Online Exclusive: Beauty Speaks Volumes at L’Oréal/FIT event

100,000 Years of Beauty, published by L’Oréal

A multi-volume publication and a panel of leading authorities seek to define the controversial topic of beauty.

Written by: Jamie Matusow, editor

When we speak about beauty, what is it based on? What is the true meaning of beauty? These age-old questions provided the basis for an all-encompassing book on the subject, and an evocative panel discussion held Wednesday evening, February 3, at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) at 7th Avenue and 27th Street in Manhattan.

Comprehensive and engrossing research developed over a four-year period by more than 300 authorities engaged in disciplines ranging from sociology to psychology to history to anthropology—and funded by the L’Oréal Corporate Foundation—provided the content for the recently released compendium published by the global beauty giant. Titled 100,000 Years of Beauty, the unique book aims to share knowledge and encourage the emergence of new perspectives about beauty. It will be used by the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in its “Innovations in the Development of the Beauty Industry” course in the graduate degree program in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management.

Stephan Kanlian, chairperson of the school’s master’s degree program, led an intriguing discussion on the controversial topic and shared some of the findings of the research. Panelists were Maxine Craig, associate professor of women and gender studies, University of California, Davis, and contributor to 100,000 Years of Beauty; Michael Bisson, professor and chair of the department of anthropology at McGill University, Montreal, and contributor to 100,000 Years of Beauty; Elizabeth Azoulay, editorial director, 100,000 Years of Beauty; and Linda Wells, editor-in-chief of Allure.

Beauty class, NYC, 1930

Béatrice Dautresme, L’Oréal executive vice president corporate communications and external affairs and chief executive of the L’Oréal Corporate Foundation, started off the discussion with a brief look into why L’ Oréal had launched the project. She explained that while the subject of beauty is profoundly cultural and psychological, it is also controversial. “It’s a deep and profoundly cultural and human subject,” she said, “while some people think it’s totally superficial.”

Dautresme said that as a leader in the beauty industry, L’Oréal took the responsibility to explore the subject. “Any thought that beauty is futile,” she added, “is putting the industry in danger.” She said the project, which was also in keeping with L’Oréal’s commitment to research and exploration, set out to prove the legitimacy of beauty and how it’s entwined in key cultural factors.

Azoulay described the enormity of the multi-year project, but stressed that while the articles are based on scientific work, they are highly readable and contain many images. “In addition to contributions from researchers across all disciplines, they also represent more than 35 nationalities, for a true multicultural view.”

When asked if a universal definition of beauty had evolved, Azoulay said beauty can be defined by its action to transform the body, and also made a comparison between beauty and languages. “Everyone has the need to speak,” she said, “but everyone speaks a different language—and the language evolves.” She added that beauty efforts are useful in expressing gender, age and your role in society.

A beauty image from early times.

From Symbolism to Beauty

Dr. Bisson also spoke of transformation. Just as many people today transform their bodies through tattoos to send a message to others, so, too, did early people, according to anthropologists. But, said Dr. Bisson, “They call it symbolism, rather than beauty.” He said that quartz crystals and brilliantly hued pebbles provide the earliest evidence of pigments used to color bodies and clothing, and stretch back as far as the Neanderthals.

Professor Craig spoke specifically about her research into beauty practices followed by African American women, stemming back to beauty contests held in the late nineteenth century. “While beauty was universal,” she noted, “it wasn’t uniform.” Black women who straightened their hair during the 20th century, she said, did it as a way of looking respectable and polished, rather than copying white women’s styles. The same went for black men who straightened their hair. “It was a way of presenting themselves—looking bad, but being good,” she said

Wells agreed that beauty is truly “a mode of self-expression, a way of taking the pride of identity and presenting it to the public.” Today, said Wells, conformity and uniformity are definitely not in style. People want to interpret their own beauty. “Even then,” she added, “you ultimately belong to a tribe by rebelling and not conforming.”

What about the trend toward scientific formulations and the growing demand for plastic surgery? Wells commented: “Now, in a time when science is so important, it is somewhat replacing the romance of beauty.”

It’s the very romance that 100,000 Years of Beauty aims to restore.

The multi-volume set retails on www.amazon.com for $295.