From Self-Expression to Market Trend: The Internet's Beauty Transformation
A closer look at how the internet drives commodified aesthetics
At the end of June last year, L’Officiel magazine declared American model Bella Hadid the most beautiful woman in the world. The assertion was made by cosmetic surgeon Julian De Silva, who, in a recent study, aimed to identify women closest to "physical perfection" based on the golden ratio or "divine proportion". Theorised in Ancient Greece and used during the Renaissance by esteemed artists to create perfect works of art, the golden ratio is a special number found by dividing a line into two parts so that the longer part divided by the smaller part is also equal to the whole length divided by the longer part. The value of this ratio is approximately 1.618. Da Silva examined specific facial features like eyes, nose, lips and chin, and calculated their symmetry and proportions. According to his mathematical analysis, model Bella Hadid ranked highest, with measurements of her facial features aligning with 94.35% of the golden ratio.