100 Years of Beauty in 1 Minute

December 5, 2014 4:26 AM

A timelapse video showing ten decades of hair and makeup styles [slyt].
posted by ellieBOA (24 comments total)

It's particularly intriguing to see how clearly the 1920-1980 styles really seem to mark those eras and yet how the ones closer to now don't seem to as much; objects in the rear-view mirror tend to diminish into a single focal point.
posted by chavenet at 4:34 AM on December 5, 2014 [3 favorites]

One large deficit: eyebrows. Nobody wore natural eyebrows during the 30s, they plucked or shaved them and drew them in as a narrow line. The effect is strange since the drawn line rarely followed the original browline. Anyway, this model's brows are too natural throughout.

Also, the texture of the cosmetics themselves and the effects of the chemicals used had an effect on appearance. Think Harlow's platinum 'do or the marcelled waves in the 30s that did so much damage to the hair. Flat, iron-damaged hair and heavy pancake makeup were part of the look, for better or worse. When I was a kid I played with 20s-era cosmetics that my grandmother kept in an old box; they even smelled completely diffferent and things like powder were chalky and opaque.

Woulda also been fun to see some old fashioned hair tricks, lke using a rat, which was quintessentially a 40s look, or a snood.

This is a fun idea; I'd've been even more impressed had they gone the whole way and actually used vintage cosmetics--wax lash beading, for example, or paste rouge. The main differences I'm seeing are hairstyle and lip contour.
posted by kinnakeet at 4:45 AM on December 5, 2014 [11 favorites]

I liked how her facial expressions completed the looks.
posted by orme at 4:51 AM on December 5, 2014 [4 favorites]

The 2010 look is very Kardashian in my eyes and sadly probably does signify our times.
posted by Muddler at 5:42 AM on December 5, 2014

The facial expressions were the best part. The other stuff struck me more as "hairstyles of the past 100 years if they were designed to make you look beautiful by the standards of 2014", which I think is totally legit and interesting in its own right - like how if you look at a movie made in 1965 but set in 1920, it's "1960s-1920s".

It seems hard to do these "on the decade mark", though...like, the nominally-1990 one was absolutely pitch-perfect for about 1993, and I remember because I had a giant stack of bobbie pins and little hair clips and riot grrrl baby barrettes.

It would have been neat to change the make-up colors more - 1990-ish would have had way more contrast; everyone wore those deep purple-red lipsticks if they wore any.
posted by Frowner at 5:54 AM on December 5, 2014 [10 favorites]

Woulda also been fun to see some old fashioned hair tricks, lke using a rat, which was quintessentially a 40s look, or a snood.


Wow! Neat tip! You mean I can have 1940's high fashion hair and I don't have to go to the barber if I just let a rat crawl through my hair?
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:55 AM on December 5, 2014 [2 favorites]

I worry about how damaged her hair would be by the end.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:07 AM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

It's funny how I don't really think of much of a difference between the '90s and today in terms of makeup, but then you see it and it's "Hello, Winona Ryder in 'Reality Bites'!"
posted by leotrotsky at 6:17 AM on December 5, 2014 [4 favorites]

Neat. I'd be interested in seeing it redone with a Black woman and see how the styles converge and diverge.
posted by Panjandrum at 7:38 AM on December 5, 2014 [11 favorites]

Of course, Prince out does this just in his lifetime.
posted by gwint at 7:40 AM on December 5, 2014 [3 favorites]

I think the only way you could really do this more effectively w/r/t eyebrows and hairstyles specifically would be to go with actual wigs and a couple different models, using one with very sparse/thin natural brows for the heavily plucked / painted eras (30s, 50s, early 2000s)

and yes, not enough heavy dark matte lipstick and rouge for specifically the '50s and '90s. their colorways just aren't brave enough. the 70s foundation isn't orange-fake-tan-esque enough for starters, and 80s foundation tended to be 1-2 shades too pale with mauve/purple eye and lip makeup for that awesome "fresh corpse just washed up on the beach" look.
posted by lonefrontranger at 11:21 AM on December 5, 2014 [3 favorites]

and somehow the whole "smokey eye" trend that has only seemed (thank god) to die within the last 18 months got completely glossed over, but for almost a decade the trend was for that godawful creepy sunken-eyed look that peaked with Kristen Stewart.
posted by lonefrontranger at 11:48 AM on December 5, 2014

My oldest granddaughter, who is fifteen, showed me this. She wants to make a film that illustrates black women's hairstyles the way this one does for white women. Mrs. Hoho is gathering family photo albums, I'm buying a better set of lights.
posted by Pudhoho at 12:55 PM on December 5, 2014 [17 favorites]

Can someone explain some of the key differences between 2000ish hair/makeup/fashion and 2010ish hair/makeup/fashion? Not just in the video, but generally. They seem so similar to me, I guess because it's hard to see the distinctiveness of now when you're in it.

