A Journey In Style - Living Magazine (issue 15 july - 14 august)

A Journey in Style

By Rianna Poudyal

Talking about style will never end. It can be so many things; it can start from hair style until life style. It has a very big scale, so we have to be specific, which kind of style that we are talking about here.

Usually among girls, style is around hair style, fashion style and make up style. While among guys, style is more into life style. Even these day lots of guys who admit them self as a metro sexual also start to care about their appearance.

          Style already existed from centuries ago. Cleopatra, the famous queen of Egypt, she is the one who brings make up into the society. Her hair style is very well known until now. Also her cat-eye looks with very thick and black eyeliner is a superb way to make the eyes looks dramatic. The eyeliner in Cleopatra’s time was made from herb which now, known as Henna.

          Style keeps on growing into another shape. In 16^th century, the style known as Renaissance. Renaissance patrons wanted art that showed joy in human beauty and life’s pleasures. It influenced the architecture style, painting and the value of beauty. Women were considered beautiful if they had long hair, thin lips and fleshy body figure, which means prosperity, healthy and fertile. Women’s hair coverings went from the ‘pointed cone’ style with no hair allowed to show, to the more popular light-weight veil type trimmed with flowers or lace. Most women had very long hair and kept it braided.

          In 1966, a girl with born name Lesley Hornby who is famous as Twiggy brings new taste of style in fashion and body figure. Women were then considered beautiful with thin figure, large eyes, long eye lashes and simple dress with a simple cut. Short hair style and straight down in a side with a clip is the best option. While for some people who doesn’t like short hair, long hair with little curl on the bottom can be a choice. The fashion is famous with mini skirt and one piece simple elegant dress called ‘baby doll’.

          In 1970^th, fashion follow the famous Disco movie ‘Grease’ with two trend setter, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Fashion began with a continuation of the miniskirts, hip-hugging bell-bottoms and the androgynous hippie look from the late 1960s. These include platform shoes which appeared on the fashion scene in 1971 and often had soles 2-4 inches thick. Women and teenage girls wore their hair long, with a centre or side parting and included the wavy "gypsy" cut. The Cosmetics in the 1970s reflected the contradictory roles ascribed to the modern woman. Make-up was chosen by situation, rather than in response to monolithic trends. The two primary visions were the daytime "natural look" and the evening aesthetic of “sexualized glamour”.

In the early 1980s both men and women began to wear looser shirts and

tight close-fitting pants. Men wore power suits as a result of the greater tendency for people to display their wealth. During the “Like A Virgin” era, Madonna was titled the "Material Girl" and many young girls around the world looked to her for fashion statements. The popular 1983 movie Flashdance made ripped sweatshirts well-known in the general public. The hair styles in the 1980s were look like Princess of Wales, Lady Diana Spencer and you will see every hair style women followed throughout the decade. It began with a continuance of the Prudery cult hair cut. But as always there were variations and working women opted for styles which could be easily blow dried and togged with a cordless or electric styling brush. 

          in 1990s, it was the rise of grunge fashion. Grunge fashion consisted of both sexes wearing flannel shirts and other typical outdoor clothing. The rise of grunge fashion coincided with the rise to mainstream popularity of grunge music. The hair style constantly changed and pretty much anything was acceptable.  Hair like Jennifer Aniston’s character in ‘Friends’ was long and sleek with longer length layers and short hair like Demi Moore in the famous 90s film ‘Ghost’, are the hair style which is become trend at this time.     

          In year 2000, style moves a bit going on circle. Especially in 2010, most women beauty comes back a bit similar with beauty value in 60s. Beauty is tall, big eyes and slim figure. For hair style, people are more open for all kind of hair style. People tend to do experiment on everything; fashion, hair style and make-up. People choose to look natural on make-up by using natural color, even for special occasion. Simple, elegance and natural look is the number one options today. So, actually there is not only one definition of style and beauty. It keep on changing with time, it is culturally driven and has a lot to do with exposure.