What is Beauty?

From ancient times, the roles of women and men were very clear. Clothing is a significant way to show the difference in class. Clothing’s purpose is not to simply cover the body, it is to demonstrate the authority and beauty of a person who wears the type of clothing. During the Romantic period, the clothing for women mostly changed, because the views of men and the roles of women changed. The women’s role was limited in many areas because they didn’t have authority in society and had many restrictions and regulations after their marriage. Tailors used the location of a neckline, and decorative headpieces to express ideas of beauty.  

To begin with, the neckline of clothing has changed a lot, along with the Romantic Period standard of beauty. Before the Romantic Period, convenience was emphasized, which means that the clothing was flat and plain. However, by this time, there was a significant change in the standard of beauty. The waistline of the previous women was about at their chest height, but at the beginning of this period, the waistline came down to women’s waist which naturally emphasizes the thin waistline. As the thin waistline stands out, their breasts and hips were also increasingly highlighted, which was the standard of beauty. For example, an introduction of corset came back. This is because it helps women look glamorous because it makes a woman's waist look thin and emphasizes the hourglass figure. Furthermore, the biggest characteristic of fashion during the era is a bonnet, which has the most distinctive feature of a loose uncut ribbon in a similar form of a hat. Women changed the decoration of the bonnet depending on the woman’s position and marital status. If a woman is married, she would wear more luxurious decoration like silk velvet decoration and if a woman is not married; she would simply decorate it with ribbons and feathers. Then more decorations of bonnet became the standard of beauty. This has become the standard for women's beauty in that period, and many modern clothes have also been influenced by this era.  

On top of that, During the Romantic period, women’s clothing implied that the role of women was limited. The points of different styles are that the design of dress changes into a strap that tightens the shoulders and the design of sleeves grew narrower which added into fancy decoration. These changes limited the women’s movement of the arms freely and prevent the lifting of arms above her head which discouraged the women from going outside but encouraged them to stay at home and do housework. Besides, because of this limitation resultant of the uncomfortable cloth line, the difference between men’s and women’s social position and authority was more clearly shown.  In society at that time, for example, the roles of men were to lead the revolution, however, women had to help their families by doing housework. The inconvenient clothing of women led to their powerless position and reluctance to leave their home even though their husbands abused them. Indeed, women were always made to do the housework at home. Hence, the best assumption that we can make is that women are considered men's property.  

In a nutshell, the perspective of men about beauty changed during the Romantic Period which caused a negative result of women being mistreated. This is a great application of beauty in modern day because most women wear uncomfortable clothes to catch or take men’s fancy. 

Thomas, Pauline. “The Romantic Era 1825-1845 Fashion History”. Fashion Era. https://www.fashion-era.com/romantic_era.htm.March 29, 2019