Beauty myths i just don't get.

[ConfusedParticle]

Like someone having 'cheekbones', that this is somehow important as a woman ages (not my opinion!).

That being tall is superior to being short: this persistent idea that taller people look better in clothes. In my own opinion it is posture, not height that makes a difference.

I know there's history regarding height, especially with males, the pecking order and all that, but i am amazed that these ideas still circulate.

But who decided fashion/clothing was best carried off by taller women? It never made sense to me.
It makes some, kinda vague sense for a catwalk, but not in the real world.
If clothes are in proportion, then it's as broad as long to me.

I have also never noticed cheekbones necessarily make someone 'age' better either - whether that's Peter Cushing or Debbie Harry. People tend to look good if they look good (to my mind) regardless their age.

@AgathaX, I think I might be the apocryphal 'right height and build' that clothes are made for. I'm 5' 8" and a size 10. I've been a size 10 since 1989 when I was 7 stone 11 lbs and I'm still a size 10 in 2022 at 10 stone 6lbs .

I think I have perfectly tracked a size 10. Despite being three stone heavier than I used to be...

So, from experience, a standard size 10 is made for someone with long arms and legs, a not-particularly high waist. Slim hips and small breasts. A size 10 from most brands fits me just about right.

@Iamthewombat

Maybe not what the OP meant but every time I hear the often repeated myth about Jane Birkin inspiring the Birkin bag when she sat next to someone from Hermes on a plane blah blah I can’t understand why people are impressed by it or think that it makes Jane Birkin some sort of style paragon.

Here’s how it happened. She was 35 and the mother of two kids and was carrying stuff in a wicker shopping basket, like Miss bloody Marple. She was still going for the ingenue vibe, at 35: you know, the “I don’t carry a normal bag like a normal 35 year old because I’m cool and a rule breaker and it doesn’t suit my lifestyle because I’m just a teenager at heart!” schtick. She’s trying, unsuccessfully, to shove the flaming basket into the overhead locker in first class and the Hermes bloke decides to design a bag for her. Probably because he was sick of her squashing his coat in the locker and he wished that she would just bloody sit down and let the cabin crew serve the champagne!

I'm so with you on this. The endless fawning articles about Birkin and her daughter are so tedious.

Pangolin44 isn't that amazing how your weight has tracked a size 10. My wedding dress from the 80s was a 10 and if I ever look at it now ( last time some years ago when clearing out for a house move) I'm amazed how slim it is compared to today's 10s.

Well being 5’9 with Debbie Harry cheekbones I would say YABU 😉

I don’t think the cheekbones thing is a myth, for some reason good cheekbones can make virtually any facial features look good. I can’t put my finger on why but I think it’s generally accepted.

Height however isn’t attractive in itself. I think taller women are more likely to be slim as weight doesn’t show as quickly on them so maybe that’s it. Plus it is ‘striking’ and different.

Cheekbones act like scaffolding so in general people with high cheekbones don’t sag as much, so I don’t agree it’s a myth and I do think clothes look better on tall slim people, models are clothes hangers and clothes just do hang better on tall slim people I think.

High cheek bones hold everything up, look at Katherine Hepburn for example.

@KimikosNightmare

I have also never noticed cheekbones necessarily make someone 'age' better either - whether that's Peter Cushing or Debbie Harry. People tend to look good if they look good (to my mind) regardless their age

Emmylou Harris is stunningly beautiful and the cheekbones myth is true for her. Her contemporary and friend Linda Ronstadt is stunningly beautiful too and the cheekbones myth doesn't apply at all.

It doesn't apply to Catherine Deneuve either.

And then there's Joni Mitchell- cheek bones you'd cut yourself on in her younger days, but , well it certainly doesn't apply to her now.

Joni Mitchell had cheekbones

Deneuve and Mitchell are lifelong smokers and Harris is not - I wonder if that makes a difference?

I love Joni and I'm giving her a pass on this. I think she still looks wonderful is 78

I don't understand the heavy, stencilled-on, beetle brows that seem to be popular in my neck of the woods. Or the massive false eyelashes that curl right back on themselves. Young women have so much going for them without having to be so false.

The biggest myth is that clothes are designed to fit tall women, I'm 5'8 and it's nigh on impossible to find trousers/ joggers/ leggings that aren't halfway up my calves and skirts that should sit nicely above the knee look indecent.
Not many shops do a tall section although most do petite. Men always have a choice in leg length however women are all lumped in together as having a 29 inch inside leg.

@maffhew

The biggest myth is that clothes are designed to fit tall women, I'm 5'8 and it's nigh on impossible to find trousers/ joggers/ leggings that aren't halfway up my calves and skirts that should sit nicely above the knee look indecent. Not many shops do a tall section although most do petite. Men always have a choice in leg length however women are all lumped in together as having a 29 inch inside leg.

