Beauty, an age old word that holds an etymology that could be traced back as probably one of the first utterances of the English language.  After all, beauty is mostly the reason why people establish names to signify whatever it is that piques their interest.  So it’s safe to say that beauty is one of the driving forces behind the conception of language, as it inspires definitions of our reality.

With that in mind, we could call into attention some of the avenues that showcase beauty in its most widely accepted form, where beauty is not only highlighted, but also made to stretch its defining limits to the point that it evolves along with people’s ever shifting “taste.”  By taking a glimpse of the different eras of Hollywood, we can see how the word beauty is immortal yet transient at the same time.  It is Immortal in a sense that it is always present and ready to be of use to define, let’s say, the “most beautiful actress” from any point in time.  However, it is also transient as it is in a perpetual state of change; what it defines is always shifting and evolving with the times.  It does a great job of keeping up, as it is always used as the frontrunner of “taste,” for example, “this actress is the new face of beauty.”  But we should also keep in mind that it destroys its former definition in order to accommodate the new.

Starting from the 1920’s and ending with the present, let us see the changing faces of beauty over the years.  However, before I go on, in order to save time and also make this article less convoluted, I will mostly base my opinions of actresses from different eras to superficial understandings of their time, and also the present (so if you’re looking for a full-blown study, I’m sorry to disappoint):

The Silent Era, 1920’s:  Mary Louise Brooks.

During the so called Jazz age, Mary Louise Brooks was considered one of, if not the most beautiful silent film actress of her time.  Aside from her striking features, she was instantly recognizable for her hair.  Her “bobbed” hairstyle strayed away from the conventional, more domesticated look of long haired women at the time.  It was short, sleek, and edgy, which in a way was closer to how a man’s hair would look like–her style of hair was also called the Buster Brown-Page Boy.  Women were quick to imitate her, as she became the trend-setter for the 1920’s.  Therefore, beauty in her time was in its early stages of breaking free from the common idea of submissive women.  By then, Brooks showed that beauty could also have also been found in strength, independence, and even oddities.

The Talkies Era, 1930’s: Jean Harlow.

As Hollywood revolutionized the way we saw films by adding dialogue, Jean Harlow also introduced another aspect of beauty, one that changed our concept of beauty forever.  With her somewhat revealing roles, beauty suddenly took a turn towards the seductive, adding the idea of sex to the concept of beauty.  This, of course, spread like wildfire as other” bomb-shells” in Hollywood soon followed.  Since Jean Harlow, beauty had found another way to acquire power, sex.

The Golden Age, 1940’s: Vivien Leigh.

After the Jazzy headstrong women and blonde bomb-shells came Vivien Leigh.  Vivien was the most celebrated actress of her time, and during the Golden Age of Hollywood to boot.  One could see Vivien as a hybrid of her predecessors.  She grew out her hair, but retained the headstrong persona especially in her roles such as Scarlett O’Hara.  She might have been a brunette, but she also had some rather revealing scenes of her own.

The Post-War Era, 1950’s: Elizabeth Taylor.

While Elizabeth Taylor’s looks may not have diverted very far as compared to beautiful actresses from the decade before her, her relevance lies in the idea that she was the last of her kind.  After all, she was dubbed as “The Last Major Star” to come out of Hollywood.  Elizabeth Taylor stood at the threshold of an age that would later alter our perception of beauty forever.  Therefore, her title of being “The Last” is rightfully put.  She was the denouement of the golden age, as the height of beauty was still considered as exquisite, elegant, and rich.

The Beginning of the New Hollywood Era, 1960’s: Raquel Welch.

It may be arguable that other elegant looking actresses such as Audrey Hepburn populated Hollywood for a quite a duration during the 1960’s, however it is also a viable point that, with the introduction of actresses such as Raquel Welch, beauty in Hollywood had taken a turn towards what many of us consider today as contemporary beauty.  Raquel Welch took the sex associated with beauty and heightened it to a level that made it a dominating criterion.  Gone were the days when elegance was the defining point of a beautiful woman, while sexiness and even carnal traits were only a supplementary feature.  Welch also helped introduce a more playful, down to earth, and every day beautiful woman type of look (if that makes any sense), apart from the seemingly unattainable and posh.

The New Hollywood, 1970’s: Farrah Fawcett.

Farrah Fawcett may not have been a bonafide movie star, but she did make some movies during her career, and with her phenomenal success in television, she certainly ranks up there with the rest of Hollywood.  If Raquel Welch introduced sexual dominance in beauty, Farrah Fawcett capitalized on it and took sex even further by becoming an official sex symbol.  Beauty was then being measured less by faces and what people wore, but more of cup sizes, curves, and what people didn’t wear.  We could say that beauty had taken a complete 180 by the 1970’s.  Actresses who looked sophisticated and expensive became overshadowed by vixens with cleavages, donning bikinis.

The Me Generation, 1980’s: Molly Ringwald.

Molly Ringwald’s girl next door look became a staple for popular Hollywood movies during the 1980’s.  Often referred to as the “Me” generation, the 80’s gave a voice to individuality and self-expression.  With this convention of thinking, the concept of beauty was suddenly attainable by anyone who was willing to claim it.  Therefore, what resulted was a more homely, practical sensibility in regards to beauty.  Aside from drop dead gorgeous women, beauty could then also be found and celebrated in the “girl next door.”  There were even times when the subjectivity of beauty was stretched over to the other side of the spectrum, which led to rather campy, and flamboyant claims to beauty.

The Contemporary Era, 1990’s: Pamela Anderson.

If the 1980’s proved that almost anyone could have been considered beautiful, then the 1990’s became a pissing contest (for lack of a better term) on who could be the most beautiful.  This notion led to rather exaggerated displays, resulting to the boom of cosmetic surgery or physical enhancements.  If women with large breasts were dubbed as attractive so much more for those with huge ones, and so on and so forth.  Not only did beauty become commonly perceived as having larger than life features, it also became artificial.  This in turn almost negated the natural aspects of beauty all together.

The Present Era, 2000’s: Angelina Jolie.

The current era may still have some years left in it in order to resist a clear cut definition in relation to the current taste in beauty, however I believe that by now we could come to a more or less justified, though incomplete, conclusion to what is beautiful today.  The exaggerated aesthetics of the last decade may still be present, but I believe it is now considered more of a parody of days gone by, or seen exactly for what it really is, an exaggerated fantasy.  In its place, a more natural standard proves more prevalent.  Angelina Jolie’s lips and body may seem like they were genetically enhanced, but what makes her ever the more attractive today is because her features are known to be natural.  By now, people have grown weary of artificial beauty, which today’s women posses in a “dime a dozen” way.

In the end, this trend just goes to show how the word beauty always seems to slip from the fingers of stagnant definition, as it escapes to more uncommon sensibilities.  It certainly feeds on the human desire, which we all know can never be pinned down and made to stay still.  So from being headstrong, to sexy, to elegant, to voluptuous, to self-serving, to exaggerated, and finally to natural, beauty certainly evolves when it comes to defining what is beautiful, and that is just in the case of women.