Elizabethan Beauty Ideals

There is a look we associate with women from the Elizabethan era. This is the red hair, pale face and red lips and cheeks.

It's clear to see from portraits of Elizabeth the use of cosmetics and make-up, The pale face was "considered to be a sign of good health and prestige at the time (only rich women could afford to have fair skin because poor ones would work for hours outside and that resulted in a tan)" (http://beautifulwithbrains.com/2010/05/20/beauty-history-the-elizabethan-era/)


It was Elizabeth herself that set the standards for beauty during her reign and it wasn't "until the Elizabethan age that the heavy make-up became a must in fashion" (The Ideal Beauty, 2013).

Shakespeare himself poked fun at the typical beauty ideals in one of his most famous sonnets, Sonnet 130:

"My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks"

Shakespeare, Sonnet 130.






Louise Boisen Schmidt, 2013. The times of the Tudors, The Ideal Beauty(Viewed on: 03/12/2015) Available at: http://timesoftudors.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-ideal-beauty.html



2010. Beauty History: The Elizabethan Era. (Viewed on 03/10/2015) Available at: http://beautifulwithbrains.com/2010/05/20/beauty-history-the-elizabethan-era/




https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiw9qjZ-9vJAhUB8RQKHQmvApcQjRwIBw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FElizabeth_I_of_England&psig=AFQjCNFiAyuVnLj9gBYjivgprtWW5s_9rg&ust=1450203629646602