PARIS, Feb 1 — Who said that beauty was a question of charisma and charm?
Certainly not Dr Julian De Silva, a British plastic surgeon, who sees it merely as the result of an equation based on an ancient method of calculation. Here, it’s all about proportions.
And on this front, it’s Regé-Jean Page who stands out among men, and Jodie Comer among women. All of which makes for another beauty “standard” that certainly won’t be to everyone’s taste.
Ah, the famous standards of beauty! Whether they are the result of fashion behemoths, or now social media, or even influencers, they have always been, and remain, prescriptive norms that leave little room for subjectivity, and even less for the sensory.
From the skinny silhouette of the ‘60s to the curves of the 2020s, women may hear about the supposed emancipation of their bodies here and there, but, in the end, they seem to rid themselves of certain shackles only to embrace others.
Take the “perfect” face. This should have no imperfections and no signs of age — taken care of even from your 20s, with the rise of botulinum toxin injections.
As such, deep-rooted clichés are still very much alive and well. And that’s without considering the idea of facial proportions and symmetry, which reinforce the idea that there can be such a thing as “perfect” beauty, an ideal to be achieved.
Regé-Jean Page is 93.65pc perfect!
Dr Julian De Silva, a British cosmetic surgeon who heads the Centre for Advanced Facial Cosmetic & Plastic Surgery in London, focuses, in particular, on this idea.
To do so, he relies on an ancient calculation method, the ‘golden ratio,’ represented by the Greek letter ‘phi’ in honour of the Greek sculptor Phidias, who used it to decorate the Parthenon, a symbol of... perfection.
This famous ‘golden ratio,’ also called the ‘golden proportion’ or ‘divine proportion,’ is used to determine the theoretical ‘ideal’ ratio between the parts and the whole.
Equal to 1,618033988... it is regularly used in design, art, and even tourism, among other fields, and can supposedly identify — objectively and for certain — the faces with the most harmonious proportions, in other words, the most beautiful.
According to the physical ideal imagined many years ago by the Ancient Greeks, in any case....
Each year, based on this method of calculation, Dr Julian De Silva shares a ranking of men and women who come close to perfection in terms of beauty.
After years of supremacy, Robert Pattinson is this year surpassed by Regé-Jean Page.
Worse, the Twilight star plummets to sixth place, with a score of 92.15 per cent — a score unchanged since last year — but lower than that of the star who plays the Duke of Hastings in the Netflix show Bridgerton, who achieves 93.65 per cent.
Robert Pattinson is also overtaken by Chris Hemsworth (93.53 per cent), Michael B. Jordan (93.46 per cent), Harry Styles (92.3 per cent) and Jude Bellingham (92.22 per cent).
That makes quite a list of stars now ‘more perfect’ than the scientifically proven world’s sexiest vampire.
The British actor’s ‘too thin’ lips appear to have a role to play in this fall from grace, contributing to his lower score, as the plastic surgeon told the Daily Mail.
However, some details still seem to require clarification. Why, for example, did Regé-Jean Page, although known to the public last year, not feature in last year’s list, like Michael B. Jordan or Chris Hemsworth? Or was he there, but much lower down, and far behind Robert Pattinson?
This could mean that beauty — or facial features — evolve with time... or perhaps with plastic surgery? Moreover, with a few exceptions, the ranking remains a true ode to British beauty.
No French person is listed, for example, and that’s not the only nationality overlooked in this supposed picture of perfection, thus theoretically excluded from any ideal of beauty. Clearly, we need to know more about the entry criteria for this ranking...
Jodie Comer is 94.52pc perfect
If Bella Hadid was last year classed as the world’s most beautiful woman, with a score of 94.35 per cent, she now loses this coveted status to Jodie Comer.
The star, who played the a psychopathic serial killer in the thriller Killing Eve, can boast of having obtained a ‘golden ratio’ of 94.52 per cent, ahead of Zendaya (94.37 per cent), Bella Hadid (94.35 per cent), Beyoncé (92.44 per cent) and Ariana Grande (91.81 per cent). Unlike the men’s ranking, the women’s list has changed very little from last year, except for the entry of the first two names in the Top 10.
And while here, most of the winners are not British, we might still wonder about the new additions — Zendaya and Jodie Comer — who were also far from being unknown last year.
In fact, in the end, doesn’t this all just seem to be as subjective as beauty itself should be. — ETX Studio
