Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the mainstream idea of the “perfect body shape” for women has shifted almost as often as fashion trends. The contrast in the “perfect woman” idea between decades is shocking and speaks volumes of public attitudes at the time—the beauty standards depended on whether or not people thought it was okay for women to have curves.
Countless diets, pills, and celebrity icons later, we’re still going wrong in 2024 by encouraging women and girls to constantly compare themselves to others and gain the “perfect female body” rather than loving the female body in their own right. At the very least, however, we’ve come farther than using such beauty trends as cigarettes and Wonder Bread to slim down.
The Changing Body Trends Over the Years
Take a walk back in time with us and marvel at the varyingly ridiculous expectations of the body types (female figures) over the years. Scroll down just a bit and see for yourself.
More info: (h/t: Vintage Everyday, DM)
Image credits: Leo Delauncey
Camille Clifford
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Image credits: Leo Delauncey
Alice Joyce
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Jean Harlow
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Image credits: Leo Delauncey
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Elizabeth Taylor
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Image credits: Leo Delauncey
Twiggy
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Farrah Fawcett
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Image credits: Leo Delauncey
Elle MacPherson
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Kate Moss
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Image credits: Leo Delauncey
Christina Aguilera
Image credits: unknown
Image credits: Leo Delauncey
Is There Really a Perfect Body Shape?
As you saw, body trends over the years have changed according to society’s perception of the perfect body image. Makes you realize that there’s no such thing as the so-called perfect female body type. Each body is unique and should be cherished just as it is instead of fitting into the societal norm. Wouldn’t you agree? Let us know in the comments!
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Share on FacebookIt would be interesting if someone made a post about the "perfect" male body through the decades. There seems to be a lot more posts and information about the female body. Could it be because females are constantly being objectified and scrutinised more closely than males?
The look for men just hasn't changed much over the course of time. All you have to do is look at Greek statuary to see that. We saw an uptick in men with heavier musculature in the '90s, and there is a slight trend now towards skinny gits with neck beards, but these are not the mainstream.
Load More Replies...Kim Kardashian is here as a joke? Famous becouse of sextape. O tempora o mores! BTW, ugly face, ugly body.
I guess I"m in the small minority that goes for hearts not parts. I can appreciate a nice body, but someone kind hearted is sexy imo
Agreed. I never really found people's looks/bodies attractive, I mostly find their personality attractive.
Load More Replies...Women telling women what men should prefer. As a man for example I find this bootylicious trend disgusting, so deoes everyone else I know.
I think a lot of it has to do with women being in a constant state of confusion... I have seen so many comments by men saying 'how do women not understand that we know women don't actually look like this?' when they see something photoshopped, as if women are overreacting. I've also seen someone post a photo of a skinny woman with the comment 'If I wanted a skeleton I'd go to a graveyard' (I'm not joking) or comment on a photo of a beautiful girl stating how she has 'no a*s'. I think women criticise other women more on their fashion style rather than their body and you will rarely see comments such as those written from women. The issue is that no one can bloody shut up about what they think a perfect woman should be when it is completely subjective. Like skinny girls? cool. Like bootylicious girls? fine. But no one should be telling anyone they should modify their genetically given bodies because of the opinions of a few that simply shout louder.
Load More Replies...big booty was a kardashian trend?? hhhmmm NO it was JLO the queen of sexy booty , sexy natural round butt , kim k and minaj those are fake and so big look like clown a*s, not sexy not attractive period.
I don't believe in trends. We should be alive to look how we want and choose our own body style without the media judging us.
honestly... aside from the Gibson girl, the figures didn't change that much. Mild fluctuations between slimmer frames and soft curves. Kim and Nicki do not rule this era's ideal body. They are outliers of the norm and not highly aspired to as they are the only ones i can think of that have these exaggerated forms. General health and fitness is what i would say is hot right now. Kind of like the supposed trend in the 80's and early 2000's.
the inset 1940s round photo is Hepburn. the one below I also thought might be Ava Gardener.
Load More Replies...This list is a mess. Some models on this list were only popular for their figure on the fashion catwalk. Other were mainstream popular. And some only with some minority groups. The title should be "What SOME people found pretty in some year bracket". Still a useless list then but at least it's honest.
Some of the ones on the list are an indication that the person making this really didn't study history much. 20's? Who is that?? Why not pick a real icon such as Clara Bow? The same goes for the the 40's. Hepburn was popular but not as a sex symbol! That's not even her in the picture below. Then this falls to the same internet misconception that Monroe was "big". If you see her actual clothes you'd see that clearly she wasn't. The 90's lists Jodie Kidd (who??) but not Claudia Schiffer? Probably because it would point out the glaring flaw that one aspect of style did not define a decade, especially in more recent times. This list reminds me of a power point put together by a high schooler that did rudenmentary research.
Load More Replies...this is not the kardashian who made the curve body popular IT STARTED all WITH JENNIFER LOPEZ , Beyonce of course and Rihanna . Kardashian became popular after that .. please pay tribute to JLO not to those fake women who uses filter and photoshop all day long (well other do but it looks way more realistic)
the women who made the curve popular WAS JENNIFER LOPEZ and then Beyonce and came Rihanna. kardiashian came famous to the public much more later please correct this article !
