Beauty. It is a concept that has ebbed and flowed with the changing tides of history. From Helen of Troy to Marilyn Monroe to Beyoncé, the face of beauty has shifted drastically. Nowadays, this would unrecognizable, because beauty no longer has a single ideal. Never before has beauty been so broad and accepting in nature. 

The beauty and fashion industries have expanded to include a far more diverse range sizes, races and gender expressions. Plus-size modeling has become widely celebrated and the body positivity movement is in full swing. Rather than holding women to an unattainable singular standard, beauty is being defined in a number of ways that deviate from the skinny, primarily white standard of yesteryear. “I feel like beauty standards are shifting towards everyone having their own type,” says senior Fiona Liu.

That being said, we still have a long way to go. Many companies have been found guilty of token diversity wherein they sprinkle one or two models of color among an overwhelming majority of skinny, white models. This is not to say there is anything inherently wrong about being thin or Caucasian, but these Eurocentric ideals have been force fed to the masses for centuries.

In 2019 people understand that there are many ways a person can be beautiful. Although there does seem to be some lingering close-mindedness, there have been leaps and bounds to break this mindset by social media phenomenons like the body positivity movement and the self love movement. Progress is being made, and that is what matters. Now, more than ever, beauty of all shapes and sizes is being celebrated and a promising future is clearly on the horizon.