Despite the technology, for the content of the makeup advertisements, the notion of “Beauty” changes overtime. For example, from advertisements of 1880s to 1980s, most of the woman’s pictures were mostly featured with a classic smile, showing their confidence and beauty.
However, in the past 20 years, the notion of beauty becomes much more diverse. In a printed advertisement of Dolce & Gabbana Perfume Pretty Woman (1998) from the digital archive, the woman, unlike the previous pictures, didn’t give a smile at all. She looked at the audiences with a distasteful gaze. It was a black and white picture, and she was wearing a sexy underwear suit with a knife in her hand. This advertisement shows a unique characteristic of “beauty” and it might want to tell the female audiences “beauty is to be special and this perfume will make you special”.