Kim Kardashian is a freaky celebrity - but does she really influence the 2010s? It ain't political correct but I think the women of the 2010s are much more influenced by the thin & defined girls from the Victoria Secret shows than the strange curvy cult of the mass media.
Why all this obsession with female bodies. Why not a similar article on the male body.
This is remarkable for how little change there it. It is probably women playing around the edges of what men find attractive. Men have preferences that are quote broad.
Perfect female body is a myth, toxic as plastic. Every body is unique and should be treated like that. Women need to care more about themselves rather then follow someone else opinions.
1930s to 1950s seems to be the era when a natural, normal female body shape was allowed
When you take the body and add the personality then a decision can be made. Unfortunately some have the wrong body combined with the wrong personality. One of the aforementioned being a KarKrashian.
When I look at women( granted, with a jaded eye,I am 80) I like to see healthy women ,All shapes all sizes. Why, Well any woman looks good to me after seeing the Cardashians and their stupidity!
I agree. True beauty springs forth from the mind's heart & their character. My late wife may not have been gorgeous to most because of the facial expressions she portrayed (due to not being able to articulate words as a result of having GA1) but she could really shine when she was happy & excited about something or someone. Her mind was capable of deep thoughts, while her motor skills & ability to speak was severely affected.
would you like a perfect body? It's very efficient.It has potential. Use this!>>> https://bit.ly/2UarNSD
So much negativity on these comments what happened to being nice and kind ??? The post is what it is people are what they are . Stop all the bitching and be happier .
Kardashian's soggy dipper look, are you kidding? I can understand maybe putting somebody with a curvier body, but not something that looks like a bad plastic surgery accident. Not trying to promote anybody, but JLo would have been a better choice. At least the backside isn't looking like she is trying to smuggle deflated water balloons.
Kim Kardashian was good looking when she was 19-20. After that it went downhill very fast.
This is very interesting and a super learning tool. What if today's most gorgeous faces were photoshopped onto some of the body images from the past. What would the reaction be. In the seventies, I wanted Farrah Fawcett's slim hips. If I could have only known that Kim Kardashian could make me feel good about myself years after I had already made peace with my body.
Basically this is small waist or tiny, with some slight changes in how much boob/hip. But unless you're hourglass-y or tiny then meh.
The look in the late 1800's and early 1900's was "compliments" of a corset that deformed the rib cage and caused problems with a woman's health as well as childbirth. We didn't get rid of the cursed girdle until the 1970's, and if you look at Superman's Lois Lane in the 1970's the only way to get that look was if you were bulimic or anorexic. The whole thing is sick.
Women need to accept and love themselves as they are and not wait for the society to judge how they should look like
The takeaway here is that whatever is the most common for the longest time will go out of fashion and the favor will shift to the opposite. And then we repeat the process again later. Some minor differences slip in, but it's basically "curves -> no curves -> curves -> no curves..." in a loop.
Be healthy, be happy. f**k the 'trends'. Btw as far as I can see modern fashion is still 'anorexic chic' where women are expected to starve.
Women's bodies haven't changed. Beauty standards change and change continuously. The stays, corsets and bustles of yesterday may look laughably quaint, but those ideals exist and torments women today--we diet, starve ourselves and deny ourselves, exercise and go under the knife to achieve these ideals.
It would be interesting if someone made a post about the "perfect" male body through the decades. There seems to be a lot more posts and information about the female body. Could it be because females are constantly being objectified and scrutinised more closely than males?
The look for men just hasn't changed much over the course of time. All you have to do is look at Greek statuary to see that. We saw an uptick in men with heavier musculature in the '90s, and there is a slight trend now towards skinny gits with neck beards, but these are not the mainstream.
Load More Replies...Kim Kardashian is here as a joke? Famous becouse of sextape. O tempora o mores! BTW, ugly face, ugly body.
I guess I"m in the small minority that goes for hearts not parts. I can appreciate a nice body, but someone kind hearted is sexy imo
Agreed. I never really found people's looks/bodies attractive, I mostly find their personality attractive.
Load More Replies...Women telling women what men should prefer. As a man for example I find this bootylicious trend disgusting, so deoes everyone else I know.
I think a lot of it has to do with women being in a constant state of confusion... I have seen so many comments by men saying 'how do women not understand that we know women don't actually look like this?' when they see something photoshopped, as if women are overreacting. I've also seen someone post a photo of a skinny woman with the comment 'If I wanted a skeleton I'd go to a graveyard' (I'm not joking) or comment on a photo of a beautiful girl stating how she has 'no a*s'. I think women criticise other women more on their fashion style rather than their body and you will rarely see comments such as those written from women. The issue is that no one can bloody shut up about what they think a perfect woman should be when it is completely subjective. Like skinny girls? cool. Like bootylicious girls? fine. But no one should be telling anyone they should modify their genetically given bodies because of the opinions of a few that simply shout louder.
Load More Replies...big booty was a kardashian trend?? hhhmmm NO it was JLO the queen of sexy booty , sexy natural round butt , kim k and minaj those are fake and so big look like clown a*s, not sexy not attractive period.
