“Nowadays feminine aesthetic passions are increasingly stirred by the body image and body care: the great challenge of beauty is for our body to remain young, slender and fit. Active beauty now rules our world”. Such were Gilles Lipovetsky’s words at the 2nd annual Luxury and Culture Conference organized by the Diversum association, which highlighted the “Luxury, Women and Beauty” theme last March 18, 2014. Here is an account of his presentation.
Gilles Lipovetsky is a French qualified Philosophy teacher, holder of the Agrégation, and a sociologist. He used to be a member of French government organisation Conseil d’analyse de la société , and is now a consultant at APM ( Association Progrès du Management , a French association for management improvement). A great part of his work was published, including: L’ère du vide (Gallimard, 1989), La troisième femme : Permanence et révolution du féminin (Gallimard, 1997), Le luxe éternel, de l’âge du sacré au temps des marques (Gallimard, 2003), L’esthétisation du monde : vivre à l’âge du capitalisme artiste (Gallimard, 2013).
On this day of conferences, exchanges and professional meetings organized at Hôtel Potocki of the Paris-Île-de-France CCI (Chamber of Commerce and Industry), he decided to focus on the female body and on women’s beauty practices, and to put an emphasis on the cult of thinness.
Beauty practices, from the aristocratic period to the industrial era
Gilles Lipovetsky started his presentation by providing a detailed account of the history of beauty practices. And they actually date back to a thousand years. From Ancien Régime societies up to the 19 th century, they only won fame within narrow circles. For instance, cosmetic …
