-27361862/
This post was fascinating, and I had no idea that makeup was a stigma before the 20's (well, in American history at least. Ancient Romans and Egyptians used makeup all the time, both men and women). I started wondering how men were affected by the movement, and how it came to be that women are expected to wear makeup, while men are expected not to. During the Victorian era, makeup was considered the devil's work for both men and women, and so its usage nearly died for a few centuries. It was revived, as you said, during the 1910s and 20s. The main reason, according to my 2nd source, is because the original makeups were "ghastly", as colors were limited and people had little experience putting it on before. Men didn't like this, but the women did because it attracted attention. Over time, as more and better products came out, women stuck with it, and now it has become another gender role.
ReplyDeletehttps://infashuationdotnet.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/mens-makeup/
https://vintagedancer.com/1920s/makeup-starts-the-cosmetics-industry/