100 Years of Beauty: The Good, the Bad, the Hopeful

From thin brows in the ’20s and big hair of the ’70s to lip fillers in the ’10s and Instagram filters ever since, women in the West have found themselves facing a new beauty frontier each decade. Some trends empower, but beauty expectations can also foster insecurity.

The future looks brighter with the rise of the body-positivity and body-neutrality movements, and other new conversations around beauty ideals. But there is a still a long way to go. We look back over the beauty highs and lows of the past century, and at how some beauty trends have expanded what it means to be beautiful in 2024 and beyond.

1920s

Thin eyebrows on (and off) the silver screen

Along with heavy eye make-up and rosebud lips, the screen goddesses of the silent-film era rally behind thin brows. The look accentuates expressions on-screen when actors couldn’t be heard and their faces had to do all the work, but it is also embraced by women of the era off-screen who want a plucked point of expressive, high-arched difference.

Coco Chanel’s little black dress

Coco Chanel’s iconic little black dress becomes a cornerstone fashion moment, letting women channel femininity with a dress that shifts from day to night. It’s a symbol of modernity and sophistication, steering women away from other impractical garments of the era – and introducing a dress code we still adhere to.

1940s

Red lips in wartime

Red lipstick becomes a wartime heroine, and a defiant image of strength and assertiveness. It also becomes a symbol of victory at the end of World War II. The bold look liberates women from the muted tones of the ’30s, and we’ve been sporting pouty red shades since.

Christian Dior unveils The New Look

Christian Dior’s first collection changes perceptions of sartorial beauty, allowing women in the post-war era to move past austerity into more exaggerated femininity through fashion. He honoured the hourglass figure with curvy silhouettes and accentuated waists.

1960s

Twiggy’s model make-up

British model Twiggy defines the decade’s make-up trends – it’s the era for dramatic black eyeliner and long, black, spidery lashes. The mod scene rides on her coat-tails; short-bobbed locks and androgynous looks become an extension of Twiggy’s beauty aesthetic.

1970s

The rise of cosmetic surgery

First developed as reconstructive surgery after injury – particularly after World War II – plastic surgery is now synonymous with changing your looks. Facelifts and rhinoplasties (“nose jobs”), in particular, become prominent in the 1970s – first among the wealthy and famous, then spreading in popularity.

Beverly Johnson is the first Black cover model for Vogue

Trailblazing US model Beverly Johnson makes history as the first black woman to grace the cover of American Vogue – a defining moment in fashion magazine history. Today, she continues to advocate for diversity in the modelling industry.

Charlie’s Angels lead Farrah Fawcett’s feathered hair look

Farrah Fawcett becomes the poster girl for big hair (and copious hairspray) in the American TV drama Charlie’s Angels with her ’70s blowout. She debuts the cut in a swimsuit campaign, but it was the TV show that turned the “Fawcett flick” into a high-street trend.

1980s

Airbrushing becomes commonplace in advertising

Airbrushing is used in fashion and beauty advertising in the 1980s to remove wrinkles, create slimmer waistlines and even out skin tones. It ushers in an era of picture-perfect models, putting women under a new pressure to look flawless in their day-to-day.

Elle Macpherson and “The Body”

Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson – dubbed, a little disconcertingly, “The Body” – emerges in the ’80s, appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated ’s swimsuit issues a record five times between 1986 and 2006. She becomes known for being the Aussie beach babe girl next door.

1990s

The “heroin-chic” generation

The grunge era coincides with a modelling trend dubbed, also disconcertingly, “heroin-chic”. It sees the ascendence of waif-like models such as Kate Moss with pasty white skin, emaciated frames and androgynous looks. The style rebels against the glamorous beauty standards set by American supermodels like Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford in the late 1980s and into the ’90s.

2000s

Botox is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US

While it was administered under the table for years before, 2002 marks the year Botox becomes mainstream and easily accessible, allowing people to swap frown lines and crow’s feet for smoother faces. The less-invasive alternative to cosmetic surgery becomes hugely popular among Hollywood A-listers and on the suburban high street, and it’s still the most-used injectable today (and in a somewhat troubling trend it’s increasingly being adopted by young people).

Dove reveals its now-iconic Real Beauty campaign

Aimed primarily at girls and young women at risk of low self-esteem and hang-ups about their looks, Dove’s Real Beauty campaign, which pioneered the industry and was the first of its kind, challenges unrealistic beauty standards by using real women instead of models in advertising. The self-care brand’s campaign presents models of different shapes, complexions, ages and backgrounds, with a focus on educating, inspiring change and giving us a broader definition of beauty.

2010s

Instagram is launched

No app or social media platform has changed the way we think about our physical appearance quite like Instagram. Originally a tool for communicating through images, it soon develops into a platform that amplifies hard-to-attain beauty standards, as filters and influencers tilt body dysmorphia into overdrive.

Start of the body-positivity movement

Celebrating all shapes, sizes, genders, cultural identities and physical abilities, the body-positivity social movement preaches that beauty is inclusive. After two years of Instagram filters changing how we appear, this movement advocates for accepting yourself and not comparing your appearance to others’.

Alicia Keys and the #NoMakeup movement

Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys ditches make-up for natural beauty during a photoshoot and subsequent public appearances. Tired of the heavy make-up associated with red carpets and appearing on camera, she opts to bare her natural skin – flaws and all. She eventually goes on to appear as a judge on The Voice USA with minimal make-up, and has since launched her own skincare and cosmetics brand.

Full, pouty lips (and lip fillers)

Plump pouts have come and gone since the ’70s – Goldie Hawn even spoofed the trend in The First Wives Club back in 1996. Kylie Jenner ushers in a resurgence in 2015 – spurring an uptick in the number of women overlining their lips and getting fillers in a decade-defining trend that’s still going. The Kardashian-Jenners have also influenced women to get other cosmetic work done, from their face to their body.

Artificial intelligence being used to generate images goes mainstream

The clamour around artificial intelligence continues to grow. In 2017 deepfakes and Nvidia create photorealistic images of people who don’t exist. With the wide release of OpenAI’s Dall-E in 2021 and Midjourney in 2022, more and more AI-generated images have flooded the internet, making it harder to decipher what’s real and what isn’t online. Generative AI also promotes a narrow and biased idea of beauty.

2020s

A Dove campaign pushes back against toxic beauty ideals on social media

Dove’s Reverse Selfie campaign acts as a powerful reminder that not everything you see online is as it seems. It aims to counteract toxic beauty advice on social media to young girls and women in the age of the selfie by critiquing the unrealistic ideals and beauty advice propagated by filters and influencers.

Today

Dove promises never to use AI to represent women in advertising

Dove becomes the first beauty brand to commit to never using artificial intelligence to represent women or models in any of its advertising. The milestone announcement and its new Keep Beauty Real campaign coincide with the 20th anniversary of the seminal Real Beauty campaign – a reminder of its longstanding efforts to support women and promote self-confidence.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Dove. Dove’s Real Beauty pledge is a commitment to portray real women as they are in real life – no models, no manipulation or airbrushing, no AI-generated images – and help young girls build their self-esteem.