Inventing Beauty: A History of the Innovations that Have Made Us Beautiful [Paperback]

Teresa Riordan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 2004

There are no ugly women, only lazy ones.
—Helena Rubinstein


In this fascinating, meticulously researched romp through the annals of the beauty industry, New York Times patents columnist Teresa Riordan throws back the curtain on a century of shrewd, canny women who have knowingly deployed artifice in a ceaseless battle to captivate the inherently roving eye of the male.

When it comes to the opposite sex, males from many species are easily deceived. Male fireflies will flirt with flashlights. So is it any surprise that the male of the human species has been fooled by lips painted cherry red and breasts built up into silicone summits? Riordan explores that strange intersection of science, fashion, and business where beauty is engineered and finds that, for generations, social trends and technological innovations have fueled a nonstop assembly line of potions and contraptions that women have enthusiastically put to use in the quest for feminine flawlessness.

We learn why the first lipsticks were orange. Why respectable women used the first vibrators not just for naughtiness but also to eradicate their wrinkles. Why the bustle started small but ultimately grew so impressive that a proper lady could balance an entire tea service on her rump. And why, but for mascara, Greta Garbo might have been just another chunky Swede with bad teeth.

Beauty inventions, Teresa Riordan has found, can put the resourceful and the imaginative on an even playing field with the congenitally beautiful. Countless women have pushed, pulled, tweezed, squeezed, and spackled themselves into synthetic loveliness. Inventing Beauty is a delightful history of that noble effort, from head to tail.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

New York Times technology columnist Riordan's collection of the fascinating stories behind such innovations as the bra and swivel lipstick is neither a feminist polemic against the beauty industry nor a frivolous celebration of it. While Riordan analyzes the cultural meanings of various Western feminine beauty ideals, such as hairless underarms and long, shiny nails, she devotes her most energetic descriptions to the often amusing and sometimes horrifying tales of beauty industry entrepreneurs, chemists and industrialists who experimented wildly, and at times disastrously, with such materials as vulcanized rubber, nitrocellulose and even radiation. Beginning with the eyes and ending with the "derriere" (in an informative account of the bustle), Riordan delights in the engineering feats and happy accidents that spurred the evolution of some of the humblest objects in our bathroom cabinets. Among other tales, she recounts how hydrogenated cottonseed oil revolutionized the eyebrow pencil, how the nail polish industry borrowed from the automobile industry and how Hazel Bishop invented a kiss-proof formula for lipstick but found her product eclipsed by Revlon's shrewd advertising campaign. Riordan's meticulous research delves into an age before federal health regulations, uncovering such nasties as the phenol face peel, which required the face to be painted with three coats of carbolic acid. The combination of Riordan's brilliant style, which perfectly captures the pathos and comedy of the subject, and her relish for the minutiae of technological history makes this an irresistible and sometimes macabre treat for anyone curious about the history of everyday life.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

To generate this riveting book, New York Times journalist Riordan has completed more than her share of homework. The subject? The nine female body parts that have been enhanced and transformed by inventions, whether it's lipstick or the Victorian hoop crinoline skirt. Actual patent illustrations and old-time ads accompany the explanations; a few of the more than 100 patents for lipstick shapes and dispensers, for example, trace the evolution of the painted mouth. The actual facts, too, are fascinating--from the author's note that the Greek goddess Hera was the first documented wearer of the push-up bra to the unfortunately widespread use of X rays to remove hair during the early 1900s. No doubt, beauty is more than skin deep here; there's enough intrigue on every page to capture any reader's attention. Or as queen Helena Rubenstein explained, "There are no ugly women, only lazy ones." Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (October 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767914511
• ISBN-13: 978-0767914512
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #622,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What A Fascinating Book!, October 8, 2004

By 

Janis Jaquith "columnist and public-radio com... (Charlottesville, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Inventing Beauty: A History of the Innovations that Have Made Us Beautiful (Paperback)

My copy of 'Inventing Beauty' arrived just the other day, and I find myself carrying it wherever I go, dipping into it for "just one more" section.

I keep wanting to tap complete strangers on the shoulder and say, "Did you know..." and then share with them some bizarre tidbit such as the fact that movie stars in the 1940s used a mechanical contraption called a Hollywood Lift -- made of glue, silk thread, and rubber bands -- to pull their sagging faces upward. Makes me want to rent some old movies and look for telltale signs on those ultra-smooth faces!

This book is a lot of fun, and would make a great gift for any woman, of any age.

--Janis Jaquith, author of "Birdseed Cookies: A Fractured Memoir"

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Different types of Beauty, December 2, 2004

By 

Dick Maxwell (Jacksonville Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inventing Beauty: A History of the Innovations that Have Made Us Beautiful (Paperback)

It is an interesting coincidence that Teresa Riordan's "Inventing Beauty" is
appearing at the same time as the English translation of Umberto Eco's book on
the history of beauty. Each author looks at beauty in an original way, but Eco
and Riordan come at the same subject from opposite directions. "History of
Beauty" (actually, only about half of book's chapters are written by Eco; the other
half are  
written by Girolamo de Michele) is an erudite dissection of the meaning of
beauty. Riordan's effort is much more materially based; she
examines the technology of beauty, the implements that women use in the
pursuit of self-manufactured beauty. Visually, the books are distinctly different.
Eco's book is illustrated with sumptuous color reproductions of art. Riordan's book has a black and white aesthetic and features old
advertisements, photographs and, most interestingly, patent drawings. She
writes that she considers these drawings overlooked folk art, and I have to
agree. Strangely, given that Eco's book is published by the famous art publisher
Rizzoli, Riordan's is by far the better designed book. It is gorgeous to hold, even though
it is a paperback original rather than a coffee-table book, and even though it is illustrated
with naive drawings and advertisements rather than fine art.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious!, November 29, 2004

By 

Emory Luce Baldwin (Takoma Park, Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inventing Beauty: A History of the Innovations that Have Made Us Beautiful (Paperback)

Teresa's book is full of fun facts that were not included in any histories of the 19th & 20th Century I had ever read, until she pulled them together with a deft touch and her witty commentary. Anyone who has ever tweezed, twirled, lined, or moisturized will enjoy learning about the many pioneers responsible for modern beauty devices and products. Beautifying oneself is usually a solitary business, done in the privacy of one's bathroom or bedroom. After reading "Inventing Beauty," I know I am but one member of a devoted sorority throughout history. I'll never feel the same again about my bra or my mascara!