Who Is Beauty For?
Kendra Dresser
Power, performance and modern beauty standards
Beauty feels personal. That is part of its power.
It lives in routine: skincare pressed into the skin, brows shaped, lipstick applied without hesitation. These rituals feel instinctive. However, culture shapes beauty standards, repetition strengthens them, and the beauty industry amplifies them.
So the question is not only why we want to be beautiful, but who that desire serves.
Beauty as communication
The history of beauty reveals that it was never purely aesthetic. Instead, it has always functioned as a form of communication.
In ancient Egypt, kohl-lined eyes signalled status, belief, and protection. By the nineteenth century in Europe, pale skin became a marker of wealth, quietly indicating distance from labour. In both cases, appearance was not simply personal; it was structured.
Moreover, society expected beauty to look effortless. It required women, in particular, to appear naturally refined while concealing the labour behind that image.
Visibility and power
However, the meaning of beauty began to shift in the early twentieth century. Lipstick, once tied to status, became a marker of visibility.
During the 1920s, bold lips defined the flapper aesthetic, signalling independence and cultural change. At the same time, suffragettes adopted lipstick as a symbol of defiance. As a result, beauty moved beyond decoration; it became a tool for being seen.
A Julien Crouïgneau & Mia Macfarlane Creation
A Julien Crouïgneau & Mia Macfarlane Creation
The face was no longer something to soften or conceal. It became a way to assert presence.
The rise of the beauty industry
As cinema and advertising expanded, beauty became more systematised. Hollywood introduced carefully constructed images of glamour that audiences could recognise and aspire to.
Figures like Marilyn Monroe defined a soft, luminous ideal, with perfected skin and bold red lips designed for the camera. In contrast, Elizabeth Taylor popularised a more dramatic look, with strong brows and heavily defined eyes, while Grace Kelly embodied a refined, understated elegance.
These faces were not accidental. They were carefully constructed and widely circulated.
At the same time, the growing beauty industry promoted continuous improvement. Clearer skin, fuller lashes, and brighter lips became daily expectations. Over time, modern beauty standards reframed the face as a project: something to maintain, optimise, and refine.
“75% of beauty executives report prioritising revenue growth and expansion into new product categories in the upcoming years.”
The implication was subtle but persistent. The face was never complete.
Changing beauty standards
Although beauty trends evolve, they consistently reflect cultural priorities.
In the 1980s, bold makeup signalled confidence and ambition, with bright blush, heavy contour, and vivid eyeshadow drawing attention from across a room. In contrast, the 1990s favoured “natural” beauty, yet this minimalism demanded discipline: thin brows, matte skin, and muted tones that suggested effortlessness while requiring precision.
By the 2000s, celebrity culture reshaped beauty again. Glossy lips, bronzed skin, and sharply defined features, popularised by early reality television, created a look built for visibility and repetition.
The surface changes, but the logic remains. Each era teaches the face how to behave.
Social media and the digital face
Today, beauty exists as much on screen as it does in reality. Social media has transformed not only how faces are seen, but how they are constructed. “Around 40% of beauty buyers say social media influences their purchase decisions, especially for makeup and skincare.”
Filters smooth skin, enlarge eyes, refine noses, and lift cheekbones. The changes are subtle enough to feel believable, yet consistent enough to create a shared template. Scroll long enough, and different faces begin to echo one another.
As a result, modern beauty trends are shaped less by instruction and more by exposure. What appears most often begins to feel correct.
Familiarity becomes authority.
Choice within modern beauty
This is where the idea of choice becomes more complicated. Beauty still feels expressive, even creative. However, personal preference does not emerge in isolation.
Instead, it develops through repetition, through what is seen, liked, and rewarded. What feels instinctive is often the result of prolonged exposure.
A Julien Crouïgneau & Mia Macfarlane Creation
Choice exists, but it operates within a structure that rarely announces itself.
What beauty really reflects
Ultimately, beauty has never belonged entirely to the individual. It reflects systems of power, visibility, and expectation.
From historical practices to social media trends, the face continues to carry meaning beyond appearance. The tools have evolved, but the pressure to conform has not disappeared; it has simply become harder to recognise.
And that is what makes modern beauty standards so effective.
They feel like our own idea, and that is precisely why we rarely question them.
Images courtesy of David Dresser, Julien Crouïgneau & Mia Macfarlane.
To explore beauty and its evolving standards further, continue reading below or visit the IRK homepage.
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Kendra Dresser is in Communications and Public Relations with a focus on how fashion, media, and culture shape the way we see the world and ourselves.
She’s interested in the connection between image and meaning: how a campaign, an outfit, or a trend can say something deeper about identity, mood, and the cultural moment.
She’s especially drawn to how Generation Z uses fashion and beauty to express individuality, often in bold, layered, and playful ways. She’s also curious about how social media continues to reshape storytelling, changing how we create, share, and connect through visual culture.
To Kendra, fashion is more than just style; it’s a language! One that reflects who we are, how we feel, and what we stand for. She’s committed to sustainability and believes fashion and culture should not only inspire but also respect the planet.
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