The diverse discourses on the changing concept of female beauty that arose in the modern period culminated in advertisements of cosmetic products featuring women considered beautiful. Cosmetic advertisements are central vessels that embody one era’s perception of beauty. Models featured in these advertisements are considered to possess the most popular features of beauty. The modern perception of beauty arrived in Korea(then known as “Joseon”) via Japanese colonizers, and was popularized by a series of dailies, such as Gyeongseong Ilbo, Maeil Shinbo, Chosun Ilbo, and Donga Ilbo. The advertisements published on these pates played a pivotal role in incorporating new features and perception of beauty into the modern Korean psyche.
Traditions inherited from a strictly hierarchical society, which assigned different garments and other outward marks of status to different classes, stressed the concept of inner beauty. The transition to a consumer society, however, elevated beauty that met capitalist values, and also entailed the commercialization of beauty. Beauty now became a key private asset, a central marker of social status, and an indispensable tool for self-satisfaction. The interest in outward beauty led the explosive growth of the demand for products of the new civilization that embellished and enhanced one’s physical and apparent attractiveness. At the forefront of these new products were cosmetic products. Beauties in cosmetic advertisements became symbols of success and happiness that modernity promised people would achieve by making themselves look more beautiful.
These cosmetic advertisements, moreover, captured the changing perception of female beauty against the complex backdrop of the interaction among patriarchy, colonialism, and capitalism, and served to consolidate and standardize female identity and beauty. Beauty now became a power that women could yield. Images of beautiful models in cosmetic advertisements symbolized civilization, culture, and modernization. With the host of women in various age groups they featured-from elegant ladies to the New Women and university students, and to Western models-cosmetic products idealized and beautified the objects of desire. Female beauty came to divide tradition and modernity, represented the desire to raise one’s social ranks, and also signified the aesthetic colonization of Japan that came to equate beauty with things Western, including Western actresses. External beauty came to be regarded as a key condition for women’s happiness. The lookism that began with the commercialization of beauty at the onset of the modern period in Korea continues rampant to this day, along with the evolution of cosmetic products.