CURTAIN RAISER - IT'S A BEAUTIFUL WORLD!

"Love of beauty is taste; creation of beauty is art." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Since time immemorial, mankind has been in the pursuit of physical perfection. A world divided by race, religion, culture, language, colour, sexual orientation and distribution of wealth, comes together in its eternal quest for beauty. Men and women, rich and poor, the Caucasian and the African, pale and tanned, red and yellow, Hindu and Christian and Muslim, theist and atheist, gay and straight, royalty and working class....every single person on this planet, everywhere, at every moment is striving to achieve beauty, in some form or the other.

This universal human pursuit of beauty has often made us look at Nature for inspiration, has motivated scientific breakthroughs, has propelled trades and businesses (from ancient inter-civilization trades between Indus Valley and Mesopotamia, to current multi-gazillion dollar luxury brands) and has challenged the convention of "being content with what we have". No, we never did, do not and will not ever accept the look biology gave us. Since the beginning of written (or cave-painted) history we have been adding, concealing, colouring, weaving, braiding, priming, waxing, threading, conditioning, bleaching and generally manipulating the body we are born with.

Our wish to look, feel and be beautiful is our ancestor's gift to us which has been passed on from generation to generation over countless centuries and countless eras. 

But how or where did it start? Not the quest for beauty - that is ingrained in everything Nature made, including plants and animals, from the richly coloured peacocks to the dainty, vibrant, dancing flowers - but the definition of what is beautiful and what is not. 

Who defined what is beautiful? Who told us what is worth seeking? Genes? Art? Nature? The eyes of the beholder? 

Why is a straight nose preferred over a blunt, thick one? 

What kind of complexion does the world really wish to have? Pale and bloodless? Ruddy and weathered? Or glowing and tanned? A delicate porcelain, a golden wheat or a rich, smooth coffee? Or some other permutation? 

A curvy girl or a skinny girl? 

Flowing long hair or a bouncy, sleek bob? 

Almond eyes? Doe eyes? Limpid eyes? Liquid eyes? Sparkling eyes? Warm eyes? Intelligent eyes?

What is the definition of a healthy glow? 

Why is it that people who keep hammering "imperfection is beautiful" secretly want a blemish free perfect skin? 

A tall, dark and handsome man with warm brown eyes or a tall, fair and handsome man with piercing ice blue eyes- who decides? 

Full lips or thin lips? Glossy lips or matte lips? 

Eyebrows - thick, thin, full, half, arched, natural, none? 

And why? 

Why this and not that?

Let's face it. Natural may be lovely, but mind-blowing, mate-catching beauty is an endeavor. A lot goes into it. 

Over the next few articles, one every week,we will deconstruct and reverse engineer the psyche behind the quest to look beautiful and desirable, era by era. We'll take an in-depth look at how changing times and changing social structures have changed our notions of beauty.

We'll start from as early in time as we can find any kind of recorded history of, way before Christ, and journey down the lanes of prettiness to medieval ages to the Renaissance period to today, here, right now. I will also take a look at the beauty culture in India, including beauty rituals that have passed on for generations amongst the women of my own family.

Come with me on a journey across time, through melting canvases of beauty, through ideas that have time and again contradicted themselves, through ever changing, ever new dogmas of loveliness. Meet people from places near and far and from eras gone by and hear from them what they thought was the definition of physical perfection in their time and their place.

Some of their ideas may shock you, some you may find downright absurd and hilarious and some you may agree with. See for yourself how far man is willing to go in the quest for physical (or, at least facial) perfection.

Take a look at the face of beauty as reflected on the mirror of time.

Bon Voyage!

And I hope we shall emerge from this journey a little more appreciative of the beauty Nature has bestowed upon the human form and be thankful that today we have more independence, more choices, safe medical practices and a more accepting society than our ancestors had - in terms of FACE VALUE.

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P.S - Thank you for taking time out from your busy schedule and reading my blog.

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Pallavi
August 10th, 2014
Kent
Ohio