Would You Have Been Beautiful In Another Era? Here's What The Science Says

EXPLAINED: The Myth Of Universal Beauty
FILE- This April 1962 file photo shows actress Marilyn Monroe on the set of "Something's Got To Give," in Los Angeles. In the Hollywood landscape of new, new, new, what really stands out on the red carpet is that today's starlets still emulate the looks of classic screen beauties, including Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth, who ruled the red carpet in the 1950s. (AP Photo/File)
FILE- This April 1962 file photo shows actress Marilyn Monroe on the set of "Something's Got To Give," in Los Angeles. In the Hollywood landscape of new, new, new, what really stands out on the red carpet is that today's starlets still emulate the looks of classic screen beauties, including Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe and Rita Hayworth, who ruled the red carpet in the 1950s. (AP Photo/File)

The plus-sized comedian Dawn French would be unlikely to describe herself as a sex symbol, but was she simply born at the wrong time? “If I had been around when Rubens was painting, I would have been revered as a fabulous model,” she once quipped. “Kate Moss? Well, she would have been the paintbrush.”

French may have been talking in jest, but her point is a serious one. Do standards of beauty change over time? Or are some features universally accepted, across the centuries and across cultures, as being universally appealing?

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