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Home | Decades of beauty | The make-up moguls | The changing faces of power | Because they're worth it | Find out more
In terms of global importance, it may seem like a highly irrelevant question. Yet history shows that, despite adversities such as war, economic depression and extreme social change, the desire to look good remains constant. And from its humble beginnings at the turn of the 20th century to the huge business that it is today, the cosmetics industry has continued to act as a mirror for social change.
Beginning with the prudish Victorian attitudes to 'painted' women and concluding with the quick-fix surgery that is increasingly fashionable today, Because You're Worth It: 100 years of make-up traces the relationship between the changing needs of women and of one of the biggest and most influential industries in the world.
Here, we take a closer look at the business of looking good through ...
a decade-by-decade walk through the history of cosmetics
biographies of some of those who made it happen
an examination of women, make-up and power
an investigation into the symbiotic relationship between celebrity and cosmetics.
You will also find sources of further information so that you can learn more about the power - and frivolity - of make-up.
Graphical version (including images and layout)
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