The Curves Ahead - Wattpad Award Winner

Chapter 16

"What would you say is the epitome of beauty?" said Shelley, bent over the leg of a young British tourist.

"Uh... Do you need to concentrate? We can always chat later." I was more than a little concerned by the way the muscular business owner waved her needle around as she spoke.

"Nah, love, she's right. Go on, tell me what society reckons is beautiful."

"Generally? Or for females?"

She rolled her ivy eyes. "Don't over think it."

"Okay. I think youth is a big part of beauty, as well as form. We like signs of health, like bronzed skin, white teeth, glowing cheeks, small waists. Add to that long flowing hair for girls and a six-pack for boys and that's about right, I think."

"You'd be bang on – for this generation." Shelley punctuated her words with an extra sharp jab of her client.

He squeaked like an offended guinea pig. "Oi! Careful!"

"Oh, man up." She dismissed his whinging with a whack on his knee. "So, modern society believes that men should look like Nate Norden – rugged, tall, tanned and muscular."

I shivered a little at the mention of the handsome Aussie star. "Right."

"But, look at the past, even a few years back, to when aristocratic men wore high heels and being dainty was seen as attractive. And our women should look like bronzed Barbies, yeah? Not so long ago, society deemed it unfashionable for the upper class to be tanned and slender, because those qualities reflected common workers, who spent all day in the fields without enough to eat. If you wanted to be considered beautiful, you needed to appear Rubenesque and pasty.

"And speaking of white, from Ancient Greek times through to the twenties, people would slather themselves in lead paint, just so they could appear white skinned and pristine. Never mind that the lead would actually end up killing you, while giving you brain damage, anaemia and paralysis along the way.

"And some of this crazy skin-whitening still goes on! A mate from Zimbabwe told me the girls where she's from still use skin bleaching creams. Thank God for women like Lupita Nyong'o, showing that beauty doesn't have a set skin colour."

I studied the compact woman as she educated me. With her close cropped hair and thickly roping muscles, she wasn't exactly a feminine character. But there was something about her intricate tatts and bright eyes that made her fiercely attractive.

"It's not just skin. Take facial hair - it used to be all the rage in ancient Rome and Greece for the ladies to sport terrific unibrows, and if they couldn't grow a bushy one, they'd supplement with goat hair stuck on with resin. Or what about teeth? In the Japanese Heian period, black teeth were all the rage for the aristocracy. And China! Foot binding! They would literally mangle young girls' feet to the point they couldn't walk, because small feet were considered beautiful – finding a good marriage could depend on your foot size."

"Are we nearly done?" whimpered the Brit.

"No! Shut your yap, please. Even in the last fifty years, look at the difference between Marilyn and Twiggy! Beauty shifts – it literally is in the eye of the beholder. Now, the trick is to find the beautiful in everyone, even whinging Poms like my mate here."

"Whoa, steady on!"

"You had it coming," said Shelly, wiping the excess ink off his ankle. "All done, sunshine!"

The badly sunburned lad leaned forward, grinning in approval. "Brilliant!"

I scrunched up my nose at the small tatt, which was a picture of a mooning SpongeBob SquarePants with a beer in each hand. Each to their own.