--From the "Captivate" issue of UP Magazine--
Just like the fashion, hairstyle and makeup trends that evolve year to year, the idea of beauty is ever-changing. What captivates people—what the “it” factor is—has changed dramatically throughout history.
In the 1800s, women’s beauty was structured with wigs, corsets, wired skirt pieces and thick, powdered makeup. In the ’50s and ’60s, hair was big, molded with hairspray and steamed into place with curlers. Women were required to wear skirts and heels to work to look presentable.
“I was a teenager in the ’70s and the fashion was easy—women could wear different styles of clothes and boyish jeans and jackets,” said Miami University fashion history professor Dr. Lisa Martin-Stuart. “It was acceptable for women to wear pants to work, and makeup wasn’t a big deal.”
With every decade, we redefine what beautiful means. And Martin-Stuart’s points reiterated that beauty and fashion are intertwined, not only with each other, but with hair, makeup, politics, media and the surrounding social climate. But beauty has always been more than skin deep.
Je ne sais quoi is a French phrase that translates directly to “I do not know what.” However, the meaning of the phrase is more abstract. It’s a certain indefinable quality that captivates and fascinates people, and it has (perhaps unknowingly) dominated each fashion trend and evolving definition of beauty in our society for years.
Currently, our society spotlights the “natural” in our clothing, hair and makeup. This phase isn’t anything ground-breakingly new, though. Periods of high glamour have been consistently broken up by periods that emphasize natural beauty.
Martin-Stuart explained that today, this emphasis extends to much more than exterior features. Natural, simple and pure have become desirable lifestyle features that we see everywhere today.
“These trends happen for multiple reasons, and are in sync with other trends we follow today such as slow food, slow fashion, tiny houses and embracing diversity,” Martin-Stuart said. “And social media is a huge contributor to this. Social media is allowing people to have their own style and celebrate it and market it too. This is a movement that gets its push from younger generations.”
So what is it about a sense of simplicity and purity that intrigues us? What about these qualities draws us into these clothing trends, social movements and people?
Natural beauty is simple, light and innocent, showcasing the traits that have been with us since the day we were born. There’s a certain simplicity and intimacy that comes with a look of “pureness,” which might be why society continues to come back to it over the years.
Martin-Stuart also emphasized that even when these trends of reverting back to natural beauty come around, there is always going to be a back-and-forth pull.
“The political climate we’re in right now lends us towards that, too,” she said. “The high-glamour fashion of women like Melania and Ivanka Trump is still prominent, but younger generations are pulling away from that. Companies like Victoria’s Secret are in dire straights fighting to change their brand to adapt to a climate where women are rejecting that standard of sexuality.”
This is just one example where we see that captivating “it” factor changing. Today’s je ne sais quoi is more than clothes and makeup, and it’s not something that can be faked or purchased. Je ne sais quoi goes deeper than what we see on the outside and the products that we put on our bodies every day.
The inherent qualities we are born with make us who we are. Natural beauty is something we strive to conserve. We place wildlife and landmarks under protection so they cannot be altered because we know that their beauty and value lies in their natural states. Shouldn’t the same be said of people? There’s something about simply being you that’s attractive. Beyond what you wear or how you look, how you carry yourself has an impact on others.
No matter what “it” is, the je ne sais quoi factor that captivates us stems from the inherent qualities a person possesses. We can shape our hair and alter our skin, but the traits unique to us will always lie beneath. The current push towards naturality in our lives is a reflection of the things that are important to us as humans and—as cliché as it sounds—it’s important to be yourself. Beauty can be redefined a thousand times, but the “it” factor—the je ne sais quoi in each of us—truly comes from within.
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