1901, Qing Dynasty formal dress. Under pressure, most young women must finally abandon their American dream of study and accept their fate like a lady. Sometimes women would be confined to the home, only to see their husbands on rare occasions. Chic Beijingers of the 1930s. 1930s-Hollywood Parade Hooray for Hollywood.
Movies function as the bible of beauty.
Even gifted novelist Zhang Ailing cannot resist the temptation and willingly joins the popular fad of using imported dark-colored lipsticks she bought with her first royalties The lipsticks even made a comeback at the end of the 1990s. During the Japanese invasion, lipsticks become improper luxuries. Patriotic wives abandon cosmetics altogether. Groups of Chinese women intellectuals return to China with their husbands, bringing back the lively fashions of idealistic elegance prevalent in Europe and America after the Second World War. Delicate faces wrapped in short curls resemble the last roses of summer in 1958.