Beauty Reinterpreted: 18th Century Fashion Through The Eyes of 20th Century Film (2010)

Undergraduate: Katy Werlin

Faculty Advisor: Jade Bettin
Department: Dramatic Art

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One of the most important factors in conveying the setting of a movie is the overall look of its actors. A movie may film scenes in a lush English garden or the gilded halls of Versailles, but the audience will not identify the players as eighteenth century aristocrats unless they look the part. In order to truly send the audience back in time, the costume, hair style, make up, even body type of the actor should reflect the beauty practices of the period in which the movie is set. But what beauty practices do these elements truly reflect? It is inevitable, even in the most historically accurate movies, that modern trends will be present in some aspect of the historic look. This presentation seeks to explore this phenomenon of twentieth century beauty trends working their way into historic beauty trends portrayed in period movies, focusing on the portrayal of upper class Western European women from the mid to late eighteenth century. Why this phenomenon occurs can be seen in terms of the changing nature of the film industry. During the studio era, stars were a commodity and had to live up to the glamorous image constantly being projected to the adoring public. Post-studio era, the less tightly centralized movie making industry makes the answer to this question more complex, but ultimately a movie is not a history lesson, it is entertainment and seeks a verisimilitude that transports the audiences to another world while still maintaining enough distance for this historic world to resonate with a modern audience.