The Town Herald

The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.

Beauty in the Eye...?

by [Mordigen]



We have all heard it. That timeless, cliched phrase "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" reassures us that whatever we love, whatever we find beautiful is perfectly all right, comforts us that everything is beautiful in its own way, and inspires us that everyone sees something different in everything. Many of us live by this phrase, or have been raised on the ideology behind it...but why? Is it really so true?

It is truth that everyone is different, and find different things to be pleasing, entertaining, enjoyable, attractive etc etc, but there is another part to the equation that we humans, as natural romantics, forget to add in. Throughout history, since the dawn of mankind, this quintessential phrase has been challenged by another part of our own psyche and self-consciousness : Outside Opinions. Acceptance. Trends. Fashion. Society... We cannot escape it, it's apart of human nature to want to be accepted, to want to be loved, to want to be recognized or legitimized by others, and this is governed by what we are told is beautiful, not necessarily what we, as individuals, personally consider beautiful. The Egyptians had eyeliner, turquoise and gold, with well-woven raven dark wigs. The Victorians had the frilled collars, stark white "virginal" fair skin, with rosy red cheeks and heaving bosoms, in the 60s it was the tres-chic 'mod' look a la Twiggy. Every people, every Era, every century, ever generation has it. But what drives this? What causes us to jump from our soap boxes and fall into a mindless line of follow-the-leader of trendy society? What causes us to abandon our own instinctual drives, to just do what we're told?

Theories are endless, from scientific studies of both physical health and psychology, to religious rants on the belief of false idols, and moral acceptance, to philosophical suggestions of inner working of the human minds and bodies, that do not necessarily follow the traditional, or orthodox psychological policies. But one thing remains the same, throughout, there is one common denominator that unifies them all -- acceptance, whether it's a spiritual acceptance of a higher power, a personal acceptance of what one considers ethical, or a social acceptance of self-worth.

For the Egyptians, it was a not only a sign of authority, class or simple vanity, but many new scriptures, artifacts and proven theories have shown it was also spiritual. They adorned themselves with all types of ornamentations-- jewelry was considered one of the highest of accessories. They wore thick painted layers of makeup, including the men, of eye shadows, eyeliners and even lip-liners. They were geniuses of fashion-- their dress, wigs, makeup, even jewelry were impressive, yet practical-- what many artifacts of the era will show was both for work, and a display for the Gods. Vanity, and cleanliness were considered Godly, and to adorned themselves with such impressive feats of beauty showed that they themselves were Godly, and worthy of a rich and impressive afterlife, while dressing to both impress and to please while in life. Ancient pallets and paintings show even children, and the poor, would adorn themselves with whatever riches or extravagances they could afford or forge themselves in hope to show their Gods their willingness to please them, and in hopes that they would reward them with a much more plentiful afterlife.

In the Arab cultures for ages, and even today, what is considered beautiful and acceptable is a completely different concept than what most of us would think, but it's an idea that goes much deeper than most realize as well. 'Beauty' is generally reserved for the women, and yet it's what most other culture would consider to be greatly lacking. To Arab culture the beauty lies in the unknown, the secretive; it's the tease, intrigue and seduction. This is one culture that really knows the term "leave it to the imagination." A lot of western cultures misinterpret this as being discriminatory or derogatory toward women, but what you will find is that most women will naturally, and willingly dress in such manner-- as this is what is acceptable. To them, we are all a bunch of whores ;P. This is another cultural driven by spiritual and divine acceptance that brews their idea of beauty-- Women are looked at as being thriving, seductive, sexual gifts (what is described in a lot of cultures as a Nymph, or Goddess) but they are gifts of privilege that should be respected, cherished, protected and even, to a certain level, worshiped. It should never be abused, squandered or taken advantage of. This leads to their overly-conservative dressings, to prevent their beautiful and godly women from being hurt, disrespected, molested or abused, and should be left only for the rightful husband. This conservative dress though, and the idea behind the female body is what develops this sensual idea of beauty: temptation. Some of the most sensual and romantic stories by modern standards actually come from the traditional middle-eastern legends, best known by "1001 Arabian Nights".

In the East, many new trends of "beauty" were catching on inspired by Youth-- to be accepted in society as still being desirable, fresh and fertile. Geishas were the cream of the crop in not only fasion, but poise, attitude, and presentation as well. They were considered the epitome of what a beautiful woman should be - inside and out. Young, fair, fresh, fertile, graceful, gracious, respectful and knowledgeable. While other traditions that in the West might be frowned upon, or squirmed at as mutilation - such as the feet binding - were also signs of youth and beauty. A remarkable trend of "no pain, no gain" in the simple hopes of being accepted as a suitable and promising bride.

Throughout the Middle Ages, and Victorian era the Inspiration came greatly from the Royalty and Nobility. Starting as a means to pay respects to their King and/or Queen, the trends quickly caught on as the royalty being the go-to people of Fashion trends. The People wanted to feel powerful, beautiful, respectable just as the Royals were looked up on to be. They wanted to feel closer to nobility, and thusly, accepted as a legitimate member of society, as imitations of their beloved Nobility. Trends of Powdered wigs, stark white face paint, pink cheeks and rosy red lips derived from the Virgin Queen's naturally Youthful, Fair and oh-so feminine complexion that drove the men wild, as it radiated youthfulness, fertility and the notorious forbidden-fruit complex of sexuality. Men wanted her, women wanted to be her-- so likewise, they imitated her in hopes to satisfy and be accepted by their men.

And what has changed today? Not a thing, save more morals perhaps. We may not be looking for divine or noble acceptance, but everywhere we turn we are plastered by media telling us how to look, how to act, how to eat, what to wear - what's hot, what's not. On instinctual basis, we'd be a fool not to listen. Like it or not, we are in fact social animals - we need the reassurance for our own mental health, which is completely natural. We are eager to follow the most commonly accepted trend to be one of the crowd, not an outsider, not the freak, regardless of the culture, or subculture we are apart of. Even the "outsiders" are not outsiders these days. Goths are cookie-cutter clones of each other, as with the Punks, or the newly taken over Emo Trend - the hippies, the earth children, the new age greenies, the bohemians, the beatnicks, the funk-brothers, the rockabillies, the Prep-school type, the Trendy Prep type -- each and every one of us, no matter how much we try to tell ourselves we are an individual, we are unique - we all have something we identify with that comforts us, some kind of trend we follow, and relate to and makes us feel like us. Why? Because simply, we are not alone, we have something somewhere that tells us we are cool, we are awesome, we are beautiful and we are loved - someone or something that understands us, that we can turn to. That is what it is all about...so, is beauty in the eye of the beholder? No, not now nor was it ever. Beauty is in acceptance...acceptance in being human.

~~Mordi

Resources:
www.google.com
www.fashion-era.com
www.webmd.com
--->www.wedmd.com/skin-beauty/what-is-beautiful-a-brief-history
www.liveearth.org
History Channels presentation on Ancient Cultures
A&E's presentation : Fashion in History
Discovery Channel's presentation on Modern Media and Psychology.
History Channel's Modern Marvels : Fashion
National Geographic's Presentation : Ancient Ink
National Geographic's original Series Taboo - episode on 'Beauty'


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