By the 1970's the thinking that being skinny and thin was a phenomenon full force. The bronzed skin, glossy lips, and layered haircuts, revolutionized women's beauty and became the look that every woman wanted to have.
In the 1970s, the thin-framed, long-legged look was still idolized. In this decade, we began to see an increase in eating disorders, and as a society, we gained more knowledge about them. In the 1980s, with the popularity of the Jane Fonda at-home workout videos, the athletic supermodel look became the goal.
The ideal body for women shifted greatly in the 1960s to the 1970s; models had very lean arms & legs with no curves. A renowned model, "Twiggy" Lawson was nicknamed for her thinness. The 1990s reinstated very thin as the ideal body type, emulated by Victoria's Secret models.
In the 1960s and 70s, beauty ideals for women shifted from the mature curvaceous body of stars such as Marilyn Monroe to the stick-thin, flat-chested figure epitomized by supermodels such as Twiggy or Kate Moss.
The economic downturn pushed more wives to work. By the end of the 1970s, for the first time ever, more than half of women had jobs outside of the home. They were paid approximately 60% less than men, but they were able to quickly find employment.
The '70s were defined by many things, like bell-bottoms and big hair. And many of the women sporting these trends were successful stars who also marked the decade with their timeless beauty. From Farrah Fawcett to Faye Dunaway, these women were the beauty symbols of the decade who inspire to this day.
Popular early 1970s fashions for women included Tie dye shirts, Mexican 'peasant' blouses, folk-embroidered Hungarian blouses, ponchos, capes, and military surplus clothing. Bottom attire for women during this time included bell-bottoms, gauchos, frayed jeans, midi skirts, and ankle-length maxi dresses.
From 1959 to 1978 there was a remarkable shift towards a thinner ideal in the fashion industry: models represented in big magazines as Vogue, Ladies Home Journal and Woman's Day decreased significantly in weight.
The 80s was the real start of the athletic beauty. Women were encouraged to be lean, strong, and toned. Things that were celebrated in the 80s include: Hourglass figure.
Early 1970s fashion
Popular styles included bell bottom pants, frayed jeans, midi skirts, maxi dresses, tie-dye, peasant blouses, and ponchos. Some accessories that will help pull together your early '70s Hippie outfits are chokers, headbands, scarves, and jewelry made of wood, stones, feathers, and beads.
Problems with body image commonly develop alongside certain societal pressures to stay thin, lean, muscular, or outwardly appearing as masculine or feminine. These types of body image concerns are frequently a driving factor in the development or maintenance of eating disorders.
The Age of Counterculture: mid-1960 - 1970s
The clean-cut, masculine body type was replaced by a thin and slender, almost androgenous, ideal, made popular by counterculture icons such as The Beatles, David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix. This ideal glamorised no muscle tone, trim waists and slender chests, arms and legs.
Despite this, there are many different body shapes, with an hourglass shape being one of the least common, but the most desired.
Eighties' beauty ideals
They were tall, slender, and strong. A more muscular look for women was continuing to emerge due to advances in fitness and, in part, the feminist spirit. Muscle tone signified strength, capability, and independence.
America has a culturally accepted norm of what makes someone beautiful. A standard that is hard to meet. Being light-skinned, blonde and blue-eyed is the benchmark of beauty, of what is most desirable.
The thin ideal carried over into the 1970s, but the decade saw a bigger emphasis on larger busts with Farrah Fawcett at the media forefront, representing athleticism and femininity within the boundaries of a thin, petite frame.
The 1980s are a decade that we frequently resort to whenever it relates to glitter and fashion freedom. The decade, characterized by eye-straining fabric colors and patterns, acid wash jeans, shoulder pads, massive, dramatic earrings, pearls, and big hair, had people confidently expressing themselves with their Style.
The 1990s went one step further than the supermodel era in fetishizing thinness, which was eerily dubbed as 'heroin chic'. The rise of a waif-like body type by models such as Kate Moss influenced beauty standards that celebrated extreme thinness, an androgynous frame and pale skin (8).
Attitudes towards obesity started to be altered in the eighteenth century and really began to change in the nineteenth century, principally for esthetic reasons.
If a women's BMI is 18.5 to 20, she is skinny and if she falls below 18 she is borderline anorexic,” says Dr Seng.
Women with a 0.7 WHR (waist circumference that is 70% of the hip circumference) are rated more attractive by men in various cultures. Such diverse beauty icons as Marilyn Monroe, Sophia Loren and the Venus de Milo have ratios around 0.7; this is a typical ratio in Western art.
For some, the first signs of aging can show as early as their mid-20s, while others only notice wrinkles, sun spots, and sagging skin in their late 40s or even early 50s.
No single look encompassed the 70s, which was an eclectic mix of style influences that evolved quickly in the span of a decade such as hippie, disco and punk. Hot pants, tight shorts in eye catching colours and fabrics epitomised the limited impact of the women's liberation movement on fashion.