We are talking about what ideas about female beauty were in our country in different eras, and how they were transformed.
Ancient Russia
For a Stone Age man, female beauty was directly related to weight - the higher the weight, the better. A plump woman with wide hips and large breasts had a better chance of bearing, giving birth and nursing a healthy baby. For the men of Ancient Russia, not obese, but well-fed young ladies seemed attractive - as they say, blood and milk. We can also judge the ideals of facial beauty by Russian fairy tales. A fabulous beauty is always white-skinned, but at the same time ruddy. The girls dusted themselves on terribly harmful white lead and painted blush with beetroot juice. Even in Russia, thick eyebrows were adored - therefore they were tinted with various means. Interestingly, black, decayed teeth were considered a sign of beauty - an indicator that a girl is rich and can afford to eat a lot of expensive sugar. Therefore, the girls blackened their teeth. Facial features were preferred to be correct: a long, straight nose, full lips, a high forehead, and thick hair. Modesty, unhurriedness and femininity were appreciated in behavior in Russia. Also, the female mind has always been in high esteem in Russia. A stately, tall, strong girl with rounded shapes and a healthy blush on her cheeks, with a leisurely gait, a timid gaze, but at the same time smart - here she is, a medieval Russian beauty.
New Time
If before Peter the standards of beauty were the same for the Russian nobility and for the common people, then everything changed radically. With innovations in the army and government, Peter also brought fashion trends from Europe. But they only influenced the aristocracy and townspeople, and for the peasant majority nothing changed. The beauty of the nobility began to become artificial. Aristocrats painted in the French manner, drew artificial moles for themselves, plucked their eyebrows, and did complex hairstyles. Peter "opened a window" in the prime of the Rococo era. The ideal woman of this style is porcelain pallor, lightness and fragility, airiness and playfulness. At the same time, well-fed ladies remained in favor. It is interesting that in Russia in the first half of the 18th century, the demand for darkening was added to the rococo standards. We can recall the famous beauty, the last love of Peter I, Marina Cantemir. In this woman, the Russian and European traditions of perceiving female beauty seem to have merged together. We find a similar type in the favorite of the court of Catherine II, Maria Naryshkina, and in the fateful actress Praskovya Zhemchugova. In the 19th century, this dark-haired and black-eyed "pungency" goes out of fashion, lighter girls with big sad eyes are in demand. This trend appeared thanks to the now eerily fashionable England. For example, Natalia Pushkina, the wife of the great Russian poet, who was considered the first beauty in Moscow. In the 19th century, fullness ceases to be an obligatory attribute of a beauty. At the same time, naturalness returns to fashion. If for the 18th century tons of powder and painted eyebrows were characteristic, then in the 19th century girls began to strive not to paint themselves a new face, but to emphasize the dignity of their natural features.
XX century
At the end of the 19th century, slender girls began to conquer Russia, and obesity is almost completely out of fashion. The natural beauty of the graceful features of fragile and sophisticated girls - this is what was appreciated in Russia at the turn of the century. An excellent example is Zinaida Yusupova, a sophisticated aristocrat who was considered the most beautiful woman by many people at the court of Nicholas II. However, right before the revolution, this tradition is replaced by another, also brought from Europe. Silent cinema, jazz and emancipation take over the world. This also affects Russia - unnaturally pale, chubby women with short haircuts and huge bottomless eyes are becoming icons of beauty both in New York and Voronezh. For example, Vera Kholodnaya is an insanely popular Russian film actress, for whose films men fought in queues. In the first years of Soviet power, this type was also very popular. But soon the country cut off all cultural ties with the West and the demand for completeness returned. An icon of beauty in the Soviet Union was a beautiful in her simplicity kolkhoz woman. The effeminacy and aristocratic pallor give way to strength and proletarian blush. However, there were also exceptions. For example, Lyubov Orlova, whose appearance was adored in the USSR, but which would certainly have pleased the courtiers of Alexander III. Almost all the time of the existence of the USSR, the standard of beauty was a ruddy kolkhoz woman. Only closer to Perestroika, slenderness and lightness began to return to fashion. A very clear pattern can be traced: the harder the times, the greater the demand for obese women.
