Beauty
The Swinging Sixties are known for being an era of unmistakable femininity and groundbreaking chic. With this fun, retro title you too can acquire that elusive air of elegance that pervaded the decade.First published in 1964 this charming book provides a wealth of practical information on looking good. Hailing from a time when women were ladies and image was of the utmost importance, Beauty asserts that your face is your fortune, and your figure must complement it. This is a comprehensive blueprint for beauty at all ages and stages of life - the teenager, the career girl, the busy housewife and the older woman. The practical tips are as relevant now as they were in the '60s, and also provide a fun insight into an age when secretaries put on fresh lipstick to take dictation from their boss and anti-wrinkle creams were a major investment at thirty shillings.Beauty is part of a series of Collins Nutshell Books which covered hobbies, sports, practical activities and leisure-time interests of many kinds. Originally produced in the '60s, Collins Nutshell Books, recall a bygone era which flourished on the knowledge that many interests make for a happy life and that leisure means much more than watching television.
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HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
GENERAL EDITOR: J. B. FOREMAN, M.A.
First published 1964
This facsimile edition published 2009
Copyright © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., 1964, 2009
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Source ISBN: 9780007295586
Ebook Edition © FEBRUARY 2017 ISBN: 9780007388561
Version: 2017-02-24
Contents
Our menfolk may grin and say that weâre mad when they catch glimpses of us at the hairdresser, or watch us creaming our faces, but we can continue our feminine ceremonies secure in the knowledge that we are following a long, long line of illustrious footsteps.
The early Egyptians, including Cleopatra, spent hours beautifying themselves with perfumes, almond oils, green eye paint and kohl eye black, and they fixed nard, an ointment made of lavender, to their hair. Poppaea, Neroâs wife, lightened her skin with white lead and chalk, and many of the original Elizabethans used wine as a tonic water, splashing it on to their faces as we would a skin freshener. It is said that Mary Queen of Scots actually bathed in wineâone-upmanship on the milk bathers obviously!
In day-to-day life, the gentle, subtle pursuits of beauty should be among every womanâs activities. But letâs face it, once in a while we do tend to let ourselves go, and this is where Blueprints for Beauty steps in to nudge your elbow and say: âCome on! How about a fresh make-up, a different hair-style or a brand new beauty routine?â
Donât hide Blueprints for Beauty in a cupboard. Keep it on your dressing-table or by your bed as a personal reference book and an encouraging reminder that you can be beautiful, whatever your age.
However, before you turn the pages, maybe you should acquaint yourself with a bill that was introduced into Parliament in 1770, which said: âThat all women of whatever age, rank, profession, or degree, whether virgins, maids, or widows, that shall, from and after such Act, impose upon, seduce, and betray into matrimony, any of His Majestyâs subjects, by the scents, paints, cosmetic washes, artificial teeth, false hair, Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, high-heeled shoes, bolstered hips, shall incur the penalty of the law in force against witchcraft and like misdemeanours and that the marriage, upon conviction, shall stand null and void.â
To the best of my knowledge, this bill has never been rescinded.
You have been warned!
JOYCE McKINNELL
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following for their help and advice during the writing of this book: Lady Isobel Barnett; E. Hodges (Director) Garrard and Co. Ltd., Crown Jewellers; Cliff Michelmore; Lady Mavis Pilkington; Miss Molly Palmer; The Pearl Assurance Co. Ltd.; Miss E. M. Punchard (Secretary) Corset Guild of Great Britain; Edward Rayne, H. and M. Rayne Ltd., Shoemakers; Charles Revson (President) Revlon, New York; The Society of French Perfumers (Great Britain) Ltd.
After a lecture once to a group of grey-haired over-forties, world famous beautician, Helena Rubinstein, told me: âBeauty is every womanâs birthright.â
This is absolutely true. It is possible for any woman to be beautiful in some way or another whether she is a plump outsize or a skinny lizzie with straight hair. You may not be all-over perfect, but who is? It is entirely up to you to make the best of what you have.
When she was younger Audrey Hepburn must have looked in her mirror, seen her thin figure, salt cellar collar-bones and bony arms, and thought: âHeavens, but I look so plain!â She could have left it at that, feeling more and more sorry for herself as the years advanced.
But she didnât. Instead, she really made the most of herself by accentuating her large eyes in order to remove attention from her figure, and wearing simple, perfectly groomed clothes that transformed her thinness from an obstacle into a blessing.
