While anti-ageing is a booming industry, new research appears to show that society’s concept of what’s considered beautiful is changing, and challenging the stereotype that being young equates to beauty.
Scientists form the Boston University of Medicine have published a study in the JAMA Dermatology Journal declaring that 38 is the age at which a woman is considered the most beautiful. To come to this conclusion, researchers compared the 50 celebrities listed in People magazine’s “World’s Most Beautiful” list in 1990 with the 135 featured in 2017’s list.
The study found that while the average age of the ‘most beautiful’ women in 1990 was 33.2, in 2017 that age has jumped to 38.9.
Featuring the likes of Julia Roberts, 49, Reese Witherspoon, 41, and Alicia Keys, 36, it appears to show that our concept of what is beautiful is getting older and more diverse.
Boston University’s Dr Neelam Vashi commented on the findings, saying: "The mass media platform has for years introduced certain criteria for what constitutes beauty.
“Through an examination of the WMB (World's Most Beautiful) issue of People, we found that these beauty standards are evolving as people learn how to integrate the effects of media with exposure to new cultures and different norms."