Certainly the jump from 2000 to 2014 seems way less dramatic than the jump from 1950 to 1964, or 1960 to 1974, or 1970 to 1984.
posted by dontjumplarry at 1:00 PM on December 5, 2014

For the 80s to be properly 80s, the hairspray should have been the Aqua Net in the purple can. The industrial strength shit.
posted by louche mustachio at 1:08 PM on December 5, 2014 [2 favorites]

Can someone explain some of the key differences between 2000ish hair/makeup/fashion

2000: hair aggressively ironed flat in a medium length "choppy" layered shag cut / bob / A-line with heavy, "chunky" bleached highlights, eyebrows plucked thin and re-penciled in dark browns. Matte taupe, gold, light blue or pinkish eyeshadow with little to no iridescence, minimal to no liner or "flick" (the "cat-eye" was as out as it could be in '00), heavy dark mascara mainly on upper lashes. "Powder" finish makeup, little to no blush in girly pinkish tones. An excessively glossy lip again using light pinkish or rosy tones with "plumper" or actual giant collagen fills.

2010: Hair either cut short in a pixie or worn long in long, messy layers, often put up in a messy bun with hair sticks or ornaments. Dark natural tones, aggressive blonde is very "out", recent trend for bleached ends dyed unnatural pastels hasn't yet caught on (this is a very recent thing, last 12-24 months or so). Heavy use of gloss / shine producing hair products. Makeup uses pale sheer foundations with a heavy "smokey" eye (involving lots of heavy Robert Smith-esque smudged kohl, NOT a "flick" or cat-eye) in dark browns, navy blues or bright teal/emerald, eyebrows full / natural but groomed. Much more emphasis on lower lid mascara. Lip is dark red trending towards browner shades, eschewing the immature pinks/corals of a decade ago.
posted by lonefrontranger at 2:54 PM on December 5, 2014 [5 favorites]

Pff, the 2010 hair is accurate for the Midwest, maybe. Here in New York us gals have found a brilliant new way to show too much skin: by adding our scalps to the mix.
posted by Mooseli at 3:30 PM on December 5, 2014

eh I glossed over the whole "return-of-the-quiff" as a passing fad, too, because while it was talked up a lot a couple of seasons ago in the glamor rags, it hasn't really caught on yet outside the hip-hop and avant garde sector. I'm mostly alluding to trends you'd see at any given gathering of 20something women in major metropolitan areas throughout the US, including LA and Chicago which, yes, do tend to be a bit more conservative. New York contains a lot of quirky random stuff that never catches on outside the city tbh, and has done so for ages.
posted by lonefrontranger at 3:43 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

for an excellent clinic on early Aughts hair and makeup you could do a lot worse than a re-watch of Mean Girls.
posted by lonefrontranger at 3:46 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]

1910.

Like, that. Can that come back? That.

(I would love to see non-white hairstyles over the decades too. Obviously, should have different models for those videos.)
posted by andreaazure at 3:54 PM on December 5, 2014

The video works a lot better if you put the letter 's' after each number on the screen. That is to say, no woman in America was flashing peace signs and hippie-ing out her hair in literally the year 1960.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 4:10 PM on December 5, 2014 [3 favorites]

I know, right? 1960 was more the era of the flip / gargantuan bouffant or stuff done up on hot rollers. Hippie hair is more like '68-72ish.
posted by lonefrontranger at 4:17 PM on December 5, 2014

... I also feel like 1950 would be more readily expressed by a high ponytail and those ditzy little Peggy Sue bangs.
posted by lonefrontranger at 4:21 PM on December 5, 2014

Re 1930s eyebrows, of all the places you wouldn't expect realism from, True Blood nailed it with Lorena.
posted by topynate at 9:26 AM on December 6, 2014