Ugly Beauty, Helena Rubinstein, L’Oreal and the blemished
history of looking good by Ruth Brandon.
In Chapter 6 Consumers or consumed? The book looks at the
Victorian era and how cosmetics and the act of women trying to enhance their
appearance was viewed during this time. In the Victorian era women were seen as
inferior to men and when a women was married she was seen as belonging to her
husband and therefore only he had the right to enjoy her beauty. Therefore many
people had the view that women should be modest in their appearance when in
public. If women were trying to show themselves off or draw a lot of attention
to the way they looked in public especially if cosmetics were used to do this they
must be trying to attract the attention of men. If the women was unmarried then
she was seen as trying to attract a husband and this way of doing so was not viewed
as an acceptable way of attaining a husband especially if cosmetics were used
to alter the women’s appearance. Alternately if the women was married then it
was seen that the only reason she would have for doing this would be to attract
a man that was not her husband and therefore it had connotations of adultery.
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