Yep, I'm 5'8" too. I like to wear my jeans turned up but struggle to find any that are long enough, sleeves never reach my wrists and tops are often too short, waists and hems never sit in the right place, I mostly wear mens tops now and only have two pairs of trousers that I can comfortably wear! 5'8" isn't even particularly tall, I know a lot of women taller than me.

so are people basically saying having 'cheekbones' actually stops the skin around the jaw and mouth sagging?
As one ages, like the lovely Mr Cushing, often the hollows beneath the prominent cheekbones emphasise this.

perhaps the cheekbones help to create the illusion of tightness of the skin?

Having said this, i want to add that i do not think sagging or ageing is a negative thing, personally.

Some older, rounder faces are very youthful, too - Susan Penhaligon, Hayley Mills, etc. I just don\t see any strict rule here. I think an older face looks great when it looks great, some of those have cheekbones, some dont!

Pic of Hayley.

I think clothes do look better on taller, leaner people although underwear & swimwear suits more curves.

Cheekbones act as scaffolding i've been told 🤷🏻‍♀️

That how old you look has anything to do with your face. IMO there's a very small window (late 30s early 40s) when the number of lines you have affects whether you "look good for your age". After that it's all about outlook, what you can do and how you move. So staying slim and active is the most important (if you care about how people see your age) even though that may mean you have a few extra wrinkles.

I know someone in her 60s who has Kate Moss style cheekbones & she is still beautiful. I saw her at a wedding & asked the bride who she was as she stood out.

The cheekbones thing is definitely a benefit, my mother has a beautifully sculpted face in her 70s that wasn’t particularly obvious in her youth. Luckily I seem to inherited those genes and can see I’m aging reasonably well. I am however short and short waited which means I have boobs then hips, the waist is lost so I do think height helps you look elegant. I think 5’6” or 5’7” is perfect, not so tall that clothes lengths are a challenge or slouch to hide your height.

I would say Hayley Mills has cheekbones in that photo though.

I'm 5ft 9 & have always struggled with dresses being far too short but I like having long legs.

@YorkieTheRabbit

Someone somewhere, is laughing up their sleeve, having convinced many young women that drag queen style makeup is attractive Necks and hands not matching a face Overly white teeth

I so agree with this. And what's with the fake eyelashes look? And the hugely long fake nails? I don't think that all this fakery really enhances anyone's looks. It just makes them look like caricatures.

@ConfusedParticle

so are people basically saying having 'cheekbones' actually stops the skin around the jaw and mouth sagging? As one ages, like the lovely Mr Cushing, often the hollows beneath the prominent cheekbones emphasise this.

perhaps the cheekbones help to create the illusion of tightness of the skin?

Having said this, i want to add that i do not think sagging or ageing is a negative thing, personally.

Some older, rounder faces are very youthful, too - Susan Penhaligon, Hayley Mills, etc. I just don\t see any strict rule here. I think an older face looks great when it looks great, some of those have cheekbones, some dont!

Pic of Hayley.

She has cheekbones though?

She is also smiling so minimising any jowls.

I agree with you re the height comment. Kylie, Isla Fisher, Reese Witherspoon for example, hardly look like bag ladies and they are all very short.

@CrinklyCraggy

That how old you look has anything to do with your face. IMO there's a very small window (late 30s early 40s) when the number of lines you have affects whether you "look good for your age". After that it's all about outlook, what you can do and how you move. So staying slim and active is the most important (if you care about how people see your age) even though that may mean you have a few extra wrinkles.

I really disagree with this.

Why Gwen?

If you met two people who look facially more or less the same, but one could run upstairs, easily bend to pick something up, sit on the floor to play with a child and the other struggled to get out of the chair, which would you assume was the younger?

I'm 5'11" and despite models on catwalks being tall, it's actually really difficult to buy clothes that fit well in real life. I quite often think I look ridiculous because proportions are always off - quite often stores just stick a bit of extra length to the bottoms of trousers or the sleeve of jumpers, not taking into consideration that tall people's torsos will be longer, their thighs will be longer, not jusy their calves! I always have thought j look a bit dangley and awkward. And the clothes I actually manage to find that fit properly are not to my taste and there's little choice. Whereas a lot of stores carry petite ranges (actually in store too, not just online! So uou can actually try on) and all proportions seem to be taken into account, they don't jusy take a whack off the bottom so you left with your ankle in a knee space.

@CrinklyCraggy

Why Gwen?

If you met two people who look facially more or less the same, but one could run upstairs, easily bend to pick something up, sit on the floor to play with a child and the other struggled to get out of the chair, which would you assume was the younger?

I wouldn't necessarily know which one can run upstairs though would I?