Body Ideals: Medieval Modesty vs. Victoria’s Secret Allure
Body Ideals: Medieval Modesty vs. Victoria’s Secret Allure
Imagine a time when the ideal body wasn’t about a Victoria’s Secret runway but about a healthy glow and subtle curves. We’re diving into a time machine to unpack how wildly our idea of the “perfect body” has changed. From covered-up medieval maidens to supermodel-strutting Victoria’s Secret Angels—what do these vastly different ideals tell us about society?
Get ready to challenge everything you think you know about beauty standards and how they’re shaped by culture, not just biology.
Medieval Modesty: Subtle Curves and Sacred Standards
Medieval Europe prized features that conveyed health, virtue, and social station: a small head crowned with thin, blonde hair; softly curved brows; a high, expansive forehead achieved by plucking or shaving the hairline; large, luminous eyes; and a small, delicately shaped mouth. Pale, unblemished skin signaled both wealth and piety, prompting women to concoct rouge from crushed flowers and scented cloths dipped in wine and bilberry leaves to mask body odors in an era when bathing was infrequent. 1
Fertility and motherhood lay at the heart of feminine allure. Artworks and medical texts like the Trotula prescribe narrow waists, pronounced hips, and a gently protruding pelvis—markers of a body built to bear children. Small breasts were idealized as symbols of modesty and maternal devotion rather than sexual exhibitionism.2
Beauty doubled as moral barometer. A woman’s outward appearance was read as evidence of inner purity: physical attractiveness equated to virtue, while obvious attempts to enhance beauty—cosmetics beyond nature’s palette—risked accusations of pride, a vice akin to Lucifer’s fall. Thus, modesty in body and behavior were inseparable in the medieval moral imagination.
Personal grooming blended aesthetics with hygiene. Women powdered their faces with wheat starch and rose water; lip tints emerged from redwood; and scented waters of rose or lavender freshened both body and living spaces. Contrary to modern clichés, medieval households prized ear spoons, bone toothbrushes, and early forms of soap, underscoring a keen awareness of cleanliness alongside piety.3
The Allure of Victoria’s Secret: Sculpted Bodies and Media Muscle
Fast-forward to the 21st century, and beauty ideals pivot around visibility, sculpted musculature, and sheer commercial spectacle. Victoria’s Secret’s infamous “Perfect Body” campaign plastered images of tall, thin, and toned models in lingerie emblazoned with the slogan “The Perfect ‘Body’,” brazenly equating slenderness with desirability. This bold messaging reinforced a narrow standard, fueling consumer insecurities and driving sales under the guise of empowerment.4
Quantitative measures emerged as markers of the modern ideal. Waist-to-hip ratios hovering around 0.7, coupled with heights north of 5’9” and dress sizes clustered in the smallest ranges, defined runway eligibility. A longitudinal analysis of Victoria’s Secret models from 1995 to 2018 revealed remarkably consistent physical attributes, underscoring how media exposure cements a one-dimensional template of attractiveness.5
Recent years have seen tentative strides toward inclusivity. The 2024 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show welcomed plus-size icon Ashley Graham and celebrated age diversity with legends like Kate Moss, Tyra Banks, and Cher. These shifts gesture at a broader definition of beauty, yet the core emphasis on polished physiques and commercial appeal persists, leaving critics to question whether true diversity has been achieved or merely performatively showcased.6
Contrasts and Cultural Reflections
- Medieval modesty celebrated fertility, moral virtue, and natural beauty rooted in religious and communal values.
- Victoria’s Secret ideals magnify sexual allure, physical perfection, and individual prominence in a media-saturated, consumerist context.
- Historical modesty drew from medical and theological texts to codify beauty as moral worth; modern ideals rely on advertising metrics and image analytics to commodify bodies.
Conclusion: Rethinking the Ideal
Tracing beauty from medieval cloisters to glossy runways reveals that every standard is a cultural construct, wielded by religious institutions, social hierarchies, or corporate campaigns. As consumers and creators, we inherit these ideals but need not be bound by them. In an era of burgeoning body-positive movements and decentralized social media voices, the challenge is to reclaim autonomy over our bodies and expand the definition of beauty beyond curated curves and commercial slogans.
For further exploration, consider how non-Western cultures—such as pre-colonial African or Native American societies—celebrated fuller forms or different aesthetics as markers of health, status, and spiritual identity. Reflecting on these diverse traditions can inspire a more inclusive, compassionate vision of beauty that transcends time and market trends.
- Beauty Through the Ages: Chapter Two – Medieval Ages ↩︎
- Body care and beauty ideals in the Middle Ages: ideals and practice
↩︎ - Perceptions of the female body in medieval Europe ↩︎
- The Perfect Body: Victoria’s Secret and Societal Beauty Standards ↩︎
- Unattainable Standards of Beauty: Temporal Trends of Victoria’s Secret Models from 1995 to 2018 ↩︎
- Victoria’s Secret 2024: A New Era of Body-Positive Fashion ↩︎
About the Author
Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Jessica Abrams, a writer girl. Storytelling is my passion and I yearn to travel the world in pursuit of inspiration and new experiences to weave into my narratives.
My ultimate goal is to use my writing to break down barriers and bring people of different cultures and faiths closer together. I want to show the world that despite our differences, we all share a common humanity and that is something to be celebrated and cherished.
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