I just saw the new Indiana Jones movie and I realized that the actress that plays Indy’s love interest is the same woman who was cast way back when in Raiders of the Lost Ark (yeah, I’m rather slow)- Karen Allen.
While looking at pictures of her on IMDB, I noticed that she was what I consider to be “stereotypically attractive” in a very dated, 70s-way. I then tried to isolate down what features of hers produced that dated sort of look, and it struck me that she has a very square face. Thinking about other women considered very attractive then, they all seem to have very square faces- Farrah Fawcett, the original Marcia Brady, Gloria Steinem, even.
Does anyone have any idea where this would have originated? Why square faces gained this sort of beauty appeal in this era? Or maybe I’m wrong, and it’s something else?
The features that made Karen Allen cute were her characters’ spunkiness and quick wit.
Other actresses from that era included everyone from Goldie Hawn and Suzanne Sommers to Jessica Lange and Mariel Hemmingway. I don’t see a square-faced trend in there.
There is a style in a lot of late 70’s into the 80’s TV and glamour makeup that used sharp, dramatic blush angles on the side of the face which tended to make a woman’s face look more angular. I think if this as “disco style” makeup although TV actresses and models used it as well.
I don’t have a ready pic for this style but you know it when you see it.
They are not as severe as some I’ve seen, but it’s generally the same. Start below and slightly behind the apple of the cheek, and sweep it heavily up and behind the apple, curving around to the corner of the eye and fading away onto the temple.
As the 80s wore on, it evolved into what they did to Gates McFadden as Dr Crusher. Blush up onto the apple instead of below, and still sweeping heavily (but less so) toward the corner of the eye, but fading away before it actually goes up onto the temple.
ETA: I never noticed until just now how much attention I paid to the blush on the TV shows of my childhood. And to think I had to tell people I was gay.
It’s all about symmetry.
I saw some show on Discovery channel where they did a study which mapped faces thought to be attractive. Overwhelmingly (in the sample of people questioned, men & women), there were some differences in opinion in what makes a face ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’. But even feminine-looking men (best example I can think of is Rob Lowe - no, I don’t play on that team, but whatever makes people happy is ok with me ) were judged to be attractive. The differences were full pouty lips, high cheekbones, small nose, & hairless face for women (except eyebrows of course), and high brow, strong chin & jaw, clear fixed-forward eyes & ‘manliness’ (whatever that means) for men. But the one attribute that took away attractiveness points, for men and women, was asymmetry. Bumps, scars, & other deformities apparently throw off the symmetric balance, and downgrade attractiveness. Even something like distance between the eyes to the nose, if asymmetrical, gets noticed.
I personally always thought Karen Allen was a hottie, with that giant Kirk Douglas chin dimple & a face full of freckles to boot (which I love, even tho by necessity they make for assymetry). But a square face, as opposed to say, trapezoidal (like Helen Hunt, who I also think is hot) is more reflective of symmetry.
Naturally all this is general, and somewhat subjective; but having looked into my share of unlandscaped female faces (unibrows, mustaches), scars, moles, etc., I’d agree with the study in general.
What does symmetry have to do with whether the preferred faces in the '70s were square or not? A round, oval, or heart-shaped face (Victoria Principal) can also be symmetrical.
Square is symmetrical all around, i.e., looking sideways profile, since a 3d square (cube) is 90 degrees at each angle. There are beautiful women with oval & round faces (Leelee Sobieski & Christina Ricci come to mind), and full face-foward view, they could be considered symmetrical too. But their profiles look slightly different than their face-forward view. Square-faced women, like Farrah & Jodi Foster, have their profiles looking much like 1/2 their full-face view. Maybe I can’t explain it well, but even their side profiles look more symmetric than another shape face.
A related part of the study was they divided people’s faces in 1/2 (on the computer), then built 2 separate faces replicating the 2 1/2s (left with inverted left, and same with the right). Those with little difference in appearance between the 2 sides were also judged to be more attractive.
) were judged to be attractive. The differences were full pouty lips, high cheekbones, small nose, & hairless face for women (except eyebrows of course), and high brow, strong chin & jaw, clear fixed-forward eyes & ‘manliness’ (whatever that means) for men. But the one attribute that took away attractiveness points, for men and women, was asymmetry. Bumps, scars, & other deformities apparently throw off the symmetric balance, and downgrade attractiveness. Even something like distance between the eyes to the nose, if asymmetrical, gets noticed.