I don't believe in trends. We should be alive to look how we want and choose our own body style without the media judging us.
honestly... aside from the Gibson girl, the figures didn't change that much. Mild fluctuations between slimmer frames and soft curves. Kim and Nicki do not rule this era's ideal body. They are outliers of the norm and not highly aspired to as they are the only ones i can think of that have these exaggerated forms. General health and fitness is what i would say is hot right now. Kind of like the supposed trend in the 80's and early 2000's.
the inset 1940s round photo is Hepburn. the one below I also thought might be Ava Gardener.
Load More Replies...This list is a mess. Some models on this list were only popular for their figure on the fashion catwalk. Other were mainstream popular. And some only with some minority groups. The title should be "What SOME people found pretty in some year bracket". Still a useless list then but at least it's honest.
Some of the ones on the list are an indication that the person making this really didn't study history much. 20's? Who is that?? Why not pick a real icon such as Clara Bow? The same goes for the the 40's. Hepburn was popular but not as a sex symbol! That's not even her in the picture below. Then this falls to the same internet misconception that Monroe was "big". If you see her actual clothes you'd see that clearly she wasn't. The 90's lists Jodie Kidd (who??) but not Claudia Schiffer? Probably because it would point out the glaring flaw that one aspect of style did not define a decade, especially in more recent times. This list reminds me of a power point put together by a high schooler that did rudenmentary research.
Load More Replies...this is not the kardashian who made the curve body popular IT STARTED all WITH JENNIFER LOPEZ , Beyonce of course and Rihanna . Kardashian became popular after that .. please pay tribute to JLO not to those fake women who uses filter and photoshop all day long (well other do but it looks way more realistic)
the women who made the curve popular WAS JENNIFER LOPEZ and then Beyonce and came Rihanna. kardiashian came famous to the public much more later please correct this article !
Kim Kardashian is a freaky celebrity - but does she really influence the 2010s? It ain't political correct but I think the women of the 2010s are much more influenced by the thin & defined girls from the Victoria Secret shows than the strange curvy cult of the mass media.
Why all this obsession with female bodies. Why not a similar article on the male body.
This is remarkable for how little change there it. It is probably women playing around the edges of what men find attractive. Men have preferences that are quote broad.
Perfect female body is a myth, toxic as plastic. Every body is unique and should be treated like that. Women need to care more about themselves rather then follow someone else opinions.
1930s to 1950s seems to be the era when a natural, normal female body shape was allowed
When you take the body and add the personality then a decision can be made. Unfortunately some have the wrong body combined with the wrong personality. One of the aforementioned being a KarKrashian.
When I look at women( granted, with a jaded eye,I am 80) I like to see healthy women ,All shapes all sizes. Why, Well any woman looks good to me after seeing the Cardashians and their stupidity!
I agree. True beauty springs forth from the mind's heart & their character. My late wife may not have been gorgeous to most because of the facial expressions she portrayed (due to not being able to articulate words as a result of having GA1) but she could really shine when she was happy & excited about something or someone. Her mind was capable of deep thoughts, while her motor skills & ability to speak was severely affected.
would you like a perfect body? It's very efficient.It has potential. Use this!>>> https://bit.ly/2UarNSD
So much negativity on these comments what happened to being nice and kind ??? The post is what it is people are what they are . Stop all the bitching and be happier .
Kardashian's soggy dipper look, are you kidding? I can understand maybe putting somebody with a curvier body, but not something that looks like a bad plastic surgery accident. Not trying to promote anybody, but JLo would have been a better choice. At least the backside isn't looking like she is trying to smuggle deflated water balloons.
Kim Kardashian was good looking when she was 19-20. After that it went downhill very fast.
This is very interesting and a super learning tool. What if today's most gorgeous faces were photoshopped onto some of the body images from the past. What would the reaction be. In the seventies, I wanted Farrah Fawcett's slim hips. If I could have only known that Kim Kardashian could make me feel good about myself years after I had already made peace with my body.
Basically this is small waist or tiny, with some slight changes in how much boob/hip. But unless you're hourglass-y or tiny then meh.
The look in the late 1800's and early 1900's was "compliments" of a corset that deformed the rib cage and caused problems with a woman's health as well as childbirth. We didn't get rid of the cursed girdle until the 1970's, and if you look at Superman's Lois Lane in the 1970's the only way to get that look was if you were bulimic or anorexic. The whole thing is sick.
Women need to accept and love themselves as they are and not wait for the society to judge how they should look like
The takeaway here is that whatever is the most common for the longest time will go out of fashion and the favor will shift to the opposite. And then we repeat the process again later. Some minor differences slip in, but it's basically "curves -> no curves -> curves -> no curves..." in a loop.
Be healthy, be happy. f**k the 'trends'. Btw as far as I can see modern fashion is still 'anorexic chic' where women are expected to starve.
Women's bodies haven't changed. Beauty standards change and change continuously. The stays, corsets and bustles of yesterday may look laughably quaint, but those ideals exist and torments women today--we diet, starve ourselves and deny ourselves, exercise and go under the knife to achieve these ideals.
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